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Homeland Security’s Space-Based Spying Goes Live
- Text size
Tom Burghardt
Global Research
October 5, 2008
While America’s attention has shifted to the economic meltdown and the presidential race between corporate favorites John McCain and Barack Obama, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) National Applications Office (NAO) "will proceed with the first phase of a controversial satellite-surveillance program, even though an independent review found the department hasn’t yet ensured the program will comply with privacy laws."
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| When combined with illegal NSA and FBI domestic surveillance programs — from data-mining to the massive interception of telephone and internet communications — NAO will furnish DHS and outsourced corporate grifters who actually run the program, with the blanket coverage of American citizens long sought by securocrats. | |
As I wrote in June, NAO will coordinate how domestic law enforcement and "disaster relief" agencies such as FEMA use satellite imagery intelligence (IMINT) generated by U.S. spy satellites. Based on available evidence, hard to come by since these programs are classified "above top secret," the technological power of these military assets are truly terrifying.
Unlike commercial satellites that beam TV programs, forecast the weather or provide global positioning services, their military cousins are far more flexible, have greater resolution and therefore, more power to monitor human activity. By utilizing different parts of the light- and infrared spectrum, spy satellites, in addition to taking ultra high-resolution photographs to within a meter of their "target," can also track the heat signatures generated by people inside a building. ("Homeland Security’s Space-Based Spies," Antifascist Calling, June 4, 2008)
In other words, when combined with illegal NSA and FBI domestic surveillance programs–from data-mining to the massive interception of telephone and internet communications–NAO will furnish DHS and outsourced corporate grifters who actually run the program, with the blanket coverage of American citizens long sought by securocrats. Aside from The Wall Street Journal and The Raw Story, not a single media outlet has disclosed this vital information to the public.
Despite the absence of rigorous oversight that would determine whether or not NAO complies with what’s left of privacy laws, DHS is proceeding full speed ahead. The Journal reports,
A new 60-page Government Accountability Office report said the department "lacks assurance that NAO operations will comply with applicable laws and privacy and civil liberties standards," according to a person familiar with the document. The report, which is unclassified but considered sensitive, hasn’t been publicly released, but was described and quoted by several people who have read it.
The report cites gaps in privacy safeguards. The department, it found, lacks controls to prevent improper use of domestic-intelligence data by other agencies and provided insufficient assurance that requests for classified information will be fully reviewed to ensure it can be legally provided. ( Siobhan Gorman, "Satellite-Surveillance Program to Begin Despite Privacy Concerns," The Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2008) [emphasis added]
Reporting on the shocking absence of oversight features built into the program, Nick Juliano writes,
Essentially, the bill only requires the Homeland Security Secretary to assure lawmakers that NAO programs comply with exisiting laws. Congress also has required the DHS Inspector General to provide quarterly classified reports on how much information has been collected by the domestic satellite surveillance, although the bill required those reports be made to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, not the Homeland Security Committees that are traditionally in charge of DHS oversight. ("DHS satellite spy program going forward despite objections," The Raw Story, October 2, 2008)
The GAO’s suppressed report is not the first to criticize the breathtaking scope of this repressive program. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) issued a study in June raising critical questions about NAO’s legality.
Members of Congress and outside groups have raised concerns that using satellites for law enforcement purposes may infringe on the privacy and Fourth Amendment rights of U.S. persons. Other commentators have questioned whether the proposed surveillance will violate the Posse Comitatus Act or other restrictions on military involvement in civilian law enforcement, or would otherwise exceed the statutory mandates of the agencies involved. Such concerns led Congress to preclude any funds in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 (H.R. 2764, P.L. 110-161), from being used to "commence operations of the National Applications Office … until the Secretary [of the Department of Homeland Security] certifies that these programs comply with all existing laws, including all applicable privacy and civil liberties standards, and that certification is reviewed by the Government Accountability Office." (Section 525.) Similar language has been included in FY2009 homeland security appropriations bills. (Richard A. Best Jr. and Jennifer K. Elsea, "Satellite Surveillance: Domestic Issues," Congressional Research Service, June 27, 2008)
But as the Journal reported, Congress’ "partial funding" for the program in "a little-debated $634 billion spending measure," means that an operational NAO will now provide federal, state and local officials "with extensive access to spy-satellite imagery–but no eavesdropping–to assist with emergency response and other domestic-security needs, such as identifying where ports or border areas are vulnerable to terrorism."
