IAO: mass surveillance of ALL individuals
Total Information Awareness (TIA) was a program from the Information Awareness Office (IAO):
The Information Awareness Office is a mass surveillance development branch of DoD’s DARPA.. [it’s] stated mission [is] to gather as much information as possible about everyone, in a centralized location.. [records used by IAO include] Internet activity, credit card purchase histories, airline ticket purchases, car rentals, medical records..
Privacy Concerns kill TIA
A Senate defense appropriations bill passed unanimously on July 18, 2003 explicitly denies any funding to TIA research.. The Pentagon office that was developing vast computerized terrorism surveillance system would be closed and no money could be spent [on] spying tools against Americans on U.S. soil, House and Senate negotiators have agreed on September 25, 2003
SOCOM – U.S. Special Operations Command
Able Danger was part of SOCOM’s programs(1) it used data mining to survey publicly available databases. SOCOM had long been itching to dig into local counterterrorism (2)
August 6,2001 PDB: Bin Laden determined to strike on US
Besides privacy concerns, a simple reason to discard Able Danger is that it was not “actionable intel”, as War and Piece blogs (3)
without establishing just what exactly Able Danger came up with that might have been actionable regarding 9/11, the value of Able Danger and the whole question of whether information on its findings were somehow withheld from the commission, etc. will be very difficult to judge
Vague and Murky Able Danger
Indeed, Shaffer has declined to provide details and is now claiming he heard about AD from others
Domestic Surveillance: A violation of several Executive Orders
Domestic military intelligence operations are governed by guidelines.. consistent with the legal rights and protections guaranteed to all. Guidelines such as Reagan’s Executive Order 12333 (1981).. which is still in force today. Department of Defense (DOD) Regulation 5240. 1-R implements Executive Order 12333 within the DOD and sets forth procedures governing the activities of DOD intelligence components that affect U.S. persons (3)
Privacy and Posse Comitatus Concerns
Even the Bush friendly Cato Institute was alarmed at TIA:
Deployed in the U.S.A.: The Creeping Militarization of the Home Front
Deploying troops on the home front is very different from waging war abroad. Soldiers are trained to kill, whereas civilian peace officers are trained to respect constitutional rights and to use force only as a last resort. That fundamental distinction explains why Americans have long resisted the use of standing armies to keep the domestic peace.
Unfortunately, plans are afoot to change that time-honored policy. There have already been temporary troop deployments in the airports and on the Canadian and Mexican borders and calls to make border militarization permanent. The Pentagon has also shown a disturbing interest in high-tech surveillance of American citizens. And key figures in the Bush administration and Congress have considered weakening the Posse Comitatus Act, the federal statute that limits the government’s ability to use the military for domestic police work.
The historical record of military involvement in domestic affairs cautions against a more active military presence in the American homeland. If Congress weakens the legal barriers to using soldiers as cops, substantial collateral damage to civilian life and liberty will likely ensue.
The potential for abuse: Portland’s example
In an example thay both disproves the “wall” myth the reich wing has been peddling, as well as shows the hidden dangers of abuse of intel we present you the story of the Portland Joint Terrorism Task Force:
Portland Withdraws from Terrorism Task Force
On Thursday, April 28, 2005 the City Council of Portland, Oregon passed an ordinance that would make it the first jurisdiction in the country to withdraw from an FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF)..
The Portland police had participated in the PJTTF since its founding in 1997. [Clinton had 66 of those. Bush increased them to 100 AFTER 9/11].. As the city was reading about the Portland Police Bureau’s recent history of harassing political dissidents and racial minorities, the FBI called a press conference where they announced with much fanfare the arrest of a local Muslim cleric.. Subsequent tests showed no explosive residue on the luggage in question.. [the cleric] Kariye pled guilty to fraudulently gaining access to the Oregon state health insurance system (so far, not defined as terrorist activity).
Then there was the case of Brandon Mayfield.. The FBI claimed that Mayfield’s fingerprints were a “100 percent match” with those on a bag found in a van close to the Madrid railway station where the attack took place. At the same time the Spanish National Police were telling the FBI that they disagreed. When Spanish police arrested an Algerian person based on the evidence of the same fingerprint, the FBI’s case fell apart and Mayfield was released without charge. (The Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon, Robert Jordan, did the unheard-of and issued an apology to Brandon Mayfield.)
While the FBI in Portland seemed to be going to great lengths to manufacture terrorism cases against local Muslims, the Joint Terrorism Task Forces of Denver and Fresno were found to be infiltrating and harassing peace groups
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Unless you outsource job to Accenture and Seisint – MATRIX – with fat contracts from Jeb’s State Cash of Florida, DoD and DHS contracts. On the way the contractors fixed the results in “Election” 2000 and 2004. Right, same people purged the voters through vetting the registrations.
From my previous life as kossack – cached versions at Google
Accenture | Cheney | Halliburton | Ghost of Enron | SAIC & US Elections
◊ by creve coeur
MATRIX project has received grants and contracts in support from State of Florida, DoD and DHS. Speaking of data mining! In concern to privacy of data, Jeb answered: “We’ll hire extra state troopers to guard the property”.
Worthwhile to read through all info in relation to DoD & evote/Wolfowitz – Diebold/SAIC – Seisint/Accenture & Hank Asher – Navy Shipyards/Accenture
End of January 2005, I relaxed a bit with the NyBri/SusanG investigative journalism on Valerie Plame which evolved into the PropaGannon series of diaries.
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Are you creve couer ?
You are correct, they are trying to sneak in TIA again…
Data mining — just when you thought it was dead…
[Phillip Carter, Tuesday August 9, 2005 at 12:32pm EST]
By now, lots of people have noticed the story in today’s New York Times by ace intel reporter Doug Jehl. In the article, Mr. Jehl reports that a secretive military intelligence unit dubbed “Able Danger” identified Mohammed Atta as early as summer 2000. However, legal considerations precluded the military from forwarding the information from its highly classified program to domestic law enforcement agencies like the FBI. According to the article:
In the summer of 2000, the military team, known as Able Danger, prepared a chart that included visa photographs of the four men and recommended to the military’s Special Operations Command that the information be shared with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the congressman, Representative Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania, and the former intelligence official said Monday.
The recommendation was rejected and the information was not shared, they said, apparently at least in part because Mr. Atta, and the others were in the United States on valid entry visas. Under American law, United States citizens and green-card holders may not be singled out in intelligence-collection operations by the military or intelligence agencies. That protection does not extend to visa holders, but Mr. Weldon and the former intelligence official said it might have reinforced a sense of discomfort common before Sept. 11 about sharing intelligence information with a law enforcement agency.
Okay, so that’s enough to make Page 1 of the New York Times. Big story, if it’s true. My Slate colleague Eric Umansky is very skeptical in his “Today’s Papers” column. Eric criticizes the story for relying heavily on a source with a shaky track record, another anonymous source, and very little corrboration. Still, I think the most interesting part of this story is buried several paragraphs below the lede:
The unit, which relied heavily on data-mining techniques, was modeled after those first established by Army intelligence at the Land Information Warfare Assessment Center, now known as the Information Dominance Center, at Fort Belvoir, Va., the official said.
Mr. Jehl gives this quote some additional context elsewhere in the story. Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) is a big supporter of “data mining”, which is a generic term that is frequently used to describe the myriad techniques for using computers to sift through and analyze mountains of data. Apparently, in June of this year, Rep. Weldon mentioned the Able Danger program in a speech on the House floor, and in an interview with a hometown newspaper. The story then made it into a trade journal, and eventually into the New York Times.
If this is true — and we have reasons to be skeptical — I think this story is very significant for a number of reasons. First, it shows that the U.S. has been actively engaged with data-mining for some time, at least since 2000. Second, notwithstanding the spectacular death of Total Information Awareness some time ago, it appears likely that the U.S. continues to engage in data mining work — both R&D and operational work. Third, I think this story demonstrates the promise of data mining techniques, which fuse the disciplines of artificial intelligence, relational databases, and non-obvious relationship analysis (NORA).
Of course, pitfalls remain for the use of these systems. The U.S. must implement robust control measures to ensure systems like Able Danger don’t evolve into an extra-Constitutional menace. Some of those control measures might include the use of ex ante and ex post judicial review for these programs; the appointment of a bipartisan commission to monitor these systems; and a procedural mechanism which would allow citizens to learn of the data held by the govenrment about them (similar to what exists now under FOIA, but better).
INTEL DUMP – –
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Oui aka creve coeur and new creve coeur
More personal info here at BooMan
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Netherlands ? My sister lives in Amsterdam!
She married a dutch guy. I’m about to visit her next month to meet my newborn nephew.
I just love Holland!
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This story? In addition based on this interview.
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I’m a Conspiracy Theory fan but I dislike “paint by numbers” stories like this one. It’s just too predictable in the way it touches all the hot buttons of Iluminati, new world order, Jewish conspiracy, Skull & Bones…
I rather ignore formula stories like that. If it is true there’s nothing we can do about it and we will find out eventually when the infamous NWO arrives. If it’s not why bother with it ?
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I was hoping someone would tell me it’s not worth the effort. I found this info just a few days ago, as there are recent publications – July 2005. I viewed a small portion of video interview with her, I find her a fascinating person who so far deserves benefit of the doubt.
She has something extraordianry in her personality that is attractive, and I feel connected with. At the very least she has deep beliefs, does not waiver and is very determined. I have respect and give her credit for that, also in the face of a dangerous undertaking.
The perversities have been found with J. Edgar Hoover, Bush Sr. administration and now with Jeff Gannon …
Perhaps a connection with European equivalents as Operation Gladio and Italian P2 loge – reference to Alexander Haig! I will read and research some more and will keep you informed.
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But while she obviously believes it, what makes it certain that the drunk ramblings of her ex-husband are true ?
And even if both are telling the truth as they saw it, they could be in need of a psychiatrist. For people with a history of sexual abuse like her husband and domestic abuse like her, it wouldn’t be that rare.
And suppose it IS indeed all true, the Skull and Bones, the sex orgies, the assassinations. What can be done ?
Those New World Order SOB’s clearly have us regular folk beat in dirty tricks, psy ops, lack of ethic, infrastructure, weapons, supporters, …
That is why I would rather dedicate my time and my tired, overloaded braincells to more productive endeavors. Like unmasking the Able Danger charade. At least I have a sliver of hope I may contribute to stopping the new “Big Brother” like TIA in some form…
Don’t get me wrong, I have a very open mind and I even think well thought out conspiracy theories are fun. Just have a look at my archived Kos diaries and you will see one about Mayans and their 2012 end of times date, a bunch about election fraud, one or two about Cheney / Bush preparing for Martial Law… It’s just that this woman’s tale has been told ever so often it is not “fun” anymore, it is too easy to poke holes and way too predictable. And sooo depressing!
After getting into terms with the very real possibility of a return to the dark ages fueled by Peak Oil woes, I just don’t get too rattled about tales of woe anyway. IF we survive Peak Oil with our liberties intact THEN I will worry about it.