July 2008

Celebrating the G-Men

When it created the FBI 100 years ago today, Congress worried that the new agency would become a secret police force, trampling civil rights and carrying out the whims of successive presidents. After a century of bumpy history, that concern hasn't gone away.......But the idea that the FBI doesn't mind -- and may even like -- running roughshod over rights is misguided. In fact, the bureau has demonstrated remarkable restraint over most of the course of its history, at the same time that it has established an impressive record of success in investigating and pursuing threats........(Washington Post/Ron Kessler, 26 Jul 08)

New skills required for changing crimes

As the crimes they investigate change, FBI agents in the next 100 years will require far different skills from those of the agents and employees who carried the bureau through its first century. The resumes of the FBI's earliest agents were highlighted by careers in law, accounting and electrical engineering, with fluency in Italian, Russian or Spanish. Today, the resumes landing at the top of the stack at the FBI recruiting office feature considerable international travel, fluency in Middle Eastern or Chinese languages and a background in military intelligence or computer technology. "Since 9/11, the focus [of the FBI] has shifted to counterterrorism and the role we play in the intelligence community," said John G. Raucci, assistant director of human relations at the FBI. "As we become a more equal partner in the intelligence community, we offer greater services. It's not just the role of the agent on the street, but [also] foreign language skills, intelligence collection, intelligence analysis." As the toughest crimes facing the United States and the world have changed, so have the skills the FBI requires from its employees, Mr. Raucci said. Today's - and tomorrow's - crimes center on counterterrorism and the Internet. (Washington Times, 25 July 08)

Threat constantly changes, FBI's Mueller says

At precisely 100 years of age, the FBI is learning new tricks. It has no choice.

Hardly spry, the massive crime-fighting agency of 30,000 agents and support staff is slowly, sometimes grudgingly, transforming itself into an intelligence-driven entity able to adapt to rapid technological change and savvy enemies. Nobody understands the challenges of the new direction better than the man who has manned the bureaucratic battleship since the week before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. "In this world of globalization, in this world of technological advances, every 18 months the threats will change and we have to be agile enough to address those threats as they do change," FBI Director Robert Mueller told CNN earlier this month. (CNN, 25 July 08)

CIA-funded UW program trains the next generation of online spies

When classes at the University of Washington resume this fall, some students at the school will be under the watchful eye of a Central Intelligence Agency spook. In fact, some of them will even be learning from him. This fall, Dr. Tim Thomas, a CIA agent specializing in "open source" data mining, will begin a two-year stint as an officer-in-residence at the UW's Institute for National Security Education and Research (INSER), which is financed by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. That office is an umbrella organization for groups such as the U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the CIA—which will provide the university with $2.5 million grant money over the next five years. (The Stranger, 24 July 08)

GAO: unclear whether information sharing is hindering terrorism

Nearly seven years after 9/11, the government still can't measure how well an office created to improve information sharing on terrorism may be helping prevent attacks, congressional investigators say. The Information Sharing Environment was formed partly in response to criticism that a lack of information-sharing among government agencies was one reason the U.S. didn't prevent the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Washington and New York.A Government Accountability Office report obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press says the ISE has "begun to develop some performance measures, but they focus on counting activities accomplished rather than results achieved." (AP, 23 July 08)
 

DHS aims for faster detection of airborne pathogens

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to adopt new automated equipment that will be able to detect dangerous airborne pathogens in major US cities in as little as 4 hours, with a goal of starting deployment in the fall of 2010, DHS officials told Congress last week. The equipment is part of DHS's BioWatch program, which involves continuous testing of the air in 30 major cities for pathogens such as anthrax. The program was launched in the wake of the anthrax letter attacks of 2001, which killed five people and sickened 17 others. Currently, filters from collection equipment are removed manually, taken to a laboratory, and tested, a process that takes from 10 to 34 hours, officials told the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology. The new equipment will collect and test air samples automatically, reducing detection time to between 4 and 6 hours, officials said. The new system is also designed to test for more pathogens than the existing system. The time savings "will potentially save thousands of lives each day an attack, such as anthrax, is detected ahead of human syndromic surveillance and other public health indicators," Robert Hooks, deputy assistant secretary for weapons of mass destruction and biodefense in DHS's Office of Health Affairs (OHA), told the subcommittee in written testimony. (CIDRAP, 23 July 08)

