Free Republic

The National Security Agency has been working with Microsoft Corp. to help improve security measures for its new Windows 7 operating system, a senior NSA official said on Tuesday. The confirmation of the NSA's role, which began during the development of the software, is a sign of the agency's deepening involvement with the private sector when it comes to building defenses against cyberattacks. "Working in partnership with Microsoft and (the Department of Defense), NSA leveraged our unique expertise and operational knowledge of system threats and vulnerabilities to enhance Microsoft's operating system security guide without constraining the user's ability to perform...

The National Security Agency, whose job it is to protect national security systems, will soon break ground on a data center in Utah that's budgeted to cost $1.5 billion. The NSA is building the facility to provide intelligence and warnings related to cybersecurity threats, cybersecurity support to defense and civilian agency networks, and technical assistance to the Department of Homeland Security, according to a transcript of remarks by Glenn Gaffney, deputy director of national intelligence for collection, who is responsible for oversight of cyber intelligence activities in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. "Our country must continue to...

There’s an interesting article in the current New York Review of books (predictably, a book review) detailing the history of the National Security Agency, that shadowy power-behind-the-power to which we surrender much of our privacy. That in itself is interesting, but I found the introduction a bit shocking: the NSA is constructing a datacenter in the Utah desert that they project will be storing yottabytes of surveillance data. And what is a yottabyte? I’m glad you asked. There are a thousand gigabytes in a terabyte, a thousand terabytes in a petabyte, a thousand petabytes in an exabyte, a thousand exabytes...

One of the worst-kept secrets in Utah was made official Friday with the announcement that Camp Williams will be the site of a new national cybersecurity data center. The site beat out 37 others nationwide for a $1.5 billion project that will employ as many as 10,000 workers during construction and between 100 and 200 once it becomes operational in two years.

America's National Security Adviser Jim Jones over the weekend gave a pass to Iran, dismissing concerns that the regime had a nuclear arms program that was dangerously close to success. He stood by the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that was widely criticized as being grievously flawed when it stated that Iran did not have a nuclear weapons program. That report was discredited two years ago but apparently Jones has his finger to the wind and changed his mind to suit his political patrons. But this shifting to suit politicians is par for the course for him -- he has also done...

Quote: 02 October 2009 REGARDING FORUMS The disruption of forums, a study of what is wrong with jihadi forums from the jihadi perspective, and another 'oh allah, the forums are all down' post Sample of the colorful commentary: Posted on 02 October 2009 @ 13:06

Mike Daugherty asked his 11-year-old son Logan what he wanted for his birthday. The boy said, "I want a cannon." Dad didn't scoff at Logan's request by saying, "How about a hippopotamus instead," as a Christmas song from another era lamented. No, Daugherty is not that kind of guy. He granted his son's wish and built him a Civil War-era cannon not a model, the real deal. The howitzer fires and rivals anything seen at Civil War reenactments across the country. He said it took him about two weeks to build and is worth about $6,000. "It looks like something...

They're expanding: The years-in-the-making project, which may cost billions over time, got a $181 million start last week when President Obama signed a war spending bill in which Congress agreed to pay for primary construction, power access and security infrastructure. The enormous building, which will have a footprint about three times the size of the Utah State Capitol building, will be constructed on a 200-acre site near the Utah National Guard facility's runway. Congressional records show that initial construction -- which may begin this year -- will include tens of millions in electrical work and utility construction, a $9.3 million...

"Cybersecurity Plan to Involve NSA, Telecoms DHS Officials Debating The Privacy Implications" SNIPPET: "The Obama administration will proceed with a Bush-era plan to use National Security Agency assistance in screening government computer traffic on private-sector networks, with AT&T as the likely test site, according to three current and former government officials. President Obama said in May that government efforts to protect computer systems from attack would not involve "monitoring private-sector networks or Internet traffic," and Department of Homeland Security officials say the new program will scrutinize only data going to or from government systems."

The United States’ National Security Agency (NSA) is planning on spending around $1.8 billion to build itself a new, million square foot data center in Fort Williams, Utah, according to a document on military construction for 2009. This branching out is largely due to the fact that the NSA’s power bill is too much, so the move is in hopes of doing the same work in a place where electricity is cheaper. The initial infrastructure is for 65MW of power distribution, but it seems that the ultimate plan is to build a 5.8 million square foot “campus” at its current...