Such hollow "no eavesdropping" assurances to Congress from quarterly classified reports from the DHS Inspector General fly in the face of the steady erosion of constitutional protections by the Bush administration.
What "other agencies" might the GAO have in mind when citing concerns over potential abuse of intelligence data supplied by the National Applications Office? Well, take your pick since the U.S. "intelligence community" is comprised of 16 different agencies under the operational control of the Office of National Intelligence (ODI) and the powerful Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
Led by Michael McConnell, a ten-year veteran of the spooky Booz Allen Hamilton corporation, purchased this year by the sinister Carlyle Group, ODNI can truly be described as a "public-private partnership" in political repression. As CorpWatch reported in March,
McConnell … spent more than 10 years as a Booz Allen senior vice president in charge of the company’s extensive contracts in military intelligence and information operations for the Pentagon. In that job, his official biography states, McConnell provided intelligence support to "the U.S. Unified Combatant Commanders, the Director of National Intelligence Agencies, and the Military Service Intelligence Directors." That made him a close colleague of not only Donald Rumsfeld, who ran the Pentagon from 2001 to 2007, but of Vice President Cheney, who has served President Bush as a kind of intelligence godfather since the earliest days of the administration. (Tim Shorrock, "Carlyle Group May Buy Major CIA Contractor: Booz Allen Hamilton," CorpWatch, March 8, 2008)
Investigative journalist Tim Shorrock revealed last year, that the intelligence-sharing system to be managed by NAO,
…will rely heavily on private contractors including Boeing, BAE Systems, L-3 Communications and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). These companies already provide technology and personnel to U.S. agencies involved in foreign intelligence, and the NAO greatly expands their markets. Indeed, at an intelligence conference in San Antonio, Texas, last month, the titans of the industry were actively lobbying intelligence officials to buy products specifically designed for domestic surveillance. ("Domestic Spying, Inc." CorpWatch, November 27, 2007)
- A d v e r t i s e m e n t
NAO will utilize the military imagery and mapping tools of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). NGA maintains a symbiotic relationship with both the NSA and the ultra-secret National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), that builds and maintains America’s fleet of spy satellites. Additionally, NRO operates the planetary wide network of ground stations where NSA’s signals intelligence (SIGINT) and NGA’s imagery intelligence (IMINT) are processed and analyzed.
Shorrock revealed that the program was kick-started in 2005 and the impetus came from veteran spooks with extensive ties to the military-industrial-security apparatus and corporate outfits such as Booz Allen Hamilton. The company was "tasked" with studying how "intelligence from spy satellites and photoreconnaissance planes could be better used domestically to track potential threats to security within the U.S." Completed in 2005, the Booz Allen plan became the basis for NAO.
Veteran spook Charles Allen told The Wall Street Journal in August 2007 that NAO is "an idea whose time has arrived." As DHS chief intelligence officer, Allen will head the new program.
Additionally, an "independent study group" appointed in 2005 by the Director of National Intelligence, tasked with reviewing the deployment of military reconnaissance assets in the "homeland" reached the desired conclusions. According to a press release by the Department of Homeland Security,
The study group unanimously recommended in its September 2005 report that the scope of the Civil Applications Committee be expanded beyond civil applications to include homeland security and law enforcement applications, and concluded that there is an urgent need for action. The study group concluded a new approach is needed to effectively employ Intelligence Community capabilities for civil applications, homeland security and law enforcement uses. ("Fact Sheet: National Applications Office," Department of Homeland Security, August 15, 2007)
How "independent"? You make the call! Shorrock reported that the group,
… was chaired by Keith Hall, a Booz Allen vice president who manages his firm’s extensive contracts with the NGA and previously served as the director of the NRO.
Other members of the group included seven other former intelligence officers working for Booz Allen, as well as retired Army Lieutenant General Patrick M. Hughes, the former director of the DIA and vice president of homeland security for L-3 Communications, a key NSA contractor; and Thomas W. Conroy, the vice president of national security programs for Northrop Grumman, which has extensive contracts with the NSA and the NGA and throughout the intelligence community. (Shorrock, 2008, op. cit.)