Watching spies

Should police be able to spy on our neighbors within limits? That's the challenging, post- 9/11 question a committee of Maryland legislators will have to confront this fall as it investigates a wasteful, lengthy state police intelligence unit's surveillance of peace groups and death penalty opponents. The hearings should get to the bottom of how this unit operates, who it targets and if the right oversight policies are in place to protect Maryland citizens. Since the 2005-2006 spying operation was disclosed by the American Civil Liberties Union last week, Gov. Martin O'Malley and Col. Terrence B. Sheridan, the state police superintendent, have assured Marylanders that police investigators aren't breaking the law and won't improperly launch surveillance against citizens who are exercising their constitutional right to freely speak and meet. But neither has made the case that new legislation is not needed to monitor and control the Homeland Security and Intelligence Division. The records of the spying operation uncovered by the ACLU show that undercover officers monitored groups of peace activists and death penalty protesters for 14 months, accumulating no evidence of wrongdoing. The documents also indicate that some of those observed had their names entered in a law enforcement database of people suspected of being terrorists or drug traffickers. (Baltimore Sun, 23 July 08)

Police spying prompts hearings

State lawmakers are planning formal hearings on Maryland State Police efforts to spy on peace activists and death penalty protesters, potentially paving the way for a thorny debate in the next General Assembly session over whether to restrict the law enforcement agency's authority. Sen. Brian E. Frosh, chairman of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, said yesterday that he plans to hold hearings, possibly in September, to question state officials about the infiltration of activist groups by covert agents. The spying and surveillance over a 14-month period through 2006 was exposed last week when state police turned over records to the American Civil Liberties Union, which had sued to obtain them. "The best face you can put on this is that it was an egregious misapplication of resources," said Frosh, a Montgomery County Democrat. "With all of the problems we have in the state of Maryland, I can't believe that the state police would be wasting time spying on folks who are opposed to the death penalty or war." (Baltimore Sun, 22 July 08)

New spying law quickly challenged

Civil liberties advocates have lost no time in asking a federal court to stop the government from conducting surveillance under the new wiretapping law passed by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush last week. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and a coalition of other groups declared that the new law "gives the Bush administration virtually unchecked power to intercept Americans' international e-mails and telephone calls." The ACLU coalition's legal challenge, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeks a court order declaring that the new law is unconstitutional and ordering its immediate and permanent halt. ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero charged that the new law "not only legalises the secret warrantless surveillance programme the president approved in late 2001, it gives the government new spying powers, including the power to conduct dragnet surveillance of Americans' international communications." He added, "Spying on Americans without warrants or judicial approval is an abuse of government power -- and that's exactly what this law allows. The ACLU will not sit by and let this evisceration of the Fourth Amendment go unchallenged." (IPS, 22 July 08)

When Spies Don’t Play Well With Their Allies

As they complete their training at “The Farm,” the Central Intelligence Agency’s base in the Virginia tidewater, young agency recruits are taught a lesson they are expected never to forget during assignments overseas: there is no such thing as a friendly intelligence service. Foreign spy services, even those of America’s closest allies, will try to manipulate you. So you had better learn how to manipulate them back. But most C.I.A. veterans agree that no relationship between the spy agency and a foreign intelligence service is quite as byzantine, or as maddening, as that between the C.I.A. and Pakistan’s Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or I.S.I……(New York Times, 20 Jul 08)

Electrical Risks at Iraq Bases Are Worse Than Said

During just one six-month period — August 2006 through January 2007 — at least 283 electrical fires destroyed or damaged American military facilities in Iraq, including the military’s largest dining hall in the country, documents obtained by The New York Times show. Two soldiers died in an electrical fire at their base near Tikrit in 2006, the records note, while another was injured while jumping from a burning guard tower in May 2007. And while the Pentagon has previously reported that 13 Americans have been electrocuted in Iraq, many more have been injured, some seriously, by shocks, according to the documents....(New York Time, 18 Jul 08)

