Reporter Phone Records Being Used to Find Leaks 971
jackbird writes "Brian Ross, Chief Investigative Correspondent for ABC news says a confidential source informed him that reporter's phone records are being used by the administration to track down leaks. Apparently reporters for the New York Times, ABC News, and the Washington Post are being scrutinized. The fact that ABC News journalists are even seriously wondering about whether the warning is connected to the NSA's domestic surveillance activities indicates just how anxious many people in Washington have become."
Re:Haha.. (Score:5, Informative)
You mean how Bush outed Plame and thus caused the undercover company that watched Iran's nukes to fold? That kind of leak?
Re:lives are at stake with leaks. (Score:5, Informative)
Leaks Save Lives (Score:1, Informative)
The only way Americans have to get important info from our government that officials don't want to release because it reveals their wrongdoing (eg. negligence, crimes or both) is from leaks to the press. We've got entirely too little government disclosure to the press, and press publication.
Where's the evidence for these leaks endangering lives of agents, or any other real security problem, that overbalances the security gained from publishing stories of inside government problems? The best-known one is the Plame leak, by the Cheney, Rove, Libby crew, to attack an ambassador whose investigation showed Bush was lying in the State of the Union about fake Niger uranium going to Iraq. We need more disclosure of how those officials leaked their attack to the press, not less. If more Bush administration people who knew Bush was determined to go to war in Iraq, even at the expense of stopping the Qaeda and bin Laden (where is bin Laden?), leaked the truth to the press, we might not be down thousands of killed Americans, tens of thousands of gravely wounded Americans, and even more killed and wounded Iraqis. Or facing the prospect of many times that amount of deaths, if the Iraq catastrophe even stays at the current unacceptable scale of killing.
Re:Apples and Oranges (Score:1, Informative)
(He felt that he should have become head of the FBI, when nixon named someone else, deepthroat was born...)
A global trend we sure could live without? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:lives are at stake with leaks. (Score:5, Informative)
I hope you do. Am I the only one that remembers Nixon's enemies list [wikipedia.org]?
The primary issue with all of this news regarding government snooping is oversight. Don't give me this "we're at war," "why do you care if you aren't doing anything wrong" crap. We should have a goverment of checks and balances, which were designed to limit the (almost invariably corrupting) concentration of political power. What happens when the Administration alone gets to decide what constitutes what is "wrong?"
I feel like an alarmist raising the specter of the creep of Totalitarianism [wikipedia.org] in the U.S., but how else do you explain this? Don't feed me the war on terror talking points; consider:
The "I" here is Gustave Gilbert; the respondent is Hermann Goering. [snopes.com]
I realize that by Godwin's Law I've lost this argument already, but if Goering's comments from 60 years ago don't make your spine tingle, what does?
Here's the al-queda connection? (Score:3, Informative)
>> to/from al-queda persons. At least that is what they keep repeating in
>> defending their nsa spying on u.s. citizens fiasco. I guess it's just
>> another lie.
1) This article is about the call records (number, duration) - not the contents of the calls was the case in the NSA monitoring calls between U.S. citizens and Al Queda members (where one party was outside of the U.S).
2) Then ABC revealed the use of CIA predator missiles inside Pakistan, it certainly does touch on Al Queda.
The Afgnanistan/Pakistan border area is reportedly a site of Al Queda activity. Pakistan does aid the U.S. in this area, but also has an internal situation that makes it difficult for them when Pakistan's government is revealed as aiding the U.S. in this area. So, revealing information about such aid makes it more difficult to secure future aid because the Pakistan leaders will be worried that the U.S. will be unable to keep their assistance secret.
So, if ABC news used leakers inside the CIA as the source of their story on the predator missiles inside of Pakistan they are directly interfering with the Al Queda situation.
The friendly article touches (very lightly) on this: http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/05/federa l_source_.html [abcnews.com]
Re:lives are at stake with leaks. (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, that's the path that Sibel Edmonds followed:
But what happened to this rule-follower?
Certainly she didn't just give up did she?
