Administration Set to Use New Spy Program in U.S.

[Hissyspit]

Source: Washington Post

Administration Set to Use New Spy Program in U.S.
Congressional Critics Want More Assurances of Legality

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 12, 2008; Page A03

The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department will activate his department's new domestic satellite surveillance office in stages, starting as soon as possible with traditional scientific and homeland security activities -- such as tracking hurricane damage, monitoring climate change and creating terrain maps.

Sophisticated overhead sensor data will be used for law enforcement once privacy and civil rights concerns are resolved, he said. The department has previously said the program will not intercept communications.

"There is no basis to suggest that this process is in any way insufficient to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans," Chertoff wrote to Reps. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and Jane Harman (D-Calif.), chairmen of the House Homeland Security Committee and its intelligence subcommittee, respectively, in letters released yesterday. "I think we've fully addressed anybody's concerns," Chertoff added in remarks last week to bloggers. "I think the way is now clear to stand it up and go warm on it."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/11/AR2008041103655.html?nav=rss_print/asection

[neverforget]

1. The survelliance state is nearly complete. They just need cameras in the homes

of all Americans to make sure they are "good" Americans.

[chat_noir]

7. John Twelve Hawks call it the "Vast Machine"

"It is safer to live off the grid, unconnected to the vast technology, because unseen people are watching our every move, employing technology we have barely imagined". - John Twelve Hawks, author of "The Traveler" trilogy


Ten ways to thwart Big Brother
We've never been under such intense scrutiny as we are today. So how do we evade the snoopers? Here, an 'off-grid' expert offers an insider's guide.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/oct/28/comment.humanrights

[Lasher]

2. Hey, they're not gonna spy on us.

See, Mike said so. :eyes:

Just a few little things to wrap up Junior's presidency: Real time video of you boinking your girlfriend in your back yard, war with Iran, gut Social Security, retroactive immunity for telecoms who teamed up with Junior and Lord Vader to break the law, make rich peoples' tax cuts permanent, etc etc etc.

[babylonsister]

3. Rec'd. 'once privacy and civil rights concerns are resolved'. If that's

the case, I don't see it happening. We better keep an eye on the Dems and what they do with this.

[RedSock]

45. oh don't worry

THIS is the time the Dems will stand up and challenge *.

:sarcasm:

[jazzjunkysue]

48. No prob. They'll just outlaw privacy and civil rights. Easy!

Sich Heil!

[alfredo]

4. At noon every 4th of July, go outside and shoot the bird at the sky.

[tbyg52]

15. That was my first thought as well,

but I was planning on doing it every time I stepped outside the door....

[alfredo]

16. Oh sure, but that is just practice for the big bird.

[pattmarty]

5. This just reminded me of two "good" movies...................

............."Enemy of the State", and "Three days of the Condor".

[Solly Mack]

6. ffffffffff

"The legal framework that governs the National Applications Office . . . is reflected in the Constitution, the U.S. Code and all other U.S. laws," said DHS spokeswoman Laura Keehner. She said its operations will be subject to "robust," structured legal scrutiny by multiple agencies."

If that were true, then DHS could easily cite the "legal underpinnings" code by code.

Instead of relying on someone's unitary executive wet dream

[NBachers]

9. "Robust"

"Robust." It has become the new cover word for nefarious activities. Any time I hear the word "Robust" I know someone's trying to get away with something they shouldn't be allowed to do.

[NJCher]

10. yeah, bushco keeps co-opting the English language

"Robust" is one of their favorite word dodges. They've been using it (and I've been screaming about it) for a long time. You've nailed it: when one sees "robust," think ILLEGAL.

Cher

[Solly Mack]

14. You're right, it has...and you're right, it does mean "I'm lying my ass off"

[bluesmail]

8. who's going to break the cycle of corruption? K&R

They keep coming up with wilder more illegalities. I'm outraged

[Kip Humphrey]

11. Look up and say," CHEEEESE!"

[Bandit]

12. Big Brother is watching you

Republicans made it so..

[hootinholler]

13. When I'm once again in a position to buy some land...

My orchard will be planted in the shape of a big middle finger. We might as well make a statement.