US plans to station diplomats in Iran for first time since 1979

The US plans to establish a diplomatic presence in Tehran for the first time in 30 years as part of a remarkable turnaround in policy by President George Bush.  The Guardian has learned that an announcement will be made in the next month to establish a US interests section - a halfway house to setting up a full embassy. The move will see US diplomats stationed in the country. The news of the shift by Bush who has pursued a hawkish approach to Iran throughout his tenure comes at a critical time in US-Iranian relations. After weeks that have seen tensions rise with Israel conducting war games and Tehran carrying out long-range missile tests, a thaw appears to be under way……(Guardian, 17 Jul 08)

House Passes Intelligence Authorization Bill

The House yesterday passed by voice vote the fiscal 2009 intelligence authorization bill, which limits the funds available for covert actions next year until all members of the House intelligence panel are briefed on the most sensitive ones already underway.  As included in the bill, 75 percent of money sought for covert actions would be held up until the briefings are held……(Washington Post, 17 Jul 08)

Iraq Case Sheds Light On Secret Contractors

…the U.S. has about the same number of contractors as military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But a fast-growing type of government contracting largely escapes such scrutiny: secret programs, or "black" contracts, assisting intelligence agents as they operate in war zones. These contractors have carried out some of the government's most sensitive work -- conducting interrogations, manning secret prisons and guarding spy-agency personnel. The programs' existence, size and scope are classified, and so are the details of their troubles… MVM Inc., before 2001 mainly provided school and courthouse guards in U.S. cities. As the U.S. sought to supplant its own overstretched forces, MVM quickly grew to become one of the top few providers of secret security in Iraq and Afghanistan, alongside companies including Blackwater. MVM has handled much of the Central Intelligence Agency's and National Security Agency's personal security in war zones……(Wall Street Journal, 17 Jul 08)

House passes CIA contractor ban over veto vow

U.S. lawmakers defied a White House veto threat on Wednesday and voted to bar CIA contractors from interrogating suspected terrorists, in the latest clash over detainee treatment in the U.S.-declared war on terrorism…A related bill awaits action in the Senate. Passage of the multibillion dollar bill came on a voice vote, indicating broad assent, despite the White House veto threat issued earlier in the day. In addition to the contractor ban, the White House said it also objected to provisions to force the president to give Congress more sensitive national security information, and to establish an inspector general with authority over all federal intelligence agencies…..(Reuters, 16 Jul 08)

US to monitor Abdul Qadeer Khan's network activities

The Bush administration wants to learn more about the work of Pakistan's disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan and his network activities even as Islamabad maintains the matter related to him as "a closed chapter".  "I am not going to get into any specific allegations, but certainly learning more about the work of A Q Khan and his network certainly is something we are interested in. It is a matter of continuing interest for us," US State department spokesman Sean McCormack told media persons.  "We have learned a lot. The network is broken up. It is out of business. But I think we, as well as others, are still plumbing the extent of all A Q Khan - all of the Khan network's activities,"…..(Times of India, 16 Jul 08)

Between Presidents, a Dangerous Gap

…One of the observations of the 9/11 commission was that the deeply flawed presidential transition of 2000 and 2001 created a dangerous period of vulnerability. As always, the crowd coming in was dismissive of the concerns of the crowd going out. There was a mismatch between the concerns of the Clinton national security team and those of the incoming Bush team. While there were briefings between the election and the swearing-in, there was no trust — and thus no effective dialogue — between the members of the two administrations. In addition, President Bush took too long to set priorities and direction for his national-security team. This was a result partly of the prolonged battle over the 2000 election, but it also reflected a basic problem in how we populate our government agencies…..(New York Times, 16 Jul 08)

U.S. to Give Czechs Ballistic Missile Defense

U.S. Navy ships in the Mediterranean will provide ballistic missile defense to the Czech Republic under a commitment contained in the agreement to place a U.S. radar site in that country, according to State and Defense Department officials. The United States "is committed to the security of the Czech Republic and to protect and defend, by means of its ballistic missile defense system, the Czech Republic against a potential ballistic missile attack," according to the agreement signed July 8, the text of which was released by the Czech government……(Washington Post, 16 Jul 08)

Mexican man detained at U.S. Embassy after showing fake CIA badge

Mexico City police say they have detained a man who allegedly tried to use a fake CIA badge to enter the U.S. Embassy to seek work as a driver. Police say they detained 47-year-old Israel Cortes after he cut to the front of the line at the embassy by showing a fake CIA badge supposedly signed by U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza. A U.S. Embassy official confirmed Monday's detention, but declined further comment…..(Canadian Press, 15 Jul 08)

CIA, Interpol American fugitive handed over to Bogor prosecution

The Bogor Immigration Office will hand over American citizen Robert "Bob" Marshall (59) accused of violating the immigration law, along with his dossier, to the Bogor Prosecution Office…"But as Robert 'Bob' Marshall is also wanted by the CIA, and American, British and Russian Interpol since 1974, and as the Bogor Prosecution Office believed that Robert was involved in a high-profile case, he would be handed over only certain conditions," Ibrahim Saleh said in di Bogor on Monday……(Antara, 15 Jul 08)

Understanding 21st Century Counterintelligence

The counterintelligence function involves protecting the country, as well as intelligence agencies, from the activities of foreign intelligence services. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has principal responsibility for countering the activities of foreign intelligence services within the United States in order to protect both classified US Government information and proprietary information held by US industry. The CIA is responsible for coordinating US counterintelligence activities abroad. Each of the military departments also has a counterintelligence element that operates domestically and overseas.  These elements has offensive and defensive missions. Offensively, they attempt to recruit agents within foreign intelligence services to ascertain what, if any, operations are being undertaken against the United States; they monitor the activities of known or suspected agents of foreign intelligence services; and they undertake operations to ascertain the targets and modus operandi of foreign intelligence services.  Defensively, they investigate cases of suspected espionage and prepare analyses for government and industry concerning the foreign intelligence threat. The FBI has principal jurisdiction to investigate suspected espionage within the United States, although all intelligence agencies maintain internal capabilities to undertake preliminary inquiries of their own employees…..(Conservative Voice, 15 Jul 08)

FBI gives glimpse inside real 'CSI'

…As the FBI hits the 100-year-mark and continues to evolve to meet the demands of the world, CNN visited the state-of-the-art crime lab in Quantico, Virginia. It's the same lab that inspired the hit television series "CSI."….

The lab has played roles in everyday cases as well as some of the most significant crime investigations in the nation's history -- from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The lab now employs 500 agents, scientists and other personnel -- far from its origins in 1932. Back then, there was only one agent working in a single room in Washington. His name was Charles Appel, a handwriting analysis expert. Appel's background allowed the lab to play an important role in one of its first big cases: the kidnapping and killing of the toddler son of aviator Charles Lindbergh. Appel linked the handwriting from ransom notes to a suspect, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, who was eventually convicted. Since then, the lab has been on the cutting edge of crime-solving techniques. The advent of DNA analysis was a revolution in forensic science, and it's a key part of what the FBI lab does….(CNN, Part 2, 14 Jul 08)

FBI’s 10 Most Wanted

From Al Capone to al Qaeda – FBI at 100

…On the day CNN visited the national center, just outside Washington, officials were not only dealing with the Newark incidents but also a bomb threat in Cincinnati, Ohio, white powder reports in the Pacific Northwest and threats connected to the presidential election. The FBI operates a "CT (Counterterrorism) Watch" in which agents and analysts operate around the clock monitoring suspicious incidents and other threats. "If we get a name, what the intelligence analysts are doing is they're looking for other connections," said Paul Akman, assistant section chief of the counterterrorism analysis section. "They're contacting their other U.S. intelligence community counterparts. They're doing database scrubs. They're getting additional information while operational specialists and our agents out in the field are attending to the immediate case needs." Authorities are on the lookout to see if any trends are developing. U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials don't want a repeat of the days leading up to the September 11 attacks, when critics said they failed to "connect the dots."….(CNN, Part 1, 13 Jul 08)

