MetaFilter posts tagged with domestic and spying

Domestic spying

Joe Beese — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 06:26:10 -0800

... the United States is assembling a vast domestic intelligence apparatus to collect information about Americans, using the FBI, local police, state homeland security offices and military criminal investigators. The system, by far the largest and most technologically sophisticated in the nation's history, collects, stores and analyzes information about thousands of U.S. citizens and residents, many of whom have not been accused of any wrongdoing. (previously)

CIFA? GYOICFW

Smedleyman — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:13:16 -0800

James Clapper , undersecretary of defense for intelligence, has just recommended closing the Counterintelligence Field Activity program, a 1,000-man agency (mostly contractors with a secret budget) set up shortly after 9/11 to fight foreign terroristson U.S. soil, whose contracts are based on congressional earmarks (and administration insiders) were under investigation by the Pentagon and federal prosecutors (for domestic spying, the use of/deletion of data from the TALON (.pdf file) program (managed by the CIFA as JPEN ) A handy timeline ( via ): * September 2002, then Deputy Secretary of Defense for Counter-Intelligence Burtt (the guy who resigned yesterday) establishes CIFA to oversee counterintelligence units of the armed services; consulting on the new agency was James King, recently retired director of National Imagery and Mapping Agency and MZM vice president * Late 2002, Cunningham got Mitchell Wade a data storage contract worth $6 million, of which $5.4 was profit * January 2004, Cunningham added $16.5 million to defense authorization for a "collaboration center" that appears to include business for Wade's company * December 2005, Pincus reveals a CIFA database contains raw intelligence data on peace activists (and, presumably, Jesus' General) * March 2006, prosecutors in the Cunningham case announce they're reviewing CIFA contracts to MZM * March 2006, Stephen Cambone announces an investigation of CIFA's contracting--the investigation is (like the investigation into Dougie Feith) "ongoing" * May 2006, Porter Goss resigns under allegations of ties to the Wilkes/Wade bribery ring * May 2006, House Intelligence Committee (Peter Hoekstra's Committee) first moves to exercise oversight on CIFA * June 2006, USNCO destroys all the TALON reports * August 2006, CIFA director and deputy director resign

Harry Taylor, US Citizen of the Day

tsarfan — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 17:24:58 -0800

Man tells President Bush that he should be ashamed of himself. Bushie has been touring the country talking to the people and the people have been talking back. Today he met with his toughest and most elequent angry citizen, one Mr. Harry Taylor who began with this salvo:

Q: You never stop talking about freedom, and I appreciate that. But while I listen to you talk about freedom, I see you assert your right to tap my telephone, to arrest me and hold me without charges, to try to preclude me from breathing clean air and drinking clean water and eating safe food. If I were a woman, you'd like to restrict my opportunity to make a choice and decision about whether I can abort a pregnancy on my own behalf. You are --

THE PRESIDENT: I'm not your favorite guy. Go ahead. (Laughter and applause.) Go on, what's your question? (full transcript here)

Bush's executive order allowing some warrantless eavesdropping on those inside the United States ... is based on classified legal opinions...

amberglow — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 18:31:02 -0800

"The White House asked The New York Times not to publish this article, arguing that it could jeopardize continuing investigations and alert would-be terrorists that they might be under scrutiny." What's the article about? The NSA, and you, if you've ever called internationally or sent email overseas: ...the intelligence agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible "dirty numbers" linked to Al Qaeda, ... (very long, NYT--and the NSA's mission is to spy only on communications abroad)

Government Will Ease Limits on Domestic Spying by F.B.I.

Ty Webb — Thu, 30 May 2002 09:29:21 -0800

Government Will Ease Limits on Domestic Spying by F.B.I. (NY Times link) As part of a sweeping effort to transform the F.B.I. into a domestic terrorism prevention agency, Attorney General John Ashcroft has decided to relax restrictions on the bureau's ability to conduct domestic spying in counterterrorism operations, senior government officials said today. Here's the Wash. Post's take on the story.