So, following the rules, a translator reports the fact that her supervisor is inept, that there might be compromised agents in the FBI and that some of the materials involved in 9/11 were translated improperly and what happens? She gets fired. She follows the legal option and the Bush administration uses the State Secres Privelage to have her case dismissed entirely.
Seriously, if you were riding on a bus and the driver were drunk, wouldn't you want someone to say something? Or would you rather they wait and call headquarters at the next stop?
Source article [http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/18828res200
Re:Apples and Oranges (Score:5, Informative)
You remember the Pentagon Papers?
Daniel Ellsberg, a former Marine and a researcher for the RAND corporation surreptitiously copied "the Pentagon Papers", a multi-volume history of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Hoping to inform the American public of U.S. mistakes in Vietnam, Ellsberg then released the papers to the New York Times.
President Nixon attempted, on national security grounds, to halt their publication. When the Supreme Court declined to uphold the suppression of the papers, Nixon ordered G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt to break in to Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office, hoping to find information with which to publicly smear Ellsberg.
That break-in, and the others that followed at the Watergate Building, became known as the Watergate conspiracy.
It also destroyed the government's case against Ellsberg: because of the break-in and an allegation that Nixon had ordered the CIA to "totally incapacitate" (e.g., kill) Ellsberg, the government's case against Ellsberg for conspiracy and espionage was dropped.
Re:What a surprise... (Score:5, Informative)
I'll be right behind you. Go, march, at LEAST yell and scream. Donate to the EFF [eff.org]. CALL your representatives, city, state, and federal. If you already have, choose one and do it again. Once is not always enough.
What's scary are the comments left on the ABC blog (Score:5, Informative)
You know, we spend a lot of time teaching our children about the men that founded this country, however flawed personally they were, and the ideals they believed in. Maybe it's time we actually stood by those words.
"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Benjamin Franklin
Quotes from ABC News Blog by members of the public:
"Good! I hope they do find out who is leaking national security info to the press. I'm tired of the press helping our enemies. Maybe you guys should start trying to "FOR the USA" instead of "AGAINST the USA" ALL THE TIME. I hope the FBI nails lots of idiots who are out to destroy the intelligence agencies and cost us more soldiers and spys!"
"'Bout time you guys are roped in."
"Excellent the Media needs looking after, Traitors most of them......."
"good, you seditionist creeps deserve what you get. who knows how many serviceman have died because of your "right to know""
"I hope the information they gain allows them to catch the scum that leak information, and helps them arrest the communist scum who publish it."
"Well maybe ABC news better stop leaking classified information. This only helps our enemies and right now I believe ABC news is an enemy of the US."
"You didn't inconvenience someone, you broke the law. It's called a criminal investigation!!!!"
"I believe that it is a great idea to maintain telephone surveilance over news organizations who disclose classified and sensitive secret information. Lets nail the government employees who knowingly break their oath to not divulge classified information."
"GOOD! I hope they find out who is reporting all of these leaks. And I hope you are tried and perhaps spend some time in jail for it. KEEP CALLING and I hope they track your every word!"
Does The Constitution Still Matter? (Score:4, Informative)
There are no exceptions to this - not even 'national security'.
Of course if The Constitution is considered merely to be a 'Goddamned Piece of Paper', as Bush has described it, and if the people who are involved in violating The Constitution don't care about adhering to it, then all bets are off, which is pretty much where we in the US are at these days.
What could possibly be wrong with surveillance? (Score:2, Informative)
SF-312 Nondisclosure Agreement (Score:1, Informative)
Did the leaker(s) sign the same Standard Form 312 [72.14.207.104] I and every other government employee with access to classified information did?
Please take note of Paragraph 3:
Also, please note paragraph 4:
It's high time the people who have taken it upon themselves to sabotage this administration be brought to justice.
The only Al Qaida Affiliates (Score:3, Informative)
I'll probably get more Troll mods for this one. It's not.
http://www.orlingrabbe.com/binladin_timosman.htm [orlingrabbe.com]
http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives
http://invisionfree.com/forums/4th_Space_Cafe/ind
Re:Wrong. (Score:5, Informative)
Ahem.
The article you cite says "De Vries [the CIA-abuse denier] came under sharp criticism from the EU parliamentarians for refusing to consider earlier testimonies from a German and a Canadian who described to the committee how they were kidnapped and imprisoned by foreign agents, and from a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan who alleged that British intelligence services used information obtained under torture".
Asserting that the EU investigated and found no proof of CIA kidnapping may have a comforting feel of "truthiness [wikipedia.org]" for you, but I'm afraid that reality once again is showing a liberal bias [dailykos.com].
Re:Standard Police procedure (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The most worrying part... (Score:3, Informative)
Well, any country with a New-York and a Washington.
Shocking recollections in spite of Godwin's Law (Score:4, Informative)
Shirer (1959) has this translation [wikipedia.org]:
Re:Good stuff! (Score:5, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truthiness [wikipedia.org]
The truthiness of this statement is 100%
Re:lives are at stake with leaks. (Score:1, Informative)
Plus, they're denying security clearances to the people who are investigating them: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12727867 [msn.com]
Everybody who wants to do something wrong/illegal/unethical, just take a lesson from this administration: do it as BLATANTLY as possible, then say you have your reasons, and don't say anything else. You'll get away with it.
You on a fact-free diet? (Score:1, Informative)
Nice "talking points", Mr. Shill.
Re:lives are at stake with leaks. (Score:1, Informative)
Today was my first day at work. In addition to filling out paperwork for benefits, medical forms, and getting a little badge, I signed a paper containing an Oath of Office:
I (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
Sometimes leakers have to decide between their oath to keep things secret, and their oath to defend the Constitution. Heaven forbid I should be placed in such a situation, but if I do I pray I have the strength to do the right thing.
Re:I got $20 that says Fox News won't be checked. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:lives are at stake with leaks. (Score:3, Informative)
The "wiretapping" is legal - as long as at lesat one end is in a forgien nation, the NSA, as directed by the PResidane under article III of the Constitution, does have the power to "wiretap" without warrant. This goes back to WW2 and FDR.
As for the CIA secret prisons - try fact checking - the Boston Globe (hardly a right wind bastion that) investigated as did others and there is no evidence that such prisons exist or existed - the conlcusion many have come to is that it was a fabricated story used to entrap leakers.
"I don't see how a single life was endangered by any of those leaks."
And you were trained as an intellgience analyst when and where? Your criticisms of this on an intelligence basis are as invlaid as they would be to a neurosurgeon (unles you happned to be either an intelligence analyst or a neurosurgeon of course - then again you're posting flames to slashdot so...)
Certainly such severe accusations as you make require at least amodicum of proff, none of which has been produced.
Stop the conspiracy truck, take off the tinfol hat and *gather*evidence* - all of it, not jsut what agrees with you and dont discard that which disagrees with you (like evidence that there is atrror thret to the US). Paranoid hysteria is not the right way to bring such charges (your error), nor is it a way to secure the nation against an implacable enemy (Bush's error).
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Quick Question (Score:4, Informative)
1) The IRS is collecting information openly, with the acquiescence, albeit grudging, of the American people.
2) The IRS' use of the collected information is constrained by law, and they follow those rules.
3) The IRS' activity is monitored by Congress, which can and does call IRS officials to account for the actions of the agency.
Get it now?
moronic (Score:3, Informative)
These people defending Libby make me sick. It's one thing to minimize the nature of his crime, or to claim that the CIA wasn't doing a very good job of protecting VPW's cover, but it is quite another to act like Scooter is some kind of hero for this. Who knew that the Republican party would have a wing that is openly pro-treason.
Section 2701? (Score:3, Informative)
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/
I read Section 2701 and all the Sections it references: 2703, 2704, 2518
For good measure, I read 2702.
None of those sections ever state that the FBI/Police can get any information without a warrant or subpoena signed by a judge.
Your statement that: "The surprising thing is that they dont even need a warrant - a simple "Section 2701" court order suffices - and the law even orders that the judge "Shall Issue" such an order when it comes to these kinds of records," is only partially correct. I say partially, because instead of a warrant, they can get a subpoena.
The law says nothing about 'the judge "Shall Issue"'
If you had read the law you referenced, you would have learned that the police/FBI must detail with specificity who/what/when/where/why in their application for a subpoena or warrant.
Possibly you meant Section 2709 [cornell.edu]?
Counterintelligence access to telephone toll and transactional records
To get any information that way, "The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or his designee in a position not lower than Deputy Assistant Director at Bureau headquarters or a Special Agent in Charge in a Bureau field office designated by the Director" must certify that their request(s) "are relevant to an authorized investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities"
And that section of the law requires that the FBI inform Committees in both the House and Senate on a semi-annual basis.
Midterm Elections in 6 months (Score:3, Informative)
How do you make this happen? Work for a Democratic candidate where you live and help elect them. If you're in New York, there's a great organization called New Democratic Majority (newdemmajority.org) that has been working since 2003 on the grassroots level to win seats back from Republicans. Elsewhere there are lots of organizations working on the same thing. Pick one and pitch in. Personally, I like grassroots because you can do more interesting things than stuff envelopes, but pick whatever suits your fancy. Just do something. Heck, even if you're a disaffected Republican, it's really important to the future of the country that you put your shoulder to the wheel too. There are lots of groups that aren't loosie-goosie hippy-cum-bleeding hearts, in fact. Most are eminently reasonable and pragmatic.
Just do it!
Re:Ah Ain't No Crook (Score:3, Informative)
A key sentence in the article is this:
To put is simply, this was never their turf to begin with. They overstepped their authority and were denied. Nothing to see.
With this sort of political climate, the public has to rely on leaks from people inside to even know what's going on.
The public has no right to know the details of the most highly classified intelligence programs the country has. How do you think that 300,000,000 people are going to keep the secret from the bad guys? Oversight is the role of Congress and the rest of the Executive branch. Congress was notified, as is customary, and the Court was briefed about this program.
A significant part of your fear seems to be based on misunderstanding.
Re:lives are at stake with leaks. (Score:3, Informative)
> There is a huge difference.
No, there really isn't. In no war that I can think of did
the aggressors not claim they were attacking the regime
rather that the country or its people. eg Germany claimed,
and even somewhat believed, that when they invaded Russia
they would be greated as liberators for freeing the Russian
people from Stalin's yoke. [btw, fuck Godwin]
> FYI, you forget a couple of things: the term "illegal"
> has no meaning outside the context of a nation,
> and "war crimes" is supposed to describe actual crimes
> committed during wartime, not simply an unjust war itself.
> Tone down the rhetoric.
Part of a nations law depends on the treaties that it has signed up for.
A signed treaty is considered by the constitution to be legally binding
so breaking it is illegal.
> "war crimes" is supposed to describe actual crimes
> committed during wartime, not simply an unjust war itself.
Wrong again, launching a war of agression is the number one war
crime from which all others flow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_crimes [wikipedia.org]
What is it, opposite day ?
Opinions? (Score:3, Informative)
Could you be more specific? I don't think I'm doing that here.
Speak softly and carry a big stick; which in this case would be credible (read: not left-leaning blogs) citations.
You're implying that my sources are no good without actually making a specific accusation.
My three links were:
1) A video and transcript of the opening of the Senate Judiciary Committee session. A factual record, not an opinion piece.
2) A Washington Post news story. Not an opinion piece. Not a left-leaning blog.
3) Remarks concerning the PATRIOT act by President George W. Bush, which included links to the official transcripts [whitehouse.gov].
None of these items are matters of "strong opinion," and I frankly think that would be clear from even a cursory examination of the actual linked pages rather than just the domain names. The sources in these cases are ultimately 1) The Senate 2) The Attorney General 3) The President.
Phone Evasion tips for Reporters and Leakers (Score:1, Informative)
Purchase prepaid cell phones!