-Hoot

[BadgerKid]

29. Mow or crop-circle "the bird" :D n/t

[mahatmakanejeeves]

46. Apropos that....

The Oregon Health Sciences Institute has a huge facility and medical school located high on a hill to the southwest of downtown Portland. If I'm not mistaken, they recently built a tramway to connect downtown to the institute. People living under the tramway were concerned that passengers would be able to look down on them. "Not a worry," said the people running the tramway. So, one of those residents put up a sign that said "F*** You" aimed at the tramway. Wouldn't you know it? You could see that from the tramway.

[Ichingcarpenter]

17. Administration Set to Use New Spy Program in U.S.

Source: Washington Post

The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department will activate his department's new domestic satellite surveillance office in stages, starting as soon as possible with traditional scientific and homeland security activities -- such as tracking hurricane damage, monitoring climate change and creating terrain maps.

Sophisticated overhead sensor data will be used for law enforcement once privacy and civil rights concerns are resolved, he said. The department has previously said the program will not intercept communications.

"There is no basis to suggest that this process is in any way insufficient to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans," Chertoff wrote to Reps. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and Jane Harman (D-Calif.), chairmen of the House Homeland Security Committee and its intelligence subcommittee, respectively, in letters released yesterday.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/11/AR2008041103655.html?referrer=digg

[ladjf]

18. They want us to be afraid of "Big Brother". "You'd better watch

out, because he's knows when you've been good or bad". He's the "Boogie Man in the Sky".

[Ichingcarpenter]

19. FBI’s “Quantico Circuit” — Still Spying, Still Lying

Tuesday’s Washington Post reports that FBI investigators “with the click of a mouse, instantly transfer key data along a computer circuit to an FBI technology office in Quantico.”

Last month, I wrote that evidence of the Bureau’s massive spying operations on Americans had been uncovered and “that a new FISA whistleblower has stepped forward with information about a major wireless provider apparently granting the state unrestricted access to all of their customers’ voice communications and electronic data via a so-called ‘Quantico Circuit’.”

According to whistleblower Babak Pasdar, a telecom carrier he worked for as a security consultant, subsequently named as Verizon by the Post, said the company maintained a high-speed DS-3 digital line that allowed the Bureau and other security agencies “unfettered” access to the carrier’s wireless network, including billing records and customer data “transmitted wirelessly.”


Despite half-hearted protests by Congress, the FBI’s budget for these operations have increased significantly. According to Post reporter Ellen Nakashima,

"The bureau says its budget for the collection system increased from $30 million in 2007 to $40 million in 2008. Information lawfully collected by the FBI from telecom firms can be shared with law enforcement and intelligence-gathering partners, including the National Security Agency and the CIA. Likewise, under guidelines approved by the attorney general or a court, some intercept data gathered by intelligence agencies can be shared with law enforcement agencies."

But who’s “watching the watchers,” or in this case, the listeners?>>>>>snip


http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/fbis-quantico-circuit-still-spying-still-lying/

[Whoa_Nelly]

20. Yeah, sure McFuckwad! Yeah...no civil rights will be in jeopardy...thanks!

[xxqqqzme]

21. we are all soooooo screwn!

[ForPeace]

22. Why the double negative?

I always think people are trying to confuse me when they do that. "There is no basis to suggest that this process is in any way insufficient ...". What's wrong with "this process is sufficient ..." ?

[burythehatchet]

26. very critical distinction. One is declarative, the other is non-declarative

that one is the weasel word sentence that allows the speaker a way out when the truth is revealed.

[fascisthunter]

23. McCain Wants Us to SPit in the Military's Face

by giving up our freedoms, freedoms they have died to protect. Just think about that.... he wants us to live with a totalitarian government. That's what McCain supports.

[sofa king]

24. Thus giving our enemies the opportunity for unprecedented access.

If I have a bank vault and nobody knows what's inside it, it has a certain amount of safety thanks to uncertainty. Is the vault empty? Is it full of useless paperwork, like George Bush's Air National Guard records?

But if I put a closed-circuit camera inside the vault, the very first thing a thief is going to want is not the combination to the vault. He's going to want access to that camera feed, so that the thief can know for sure that there's something worth stealing in it. Better still, the feed gives all sorts of information that the thief wouldn't otherwise know: the layout of the room, the lighting, location and type of sensors, other potential points of access besides the vault door, et cetera.

