Turkey Lobbying Case Reveals Avenue to FISA Spying Abuse
The case, however, was notable for another reason. It demonstrated how far the U.S. government has stretched the law to label Rafiekian an “agent of a foreign government”—a label that appears to open the doors for the FBI and the Justice Department to target American citizens, such as Rafiekian or Flynn, for extremely intrusive surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Many Republicans in Congress have alleged that Trump’s opponents in various branches of the government have abused the Act to spy on his aides. Attorney General William Barr set out to explore the issue, while the Justice Department’s Inspector General (IG) is expected to soon release a report addressing the matter.
The Rafiekian case adds another dimension to the issue.
Section 951
Rafiekian was charged under Section 951, which stipulates that “an individual who agrees to operate within the United States subject to the direction or control of a foreign government or official” will face up to 10 years in prison unless he or she first informs the Attorney General in writing who he is, what he’s about to do, and for whom.
On its face, the statute is extremely broad. If a foreign minister gives someone $5 to buy him a slice of New York pizza, does one have to tell the Attorney General first? That’s why the law has several exceptions, such as excluding “any person engaged in a legal commercial transaction.”
The enforcement of the statute is managed by the Justice Department’s National Security Division, which called Section 951 “espionage lite,” saying that it “generally involves espionage-like or clandestine behavior or an otherwise provable connection to an intelligence service, or information gathering or procurement-type activity on behalf of a foreign government,” according to a 2016 IG report (pdf).
But Rafiekian wasn’t alleged to have engaged in any such activity.
Space force:
Here’s How the X-37B Spaceplane ‘Disappears’
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/amp28496447/x-37b-disappear/
Former Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson revealed to an audience last week that the X-37B spaceplane can pull off maneuvers in space that drives potential adversaries “nuts.” Although maddeningly unspecific, experts believe she was referring to the X-37B’s ability to change its orbit, throwing off both amateur and professional satellite watchers and making the spacecraft unpredictable.
According to Military.com, Wilson was speaking at the Apsen Security Forum when she remarked that the X-37B “can do an orbit that looks like an egg and, when it’s close to the Earth, it’s close enough to the atmosphere to turn where it is.”
“Which means our adversaries don’t know—and that happens on the far side of the Earth from our adversaries—where it’s going to come up next. And we know that that drives them nuts. And I’m really glad about that.”
Experts polled by Military.com suggested Wilson is referring to the increased drag that the spaceplane would encounter flying close to the atmosphere. Atmospheric drag, combined with the Space Shuttle-like vehicle’s stubby wings, would make it possible for the X-37B to change its orbit, throwing off space watchers who had previously detected it and predicted it would arrive at a certain point. The maneuver would be carried out while the spacecraft was on the opposite end of the Earth, out of view of adversaries.
Example: the Chinese military has located the X-37B in space and is maneuvering satellites to get a closer look at it. If the U.S. gets wind of the operation, spotting the approaching Chinese satellites, it could order the X-37B to change its orbit—ideally over South America—the opposite end of the Earth from China. The X-37B would simply fail to show up at the designated time, forcing the Chinese to reacquire the spacecraft and start the operation all over again.
A hint of this capability may have been mentioned earlier this year, when a civilian space watcher released photos of the X-37B. Dutch satellite watcher Ralf Vandebergh told Space.com he originally caught sight of the X-37B in May of 2019 but when he went to look for it again in June the spaceplane was nowhere to be found. It had moved to a different orbit.