The Obama administration will proceed with a Bush-era plan to use National Security Agency assistance in screening government computer traffic on private-sector networks, with AT&T as the likely test site, according to three current and former government officials. — “We absolutely intend to use the technical resources, the substantial ones, that NSA has. But . . . they will be guided, led and in a sense directed by the people we have at the Department of Homeland Security,” the department’s secretary, Janet Napolitano, told reporters in a discussion about cybersecurity efforts. … The program is the most controversial element of...

Psst: The super-secretive National Security Agency is about to build a huge, $1.9 billion data center at Camp Williams, Utah, to help spy on communications worldwide. The planned work there is so sensitive and classified that Utah's congressional delegation is declining to talk about it, saying it doesn't want to accidentally step over any lines about what can and cannot be disclosed. They referred inquiries to the NSA, which provided only a brief statement confirming the center is coming to Utah.

(WSWS) -- Several current and former agents within the National Security Agency (NSA), speaking on condition of anonymity, have told the New York Times that the spy agency likely monitors millions of e-mail communications and telephone calls made by Americans. The new revelations follow the disclosure in April that the NSA’s monitoring of domestic e-mail traffic broke the law in 2008 and 2009. Last year, Congress passed legislation providing the NSA greater latitude to spy on the communications of Americans, so long as it resulted inadvertently from the agency’s efforts to spy on foreigners or those it “reasonably believed” to...

I am picking up the vibe that some powerful people want to have Defense Secretary Robert Gates move over to the White House to replace retired Marine Gen. James Jones as national security advisor. Maybe this is the reason Gates made pro-Jones comments to Washington Post columnist David Ignatius the other day. "I think of Jim as the glue that holds this team together," Gates said.

As a cyber space race looms, the military is looking for a few good geeks. High school hackers, crackers and digital deviants: Uncle Sam wants you. As part of a government information security review released as early as Friday, White House interim cybersecurity chief Melissa Hathaway likely will mention a new military-funded program aimed at leveraging an untapped resource: the U.S.' population of geeky high school and college students. The so-called Cyber Challenge, which will be officially announced later this month, will create three new national competitions for high school and college students intended to foster a young generation of...

The head of America's National Security Agency says that America needs to build a digital warfare force for the future, according to reports. Lt Gen Keith Alexander, who also heads the Pentagon's new Cyber Command, outlined his views in a report for the House Armed Services subcommittee. In it, he stated that the US needed to reorganise its offensive and defensive cyber operations. The general also said more resources and training were needed. The report, part of which was outlined in an Associated Press news agency story, is due to be presented to the subcommittee on Tuesday. During the past...

April was a cruel month indeed for new Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The weeks before the Swine Flu outbreak found her stumbling through reporters’ questions about a DHS threat assessment memo on “Rightwing Extremism.” That memo urged law enforcers nationwide to monitor the allegedly gathering danger from Rightist radicals, including pro-lifers, immigration opponents, and those who reject “federal authority in favor of state and local authority.” Was this a sinister conspiracy by an administration full of Chard-sipping arugula eaters determined to spy on Red-State patriots? That‘s quite unlikely: The memo was commissioned during the Bush administration, as was a...

"I knew it! The NSA was not the agency tapping Rep. Jane Harman's calls" "The NSA story never made any sense." "The only other agency that has authority to place wiretaps on calls inside the United States is the Justice Department. It requires court approval."

Pelosi Knew About Harman Wiretap By Tory Newmyer Roll Call Staff April 22, 2009, 1:50 p.m. Pelosi Knew About Harman Wiretap Report on Detainees Raises New Questions for Obama Hoyer Voices Concern Over Wiretapping of Members Democratic Senate Women to Headline Event for Gillibrand NAFCU Board Votes to Publicly Oppose Cram-Down The National Security Agency briefed Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “a few years ago” that they had wiretapped Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), Pelosi revealed Wednesday. But Pelosi said she was not told what federal eavesdroppers picked up on the call — and never alerted Harman to it. “It was not...

>Harman Vehemently Denies Bribery Allegations Allegedly Caught on NSA Tapes [California Democratic Congresswoman] Jane Harman says she never offered to help a "suspected Israeli agent" in exchange for the agent lobbying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a key chairmanship for Harman. [California Democratic Congresswoman] Jane Harman vehemently denied on Monday allegations published in a congressional magazine that she had offered to help a "suspected Israeli agent" seek reduced charges for two men accused of espionage in exchange for the agent lobbying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a key chairmanship for Harman. ,,, Harman, a California Democrat, was overlooked by Pelosi...