A completely anonymous cell phone loaded with a few hundred minutes can be had for under $50. I've seen some for as little as $29. Some companies like TracFone specialize in this market, but many leading cell phone companies are now into the game. For instance, one can walk up to any T-Mobile outlet and purchase any of their prepaid phones. They may ask for a name and contact info, but for cash transactions no ID is necessary, any name given will be accepted.
Purchasing a phone at a retail outlet or convenience store is even easier and more anonymous; they'll never even ask for contact information. Some phones purchased at retail are packaged with only a very small number of minutes. Additional minutes can often be purchased online, but that would defeat the purpose of this exercise. Typically, the retailers that sell these phones also sell phone cards specific to the phone.
Some other keys to staying anonymous with a prepaid cell phone:
ONLY purchase with cash. This should be obvious, but both the cell phone and any prepaid cards should be purchased with cash.
ONLY use the phone to call your contact. If the phone is EVER used to call your home, your work, or any of the people you typically call, then an investigation of the Local Usage Details (LUDs) from those other phones could tip investigators to the presence of the prepaid cell phone.
Regarding the recently revealed NSA phone number database. Reports suggest the NSA has developed a "spider" technology allowing suspect numbers to be easily associated and identified. One might gather that the phone numbers of prepaid, anonymous cell phones would be of particular interest to the NSA. These phones may even be automatically red-flagged by the system. One can see how the use of this anonymous phone to make even a single call to the phone owner's home or office could completely compromise the phone's anonymity.
Keep the phone OFF except when using it for a call. Better yet, take out the battery.
Don't ever turn the prepaid phone on while at or near your work or home, not even to simply verfiy that it is working. When a cell phone is on, the physical location of the phone can be determined by triangulating the phone's signal between any 3 cell phone towers. No, this isn't GPS, but it may as well be.
Location triangulation has been possible as long as cell phone networks have been around, even in the analog days. No mater the age or design of the phone, this triangulation is technically feasible. (Many if not most of the "GPS trackers" used by law enforcement and other investigators don't use GPS at all, they use the triangulation capability of the cellular network to follow suspects. So if one were worried that such a tracker had been attached to their vehicle, one may wish to invest in a cell phone jammer...)
While there is no evidence that this triangulated location information is being stored or shared with the government, one must remember that modern cell phone switches are just computers. And as computers, these switches are certainly "capable" of storing the location history of any cell phone, as long as that phone is turned on.
Don't forget, the location of your every-day personal cell phone can be triangulated as well. So if you plan to keep your personal cell phone or Blackberry (Blackberry uses cellular networks) with you while making the illicit call, turn them off well before activating the anonymous prepaid phone. For these protections to be complete, one would turn them off in another location. Even better, leave any personal cellular devices at home or at work, then relocate yourself before activating the prepaid phone.
Use one phone per contact. If you have multiple contacts, purchase multiple phones.
When done with the phone, wipe the memory, wipe the phone for prints and leave the working phone (with charger) at a bus stop or ot
Re:lives are at stake with leaks. (Score:2, Informative)
You know I'm amazed some americans still believe this.
The Downing street memo [timesonline.co.uk]
Doubts, dissent stripped from public version of Iraq assessment [realcities.com]
CIA leak illustrates selective use of intelligence on Iraq [realcities.com]
Bush talking on the political advantages of war in 99 [downingstreetmemo.com]
We didn't attack Iraq, we attacked its government. There is a huge difference. The country as a whole still suffers consequences, but that doesn't diminish the distinction.
The people of Iraq may not agree. I sure as hell don't. Collateral damage is newspeak: [wikipedia.org]
U.S. invasion responsible deaths of over 250,000 civilians in Iraq [informatio...house.info]
THE REAL WMD'S IN IRAQ - OURS [americanchronicle.com]
Displaced Iraqis 'living like animals' [telegraph.co.uk]
'unknown Americans' are provoking civil war in Iraq [informatio...house.info]
The Missing Girls of Iraq [time.com]