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Bush.NSA Warrantless Wiretapping FEBRUARY 1,2001
Submitted by pbtrue1 on Thu, 06/26/2008 - 7:26am.
NSA Started Program 7 Months Before 9/11
Submitted by pbtrue1 on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 11:41pm.
Long, but important to understand.
Qwest CEO Not Alone in Alleging NSA Started Domestic Phone Record Program 7 Months Before 9/11
By Ryan Singel October 12, 2007
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/10/qwest-ceo-not-a.html
Startling statements from former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio's defense documents alleging the National Security Agency began building a massive call records database seven months before 9/11 aren't the only accusations that the controversial program predated the attacks of 9/11.
According to court documents unveiled this week, former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio clearly wanted to argue in court that the NSA retaliated against his company after he turned down a NSA request on February 27, 2001 that he thought was illegal. Nacchio's attorney issued a carefully worded statement in 2006, saying that Nacchio had turned down the NSA's repeated requests for customer call records. The statement says that Nacchio was asked for the records in the fall of 2001, but doesn't say he was "first asked" then.
And in May 2006, a lawsuit filed against Verizon for allegedly turning over call records to the NSA alleged that AT&T began building a spying facility for the NSA just days after President Bush was inaugurated. That lawsuit is one of 50 that were consolidated and moved to a San Francisco federal district court, where the suits sit in limbo waiting for the 9th Circuit Appeals court to decide whether the suits can proceed without endangering national security.
According the allegations in the suit (.pdf):
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/files/groundbreakerlawsuit.pdf
The project was described in the ATT sales division documents as calling for the construction of a facility to store and retain data gathered by the NSA from its domestic and foreign intelligence operations but was to be in actuality a duplicate ATT Network Operations Center for the use and possession of the NSA that would give the NSA direct, unlimited, unrestricted and unfettered access to all call information and internet and digital traffic on ATTÌs long distance network. [...]
The NSA program was initially conceived at least one year prior to 2001 but had been called off; it was reinstated within 11 days of the entry into office of defendant George W. Bush.
An ATT Solutions logbook reviewed by counsel confirms the Pioneer-Groundbreaker project start date of February 1, 2001.
The allegations in that case come from unnamed AT&T insiders, who have never stepped forward or provided any documentation to the courts. But Carl Mayer, one of the attorneys in the case, stands by the allegations in the lawsuit.
"All we can say is, we told you so," Mayer told THREAT LEVEL.
[...]
Immunity isn't what Mayer wants.
"The real obligation is upon the Democrats to demand turnover of these documents," Mayer said.
But Mayer and Nacchio may not even be the only two arguing that the NSA started a program of collecting Americans' phone records before 9/11.
In a January 2006 Slate article that came out before the USA Today totally blew open the call records story in May 2006, Tim Naftali and THREAT LEVEL pal Shane Harris reported:
A former telecom executive told us that efforts to obtain call details go back to early 2001, predating the 9/11 attacks and the president's now celebrated secret executive order. The source, who asked not to be identified so as not to out his former company, reports that the NSA approached U.S. carriers and asked for their cooperation in a "data-mining" operation, which might eventually cull "millions" of individual calls and emails.
So, the question is was Nacchio the one talking to Harris and Natfali? Or was it an executive from another company?
The evidence remains inconclusive, but one would think that before telecoms get immunity for allegedly helping the government after 9/11 out of patriotism, Congress should see if the companies began helping out prior to 9/11 with their eyes not on the flag, but on the secret dollars that the NSA could add to their bottom lines.
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NSA's Pioneer-Groundbreaker project / spying on Americans
The NSA program was initially conceived at least one year prior to 2001 but had been called off; it was reinstated within 11 days of the entry into office of defendant George W. Bush.
An ATT Solutions logbook reviewed by counsel confirms the Pioneer-Groundbreaker project start date of February 1, 2001.
Bloomberg
Spy Agency Sought U.S. Call Records Before 9/11, Lawyers Say
By Andrew Harris
June 30 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court papers filed in New York federal court.
The allegation is part of a court filing adding AT&T, the nation's largest telephone company, as a defendant in a breach of privacy case filed earlier this month on behalf of Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. customers. The suit alleges that the three carriers, the NSA and President George W. Bush violated the Telecommunications Act of 1934 and the U.S. Constitution, and seeks money damages.
``The Bush Administration asserted this became necessary after 9/11,'' plaintiff's lawyer Carl Mayer said in a telephone interview. ``This undermines that assertion.''
The lawsuit is related to an alleged NSA program to record and store data on calls placed by subscribers. More than 30 suits have been filed over claims that the carriers, the three biggest U.S. telephone companies, violated the privacy rights of their customers by cooperating with the NSA in an effort to track alleged terrorists.
``The U.S. Department of Justice has stated that AT&T may neither confirm nor deny AT&T's participation in the alleged NSA program because doing so would cause `exceptionally grave harm to national security' and would violate both civil and criminal statutes,'' AT&T spokesman Dave Pacholczyk said in an e-mail.
U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Charles Miller and NSA spokesman Don Weber declined to comment.
