Totalitarian American Domestic Surveillance

ꕤ Article SOURCE http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2015/12/02/the-spies-who-ruin-us/ December 2, 2015 By Judge Andrew Napolitano 'The Spies Who Ruin Us' SUMMARY Post 9/11 intelligence failure to protect: --> principle target 4th Amendment right to privacy -->  Patriot Act 2001 Unread & undebated legislation -->  US Congress unaware re liberties they were sacrificing --> US domestic spying unleashed USG secret mass data gathering + warrants not based on probable cause Lapsed law ... but: USA telecoms + Internet service providers to retain records for five (5) years --> NSA instant access. Patriot Act + USA Freedom Act: unconstitutionally do away with probable cause requirement for warrants USA Freedom Act warrants: unconstitutionally do away with probable cause requirement -->  based on standard of “govt'l needs” Reality:  “governmental needs” = no standard whatsoever, as USG will always claim that it needs what it wants. USG using same basis for warrants as British colonialists for raids that provoked Revolution & 4th Amendment. propaganda that NSA have been shut down is false / operate remotely --> telecoms & ISPs s.702 FISA & EO is valid s.702 FISA & Bush EO both bypass US Constitution & continue to permit mass #surveillance data collection s.702 FISA --> permits warrantless surveillance of Americans speaking to foreigners. --> FISA court issues warrants / intercept FISA court: --> issue warrants to intercept calls of third parties (to Americans speaking to foreigners) ... encompasses all. Bush Executive Order (EO) to military intelligence (NSA is one of more) --> to intercept calls of anyone - NO WARRANT. Andrew Napolitano asserts that secret USA spying: produces too much material for the government to evaluate / Paris failure eg. General warrants: =  hallmark of totalitarian government {article US example} http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2015/12/02/the-spies-who-ruin-us/ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Good overview. As Napolitano said, with all of France's surveillance capabilities (and infringements of civil liberties that accompany these capabilities), both France and America, who spy on France, missed the opportunity to prevent the Paris attacks -- because they are not conducting target-specific surveillance, and their manpower is bound up in blanket surveillance of entire populations. What goes on in the US pretty much goes on elsewhere.  The same principles apply, save for the lack of constitutional protections that are supposed to be in place for Americans. The mention of British colonialists raiding homes on basis of warrantless searches ahead of the American Revolution, is an interesting detail I wasn't aware of.  Ironically, what led to revolution and Fourth Amendment rights being enshrined in the American Constitution, is present day state totalitarianism being repeated by those that exercise behind-the-scenes control of the usurped American state. ꕤ

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) - Notes Part 1

FBI Notes - Pt 1 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Origins: 'Threat' from 'anarchists 1901 [Guessing that would be labour movements seeking social justice] Govt keeping records for years, but Theodore Roosevelt sought more monitoring powers FBI started off as Bureau of Investigation (BOI) - 1908 from Department of Justice (DoJ) funds  (FBI = Dept. of Treasury off-shoot) incl. members of Secret Service (est. 1865), role:  (1) financial crimes investigation  (2) physical protection of assigned persons counterfeit currency was a big issue / 1865 one-third currency circulating was counterfeit Fast-forward:  1984 1984 = Comprehensive Crime Control Act, extending  Secret Service jurisdiction over credit card fraud & computer fraud. [see Phreakers - prior 1990 illegal 'tapping' into telecommunications services / free phone calls.]  Analog to digital telecommunications switch =  more exposure of telcoms to hackers 1990 Secret Service initiated Operation Sundevil ext. wire fraud / to counter rampant credit card & calling card fraud  Operation Sundevil  = multiple USG agencies, incl. Secret Service + FBI new laws to investigate + prosecute:   phreaking, hacking, wire &  cit card fraud  Op Sundevil drama - resulted in establishment of Electronic Frontier Foundation (f. Mitchell Kapor, f. Lotus Development Corp) + John Perry Barlow, an author = hired lawyers to represent hackers in two of cases re  Operation Sundevil > intended sting against malicious hackers, allegedly responsible for disrupting telephone services across entire US  > No convictions / Secret Service was sued & required to pay damages [no Wikipedia citation given] Due to publicity, Op Sundevil seen as public-relations stunt & message to hackers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sundevil 2012  2012 - El Salvador - Secret Service agents hiring strippers & prostitutes prior to Obama  visit.  ;) -- Name change to FBI - 1935  HQ =   J. Edgar Hoover Building, Washington, DC FIELD OFFICES = 56 RESIDENT AGENCIES (smaller cities) = 400 + LEGAL ATTACHÉS (International embassy & consulate attachments) = 50 2012 Budget =  approx.  $8.12 billion --  J Edgar Hoover  John Edgar Hoover, Director (48 years) JEH =  FBI Director who served from 1924–1972 48 years with BOI, DOI + FBI. DOI = Dept of Interior = Fed dept re management of federal lands, resources etc.  aka   "The Department of Everything Else"  - ie broad range of responsibilities  GW Bush - emphasis on commerce over conservation Interior Department Inspector General Earl Devaney:   "Simply stated, short of a crime, anything goes at the highest levels of the Department of Interior. [1] -- FBI = US government (USG) agency,  within the US Department of Justice FBI is a USA security service & the agency is part of the US 'Intelligence Community' FBI organisation serves two functions: 1.  federal criminal investigations. 2.  internal intelligence agency. FBI investigates these: counter-terrorism / terrorist attacks counterintelligence / foreign intelligence ops & espionage cyberwarfare / cybercrime major white-collar crime significant violent crime transnational/national organised crime civil rights  [ummm, think they might actually subvert, rather than 'investigate' these ;)] public corruption (all levels) * Indian reservations = federal / FBI responsibility  * FBI works in conjunction with other USG federal agencies -- PATRIOT Act  increased FBI powers, esp. wiretapping & monitoring of Internet activity Controversial PATRIOT Act provision = 'sneak & peek' provision ie.  The State (via its FBI agency) can enter & search  a home while occupant is out, without notifiying occupant of this gross  violation "for several weeks". [Wow, that's seriously sick & totalitarian conduct, in the 'land of the free.'] FBI can also inquire into the 'library records' of targets / that presumably is a library of government stored data, rather than one's book library. FBI  Late 1970s - early 1980s -  Abscam controversy - allegations of FBI  entrapment of elected officials http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abscam FBI, aided by Justice Department & a convicted con-man, Melvin Weinberg (convicted swindler, international con artist & informant) FBI videotaped politicians accepting bribes from a fraudulent Arabian co. in return for political favours. 31 targeted officials / 1 Senator + 6 House of Reps - convictions Weinberg avoided prison re prior scams & was paid $150,000 in agreement with Abscam operation Criticism:  "widespread and serious misuse" of national security letters (an administrative subpoena used to demand records & data of individuals). -- Counterintelligence 1940s - 1970s - FBI investigation of spying on US & allies cases Ex parte Quirin x8  Nazi agents (planned sabotage ops) - x8 arrested  / x6 executed Ex parte Quirin - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_parte_Quirin EX PARTE Lat. 'By or for one party' or 'by one side.' http://www.lectlaw.com/def/e051.htm US Supreme Court -  precedent - 1942 Trial by military commission of unlawful combatant against USA "the law of war draws a distinction between the armed forces and the peaceful populations of belligerent nations and also between those who are lawful and unlawful combatants. Lawful combatants are subject to capture and detention as prisoners of war by opposing military forces. Unlawful combatants are likewise subject to capture and detention, but in addition they are subject to trial and punishment by military tribunals for acts which render their belligerency unlawful. The spy who secretly and without uniform passes the military lines of a belligerent in time of war, seeking to gather military information and communicate it to the enemy, or an enemy combatant who without uniform comes secretly through the lines for the purpose of waging war by destruction of life or property, are familiar examples of belligerents who are generally deemed not to be entitled to the status of prisoners of war, but to be offenders against the law of war subject to trial and punishment by military tribunals." Leitenant Colonel Kenneth Royall:  Roosevelt had no right to create a military tribunal to try his clients, citing Ex parte Milligan (1866), a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could not establish military tribunals to try civilians in areas where civilian courts were functioning, even during wartime.   Prosecutor Francis Biddle rebutted his argument, citing the case of British Major John André, who was executed as a spy by the Continental Army for passing through American lines to meet with American officer Benedict Arnold during the American Revolutionary War.  