The Justice Department has been spying on millions of Americans through the use of fake cell phone towers attached to airplanes.
The Wall Street Journal revealed the existence of the U.S. Marshals Service program, which reached full functionality in 2007. The Marshals fly Cessna aircraft from at least five metropolitan area airports. The flights can cover most of the U.S. population.
The devices on the airplanes mimic cell phone towers and allow the Marshals to trick cell phones into reporting registration information. Tens of thousands of cellphones have their data captured during a single flight.
Justice Department officials would not confirm to the Journal the existence of the program. An official said that to discuss it would allow criminal suspects or foreign powers to determine ways U.S. officials collect intelligence. He said nothing is done that does not meet federal law including gaining a court’s approval.
The system reportedly can collect a phone’s information even if you have a phone with encryption capabilities, such as the iPhone 6.
The National Security Agency has a massive new program called “MonsterMind” that is aimed to be a main cyberweapon for the defense of America’s computer networks.
The revelation came from fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden in one of his first major public magazine interviews.
The interview, which will appear in the September issue of Wired magazine, has Snowden revealing that the program will not only capture all communications coming into the United States but that it could also mislead defense forces seeking out cybercriminals.
“You could have someone sitting in China, for example, making it appear that one of these attacks is originating in Russia,” Snowden said. “And then we end up shooting back at a Russian hospital. What happens next?”
Snowden said that what the NSA calls “analyzing traffic flows” means they’re spying on everyone.
“If we’re analyzing all traffic flows, that means we have to be intercepting all traffic flows,” he said. “That means violating the Fourth Amendment, seizing private communications without a warrant, without probable cause or even a suspicion of wrongdoing. For everyone, all the time.”
Wired magazine had traveled to Moscow for the interview that took place as Snowden was being given a three-year extension of his asylum.
The NSA would not respond to Snowden’s claims, telling Fox “”If Mr. Snowden wants to discuss his activities, that conversation should be held with the U.S. Department of Justice. He needs to return to the United States to face the charges against him.”
The Obama administration spied on Americans without warrants.
The head of U.S. intelligence admitted that the National Security Agency spied on ordinary Americans as part of their operations to target communications on foreigners located outside the United States.
“Senior officials have sometimes suggested that government agencies do not deliberately read Americans’ emails, monitor their online activity or listen to their phone calls without a warrant,” Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of Colorado said in a joint statement. “However, the facts show that those suggestions were misleading, and that intelligence agencies have indeed conducted warrantless searches for Americans’ communications.”
Intelligence officials say the searches are necessary to try and detect terrorism activity by Americans living and working abroad.
“If a government agency thinks that a particular American is engaged in terrorism or espionage, the Fourth Amendment requires that the government secure a warrant or emergency authorization before monitoring his or her communications,” Wyden and Udall said.
The Obama Administration is reportedly considering the release of a jailed Israeli spy in an attempt to spur forward the stalled Israel/Palestine peace talks.
Jonathan Pollard, who pleaded guilty to spying for Israel in 1987 and was sentenced to life in prison, could be released as early as April according to sources close to Secretary of State John Kerry.
Pollard, because he was sentenced before November 1, 1987, is eligible to be paroled on November 21, 2015 even without action by the Administration.
A declassified report on Pollard’s actions shows that Israel did not ask him to spy on the U.S. military or intelligence activities but rather to gain the U.S.’s information on Israel’s enemies in the Middle East and the Soviet Union.
The release of Pollard, who was given Israeli citizenship during his incarceration, has been a key item for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli has requested Pollard’s release multiple times as well as called for the government to show mercy in allowing him to attend events like his father’s funeral. The government as repeatedly denied any requests for mercy.
Israel has released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including convicted murderers, as part of the peace process negotiated by the United States.
Chinese officials have confirmed they are looking at a proposal to create a network of satellites that would allow them to spy on any part of the planet.
