FBI turns to broad new wiretap method

[waltky]

al-Qaida dometic threat still real...

Al Qaeda is trying
7 Mar.`08 - U.S. has lowered the risk of a large-scale domestic attack, Chertoff says; "I think it would be imprudent of us to let down our guard," says Renuart; "Tangible results" are needed to maintain credibility, recruit more, Renuart says; U.S. intelligence analysts in July concluded al Qaeda had rebuilt operating capability

Al Qaeda terrorists may be plotting more urgently to attack the United States to maintain their credibility and ability to recruit followers, the U.S. military commander in charge of domestic defense said Thursday. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, chief of the U.S. Northern Command, also told reporters he has not seen any direct threats tied to the U.S. presidential elections. But he said it would be rash to think that such threats are not there. "We need only to look at Spain and see that they're certainly willing to try to do something that is significant that could affect an election process," Renuart said. "I think it would be imprudent of us to let down our guard believing that if there's no credible threat that you know of today, there won't be something tomorrow."

While he said that U.S. authorities have thwarted attacks on a number of occasions, he said terrorist cells may be working harder than ever to plot high-impact events. He did not point to any specific intelligence that authorities have received but said the "chatter" they are hearing "gives me no reason to believe they're going to slow down" in their efforts to target the U.S. "If an organization like that is to maintain credibility and continue to grow more of its extremists, it has to show tangible results," Renuart said. "So I think there may be a certain sense of urgency among that organization to have an effect. So it would tell me that they're trying harder."

Asked about the terror threat, Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said, "There continues to be no credible information telling us about an imminent threat to homeland at this time." In July, U.S. intelligence analysts, in a threat assessment, concluded that al Qaeda has rebuilt its operating capability to a level not seen since just before the September 11 terrorist attacks. The report said the terror network has regrouped along the Afghan-Pakistan border, but it also noted that officials knew of no specific credible threat of an attack on U.S. soil.

More U.S. commander: Al Qaeda is trying - CNN.com

See also:

Computer networks to power national police dragnet
Friday, March 7, 2008 : Several thousand law-enforcement agencies are creating the foundation of a domestic intelligence system through computer networks that analyze vast amounts of police information to fight crime and root out terror plots.

As federal authorities struggled to meet information-sharing mandates after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, police agencies from Alaska and California to the Washington region poured millions of criminal and investigative records into shared digital repositories called data warehouses, giving investigators and analysts new power to discern links among people, patterns of behavior and other hidden clues.

Those network efforts will begin expanding further this month, as some local and state agencies connect to a fledgling Justice Department system called the National Data Exchange, or N-DEx. Federal authorities hope N-DEx will become what one called a "one-stop shop" enabling federal law-enforcement, counterterrorism and intelligence analysts to automatically examine the enormous caches of local and state records for the first time.

Although Americans have become accustomed to seeing dazzling examples of fictional crime-busting gear on television and movies, in reality law enforcement's search for clues has generally involved a mundane mix of disjointed computers, legwork and luck. These new systems are transforming that process. "It's going from the horse-and-buggy days to the space age, that's what it's like," said Sgt. Chuck Violette of the Tucson police department, one of almost 1,600 law-enforcement agencies that uses a commercial data-mining system called Coplink.

MORE

[waltky]

Telecom companies to be protected...

Warrantless Wiretapping Deal Struck
Thursday, Jun. 19, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — House and Senate leaders have agreed to a new compromise surveillance bill that would effectively shield from potentially costly civil lawsuits telecommunications companies that helped the government wiretap citizens' phone and computer lines after the September 11 terrorist attacks without court permission.

The House will debate the bill on Friday, potentially ending a months-long standoff about the rules for government wiretapping inside the United States. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland said the new bill "balances the needs of our intelligence community with Americans' civil liberties, and provides critical new oversight and accountability requirements."

The issue of legal protection for telecommunications companies that participated in "warrantless wiretapping" has been the single largest sticking point. The Senate passed a bill that immunized them from lawsuits. The House bill was silent on the matter. The White House threatened to veto any bill that did not shield the companies, which tapped lines at the behest of the president and attorney general — but without permission from a special court established for this very purpose — the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

"Warrantless wiretapping" went on for almost six years until it was revealed by the New York Times. Some 40 lawsuits have been filed against the companies by people and groups who think they were illegally eavesdropped on by the government.

MORE

[waltky]

Makin' some adjustments...

Senate to pass bill overhauling eavesdropping rules
Jul 9, `08 WASHINGTON - The Senate finally is expected to pass a bill overhauling rules on secret government eavesdropping, completing a lengthy and bitter debate that pitted privacy and civil liberties concerns against the desire to prevent terrorist attacks.

The vote, planned for Wednesday, would end almost a year of wrangling between the House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, and Congress and the White House over the president's warrantless wiretapping program that was initiated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A major issue was the Bush administration's insistence that the bill shield from civil lawsuits telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on Americans without court permission after 9/11.

The White House had threatened to veto the bill unless it immunized companies like AT&T Inc. (ATT) and Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) from wiretapping lawsuits. About 40 such lawsuits have been filed. They are all pending before a single federal court. The House approved the surveillance overhaul last month.

For about six years after 9/11, President Bush secretly directed telecommunications companies to tap phone and computer lines inside the United States without the permission or knowledge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. That court was created 30 years ago to prevent the government from abusing its surveillance powers for political purposes. The court is meant to approve all wiretaps placed inside the U.S. for intelligence-gathering purposes. That includes international e-mail records stored on servers inside the U.S.

More My Way News - Senate to pass bill overhauling eavesdropping rules

[waltky]

New FBI rules delayed...

New FBI Investigation Rules Delayed
Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department has agreed to delay new rules giving the FBI greater leeway in investigations of suspected terrorists, deferring to concerns by senators that innocent Americans might be targeted.

In a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy released Thursday, the department said it will postpone the rules until after FBI Director Robert Mueller appears before the panel on Sept. 17. However, the department still wants to have the rules in place by Oct. 1 to help the FBI more nimbly investigate national security cases, wrote Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Keith D. Nelson. He said that the rules, known as attorney general guidelines, would harmonize multiple and varying sets of standards for how the FBI conducts investigations into one regulation.

Six senators — including Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania — have raised concerns that the rules could target Americans in part based on their race, ethnicity, religion or activities protected by the First Amendment and that these individuals might be singled out without evidence of wrongdoing. After being briefed about the guidelines over the last several says, the senators this week asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey for a delay until Congress and the public have more time to study them. "We fully appreciate and share your concern about the potential civil liberties implications of the consolidated guidelines," Nelson wrote. He said the internal oversight of the new rules would "afford appropriate protections for our civil rights and civil liberties."

First reported last month by The Associated Press, the rules are intended to update policies governing investigations as the FBI shifts from a traditional crime-fighting agency to one whose top priority is protecting the United States from terrorist attacks. Currently, the FBI must have evidence or allegations of wrongdoing before opening an investigation of U.S. citizens or legal residents from other countries. The new policy could let agents start investigating after building a profile of traits that, taken together, were deemed suspicious. Factors that could trigger an inquiry could include travel to regions of the world known for terrorist activity and access to weapons or military training, along with the person's race or ethnicity.

Source