NSA to assist FBI in surveillance

[jimpeel]

Start practicing your goose-stepping so you can blend in when the time comes.

This from Newsweek 12-13-99 issue
http://www.newsweek.com/nw-srv/printed/us/st/a9040-1999dec5.htm

Newsweek: National Security Agency Drafts 'Memoranda of Understanding' To
Work
With FBI in the U.S.;


May Be Falling Behind the Techno-Curve in Surveillance Techniques

NEW YORK, Dec. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Security Agency is now
drafting "memoranda of understanding" to clarify ways in which it can
help the
FBI track terrorists and criminals in the United States, territory in
which it
is generally off-limits, Newsweek has learned. The FBI, never known for
its
technical know-how, welcomes the help from the high-tech NSA, but some
senators are uneasy about letting the NSA eavesdrop more in the United
States,
report Washington Correspondent Gregory Vistica and Assistant Managing
Editor
Evan Thomas in the current issue of Newsweek.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991204/HSSA003 )

While a secret court must approve any national-security wiretaps on
U.S.
citizens, there is still the risk of abuse. Under pressure to perform
better,
the NSA and CIA could overreach. Under the existing rules, the NSA and
CIA
are supposed to spy on foreign threats while the FBI tends to crime at
home.
But the Internet has blurred boundaries, and as the bombing of the World
Trade
Center in 1993 demonstrated, foreign terrorists have targeted the United
States.
But the NSA may be losing its grip on the technology front. "The
agency
has got to make some changes," because "by standing still, we are going
to
fall behind very quickly," concedes Air Force Lt. Gen. Mike Hayden, the
new
chief of the NSA, in an interview with Newsweek. The old tools, such as
spy
satellites and global-listening stations to pick up broadcast
transmissions
and massive computers to sort and decipher them, are relatively
ineffective on
the new Info Highway. The agency's problems have already been costly.
The
intelligence community's failure to predict that India would test a
nuclear
weapon in 1998 suggests that the NSA is becoming hard of hearing. Some
intelligence experts speculate that Washington has had difficulty finding
its
most-wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, because Islamic extremists use
European-made encrypted mobile phones, reports Newsweek in the December
13
issue (on newsstands Monday, December 6).

SOURCE Newsweek
Web Site: http://www.newsweek.com
Photo Notes: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991204/HSSA003
or NewsCom, 213

[This message has been edited by jimpeel (edited December 06, 1999).]

 

[Dennis]

1) “Old NSA hands grumbled when a sign identifying the agency was
posted outside their secret headquarters in Maryland,...”

a) I may be wrong, but when I was there in 1968 I believe there were signs
on the Washington-Baltimore Parkway showing which exit to take for NSA.

b) You can see pictures of their entire facility on their web page.

2) “For years the NSA has been wary of working with other agencies,
including its cousin in the spy business, the CIA.”

Horse feathers! I’ve seen the address groups.

3) “Under the existing rules, the NSA and the CIA are supposed to spy on
foreign threats, while the FBI tends to crime at home.”

Remember NSA’s COMSEC mission? “Communication Security affects us
all!”

4) “... some senators are uneasy about letting the NSA eavesdrop more
in the United States.”

a) Right! Just like they are uneasy about letting Presidential Executive
Orders take the place of onerous legislation.

b) Why? “Do you have something to hide, Senator?
-----
Bovine exhaust. Our current government will do whatever they feel is in
their (oops! Pardon me!) in OUR “best interests”!

Stick it to 'em! (At the ballot box!)