The system is reportedly gaining a boost because of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight that has eluded any search efforts. Several members of the Chinese leadership say a Chinese operated worldwide surveillance network would have found the aircraft.
“If we had a global monitoring network today, we wouldn’t be searching in the dark,” a source told Australia’s News Limited. “We would have a much greater chance to find the plane and trace it to its final position.”
The current Chinese satellite system reportedly only allows the country to spy on their nation and surrounding countries. However, the proposed system would be so detailed and significantly upgraded in technology to current systems that it would place China ahead of the United States in global surveillance.
If the government goes ahead with funding the plan, the network could be in place and operational within two years.
In the latest salvo regarding the spying on ordinary Americans by the National Security Agency, the head of that group is saying that soldier’s lives will be put in danger if more documents are released to the public.
General Keith Alexander told Fox News that his “greatest concern” was the possible loss of life because of Snowden’s actions.
Gen. Alexander said the NSA has a “good assessment” of the remaining documents that Snowden stole before he fled to Russia and that many of those documents will compromise U.S. military actions around the world. Revealing those could put the lives of soldiers and possibly their family members in danger.
He also addressed comments from former President Jimmy Carter that he was concerned the NSA was monitoring e-mails by denying the NSA would do it.
“The reality is, we don’t do that. And if we did, it would be illegal and we’d be … held accountable and responsible,” Gen. Alexander said.
Not even a former President can avoid the NSA.
Former President Jimmy Carter told NBC’s Meet The Press that he avoids using electronic means of communications because he is suspicious that the NSA would spy on him. He said that if he wants to correspond with anyone, especially a foreign leader, he hand-writes a message and then sends it via snail mail.
“I have felt that my own communications are probably monitored,” President Carter said. “I believe if I send an e-mail, it will be monitored.”
Carter also took issue with the use of electronic surveillance by the NSA and the use of drones by intelligence services. Carter said the policies regarding the use of those spy planes “has been extremely liberalized” and he added that he believes intelligence services have abused the tools that had been given to them.
The latest NSA revelation revealed they obtained access to multiple systems by targeting the system administrator for hacking and surveillance.
The document from fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA would target the personal Facebook and emails of system administrators to hack their personal computers to gain information on corporate systems.
One of the documents released was actually titled “I hunt sys admins.”
The NSA targeted more than passwords once they obtained system access. They would obtain customer lists, network maps, business correspondence and even information described as “pictures of cats in funny poses with amusing captions.”
The document also showed the NSA targeting users of the TOR web browsing system that has higher levels of security than the normal systems.
A little known database managed by the U.S. military tracks civilian traffic tickets including parking tickets or minor traffic citations.
The Law Enforcement Information Exchange, also called LinX, has over 500 million law enforcement records. The information includes more than just official citations. The database includes information cards filled out by officers when no crime took place.
LinX is run by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and it is raising concern among privacy advocates that the database is allowing the military to access information on ordinary citizens in violation of the law.
A military law expert at Yale University called the system “domestic spying.”
“Clearly, it cannot be right that any part of the Navy is collecting traffic citation information,” Eugene Fidell said. “This sounds like something from a third-world country, where you have powerful military intelligence watching everybody.”
The National Security Agency has a program that is so powerful it can record all the phone calls coming out of a nation and provide them the chance to play them back over the course of a month.
A manager for the NSA compared the program to a “time machine” and said that any individual recorded by the machine can be listened to without that person’s permission or a warrant from a court.
The program is called MYSTIC and started in 2009. The program has a component called RETRO, which stands for “retrospective retrieval”, which allows the user to search and play back phone calls from the previous month.
The program was initially proposed as a one-off operation but according to last year’s intelligence budget, five countries have come under the MYSTIC program and a sixth country was scheduled to be put in place by the end of 2013.
The program was disclosed by the Washington Post who withheld the names of the country confirmed to be under surveillance at the request of the government who claimed national security issues.