COVERT RADIO SHOW.com http://covertradioshow.com Covert Radio Show: "The Daily Blast" http://covertradioshow.com/podcast.cfm?pid=176 "Here it is, we cover everything from Barack Obamachev (Ny Times called him that) to the Waterboarding of KSM...its a sizzler!" (April 20, 2009)

Report: Jane Harman recorded vowing take action for AIPAC on wiretap @ 9:33 am by Jeremy P. Jacobs Congresswoman Jane Harman was recorded on a NSA wiretapped conversation agreeing to work to downgrade espionage charges against two officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in return for help securing the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee, according to Jeff Stein's anonymously sourced column in Congressional Quarterly. Harman, a California Democrat, was allegedly recorded in a conversation with a suspected Israeli agent. The conversation reportedly took place before the 2006 election, when Democrats seized control of the chamber and, therefore,...

The Obama administration suffered a bit of a legal setback this afternoon: a federal judge in California rejected the administration's assertion of the state secrets privilege in the civil suit brought by an Islamic charity that was allegedly subjected to illegal NSA surveillance...

I have been reading the many different articles today on the NSA's eavesdropping activity. It's appalling, to me, that the occupier of the White House would allow such a practice to continue, especially after campaigning on the promise of: No warrantless wiretaps if you elect me!" Now, since being elected, by hiding his Birth Certificate and lying in nearly everything he promised, he proves himself the Socialist and liar that he truly is. 0bama has steadfastly defended President Bush's wiretapping program, and, in fact, 0bama has increased the wiretaps! All the while staking claim to his own brand new...

WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews.

PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --The Justice Department has reined in electronic surveillance by the National Security Agency after finding the agency had improperly accessed American phone calls and e-mails. The problems were discovered during a review of the intelligence activities, the Justice Department said in a statement Wednesday night. The New York Times, which first reported the matter on its Web site, said the NSA had been improperly intercepting communications by Americans...

The buzz online today may have been about Robert Scoble's exit from Fast Company, but there's a major change afoot at the top of the NCSC: Rod Beckström, the director, has submitted his resignation to DHS head Janet Napolitano effective in one week (that is, Friday the 13th). The move comes after rumors of ferocious power struggles at NCSC, which Beckström has led since its inception last year. The politics at DHS, which oversees NCSC, can't have been much fun for the co-author of The Starfish and the Spider, a book advocating for "the unstoppable power of leaderless organizations." In...

Suspicious phone conversations on Skype could be targeted for tapping as part of a pan-European crackdown on what law authorities believe is a massive technical loophole in current wiretapping laws, allowing criminals to communicate without fear of being overheard by the police. The European investigation could also help U.S. law enforcement authorities gain access to Internet calls. The National Security Agency (NSA) is understood to believe that suspected terrorists use Skype to circumvent detection. While the police can get a court order to tap a suspect's land line and mobile phone, it is currently impossible to get a similar order...

Col. Riley former division chief national security agency joins our action We ask our patriots from MO, OK , VA, and FL, where Colonel Harry Riley lives and was stationed to join the action and support their brave military constituents and fellow State Representatives!

(02-23) 17:32 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge in San Francisco is raising questions about the constitutionality of a law designed to dismiss suits against telecommunications companies accused of cooperating with government wiretapping. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker has asked President Obama's Justice Department to present its views by Wednesday on whether the law gives the attorney general too much power to decide whether a company is immune from lawsuits. Obama supported the measure as a senator when Congress approved it last year. Department spokesman Charles Miller declined to discuss the administration's response before Wednesday's filing. But Obama's...

NEVER-BEFORE-REVEALED TERRORIST TRAINING VIDEO EXPOSES 35 COMPOUNDS ON AMERICAN SOILBy Steve Foley - Posted on February 9th, 2009 Press Release from the Christian Action Network “Act like you are his friend. Then kill him.” – Sheik Muburak Gilani explaining how to kill American infidels Washington, DC—Christian Action Network will show Homegrown Jihad at the Landmark Theater in Washington, DC, on February 11, 2009, at 7:30 pm. There is no charge to attend the viewing. Copies can also be obtained at www.christianaction.org. The American public was never supposed to know. The 2006 Justice Department document that exposes 35 terrorist training compounds...

