U.S. PLANS TO OUTSOURCE SIGINT

Middle East Newsline ^ | 11/24/02

[ds2000]

U.S. PLANS TO OUTSOURCE SIGINT

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States plans to outsource a large amount of its signals intelligence work in an effort to increase efficiency of its budget and manpower.

U.S. officials said the National Security Agency embarked on the effort last month with its Project Ground Breaker. The project seeks to outsource a major portion of information technology required by the NSA, the chief U.S. agency responsible for signals intelligence.

The agency's effort reflects recommendations drafted before the Al Qaida suicide attacks on New York and Washington more than a year ago. NSA has acknowledged that it did not obtain any signals intelligence that pointed to such an attack.

NSA director Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden told a joint House-Senate intelligence committee that his agency has formed a partnership with John Hopkins University for a systems engineering plan meant to fulfill data management needs. Last month, NSA awarded a contract of nearly $300 million to Science Applications International Corp. for development of Trail Blazer, which he said would revolutionize the production of SIGINT in the digital age.

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[Cboldt]

And (not related to sigint, but to outsourcing), the US Patent and Trademark Office is considering to outsource all Patent Examination activities. It is a contentious issue at the moment, but the concept is, in a way, an admission of a certain degree of intepness or inability to compete with private methods.

[ikka]

The reality is that this will allow them to bypass much of the regulation of the NSA, and provide "plausible deniability" while our freedoms are eroded even further.

Yes, we are at war - but the NSA could not be trusted on September 10th, 2001 and cannot be trusted now.

Remember, the original charter of the NSA specifically prohibits them from monitoring US citizens' communications.

[e_engineer]

The reality is that this will allow them to bypass much of the regulation of the NSA, and provide "plausible deniability" while our freedoms are eroded even further.

Or we'll get the same service we get now for a lot less money.

Think about this for a moment.
Murder is illegal. Can you get around that by outsourcing?

[itsahoot]

Dang, another good source of jobs goes to CHINA.

[XLurk]

...the original charter of the NSA specifically prohibits them from monitoring US citizens' communications...

That's why they get around this with the UKUSA plan where the Brits spy on US, we spy on the Aussie-Kiwis, the Aussie-Kiwis spy on the Brits - and around-and-around it goes.

They 'share' the information. In doing it this way nobody's privacy or rights are infringed, and the possibility for plausible deniablity/obfuscation exists all 'round.

All of this new domestic spying is merely a reshuffling of what has already been going on for decades (Echelon, ya' know...).

Menwith Hill Station UK:

Waihopai station in New Zealand: