Mal-intended intell
Its been two or three weeks since I wrote about the US Intelligence, but not much has happened and it hasn't been in the news much so it should be pretty easy to catch up. Lets review. Mr. Goss rather abruptly leaves his job as DCI. This happens on a Friday after meeting with Mr. Negroponte (the DNI) and the President. That he was leaving seems to have come as a surprise to Mr. Goss. His resignation right then a surprise to Messieurs N and B. A managed resignation declined. By Monday (or Tuesday) Mr. Foggo was out, Mr. Murrey, and a Mr Nine Fingers following. General Hayden late of the NSA is selected to suit up and go in. Hayden will have the ideal partner in Stephen Kappes, who is slated to be deputy director. Kappes well liked within the agency was one of the first men out during the purges
The CIA's Mission Possible. About then the USA today writes a story which had sort of been around in a infra-dimensional way for a while and all heck Breaks loose
Data on Phone Calls Monitored. Almost immediately President Bush denies its all that widespread
Bush Says U.S. Spying Is Not Widespread - New York Times Hayden the man who set up this program (not that anyone is saying it does exist) up and defends it
The Globe and Mail: CIA nominee defends phone-data mining while admitting it may need some over-site like control
CIA Pick Open to Wiretap Oversight. Bobby Ray Inman whom I mention in a previous post admits it may have problems
Defense Tech: Ex-NSA Chief Blasts Taps, Calls for CIA Breakup*[deftech and says not just once
In TWN News: Michael Hayden, Bobby Ray Inman, and Richard Armitage. To no ones particular surprise, It is reported Cheney pushed it
Cheney Pushed U.S. to Widen Eavesdropping - New York Times. Through all this some isolated voices doubted its wisdom and efficacy. Both the CS monitor
Mining data to nab terrorists: fair? | csmonitor.comand Slate took the time explain social network data mining
How the NSA Does "Social Network Analysis". Going into the start of this week Michael Copps
FCC Commissioner Wants Phone Cos. Probed - Yahoo! News, a commissioner with the FCC, issued statement , and
5/15/06 Commissioner Copps Calls for the FCC to Open an Inquiry Into
the Lawfulness of the Disclosure of America's Phone Records. No one else on the commission seems to have been observed in public recently. Next ABC news "blogs" that a source has told them that or some similar program is being used on them, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. This does not reduce the MSM outrage factor
The Blotter. Lost in this shuffle, a report that the German government has been doing the same thing to German reporters for a decade or more
German 'CIA' used reporters as informants | csmonitor.com . As the week and this story unfold the Telcos
Wiretap update: big three telecoms sued while government invokes state secrets begin to back away
Verizon Denies Turning Over Local Phone Data - New York Times from commenting to any fact set, even as Attorney General Gonzales steps forward [newshour pbs interview. Two Senate hearing loom on the horizon which threaten to hash this out. Sen. Spector's hearings that he is organizing on signing statements
Bush challenges hundreds of laws - The Boston Globe and national security letters
Secrecy Privilege Invoked in Fighting Ex-Detainee's Lawsuitnow are very relevant
Hearing vowed on Bush's powers - The Boston Globe. Even more immediate the Hayden confirmation hearing will allow a scrimmage of sorts, but should end with his confirmation
Hayden Hearings to Focus on Surveillance (Hayden is just doing his job) . One curious note was sounded by Sen Orrin Hatch who announced midweek that the FISA court has been aware of all this all along and Congress briefed. Is he on message or off; everyone else seems midway towards outright denial and defensive noncommittal
Hatch: Court Briefed on Bush Surveillance - Yahoo! News.
What does any of this mean. Porters Goss's managerial incompetence and the virulence of his staff left him unpopular, and vulnerable
How the CIA Came Unglued. The San Diego connections (Inc.) made him discardable [tpm various]. At that point like a chess game after a major piece is sacrificed, things moved quickly on to another phase of the game. The question now is how much of the new "Security State" apparatus is moved into the DoD and how much will be retained without.
Clash Foreseen Between C.I.A. and Pentagon - New York Times. Regarding the apparent Domestic Spying the polls I've seen have been inconclusive. I think most people don't feel they know enough about it. I suspect many don't want to know. Its easier when you can just believe its about 'other people'. Enough is known, and meaning can be drawn from what we are told we cannot know to make some judgments. There are two basic arguments against this domestic surveillance. First practical: Too much data, too many false positives. Ars Techinca on has a good rundown on these techinical grounds.
TIA (aka Topsail) unveiled: the real scope of the NSA's domestic spying program. They (Hannibal) among other things puts forward the idea that if electronic data had been more comprehensively defined into law not only mp3's and mpeg movies ebooks but personal data and meta data related to it. then its property transferability and unreasonable nature of invasion of privacy concerns might be much clearer NPR's morning edition touched on this as well
Lawyers Debate the Legality of Domestic Spying. Ill defined rights are likely to bring about moral hazard. Of ethical concern I can see a problem with two parts. At the outset temptation plus ability for abuse will will equal abuse, and temptation realized; debasement. The phase one pattern analysis is clearly just prep work for a phase two involving actual interception - you don't know whether you have a false or true positive until you go there, and once you do, well it's all good isn't it. From TPM see this Baltimore Sun Article indicate that a pre 11 Sept. 2001 test program would not even have allowed for unencrypted data to be viewed by analysts until a potential threat was seen. If you simply allow people to sit in front of this data and try to think of things to do with it you will have spying on critics, because people are talking (leaking) to them. Examining the opposition, their networks and their fundraising. A corrosive movement towards subpoena-less warrant-less administrative-fiat way of proceeding justice.
Early Warning by William M. Arkin - washingtonpost.com. Signing statements and national security letters, a thin highly abstracted way of nodding backwards towards the law, the constitution is not due process it is not rule of law. Together with a slow reducing identification of the welfare of the state with the welfare of the regime, it is a symptom of moral corruption. A reason for may exist. One beyond or at least more particular than "Islam is out there." Data mining and Social Network Analysis used correctly is probably a powerful and effective tool. It obtains what you ask of it. My bias here is that I believe it does work. So one asks: is the Government aware of specific cells within the U S that went dark after 11 September 2001. That they know they need to find somehow. Even at this point I can't see the latter reasons for mass data tracking of American citizens obviating concerns raised. I find myself where David Ignatious finds himself.
Spy Tools In Need Of a Law Either we find a way use these tools genuinely within the Law, or we don't use them. To do otherwise will void the social compact under which we came together.
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