When Sharing Isn't So Nice
I've never been particularly impressed by colleagues who show up for work obviously ill. They really don't get much work done, but, more importantly, they do expose everyone else in the office to whatever it is they have. That kind of sharing is inexcusable, to my way of thinking.
There's another kind of sharing in the news today, this time it's the type going on between the multitude of spy agencies operating in the US. Walter Pincus describes one facet of that sharing in the Washington Post.
Information captured by the National Security Agency's secret eavesdropping on communications between the United States and overseas has been passed on to other government agencies, which cross-check the information with tips and information collected in other databases, current and former administration officials said.
The NSA has turned such information over to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and to other government entities, said three current and former senior administration officials, although it could not be determined which agencies received what types of information. Information from intercepts -- which typically includes records of telephone or e-mail communications -- would be made available by request to agencies that are allowed to have it, including the FBI, DIA, CIA and Department of Homeland Security, one former official said.
At least one of those organizations, the DIA, has used NSA information as the basis for carrying out surveillance of people in the country suspected of posing a threat, according to two sources. A DIA spokesman said the agency does not conduct such domestic surveillance but would not comment further. Spokesmen for the FBI, the CIA and the director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte, declined to comment on the use of NSA data.
...In the 1960s and 1970s, the military used NSA intercepts to maintain files on U.S. peace activists, revelations of which prompted Congress to restrict the NSA from intercepting communications of Americans.
...other agencies, one former official said, have used phone numbers or other records obtained from NSA in combination with wide-ranging databases to look for links and associations. "What data sets are included is a policy decision [made by individual agencies] when they involve other than terrorist links," he said.
DIA personnel stationed inside the United States went further on occasion, conducting physical surveillance of people or vehicles identified as a result of NSA intercepts, said two sources familiar with the operations, although the DIA said it does not conduct such activities.
The military personnel -- some of whose findings were reported to the Northern Command in Colorado -- were employed as part of the Pentagon's growing post-Sept. 11, 2001, domestic intelligence activity based on the need to protect Defense Department facilities and personnel from terrorist attacks, the sources said. [Emphasis added]
After the hearings done by Congress and the 9/11 Commission, it became pretty clear that one of the reasons the attacks were so successful was that the FBI and CIA were unable to share information on potential threats. Legislation (including the Patriot Act) was passed to cure that disconnect. Congress had obviously forgotten the original reason the wall between the FBI and the CIA was erected: there was a whole lot of abuse of citizen's rights going on as a result of the collusion. If Congress hadn't been swept up in the emotionally charged aftermath of the 2001 attacks, they might have drafted more carefully drawn statutes.
I am not suggesting that the wall be re-erected: some critical sharing is necessary, but only when the result is something other than adding to the obviously burgeoning data banks the current regime is building. The sharing should be conditioned on oversight by Congress and the federal judiciary. That way, illegal intelligence gathering can be stopped in its tracks before it pollutes all of the intelligence gathering.
As a practical matter, you'd think at least the Department of Justice would be on-board with this concept: evidence gathered illegally is inadmissible, and evidence dependent on illegal wiretaps performed by another agency is just as inadmissible. It is possible that the real terrorists who have been snagged will get off in some cases.
The current regime doesn't seem to care about such niceties, however. I expect Mr. Pincus will be visited by members of said regime who will have some interesting questions for him.
There's another kind of sharing in the news today, this time it's the type going on between the multitude of spy agencies operating in the US. Walter Pincus describes one facet of that sharing in the Washington Post.
Information captured by the National Security Agency's secret eavesdropping on communications between the United States and overseas has been passed on to other government agencies, which cross-check the information with tips and information collected in other databases, current and former administration officials said.
The NSA has turned such information over to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and to other government entities, said three current and former senior administration officials, although it could not be determined which agencies received what types of information. Information from intercepts -- which typically includes records of telephone or e-mail communications -- would be made available by request to agencies that are allowed to have it, including the FBI, DIA, CIA and Department of Homeland Security, one former official said.
At least one of those organizations, the DIA, has used NSA information as the basis for carrying out surveillance of people in the country suspected of posing a threat, according to two sources. A DIA spokesman said the agency does not conduct such domestic surveillance but would not comment further. Spokesmen for the FBI, the CIA and the director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte, declined to comment on the use of NSA data.
...In the 1960s and 1970s, the military used NSA intercepts to maintain files on U.S. peace activists, revelations of which prompted Congress to restrict the NSA from intercepting communications of Americans.
...other agencies, one former official said, have used phone numbers or other records obtained from NSA in combination with wide-ranging databases to look for links and associations. "What data sets are included is a policy decision [made by individual agencies] when they involve other than terrorist links," he said.
DIA personnel stationed inside the United States went further on occasion, conducting physical surveillance of people or vehicles identified as a result of NSA intercepts, said two sources familiar with the operations, although the DIA said it does not conduct such activities.
The military personnel -- some of whose findings were reported to the Northern Command in Colorado -- were employed as part of the Pentagon's growing post-Sept. 11, 2001, domestic intelligence activity based on the need to protect Defense Department facilities and personnel from terrorist attacks, the sources said. [Emphasis added]
After the hearings done by Congress and the 9/11 Commission, it became pretty clear that one of the reasons the attacks were so successful was that the FBI and CIA were unable to share information on potential threats. Legislation (including the Patriot Act) was passed to cure that disconnect. Congress had obviously forgotten the original reason the wall between the FBI and the CIA was erected: there was a whole lot of abuse of citizen's rights going on as a result of the collusion. If Congress hadn't been swept up in the emotionally charged aftermath of the 2001 attacks, they might have drafted more carefully drawn statutes.
I am not suggesting that the wall be re-erected: some critical sharing is necessary, but only when the result is something other than adding to the obviously burgeoning data banks the current regime is building. The sharing should be conditioned on oversight by Congress and the federal judiciary. That way, illegal intelligence gathering can be stopped in its tracks before it pollutes all of the intelligence gathering.
As a practical matter, you'd think at least the Department of Justice would be on-board with this concept: evidence gathered illegally is inadmissible, and evidence dependent on illegal wiretaps performed by another agency is just as inadmissible. It is possible that the real terrorists who have been snagged will get off in some cases.
The current regime doesn't seem to care about such niceties, however. I expect Mr. Pincus will be visited by members of said regime who will have some interesting questions for him.
posted by Diane at 5:38 AM
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