NSA handing over non-terror intelligence to the Justice Department. From NSA intercepts

[Catherina]

NSA handing over non-terror intelligence
Stewart M. Powell
Updated 6:37 pm, Sunday, August 4, 2013

WASHINGTON -- The National Security Agency is handing the Justice Department information, derived from its secret electronic eavesdropping programs, about suspected criminal activity unrelated to terrorism.

...

It is unclear whether the referrals have been built upon the content of telephone calls and emails. Administration officials have previously assured Congress that NSA surveillance focuses on so-called metadata and in the main does not delve into the content of individual calls or email messages.

...

"If the intelligence agency uncovers evidence of any crime ranging from sexual abuse to FCPA, they tend to turn that information over to the Department of Justice," Litt (general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence) told an audience at the Brookings Institution recently. "But the Department of Justice cannot task the intelligence community to do that."

Litt declined to discuss NSA referrals to the Justice Department when asked about the practice by Hearst Newspapers after a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week.

...

Litt's acknowledgement that the NSA is handing off intelligence to federal prosecutors could further stoke controversy and calls for action on Capitol Hill.

...

The "Patriot Act" enables the NSA to legally hand over information to the Justice Department about suspected criminal activity inadvertently derived from foreign intelligence surveillance, said Stewart A. Baker, a former general counsel for the NSA who later led the 250-person policy directorate at the Department of Homeland Security during the second Bush administration.

...

http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/NSA-handing-over-non-terror-intelligence-4706227.php

"inadvertently" as in "not wittingly"

Edit to add more information:

...

One current federal prosecutor learned how agents were using SOD tips after a drug agent misled him, the prosecutor told Reuters. In a Florida drug case he was handling, the prosecutor said, a DEA agent told him the investigation of a U.S. citizen began with a tip from an informant. When the prosecutor pressed for more information, he said, a DEA supervisor intervened and revealed that the tip had actually come through the SOD and from an NSA intercept.

“I was pissed,” the prosecutor said. “Lying about where the information came from is a bad start if you’re trying to comply with the law because it can lead to all kinds of problems with discovery and candor to the court.” The prosecutor never filed charges in the case because he lost confidence in the investigation, he said.

Now, before you get carried away with this being some further proof of the Obama Justice Department’s (the DOJ oversees the activities of the DEA) desire to infringe upon the privacy rights of Americans, you should know that the program has been active since 1994. Thus, while one could legitimately criticize the Obama Administration for continuing the program, laying it all at the feet of the current administration would simply be wrong.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/08/05/more-surveillance-abuse-exposed-special-dea-unit-is-spying-on-americans-and-covering-it-up/

[Catherina]

1. NSA played a pivotal role in the 1995 detection, trace back, apprehension of Kevin Mitnick

Kevin Mitnick ‏@kevinmitnick 3m

Becky Bace at the NSA claims the NSA helped capture me. I wonder what unconstitutional methods were secretly used? http://tinyurl.com/l3b7qt7

Sygate Advisory Board Member Rebecca Bace Honored as One of The Most Influential Women in Information Security

...

Well known as a security technology expert, author, and entrepreneur, Bace is CEO of Infidel, Inc., a network security consulting practice, and entrepreneur in residence with Trident Capital, a leading venture capital firm known for its security portfolio. In addition, she plays an active role on the technical advisory boards of Trident companies Sygate Technologies and Qualys, Inc.

Prior to Infidel, Bace spent 12 years at the National Security Agency (NSA). She built the NSA's intrusion detection research program, an accomplishment that earned her the agency's Distinguished Leadership Award in 1995. While at NSA she played a pivotal role in the 1995 detection, trace back, and apprehension of Kevin Mitnick, the FBI's most wanted computer criminal at that time. She is also credited with building a strong national network that connected many of the early network security researchers and providing connections to that network for the benefit of agencies such as the Air Force Information Warfare Center and the FBI's first Computer Crime Squad. After the NSA, Bace worked as the deputy security officer for Los Alamos National Laboratory's computing division.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sygate-advisory-board-member-rebecca-bace-honored-as-one-of-the-most-influential-women-in-information-security-71056272.html

[Savannahmann]

2. There is plenty of blame to go around

President Clinton for allowing it to get started. President George W. Bush III Jr. for allowing it to continue. President Obama for allowing it to continue. The District Attorney's for not checking the lies of the police. The Judges for not challenging the lies of the police. The Police for agreeing to lie for the program.