The Life and Career of J. Edgar Hoover

The FBI At 100

For the past century the FBI has made its name rounding up bad guys: bank robbers, kidnappers, spies and mobsters … for bringing to justice those whom FBI director Robert Mueller says committed "some of the most unspeakable crimes that have taken place in the last century." But Mueller acknowledges that the Bureau today is at a turning point. In the wake of September 11, 2001, the Bureau has made terrorism its top priority. It's no longer mostly about tracking down criminals after they've committed crimes; it's about stopping terrorist acts before they happen. "It may be a little more difficult, and difficult in different ways than what we have been successfully doing in investigating crimes over the last 100 years," Mueller said, "but it is our mission and we will be successful at it."… Mueller disputes accusations that the FBI was slow to pick up on terrorism as a threat to this country. "If you look at the success of the FBI in New York bringing to justice those involved in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the work that was done to investigate the East African bombings, I think it was 1998, the Cole bombing …the Bureau has done substantial work in addressing terrorism." In the early '90s, the FBI did run an undercover operation that disrupted a plot to bomb bridges and buildings in New York. But when it came to September 2001, Lichtblau said, "There were a handful of situations where the FBI certainly had information in its own files that could conceivably have altered the events of 9/11. And the lack of coordination and communication between the FBI and CIA led to the failure to identify them." And while the Bureau helped pioneer fingerprinting, DNA analysis, and more sophisticated forensic evidence techniques, it has lagged far behind in computer technology……(CBS, 13 Jul 08)

Video: Inside the FBI

‘The Bureau’ Shines in War and Peace

In 1908, the U.S. attorney general organized a small group of investigators that would become the investigative arm of the Department of Justice. One of the first responsibilities of the agency, then called the Bureau of Investigation, was to investigative interstate prostitution. The BOI would go through a number of name changes, finally becoming the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935. The current head of the original BOI, an up-and-coming Washington lawyer named J. Edgar Hoover, would become the director of the fledgling FBI. Hoover died in office in 1972, having become what some believe was one of the most powerful persons in government, second only, perhaps, to the president. During his tenure, Hoover made the FBI into an international crime-fighting organization. At the time of his death, many outside and some inside the FBI believed he had stayed well beyond his time…..(Free Lance-Star, 13 Jul 08)

One hundred years of crime fighting - A GREAT AMERICAN INSTITUTION NOW MUST FOCUS ON BIG THREATS

This month a great American institution, the FBI, will mark its 100th anniversary. The bureau celebrates its official birthday on July 26, the day Theodore Roosevelt's attorney general Charles Bonaparte ordered a tiny force of 34 agents assembled from the Secret Service and the Justice Department to report to the bureau's first director, Stanley W. Finch. Today, the bureau has 30,847 employees, including 12,737 agents who are stationed at the Washington headquarters named after its most famous director, J. Edgar Hoover, as well as in 56 field offices, more than 400 smaller resident agencies, and 60 foreign countries, supported by a budget of more than $6 billion… The FBI still has the responsibility to combat the most serious threats against the United States, domestic and international terrorism, foreign espionage against our national and economic security, organized crime, and massive financial fraud on the scale that can bring down the economy.…..(Free Lance-Star, 13 Jul 08)

Big changes urged at intelligence agencies

U.S. intelligence agencies need to adopt radical reforms to prevent acts of terrorism like the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Louisville native and foreign policy expert Amy Zegart told an audience gathered at The Henry Clay building last night.  Zegart said her analysis of pre-9/11 intelligence and interviews with government officials found the FBI and the CIA clinging to a Cold War mindset that was ineffective for fighting terrorist groups like al-Qaida.  "They failed to develop new strategies to deal with this emerging enemy,"…..(Courier-Journal, 11 Jul 08)