Pioneer Groundbreaker
The NSA initiative, code-named ``Pioneer Groundbreaker,'' asked AT&T unit AT&T Solutions to build exclusively for NSA use a network operations center which duplicated AT&T's Bedminster, New Jersey facility, the court papers claimed. That plan was abandoned in favor of the NSA acquiring the monitoring technology itself, plaintiffs' lawyers Bruce Afran said.
The NSA says on its Web site that in June 2000, the agency was seeking bids for a project to ``modernize and improve its information technology infrastructure.'' The plan, which included the privatization of its ``non-mission related'' systems support, was said to be part of Project Groundbreaker.
Mayer said the Pioneer project is ``a different component'' of that initiative.
[...]
NSA, June 2000 was seeking bids for a project
http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20000613S0012
June 13, 2000 (1:49 PM EDT)
U.S. Spy Agency To Seek Private IT Partners
By George Leopold ,
The National Security Agency will turn to private industry to develop and maintain most of its unclassified information technology infrastructure as part of an initiative "to refocus agency assets on core functions that directly support its national security missions," agency officials said.
(June 13, 2000 minus one week = June7?, 2000)
The NSA announced the decision last week after completing a 15-month feasibility study called Project Groundbreaker. The study was designed to assess whether the agency's IT infrastructure requirements could be met by the private sector and to compare government and industry performance in providing information technology such as desktop computers, servers, and voice and data networks.
The agency said it will stage a "managed competition" to purchase equipment. A single 10-year contract could reportedly be worth $5 billion.
NSA officials called the decision to purchase commercial equipment a "dramatic change in NSA's long-standing IT operations."
"In order to remain successful in our foreign signals intelligence and information assurance missions, we must immediately begin to invest in our IT infrastructure to secure NSA's agility and adaptability in the Information Age," said Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, NSA director. "It is critical that we have a robust and reliable infrastructure capable of supporting our missions."
The NSA was hit by a computer failure in January that crippled its global spy network, preventing the processing of signals intelligence for several days. The massive failure reportedly inspired the IT modernization effort.
The agency has traditionally developed spy technology in-house at its Fort Meade, Md., headquarters. It was instrumental in developing the first supercomputers that were used to process signals intelligence gathered from listening posts around the world. However, the proliferation of encryption and fiber-optic technology has forced the agency to refocus its development efforts on spy technology and to consider buying IT equipment off-the-shelf.
"Explosive growth in the global network and new technologies makes our partnership with industry more vital to NSA's success than ever before," Hayden said.
NSA has also attempted to reach out to industry and U.S. universities to develop information security policies and standards. For instance, it created the National Information Assurance Partnership in 1997 with the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Md., to address security testing needs for IT equipment manufacturers and users.
Despite these outreach efforts, critics of U.S. restrictions on exports of encryption technology viewed the initiatives with suspicion.
Four areas will be covered under NSA's IT contract: distributed computing, enterprise/security management, networks, and telephony. The modernization effort is expected to save the government as much as $1 billion over 10 years. The agency said it would select a contractor by spring 2001.
The agency's initiative builds on a 1998 pilot program to develop an approach for outsourcing 20 legacy software systems.
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That puts this NSA upgrade plan under Clinton....
The NSA says on its Web site that in June 2000, the agency was seeking bids for a project to ``modernize and improve its information technology infrastructure.'' The plan, which included the privatization of its ``non-mission related'' systems support, was said to be part of Project Groundbreaker.
Think about it...
Gen. Hayden was the director of NSA since '99
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/files/groundbreakerlawsuit.pdf
...
also known
at ATT Solutions division as GEMS (Groundbreaker Enterprise System).
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) was one of the parties
working with ATT and the NSA to develop the monitoring center and IBM personnel
participated in meetings with ATT and NSA officials in the development of the
monitoring center.
[...]
The contact list for the Pioneer-Groundbreaker project consisted of a minimum of
35 ATT employees dedicated in whole or in part to the Pioneer-Groundbreaker program.
An ATT Solutions logbook reviewed by counsel confirms the Pioneer-
Groundbreaker project start date of February 1, 2001.
The ATT Solutions logbook confirms the dates and transmissions of copies of
ATT, IBM and NSA e-mails setting forth the existence of the Pioneer-Groundbreaker
program; said e-mails remain in the custody, possession and control of ATT, IBM and
NSA.
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http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=civilliberties_208
February 9, 1995: Clinton Executive Order Extends Warrantless Surveillance Capabilities of Justice Department
President Clinton issues Executive Order 12949, which marginally extends the powers of the Justice Department to conduct warrantless surveillance of designated targets, specifically suspected foreign terrorists. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the order comes in the first section, which reads, “Pursuant to section 302(a)(1) of the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance] Act [FISA], the Attorney General is authorized to approve physical searches, without a court order, to acquire foreign intelligence information for periods of up to one year, if the Attorney General makes the certifications required by that section.” [US President, 2/9/1995]
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http://constantpated.blogspot.com/2006/07/nsa-pioneer-groundbreaker-init...
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Think about it...
Gen. Hayden was the director of NSA since '99
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http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20060705122025866
[...]
* "Cheney said if the administration had the power 'before 9/11, we might have been able to pick up on two of the hijackers who flew a jet into the Pentagon.'"
* Then-NSA chief (and now CIA chief) Michael Hayden ("Had this program been in effect prior to 9/11, it is my professional judgment that we would have detected some of the 9/11 al Qaeda operatives in the United States, and we would have identified them as such," said Hayden
More SPY v SPY juicy tidbits
http://www.samsedershow.com/node/2032
Commander Codpiece and all that money can buy
Submitted by pbtrue1 on Thu, 12/27/2007 - 3:54am.
Qwest tied to Bush AWOL
Bush military documents
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/7/114253/7435
which lead me here:
http://www.ubthejudge.com/
Political Qwest >> Friday Nov. 3 2000
The NET was not neutral Friday November 3 2000, 4 days before the US presidential election. >> ...
and lots more on this Open Mic thread.
http://www.samsedershow.com/node/2032#comment-118429
Carlyle Group and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe purchase Qwest ...
M2 PRESSWIRE-20 August 2002-
[...]
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Hiding the Telecom Lawsuits
Spy Agency Sought U.S. Call Records Before 9/11, Lawyers Say
By Andrew Harris
Bloomberg.com June,2006
June 30 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court papers filed in New York federal court.
The allegation is part of a court filing adding AT&T, the nation's largest telephone company, as a defendant in a breach of privacy case filed earlier this month on behalf of Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. customers. The suit alleges that the three carriers, the NSA and President George W. Bush violated the Telecommunications Act of 1934 and the U.S. Constitution, and seeks money damages.
``The Bush Administration asserted this became necessary after 9/11,'' plaintiff's lawyer Carl Mayer said in a telephone interview. ``This undermines that assertion.''
[...]
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http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/
On June 9, U.S. District Court Judge P. Kevin Castel in New York stopped the lawsuit from moving forward while the Federal Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in Washington rules on a U.S. request to assign all related telephone records lawsuits to a single judge.
http://www.jpml.uscourts.gov/
Membership of the MDL Panel
The MDL Panel consists of seven sitting federal judges, who are appointed to serve on the Panel by the Chief Justice of the United States. The multidistrict litigation statute provides that no two Panel members may be from the same federal judicial circuit.
How to rig a court system in 8 short years.
PDF...Telecom Docket MDL-1791 transfer order
Transfered to Northern District of California, assigned to the Honorable Vaughn R. Walker.
Info Vaughn R. Walker
Nominated by George H.W. Bush on September 7, 1989
Is this a cousin?
Somebody knows.
Update: Judge rebukes Bush admin on warrantless spying
Judge rebukes Bush admin on warrantless spying
Nick Juliano
Published: Thursday July 3, 2008
A federal judge in California has rejected President Bush's stated view that he is authorized to ignore the law and institute warrantless surveillance of Americans.
US District Court Judge Vaughn R. Walker confirmed that the 30-year-old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is the "exclusive" means for domestic intelligence collection. Walker, chief judge for the Northern District of California, is hearing legal challenges to the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program as well as lawsuits against telecommunications companies AT&T and Verizon.
Walker's latest finding comes in the case of an Oregon charity that says it was subject to a warrantless NSA wiretap, the New York Times reports.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/washington/03fisa.html
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July 2nd, 2008
Breaking News: Court Holds That FISA Preempts State Secret Privilege
Posted by Kurt Opsahl
New NSA Spying Decision Undermines Arguments for Telecom Immunity
Today, Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the Northern District of California, issued an opinion in Al Haramain v. Bush,
http://www.eff.org/files/Al-HaraFISA-order.pdf
one of the cases challenging the NSA warrantless wiretapping program. The Court found that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) preempted the state secret privilege. This important decision is particularly timely, as it undermines key arguments for telecom immunity on the eve of the Senate vote on a FISA bill, set for next week.
The Court's Holding...
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/court-rules-fisa-preempts-state-sec...
[...]
Decision Undermines Telecom Immunity Arguments
While the case only directly addressed the Al Haramain case, Judge Walker did mention the cases against the telecommunications giants who participated in the illegal surveillance program:
Plaintiff amici [i.e. EFF and others] hint at the proper showing when they refer to “independent evidence disclosing that plaintiffs have been surveilled” and a “rich lode of disclosure to support their claims” in various of the [NSA spying] cases.
Accordingly, so long as the telecom plaintiffs have unclassified evidence tending to establish that they were surveilled--which exists, for example, in Hepting v. AT&T, via AT&T documents provided by whistleblower Mark Klein--FISA's procedures kick into effect and the Bush Administration cannot unilaterally get rid of the telecom cases pursuant to the state secret privilege.
Moreover, this ruling would allow the telecoms to present their defenses. A major talking point for telecom apologists is that the the telcos were unfairly prevented from mounting a defense by the state secret privilege. By holding that FISA's existing evidence security procedures preempt the state secrets privilege, the decision belies telecom immunity proponents' claims that the litigation was unfair because the privilege prevented the telecoms from defending themselves. It also refutes claims that the lawsuits against the telecoms weren't going to go anywhere anyway.
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