Biddle responded that the U.S. and Germany were at war and cited the Alien Enemies Act of 1798:  whenever there is a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation government, and the President makes public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being of the age of fourteen years and upward, who shall be within the United States and not actually naturalized, shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as alien enemies  Supreme Court unanimously denied Royall's appeal, writing:  "The military commission was lawfully constituted ... petitioners are held in lawful custody for trial before the military commission and have not shown cause for being discharged by writ of habeas corpus." Writ of habeas corpus  =  writ to decide if a state's detention of a prisoner is valid / demands prisoner be brought before court Ex parte Quirin - SC decision controversy Justice Robert H. Jackson - draft opinion, expressing his disagreement with portions of SC opinion  http://www.greenbag.org/v9n3/v9n3_articles_goldsmith.pdf *Controversy revived - legal implications during War on Terror. Venona Project (1943-1980) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venona_project  Joint US + UK code-breaking project  - Venona (1943-1980) initiated by forerunner of National Security Agency (NSA), ie US Army Signal Intelligence Service FBI was heavily involved Broke Soviet diplomatic & intelligence communications codes, allowing US + UK  to read Soviet communications Australians collected Venona intercepts Walter Seddon Clayton (cryptonym 'KLOD') - Australian, suspected of being Soviet spy-master. Communist Party of Australia / underground network within CPA, operable even if party shut down http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Seddon_Clayton Clayton mocked ASIO by going back into hiding shortly after his appearance at the Royal Commission. ASIO retaliated against Clayton with Operation Pigeon. Menzies cancelled Clayton & his wife's passports day before they were due to depart Australia. Clayton kept under ASIO surveillance throughout 1950s and 1960s as part of Operation Pigeon. Surveillance may have even extended into 1970s and 1980s. ASIO reportedly recruited services of local fishermen in Port Stephens area to monitor his movements at sea / submarine rendezvous preventative  [>> LMAO] Hoover, administering Verona, did not inform CIA re Verona until 1952. Summaries sourced at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation and/or other, as linked. COMMENT Must have looked at some of this stuff before, at some point.  But I've got a shocking memory, so any time I look something up it's like a wonderful revelation all over again. Doing some basic summaries is supposed to help me retain what I've read, but I wouldn't bet on it. Even if I don't remember this, it was really fun checking it out today. Surprised that the FBI seem to be quite powerful among the US agencies.  Always thought they were just fancy police or something like that. It looks like methods of operation remain the same:  ie use crooks facing time to participate in entrapment activities (see Melvin Weinberg, Abscam), combined with pay-offs. Also sounds like a creepy organisation - eg  'sneak & peak', wiretapping, data access etc. Activities extend beyond US national boundaries, as there's an international avenue through embassies (embassy & consulate legal attachments). OTHER * Check out the USD$8.12 billion est. 2012 budget of FBI (alone) vs their targets:  eg WikiLeaks & others. * USD$14.7 billion  2013 requested funding CIA - source here and here. So that's probably something like USD$22.82 billion vs. WikiLeaks publisher & other targets, in two US agencies' resources alone, and much a greater figure than that in resources of various combined USG agencies. "An espionage empire The summary provides a detailed look at how the U.S. intelligence community has been reconfigu by the massive infusion of resources that followed the 2001 attacks. The United States has spent more than $500 billion on intelligence during that period, an outlay that U.S. officials say has succeeded in its main objective: preventing another catastrophic terrorist attack in the United States. The result is an espionage empire with resources and a reach beyond those of any adversary, sustained even now by spending that rivals or exceeds the levels at the height of the Cold War." [Washington Post] "We the people" should be feeling dwarfed and freaked out by the size of the secret state apparatus ... and the size and power of the state. [ Edited out some colour code ( #A83128 ) that had somehow got into my text.  Very strange.  Did a global change of colour in notepad because the red was too bright.  But I somehow wound up with code among text without realising.  Hence the 'strange code'.   LOL Noooooo!  My colour code wasn't a code, as such.  It was the word 'red', which I globally searched & replaced with a HTML colour code ... but the letters 'red' appear in a number of words in the text document.  And they've been replaced with a code.  A code I removed.  So, why am I still having to edit?  Because it's has taken the letter combination - 'red' - out of the entire document.  Sh*t.  Now I've got to proofread and I'm really sleepy.   :(  Updated as best I could when I can barely stay awake.  Sure to have missed something.  It's a work in progress.  LOL]