Homeland Security Manual Lists Government Key Words For Monitoring Social Media, News

[IDemo]

Posted: 02/24/12 07:59 PM ET | Updated: 02/24/12 10:04 PM ET

Ever complain on Facebook that you were feeling "sick?" Told your friends to "watch" a certain TV show? Left a comment on a media website about government "pork?"

If you did any of those things, or tweeted about your recent vacation in "Mexico" or a shopping trip to "Target," the Department of Homeland Security may have noticed.

In the latest revelation of how the federal government is monitoring social media and online news outlets, the Electronic Privacy Information Center has posted online a 2011 Department of Homeland Security manual that includes hundreds of key words (such as those above) and search terms used to detect possible terrorism, unfolding natural disasters and public health threats. The center, a privacy watchdog group, filed a Freedom of Information Act request and then sued to obtain the release of the documents.

The 39-page "Analyst's Desktop Binder" used by the department's National Operations Center includes no-brainer words like ""attack," "epidemic" and "Al Qaeda" (with various spellings). But the list also includes words that can be interpreted as either menacing or innocent depending on the context, such as "exercise," "drill," "wave," "initiative," "relief" and "organization."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/24/homeland-security-manual_n_1299908.html

I thought I might be getting sick because of the latest epidemic, so I went to Target to try to find some relief. Turned out to be some bad pork I'd eaten while in Mexico.

[snot]

1. "The manual . . .

was released by the center a week after Homeland Security officials were grilled at a House hearing over other documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that revealed analysts were scrutinizing online comments that "reflect adversely" on the federal government. . . . "

K&R'd.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. Imagine my targeted relief, when on my initiative, I waved away an attack.

When drinking water in Mexico, avoid exercise, because becoming sick can drill your bowels something fierce. Organization, packing and planning ahead, while avoiding spiced pork dishes is your best bet. Surprise explosions can embarrass one.

[mattvermont]

3. just like the nsa and

international phone calls decades before.
This will provide me hours of fun
Thanks

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. We need a DHS contest - who can created the best passage using as many

targeted words in the most benign way possible.

[ananda]

5. Like...

Drill me a well, suckers... instead of "cry me a river."

[saras]

8. That's too easy for us English majors...

How about using the most threatening SENTENCES in the most benign CONTEXT?

Maybe we can make "terrorize" into a generic verb meaning to impress in any way, instead of "she killed 'em", or "he blew them away.", referring to good performances. It would be good to drain some of the emotional charge off of the word.

It's not great, but stupider slang has caught on.

[bluedigger]

6. My Jeep has a gas leak that causes spillover when I fill it.

Hi, Agent Mike!

[saras]

7. The obvious response is that everyone should post portions of the list - big portions

The more the merrier. Post it everywhere, post it promiscuously, even go so far as to risk being called a spammer. Put it in your sig line.

[hobbit709]

9. Don't even get me started on words I might use directed at the members of DHs listening in.

Maybe I should say them in German or Russian for better context.
Wouldn't be hard for me. German was my first language and learned a lot of Russian swear words from a woman from Kiev that I dated back in the 80's-I called her my KGB connection.

[jakeXT]

11. Germans searched 37 mil emails for bomb and atom

http://mobil.stern.de/op/stern/de/ct/detail/politik/geheimdienste-sammeln-millionen-daten-kritik-von-fdp/1791559/?mobil=1

[MineralMan]

10. It's interesting to read the entire document.

Pretty much standard Analyst fare. Just looking at the lists of keywords isn't that instructive. More instructive is the multi-layer report instructions and the structure of the types of alerts and notifications.

This is typical bureaucratic stuff. I don't really see anything alarming in this. They're not talking about monitoring sites like DU, for example. This is a guide for human analysts, and there can't be too many of them, since the section on when to ask questions lists three people by their first names only. Small office. If a guide tells you to ask "Brad," everyone there knows who "Brad" is. Most of their time is spent looking at traditional media sources, it looks like.

I did intelligence analysis long, long ago, and this looks like typical stuff. Word lists, which have to be checked in context. There's more left out here than included, and the analysts who have this handbook already know their jobs. Only a new analyst would need this, and then, only for the screen shots for the reporting software they're using. This is pretty low-level stuff, watching the media for possible interesting things. News aggregation, much like DUers do.

The idea is that these analysts watch specific information sources, mostly in the normal media outlets, and report things that make them go, "Whoa! This is interesting." Very low level.

[backscatter712]

12. Time to bring back food for the NSA

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