Similarly, when someone wants to do harm to America, they won't have to send their own agents into the United States first. Instead, they'll compromise our domestic spy network, identify potential recruits inside the country and use them to do the job. If the Israelis tap in, as they are often wont to do, then an enemy has two points of access, one of which isn't even in the United States.

Such a thing may already have happened in the case of the Oklahoma City bombing, where unsubstantiated stories abound about how McVeigh and Nichols were unwittingly duped into carrying out the wishes of another, external group. But we'll never know for sure.

All we'll notice is that more bad things are happening.

[DeSwiss]

25. K&R!!!

[realisticphish]

27. Whew! Good thing this won't violate our civil liberties!

Thanks, Chertoff, my mind is at ease!

[The Doctor.]

28. Everyone say "Cheese"!

[Swamp Rat]

30. k&r

[santamargarita]

31. Maybe they will see my "Fuck Bush" sign on the roof.

Fascist Pigs!

[bobthedrummer]

32. I started a parallel thread in Editorials and Other Articles-with a lot of history added

for those that are interested

"U.S. Reconnaissance Satellites: Domestic Targets..." (started 4-12-2008)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x352054

[Hissyspit]

34. Thanks.

Am checking it out now.

[psychopomp]

33. This is bullshit!

Isn't this kind of government-run surveillance society what we were supposedly fighting against when we stood against the USSR for all of those years?

[EstimatedProphet]

49. Why yes, it is

But the difference is, they were evil Commies, and we're the Good Guys.

[fascisthunter]

35. Yuh... Sure. "America is Free..." Whatever

Hey right wingers? Time to put down the crack pipes.

[NoodleyAppendage]

36. Administration Set to Use New Spy Program in U.S.

Source: Washington Post

The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department will activate his department's new domestic satellite surveillance office in stages, starting as soon as possible with traditional scientific and homeland security activities -- such as tracking hurricane damage, monitoring climate change and creating terrain maps.

Sophisticated overhead sensor data will be used for law enforcement once privacy and civil rights concerns are resolved, he said. The department has previously said the program will not intercept communications.

"There is no basis to suggest that this process is in any way insufficient to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans," Chertoff wrote to Reps. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and Jane Harman (D-Calif.), chairmen of the House Homeland Security Committee and its intelligence subcommittee, respectively, in letters released yesterday.

"I think we've fully addressed anybody's concerns," Chertoff added in remarks last week to bloggers. "I think the way is now clear to stand it up and go warm on it."



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/11/AR2008041103655_pf.html

---

The rise of fascism is like the proverbal frog in the slowly heating pot of water. At this point, America is close to the boiling point. ENOUGH. A populist revolution...pitchforks and all is required to right the course of history and restore democracy.

[Donkeykick]

37. What gets me pissed off...

is that even with this new technology something will still go wrong; then what's next--take away even more liberties? :wtf:

[Plucketeer]

38. Oh Please oh please oh please......

....please MORE "Big Brother" to keep me safe! :puke:

[nonoxy9]

39. This will be usefull intel for BlackWater when they start reinforcing local police

forces this fall. All in preperation for marshall law declaration before the elections. Oops, perhaps I've said too much.
Hang on, someone's banging on my door.

[RC]

40. Not only Blackwater, but our 'battle hardened' troops when they return home.

We have already had a little taste here with the beaten up/killed wives and children of returning service men. Just wait, we ain't seen nothin' yet.

[kestrel91316]

41. That would be "martial" law. Thank you.

The Spelling Police

[B3Nut]

43. Right, Marshall Law would be mandating the use of certain

British guitar amps :D

(sorry...in a punchy mood this AM, about to do another round of get-your-picture-taken-with-a-huge-snake at Reptile Fest...I'm the frazzled photographer again...loads of fun though!)

[ShockediSay]

42. Useful intel for the building of a permanent {NeoConFascist} Repug

majority.

[colonel odis]

44. get up on the roof of your house and spell out "BUSH SUCKS" or "SCREW W"

with paint or duct tape, something like that.

won't that look nice on google earth? :-)

[paparush]

47. Bush really firing on all cylinders = Admits to overseeing torture meetings,

ramps up satellite-based domestic spying.

"once privacy and civil rights concersn are resolve.."

This means, once DOJ writes enough 'cover-our-ass memos' to make any goddamn thing legal.

"go warm on it" - that's a really sick visual.