Why did they all lie? They say to protect the means and sources. Baloney. Because if it was triggered by an intercepted email, then the question of the 4th Amendment comes in, did they have a warrant, and was the warrant specific in dictating that the email be searched to find evidence of drug smuggling? If not, then the evidence leading to the stop and search was invalid, and must be suppressed.

It has nothing to do with protecting means and sources. It has everything to do with covering up the harm that the NSA programs have done, and continue to do, all in the name of power. They are encouraged to lie, because that the ends justify the means. The Constitution has no meaning, it's a document to be gotten around. They aren't Of the people, By the People, and For the people. They are the masters of the People.

[Catherina]

5. Well said. We can take that even further back to Truman and his stupid doctrine

that Henry Wallace, FDR's first VP, warned us would be the ruin of America. Truman set up the NSA as we know it.

FDR didn't even want him as VP, Truman was foisted on FDR by corporate Dems in such an underhanded manner that FDR turned down the nomination he was so angry. Wallace repeatedly warned the American people.

Roosevelt placated Wallace by appointing him Secretary of Commerce in March 1945. In a speech on April 12th 1946, Henry Wallace said 'aside from our common language and common literary tradition, we have no more in common with Imperialistic England than with Communist Russia'. He was notoriously 'soft' on Communism, but his distaste for American involvement with Britain and Europe was widely shared across the political spectrum[28]. In September 1946, he was fired by President Harry S. Truman because of disagreements about the policy towards the Soviet Union. He is the last former Vice President to serve in the President's cabinet.

The New Republic

Following his term as Secretary of Commerce, Wallace became the editor of The New Republic magazine, using his position to criticize vociferously Truman's foreign policy. On the declaration of the Truman Doctrine in 1947, he predicted it would mark the beginning of "a century of fear".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_A._Wallace

Henry A. Wallace also accurately denounced the Truman Doctrine that laid the blueprint for state sponsored repression and murder that would accompany the Cold War and the ‘ends justify the means no matter how savage that the means may be’ policy of rolling back Communism both abroad and at home through subterfuge, sabotage, destabilization, intimidation, red baiting, blacklisting and ultimately torture and death squads as “the beginning of a century of fear”.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/opedne_ed_encho_080306_henry_a__wallace_s_w.htm

It was all in the name of power.

[Downwinder]

3. Are we going to see a spate of Wall Street insider trading cases?

[Autumn]

4. In our dreams.

There is "crime" and then there is "crime". One of those is not like the other.

[Catherina]

6. Maybe another Martha Steward or 2 to distract us. n/t

[xchrom]

7. du rec.

[AppleBottom]

8. There is no exscuse for this, there should be no apoligist for this.

This is just proof of yet another lie from the people that tell us that we need to trust them.

[Catherina]

10. But they'll never give up trying. NO EXCUSE. n/t

[AppleBottom]

14. Obama was on the Tonight Show this evening

Telling boldface lies to the American people. It's horrifying that the American president would act in such a low manner.

[frylock]

9. kick

[Warren DeMontague]

11. I wonder what dangerous drug criminal the Florida Case involved.

Someone like Richard Paey, probably.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maia-szalavitz/cruel-and-disgusting-pain_b_43216.html

You know, the paraplegic in Florida who was sent to prison for 25 years for managing his own pain. Woo-hoo drug war!

[woo me with science]

12. K&R

[KoKo]

13. Democracy Now had excellent interview with Reuters Reporter today re: this...

And, it was fascinating enough that our "Hemp" advocates should take note..along with our "Legalize Drugs" DU'ers who didn't seem to catch what's being done..here on DU.

But, perhaps there's a lively discussion in the "Sub-Forums" about this...so, I shouldn't jump to a conclusion. Still...there's been scan reporting of this Newist Revelation...even though it didn't come from Greenwald or Snowden.

One would think that some DU'ers might be kind of concerned with this latest from Reuters, though...enough to kick a post where it was reported. But...little action there...from what I've seen. Perhaps I missed it...but, it might have been a One Off that slunk off into DU Archives before I saw it.

[DirkGently]

15. It's not about terrorists or commies. Never was. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

16. But Obama told Leno, "we dont spy on Americans", so it must be true!

I mean, if the NSA is monitoring pot smokers so the DEA can track them down and bust them, there's gotta be a good reason.