Officials disclose potential cellphone surveillance activity near White House

The Hill ^ | 06/01/18 | Morgan Chalfant

[yesthatjallen]

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security detected potential surveillance activity near “sensitive facilities” in Washington, including the White House, according to a study conducted last year.

Officials disclosed the activity, associated with devices commonly known as “Stingrays,” in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), which was first reported by The Washington Post this week.

The revelation boosts long-held suspicions that foreign actors are using the technology to conduct spying in the nation’s capital.

Christopher Krebs, the acting head of the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), Homeland Security’s cybersecurity unit, explained in the May 22 letter that the department initiated a “limited pilot project” in the D.C. region last year to understand the activity of “Stingray” devices — formally known as International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catcher technology.

An IMSI is a unique identification number that is used to recognize any one mobile device on a cellular network. IMSI catcher technology mimics legitimate cellphone towers in order to intercept cellular communications, allowing for eavesdropping.

The tracking devices are often referred to as “stingrays” after the StingRay brand widely used by state and local police officers.

In the letter, Krebs acknowledged that Homeland Security observed “anomalous activity that appeared consistent with IMSI catcher technology within the [U.S. Capitol Region], including locations in proximity to potentially sensitive facilities like the White House” when conducting the analysis between January and November of last year.

However, the official noted that NPPD “has neither validated nor attributed such activity to specific entities, devices, or purposes.”

“It is my understanding that relevant law enforcement and counterintelligence agencies conducted further investigation and determined some detected signals were emanating from legitimate cell towers,” Krebs wrote.

Etc...

[bgill]

Obamy logging into that underground surveillance he installed.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Late 70’s the russkies were bouncing microwaves off fedgov office windows in DC.

I believe they were lasers. Sound inside the room would vibrate the windows which would modulate the laser and allow them to read the return beam. Windows in these buildings now have white noise generators attached to the windows to block out ambient sound.

[Aevery_Freeman]

Spying, meh. Just trying to protect the President.

Prophylactic cover for DOJ spying for the media.

[eyedigress]

I think the President ripped that out early on.

The new HVAC system would handle that.

[Hawthorn]

Anti-Russian fake news?

[Gator113]

“.....suspicions that foreign actors are using the technology to conduct spying in the nation’s capital.”

Not needed, they have the USA FBI, CIA, DOJ, Deep State, CNN etc.