From the start, the group’s findings were "heavily weighted" toward corporations "with a stake" in both foreign and domestic intelligence. No surprise then, when the group’s "contractor-advisers" called for "a major expansion in the domestic use of the spy satellites that they sell to the government."
A power-grab by the ODNI and DHS should raise serious alarms of further encroachments by a lawless "unitary executive" and serve as a warning that domestic law enforcement is rapidly coming under the purview of opaque Pentagon spy agencies.
While the creeping militarization of civilian policing is not a new phenomenon, the NAO launch represents a qualitative leap towards the surveillance society dreamed up by Iran-Contra felon and former DARPA administrator John Poindexter, before he was kicked to the curb when plans for the Total Information Awareness (TIA) program first gained notoriety in 2003.
And like the newly-launched NAO, TIA was managed by none other than Booz Allen Hamilton and their sidekicks at the San Diego-based Science Applications International Corporation! Small world (of open-ended contracts for giant Bush regime-connected multinationals).
The NAO will be overseen by the National Applications Executive Council (NAEC). In turn, NAEC will be "tri-chaired" by the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, the Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior (DOI), and the Principal Deputy of the Director of National Intelligence, a position held by Donald M. Kerr.
As with the vast majority of top securocrats, Kerr has served in a multitude of capacities inside and outside government. When he ended his tenure as Director of the National Reconnaissance Office in 2007, Kerr joined ONI. The one-time CIA and FBI employee was also a SAIC executive vice president during the 1990s.
Tim Shorrock reported in his essential book, Spies for Hire, that Kerr described how "ninety-five percent of the resources over which we have stewardship in fact go out on a contract to our industrial base. It’s an important thing to recognize that we cannot function without this highly integrated industrial government team." Brutal honesty for brutal times.
Despite rigorous objections by members of Congress and civil liberties’ groups to a program with the breathtaking potential to invade our privacy in newer and more lethal ways, NAO is now reality. America’s headlong flight towards constructing a post-Constitutional "new order" just added another brick in the wall.
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October 5th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Since it is weekend frpm another angle on the subject;
HOLLYWOOD and THE TRUTH;
Patriot Games (1992)
Especially the scene with the live oversight from the satellite when they murder somebody.
Wag the Dog (1997)
The Running Man (1987)
The Puppet Masters (1994)
The Siege (1998)
End of Days (1999)
The Matrix (1999)
They Live (1988)
The Machurian Candidate (2004)
V for Vendetta (2005)
HOLLYWOOD – Shocking Truth of our reality – NEW WORLD ORDER
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=La8F-sumlm0
October 5th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I live in the city and the cameras are ridiculous. You need to move to a far away island to escape the ridiculous structure of today’s society
http://www.curecabinet.com
October 5th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Here we go, full bore on. SCREW THESE SPYS!
DO NOT SUCCUMB TO THEIR INVASION OF OUR PRIVACY.
What EXACTLY do the BNC cables on “traffic” cameras plug into?
MOST of the light poles were erected YEARS ago….what type of
cables were installed? ( IF ANY!!!! ) WHAT ARE IN THESE POLES FOR THE BNC CABLES
TO CONNECT TO?????
I’m thinking they DO NOT actually connect to anything and are there for intimidation
purposes. SOME may be actually surveilling Americans, but I’m betting the majority
are there for intimidation.
Any one out there know what’s in the poles for the BNC cables to connect to???
October 5th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
About the great Senator Frank Church from Wikipedia:
Church is widely quoted in regards to the National Security Agency: “I don’t want to see this country ever go across the bridge… I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return.”
October 5th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Add to that list:
Enemy of The State.
And of course many movies have little bits and pieces of political or spiritual truth interspersed amongst the propaganda and entertainment.
October 5th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Thank you for running this piece. Hopefully, from now on, whenever yet another homeless family in America has to go to a soup kitchen to get food they will get observed and added to the count: 39,572, 867 – ca-ching! plus four! Good, keep those records good and accurate, record it all. And Now they all can finally get a true count of the homeless in America – that right, there it is, right in your big expensive eyes-in-the-sky. Go ahead, now you all can get the real picture of what is going on here, and has been going on here for a very long time. Do you SEE it now? America has turned into a third-world nation, and now its so bad it can be seen from space.
October 5th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
So it seems the technology is that the spy agencies and the Pentagon can now watch what’s happening on the ground in real time through satellites; Not only at night but also they can watch people’s movements in buildings. This must be what Bob Woodward is referring to when he mentions the “secret kill program”. Non-compliant Iraqis pretty much were tracked live, day or night, outside or inside, and then Nellis-AFB or CIA-triggered Hellfire missiles came raining down on them or Special Ops popped in their window at 4 AM and put bullets in their heads. Most likely this is the REALITY. This probably has been operational for about 8 months now.
October 5th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
The cables go to the controller box on the street. The signal is split at this point and one signal is used for local processing for the control of traffic and the other one goes in our state to the department of transportation in the capital. The video is processed for who knows what. I also read a recent story where the police departments and homeland security are hooking up private and state/city surveillance systems.
People are so stupid, we got our new camera equipped light poles in the name of pedestrian safety.
Once you have a camera you can feed the signal anywhere and post process it for anything you want, facial recognition etc. let alone the real time capabilities.
“They” are practicing and refining their use of this equipment all over the world. “They” are and have been deploying it here. “They” are ready, we are not. God help us all.
October 5th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Never mind the 8 month thing. I don’t know. I think my guess about the technology is right though.
October 5th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
…Ah-bdi…be damn !!! ” Beyond top secret ” No f***in’ s--- !!! ” Ultra Superman ” has somethin’
bigger than life up his sleeve again !!! Actually , thanks to the ” P.S.S. ” ( Porky Secret Service )
super duper files , it ain’t no big “beyond” top secret no more !!! This gizmo is especially geared
towards spying on lactating mothers , who might take planes with their baby’s din din neatly
tucked away in lil bottles , und*…stir up trouble !!!
* No typo !!!
October 5th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
#9, I pull my sun visor down and flip a bird to every camera. Fk’em all
I live in the sticks and camera’s are at 90% of the intersections. Anyone who believes this is conspiracy theory crap is an IDIOT! Why does a heyseed town need camera’s on the light posts??? Especially when it has no traffic to be concerned about???? To watch it’s citizens…of course.
The sheep baa on
October 5th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
ThE OmInOuS Parallels
The United States government organized Harassment and Torture perpetrated by the National Security Agency [NSA], Science Application International Corporation [SAIC] and other agency’s using Military grade Psychological Operations and Direct Energy Weapons against United States, and other countries citizens form around the world.
No longer a myth, but, a fact! What are people going to do when they realize that the spying is just a small part of what reallly going on:
http://www.theominousparallels.blogspot.com/
Love “Light” and Energy
_Don
October 5th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
The more s--- like this comes out in the open the more the Unibomber was right. He hated technology. So do most people. At least the way they’re using it and the direction they’re going with it. I remember back in the early seventies I ask my dad what those things were next to the freeway and he said cameras. They were up and down all the freeways and nobody said a word that I know of. Then in the 90’s Tacoma wash. put them up and people were shooting them out. So I guess thats what needs to be done.
October 5th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPS7ksrKk8Y
October 5th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
why is no one picking up the bible,read the word of god he will lead you to green grass.it will show you their is life after this place we call earth!!everyone will get theirs,no one will get away with this evil
October 5th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Well I want them to do there thing so that we may better inform them of this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....mp;index=4
October 5th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
“Carol,you will stop the weaponization of space.We HAVE TO PREVENT the weaponization of space because there is a LIE being told to EVERYONE,that the weaponization of space is now,first,being based upon the evil empire,(The Russians).Then there will be (Terrorists),then third world countries,or rogue nations (Or what we would call “Nations of concern” ie.Iran).
Then there will be asteroids (Against asteroids Carol,we are going to weaponize space – Speaking sarcastically) Then he would repeat to me over and over…and the last card,the last card Carol,will be the (Extraterrestrial threat),and remember Carol,it’s ALL a LIE”!
Dr. Werner Von Braun (U.S. Father of Rocketry) to his secretary Dr. Carol Rosin
GOOGLE “PROJECT BLUEBEAM”!
“Who-WHO will watch The Watchmen”?
OwlMan
“The truth IS out there”…BUT…It’s not exactly what you think it is…
http://awaken.weebly.com
October 5th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Open the Presidential Debates… or we will!
When the debates are limited to two increasingly similar points of view we all suffer.
http://www.thirdpartyticket.com/
October 5th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Everyday it just keeps getting worst! Cameras get shot down so they need to go to space so we can’t shoot those down. As this article illustrates, our laws don’t mean anything anymore. They are only useful for harrassing and enslaving law abiding people. A revolution is the only hope left for this country.