President Obama's choice to run the Justice Department has assured senior Republican senators that he won't prosecute intelligence officers or political appointees who were involved in the Bush administration's policy of "enhanced interrogations." Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, Missouri Republican and vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in an interview with The Washington Times that he will support Eric H. Holder Jr.'s nomination for attorney general because Mr. Holder assured him privately that Mr. Obama's Justice Department will not prosecute former Bush officials involved in the interrogations program. Mr. Holder's promise apparently was key to moving his...

...These were just really everyday, average, ordinary Americans who happened to be in the Middle East, in our area of intercept and happened to be making these phone calls on satellite phones," said Adrienne Kinne, a 31-year old US Army Reserves Arab linguist assigned to a special military program at the NSA's Back Hall at Fort Gordon from November 2001 to 2003. Kinne described the contents of the calls as "personal, private things with Americans who are not in any way, shape or form associated with anything to do with terrorism." She said US military officers, American journalists and American...

I canceled Direct TV. I used a purchased (no contract) PVR and paid Direct TV for dual reception. Now they say they own the PVR and I must return it or pay them $400+. Is this true?

The plan being discussed would eliminate the independent homeland security adviser’s office and assign those duties to the National Security Council to streamline sometimes overlapping functions. A deputy national security adviser would be charged with overseeing the effort to guard against terrorism and to respond to natural disasters. Mr. Bush's aides, including the national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, have privately urged Mr. Obama's advisers not to get rid of the separate homeland security office, warning that it would load too many responsibilities on the National Security Council and risk important matters' falling through the cracks.

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2009/01/20090107-4.html For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary January 7, 2009 Remarks by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley at the Center for Strategic and International Studies CSIS Washington, D.C. White House News National Security Council In Focus: National Security 10:40 A.M. EST MR. HADLEY: Thank you, John, very much for those kind words. I'm honored to be here at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. I thank you for the research you conduct, the analysis you provide, and the policy ideas that you develop. In less than two weeks, a new...

Guess who thinks Leon Panetta will be just perfect at CIA? Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, Lake's deputy before becoming national security adviser himself, said that Panetta "was part of the decision-making process for every single issue we were dealing with, whether this was in the Oval Office with the president or the Cabinet Room — the Middle East, Kosovo, China. He was a part of a small group of people who advised the president how to proceed on strategy and substance." Yes, that Sandy Berger. Former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger was sentenced Thursday to community service and probation and...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2009/01/20090105-4.html For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary January 5, 2009 Statement by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley White House News In Focus: Africa Today, President Bush announced his approval of the airlift of equipment for the United Nations/African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). The President also authorized the waiver of the 15-day congressional notification requirements to allow the airlift assistance to proceed immediately, because failing to do so would pose a substantial risk to human health and welfare. The U.S. provision of airlift will deliver equipment and vehicles that are critical...

The U.S. National Security Agency has patented a technique for figuring out whether someone is tampering with network communication. The NSA's software does this by measuring the amount of time the network takes to send different types of data from one computer to another and raising a red flag if something takes too long, according to the patent filing. Other researchers have looked into this problem in the past and proposed a technique called distance bounding, but the NSA patent takes a different tack, comparing different types of data travelling across the network. "The neat thing about this particular patent...

The current Newsweek cover story by Michael Isikoff identifies one of the major sources for the New York Times article blowing the government's terrorist surveillance program. He is one Thomas Tamm. Newsweek asks: "Is he a hero or a criminal?" As I wrote over the weekend, the perspective of the photograph accompanying the article -- looking up at Tamm's craggy face -- leaves no doubt about where Newsweek stands. It's a little like Monica's accustomed perspective on Bill Clinton. In "Newsweek's hero," I argued that Tamm was quite obviously a criminal. Other bloggers have done a good job rounding out...

Thomas M. Tamm was entrusted with some of the government's most important secrets. He had a Sensitive Compartmented Information security clearance, a level above Top Secret. Government agents had probed Tamm's background, his friends and associates, and determined him trustworthy. It's easy to see why: he comes from a family of high-ranking FBI officials. During his childhood, he played under the desk of J. Edgar Hoover, and as an adult, he enjoyed a long and successful career as a prosecutor. Now gray-haired, 56 and fighting a paunch, Tamm prides himself on his personal rectitude. He has what his 23-year-old son,...

