Illegal Spying – Stopped in Name Only
24 February 2006 1:19 pm by Taylor Marsh
Illegal Spying – Stopped in Name Only
We thought this had been taken care of, but it's back. The Total Information
Awareness program was shut down by Congress, but that didn't stop the Bush administration,
which moved it to the intelligence agencies. No wonder we got the following
exchange recently.
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A similarly revealing sparring session
came when Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, pressed the intelligence officials
about whether a controversial Pentagon data-mining program called Total Information
Awareness had been effectively transferred to the intelligence agencies after
being shut down by Congress. Mr. Negroponte and the F.B.I. director, Robert
S. Mueller III, both said they did not know. Then came the turn of Gen. Michael
V. Hayden, who headed N.S.A. for six years before becoming the principal deputy
director of national intelligence last spring. “Senator,”
General Hayden said, “I'd like to answer in closed session.”
Senators
Question Bush's Illegal Wiretapping
There's a reason no one wants to talk about Bush's secret TIA
spying program in the light of day. Oh, besides the fact that it's not supposed
to be going on. Because it's not only going on but being kept secret from everyone
under classified lock and key.
Research under the Defense Department's
Total Information Awareness program — which developed technologies to predict
terrorist attacks by mining government databases and the personal records
of people in the United States — was moved from the Pentagon's research-and-development
agency to another group, which builds technologies primarily for the National
Security Agency, according to documents obtained by National Journal and to
intelligence sources familiar with the move. The names of key projects were
changed, apparently to conceal their identities, but their funding remained
intact, often under the same contracts. TIA
Lives On
According to the National Journal, two of the most important parts
of TIA are now under control of the NSA. Hmmm… why does that raise all sorts
of red flags? They're already in trouble for illegal spying on Americans by
going around FISA, so no telling what else is going on. That's why Jane
Hamsher and Glenn
Greenwald's “Raise the Roots Project,” which I'm involved in wherever
I can help, is so important. There's a big campaign to write and shake the
Kansas roofs off fly-over country. Check
it out, and if you know anyone from Kansas or are from Kansas, get
involved. A couple of Kansas blogs are here and here. Check them out.
Congress pulled TIA's funding in 2003, but there is new funding
and a new name associated with it, “Basketball,” according to a guy
named Brian Sharkey. No one is talking about the significance of the name change,
but the new funding comes from ARDA. Hicks & Associates, run by former Defense
and military people, including Sharkey, used to have the contract. After the
Journal got their info, however, they also got an email missive from Hicks people.
From the Journal: “Another e-mail from a Hicks employee, Marc Swedenburg,
reminded the company's staff that 'TIA has been terminated and should be referenced
in that fashion.'”
Touchy, aren't they?
By the way, Sharkey invented TIA with Reagan guy and national
security adviser, John Poindexter.
So, TIA was being “sponsored” by ARDA. Along with TIA
came the Genoa II program, also named Topsail. If that rings a bell, just keep reading. It was about building I.T.
to help intel types and “policy makers” pre-empt and anticipate terrorists
attacks. The Pentagon used Genoa II technology at the Army's Information Awareness
Center (if that isn't creepy enough for you), the same place responsible for the Army's Able Danger program. According
to the Journal, Topsail is being scrubbed due to lack of funding. This is where
the Journal article refers to the exchange at the top, which I talked about
in an earlier
post.
When asked whether TIA had been closed, like Congress ordered,
or just shuffled around, names changed, etc., Rep. Wyden got a “we don't
know” response from both Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte
and FBI Director Robert Mueller. As for General Hayden, he said he'd rather
speak about it in closed session. We all know what that means. It's code for,
the president is continuing TIA… er… “Basketball,” excuse me, under Article II of the Constitution, which gives George the power of a king.
Tom Armour, who handled Genoa II, at ARDA, said it's “useful
for analyzing large amounts of phone and e-mail traffic.” Which makes you
wonder if the NSA is using Genoa II for its domestic wiretapping. Seems a logical
question to ask. Armour said that the “NSA didn't use TIA tools in domestic
eavesdropping as part of his research.” Sounds like a technical answer to me. But when asked if the NSA could have used
some of these same “tools” outside of TIA, he wouldn't comment.
See why we need congressional oversight? Why “Project Roots” in Kansas is so important? Get involved if you can. Check out the roots at work here and here.
The NSA spokesman Don Weber said he couldn't say nothing about
no stinkin' separate use of TIA tools.
Me thinks I smell a rat.