October 5th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
An emp in the upper reaches of the atmosphere is enough to black out a large chunk of the hemisphere, and all satellites above. Screw trying to shoot something down… Fry those bitches with electromagnetic radiation.
October 5th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Please support the Constitution at http://www.givemeliberty.org/revolution/ and send this link to all you know!!!
October 6th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Since big brother is watching, maybe the NSA will face recognize Tim Ozzman. Oh wait a second, he’s one of their agents. This new war on terror is contrived!
October 6th, 2008 at 12:24 am
They have money for the police state but not the money to fix the problem they create.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:24 am
HOLD the line till oct/14/08 and if our freinds don’t come to our aid then we will go it alone.
Let love giude your actions as that is the TRUE POWER!!!
October 6th, 2008 at 1:02 am
Alarming Naomi Wolf interview.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XgkeTanCGI
October 6th, 2008 at 3:18 am
How much more America???????????????????????????????????????????????? WTF Over?????????? Alex is right you f---s can read for yourself(Albert Speers)!!!!!!!! Do any of you understand PROCTOLOGY???? In Progress!!! “All ‘HAIL’ Thermal Expansion!!!”
October 6th, 2008 at 3:31 am
Not to be off topic…”All ;HAIL’ Thermal Expansion!!!” BTW no disrepect to any Truther out there!!! Ohio plate WTC 7!!! Speak your piece people!!!! WTF???? Rattle the “f---IN’” cage!!!! I do!!!! “All ‘HAIL’ Thermal Expansion!!!”
October 6th, 2008 at 4:25 am
Seems to me we all need to wake up. This piece of equipment is linked once again to the id chips as well.. “Does it have a High intensity Laser?>”
October 6th, 2008 at 6:43 am
Naomi Wolf is a feminist Rhodes Scholar who attended Yale. She is a shill. And, did i mention feminist? “We’re a generation of men raised by women. I’m wondering if another woman is really the answer we need.” The women of the world have chopped off your balls boys. They pumped you full of estrogen and made you all girlie men who think like women with all the emotional trash that goes along with it. Shake off the women and grow a pair.
October 6th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Here in the boondocks of Central Ohio, I don’t see camera’s, but we get the occassional black helicopters and chemtrails. I don’t care who you talk to here, they still beleive everything they read and hear from the main line media. Conspiracy or Truth Movement talk labels you a quack. So I’m a duck, a lone duck.
October 6th, 2008 at 8:26 am
#33…
Yea, I am seemingly like that myself here in SW Ohio. Esp with the Military Base here and the obv main line media. Poor stupid sheeple. There’s gonna be destruction the world has never seen. There r some cameras here, as I have to drive by a few of em to get to work. I’d like to live in the boonies myself, perhaps we can strike a deal? If so, log into the infowars network and send me a message to my name there, SavageChrist.
October 6th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Hey all you country folk who live in the sticks and say there are camera’s all over the place? WTF? I live in the city and the only cameras on lightposts are at high drug dealing areas. They zoom like crazy and are high res, but not on every corner. WTF?
October 6th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Edit, I meant #32. It said #32 for Solange whn I typed. Must’ve been a comment deleted…
October 6th, 2008 at 11:14 am
I’m here in central Illinois, and I can tell you there ARE cameras on every single intersection….drug infested area or not. Also, you can spot cameras in parking lots on top of the lights, in big business shopping centers. And yes, I live in the city, not the sticks
October 6th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I am Canadian but I believe all that is going on with you guys is going to happen here soon too, it will just take a but longer.
I live near a military airbase and an international airport where we see chemtrails here every single blessed day though with the air traffic we get here it is occasionally difficult to discern chemtrails from mere jet exhaust.
I also live less than 5 miles from a military base that I do believe, from what I have read about it, will be converted into a prison camp. They have even got inward pointing barbed wire even extending to the railyards that pass near it on its north side.
(what the hell FOR if not for the obvious??)
October 6th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
look up project echelon as everyone is being watched. good websites whatdoesitmean.com stevequayle.com uaff.us see chemtrails photos as i reported them to congress and have been under constant surveillance since……..kreepy but this too shall pass in grace, Ann