The CIA In Chains

Congress wants to outlaw many real, or imagined, techniques that the CIA has employed since September 11, 2001. Much of this effort is political, to placate the many people, and politicians, who now take it as fact (or on faith) that the Islamic terrorist threat was overblown, or that the U.S. response was not commensurate (and itself a form of terrorism) with the threat.  It's already been forgotten what the CIA has gone through these past five years. There was the massive recruiting program (of analysts and field operators), and the introduction of lots of new technology (especially for the analysts) and techniques. All this was largely the result of the CIA being put into a sort of semi-hibernation in the late 1970s. This was an aftereffect of the Church Committee, an investigative operation sponsored by Congress, that sought to reform the CIA. The reforms were mainly about eliminating CIA spying inside the United States, and doing stuff for the president that Congress did not approve of. There was also a desire to avoid any CIA connection with foreign unpleasantness (like using unsavory people as spies or informants). This led to a growing list of restrictions on what the CIA could do overseas, and at home……(Strategy Page, 11 Jul 08)

The Secret American Army

The United States now has thousands of spies inside Iraq. This didn't happen overnight. For the last five years, the U.S. has been building an informant network there. This sort of thing takes time, and knowledge of how Arab culture works, and how to work it. The U.S. Army Special Forces, the CIA, reservist cops and Israel were key components. The results (mostly classified) have been impressive. For example, last year, tips from Iraqis led to the discovery of 6,963 weapons caches, plus similar information on safe houses and terrorists themselves. During the first half of 2009, tips led to finding nearly 5,000 weapons caches. Back in 2003, the Special Forces and CIA already knew about the tradecraft of developing local informants.……(Strategy Page, 10 Jul 08)

Senate easily passes wiretap bill

The Senate easily approved legislation Wednesday to overhaul government eavesdropping rules in terrorism and espionage cases and effectively granted immunity to telecommunications companies that participated in a secret domestic spying program, ending a contentious debate that has raged for more than two years. The bill addresses a broad scope of surveillance activities in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. In certain cases, it limits the government's ability to collect information, but it also provides greater flexibility, an attempt to reflect the changing nature of national security threats in the post-Cold War era. (San Francisco Chronicle, 10 July 08)

FISA Surprise: Bill Amendment Could Mean No Telecom Immunity for Months

The U.S. House passed the "FISA Amendments Act of 2008" right before the July 4 recess, which provided a mechanism for immunizing telecommunications companies from possible lawsuits resulting from cooperation provided for the NSA wireless surveillance program after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. At the time, it was characterized as a victory for the telecoms, and the White House supported it. The Senate will vote on another provision to the bill which guarantees that immunity wouldn't become effective for months after the President signs the bill, and the White House is now demanding that the Senate remove that provision. Under the amendment to be offered by Sen. Bingaman, at least four Inspectors General must review the entire program, starting from the 9-11 attacks through January of this year (corrected), and report to the Congress; the immunity becomes effective 90 days after that report is sent to Congress. The requirement has drawn a veto threat from the Administration…..(Counterterrorism Blog, 7 Jul 08)

NSA faces new limits, but surveillance thrives

…Clandestine operations against Iran are not new. United States Special Operations Forces have been conducting cross-border operations from southern Iraq, with Presidential authorization, since last year. These have included seizing members of Al Quds, the commando arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and taking them to Iraq for interrogation, and the pursuit of “high-value targets” in the President’s war on terror, who may be captured or killed. But the scale and the scope of the operations in Iran, which involve the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), have now been significantly expanded, according to the current and former officials. Many of these activities are not specified in the new Finding, and some congressional leaders have had serious questions about their nature.Under federal law, a Presidential Finding, which is highly classified, must be issued when a covert intelligence operation gets under way and, at a minimum, must be made known to Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and the Senate and to the ranking members of their respective intelligence committees—the so-called Gang of Eight. Money for the operation can then be reprogrammed from previous appropriations, as needed, by the relevant congressional committees, which also can be briefed.  “The Finding was focused on undermining Iran’s nuclear ambitions and trying to undermine the government through regime change,” a person familiar with its contents said, and involved “working with opposition groups and passing money.”….(New Yorker, 7 Jul 08 Issue)

US spy agency: Mission wanted