House Panel to Ask for NSA Spying Probe A congressional panel will ask the National Security Agency's internal watchdog to investigate whether the super-secret spy agency eavesdropped without warrants on a Muslim scholar and later hid that evidence in a 2005 terror prosecution that got him a life sentence.The House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel and the judge overseeing the case want the NSA's inspector general to find out if the government failed to disclose evidence that might have cleared the name of a Northern Virginia spiritual leader Ali al-Timimi, Rep. Rush Holt (D- New Jersey) told the New York Times.That...

WASHINGTON — A Democratic official says retired Marine Gen. James Jones is President-elect Barack Obama's pick to be national security adviser. Obama plans to name his foreign policy team after the Thanksgiving holiday.

The US government eavesdropped on Tony Blair while he was British prime minister, according to claims made by a former employee of the National Security Agency. ABC News on Monday reported that the NSA had eavesdropped on Mr Blair and Ghazi al-Yawer, the first Iraqi president following the 2003 invasion. The White House did not respond to inquiries. Making the allegations to ABC, David Faulk, a former NSA Arabic linguist who worked for the spy agency at Fort Gordon, Georgia, claimed to have had access to a top secret database called “Anchory” in 2006 that included personal details about Mr...

Two leading civil rights groups plan to file lawsuits Tuesday against the Bush administration over its domestic spying program.... The Center for Constitutional Rights plans to sue on behalf of four lawyers at the center and a legal assistant there who work on terrorism-related cases at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba,... Similarly, the plaintiffs in the A.C.L.U. lawsuit include five Americans who work in international policy and terrorism, along with the A.C.L.U. and three other groups.... One of the A.C.L.U. plaintiffs, Larry Diamond, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute, ... Also named as plaintiffs in the A.C.L.U. lawsuit are the journalist...

Soviet Strategic Forces Went on Alert Three Times during September-October 1962 Because of Apprehension over Cuban Situation, Top Secret Codeword History of National Security Agency Shows Washington DC, November 14, 2008 - Forty-six years ago, a month before the Cuban Missile crisis, Soviet leaders put their strategic forces on their “highest readiness stage since the beginning of the Cold War,” according to a newly declassified internal history of the National Security Agency published today for the first time by the National Security Archive. Possibly responding to President Kennedy’s call for reserves, perhaps worried that the White House had discovered Moscow’s...

When Barack Obama takes the oath of office on January 20, Americans won't just get a new president; they might finally learn the full extent of George W. Bush's warrantless domestic wiretapping. Since The New York Times first revealed in 2005 that the NSA was eavesdropping on citizens' overseas phone calls and e-mail, few additional details about the massive "Terrorist Surveillance Program" have emerged. That's because the Bush administration has stonewalled, misled and denied documents to Congress, and subpoenaed the phone records of the investigative reporters.

Despite pledges by President George W. Bush and American intelligence officials to the contrary, hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they called friends and family back home, according to two former military intercept operators who worked at the giant National Security Agency (NSA) center in Fort Gordon, Georgia. "These were just really everyday, average, ordinary Americans who happened to be in the Middle East, in our area of intercept and happened to be making these phone calls on satellite phones," said Adrienne Kinne, a 31-year old US Army Reserves Arab linguist assigned to a special military...

The FBI has blocked two of its veteran counterterrorism agents from going public with accusations that the CIA deliberately withheld crucial intelligence before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. FBI Special Agents Mark Rossini and Douglas Miller have asked for permission to appear in an upcoming public television documentary, scheduled to air in January, on pre-9/11 rivalries between the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency. The program is a spin-off from The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America, by acclaimed investigative reporter James Bamford, due out in a matter of days. The FBI denied Rossini...

(IsraelNN.com) Syrian President Bashar Assad's top aide and adviser, General Mohammed Suleiman, was assassinated on Friday, according to Arab news sources. Suleiman, who was also Syria's liaison officer to the Hizbullah terrorist organization in Lebanon, was shot and killed by an unidentified sniper in the Syrian port city of Tartous. Syrian authorities tried unsuccessfully to prevent publication of the news. The country's Albawaba newspaper, which reported the incident, speculated that Israel might have been behind the killing. Both Albawaba and the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper raised the issue of last February's assassination of Hizbullah second-in-command Imad Mughniyeh, who died in a...