11.3.1. We've come a long way from Secretary of State Stimpson's
famous "Gentlemen do not read other gentlemen's mail"
statement. It is now widely taken for granted that Americans
are to be monitored, surveilled, and even wiretapped by the
various intelligence agencies. The FBI, the National Security
Agency, the CIA, the National Reconnaissance Office, etc.
(Yes, these groups have various charters telling them who
they can spy on, what legalities they have to meet, etc. But
they still spy. And there's not an uproar--the "What have you
got to hide?" side of the American privacy dichotomy.)
11.3.2. Duncan Frissell reminds us of Justice Jackson's 1948
dissenting opinion in some case:
- "The government could simplify criminal law enforcement by
requiring every citizen "to keep a diary that would show
where he was at all times, with whom he was, and what he
was up to." [D.F. 1994-09-06, from an article in the WSJ]
- (It should be noted that tracking devices--collars,
bracelets, implantable transmitters--exist and are in use
with prisoners. Some parents are even installing them in
children, it is rumored. A worry for the future?)
11.3.3. "What is the "surveillance state"?"
- the issue with crypto is the _centralization_ of
eavesdropping...much easier than planting bugs
+ "Should some freedom be given up for security?"
+ "Those who are willing to trade freedom for security
- deserve neither
+ freedom nor security
- Ben Franklin
- the tradeoff is often illusory--police states result when
the trains are made to run on time
- "It's a bit ironic that the Administration is crying foul
so loudly
over the Soviet/Russian spy in the CIA -- as if this was
unfair --
while they're openly proclaiming the right to spy on
citizens
and foreigners via Clipper." [Carl Ellison, 1994-02-23]
+ Cameras are becoming ubiquitous
+ cheap, integrated, new technologes
- SDI fisheye lens
- ATMs
- traffic, speed traps, street corners
- store security
- Barcodes--worst fear of all...and not plausible
+ Automatic recognition is still lacking
- getting better, slowly
- neural nets, etc. (but these require training)
11.3.4. "Why would the government monitor _my_ communications?"
- "Because of economics and political stability....You can
build computers and monitoring devices in secret, deploy
them in secret, and listen to _everything_. To listen to
everything with bludgeons and pharmaceuticals would not
only cost more in labor and equipment, but also engender a
radicalizing backlash to an actual police state." [Eric
Hughes, 1994-01-26]
- Systems like Digital Telephony and Clipper make it much too
easy for governments to routinely monitor their citizens,
using automated technology that requires drastically less
human involvement than previous police states required.
11.3.5. "How much surveillance is actually being done today?"
+ FBI and Law Enforcement Surveillance Activities
- the FBI kept records of meetings (between American
companies and Nazi interests), and may have used these
records during and after the war to pressure companies
+ NSA and Security Agency Surveillance Activities
- collecting economic intelligence
- in WW2, Economic Warfare Council (which was renamed Board
of Economic Warfare) kept tabs on shipments of petroleum
and other products
+ MINARET, code word for NSA "watch list" material
(intercepts)
- SIGINT OPERATION MINARET
- originally, watch list material was "TOP SECRET
HANDLE VIA COMINT CHANNELS ONLY UMBRA GAMMA"
+ NSA targeting is done primarily via a list called
Intelligence Guidelines for COMINT Priorities (IGCP)
- committe made up of representatives from several
intelligence agencies
- intiated in around 1966
+ revelations following Pentagon Papers that national
security elsur had picked up private conversations (part
of the Papers)
- timing of PP was late 1963, early 1964...about time UB
was getting going
+ F-3, the NSA's main antenna system for intercepting ASCII
transmissions from un-TEMPESTed terminals and PCs
- signals can be picked up through walls up to a foot
thick (or more, considering how such impulses bounce
around)
+ Joint FBI/NSA Surveillance Activities
+ Operation Shamrock was a tie between NSA and FBI
- since 1945, although there had been earlier intercepts,
too
- COINTELPRO, dissidents, radicals
+ 8/0/45 Operation Shamrock begins
- a sub rosa effort to continue the monitoring
arrangements of WW II
- ITT Communications agreed to turn over all cables
+ RCA Communications also turned over all cables
- even had an ex-Signal Corps officer as a VP to
handle the details
- direct hookups to RCA lines were made, for careful
monitoring by the ASA
- cables to and from corporations, law firms,
embassies, citizens were all kept
+ 12/16/47 Meeting between Sosthenes Behn of ITT,
General Ingles of RCA, and Sec. of Defense James
Forrestal
- to discuss Operation Shamrock
- to arrange exemptions from prosecution
+ 0/0/63 Operation Shamrock enters a new phase as RCA
Global switches to computerized operation
- coincident with Harvest at NSA
- and perfect for start of UB/Severn operations
+ 1/6/67 Hoover officially terminates "black bag"
operations
- concerned about blowback
- had previously helped NSA by stealing codes, ciphers,
decrypted traffic, planting bugs on phone lines, etc.
- from embassies, corporations
- unclear as to whether these operations continued
anyway
+ Plot Twist: may have been the motivation for NSA and
UB/Severn to pursue other avenues, such as the use of
criminals as cutouts
- and is parallel to "Plumbers Unit" used by White
House
+ 10/1/73 AG Elliot Richardson orders FBI and SS to
stop requesting NSA surveillance material
- NSA agreed to stop providing this, but didn't tell
Richardson about Shamrock or Minaret
- however, events of this year (1973) marked the end of
Minaret
+ 3/4/77 Justice Dept. recommends against prosecution
of any NSA or FBI personnel over Operations Shamrock
and Minaret
- decided that NSCID No. 9 (aka No. 6) gave NSA
sufficient leeway
- 5/15/75 Operation Shamrock officially terminated
- and Minaret, of course
+ Operation Shamrock-Details
+ 8/0/45 Operation Shamrock begins
- a sub rosa effort to continue the monitoring
arrangements of WW II
- ITT Communications agreed to turn over all cables
+ RCA Communications also turned over all cables
- even had an ex-Signal Corps officer as a VP to
handle the details
- direct hookups to RCA lines were made, for careful
monitoring by the ASA
- cables to and from corporations, law firms,
embassies, citizens were all kept
+ 12/16/47 Meeting between Sosthenes Behn of ITT,
General Ingles of RCA, and Sec. of Defense James
Forrestal
- to discuss Operation Shamrock
- to arrange exemptions from prosecution
+ 0/0/63 Operation Shamrock enters a new phase as RCA
Global switches to computerized operation
- coincident with Harvest at NSA
- and perfect for start of UB/Severn operations
+ 8/18/66 (Thursday) New analysis site in New York for
Operation Shamrock
+ Louis Tordella meets with CIA Dep. Dir. of Plans and
arranges to set up a new listening post for analysis
of the tapes from RCA and ITT (that had been being
shipped to NSA and then back)
- Tordella was later involved in setting up the watch
list in 1970 for the BNDD, (Operation Minaret)
- LPMEDLEY was code name, of a television tape
processing shop (reminiscent of "Man from U.N.C.L.E."
- but NSA had too move away later
- 5/15/75 Operation Shamrock officially terminated
+ 10/1/73 AG Elliot Richardson orders FBI and SS to
stop requesting NSA surveillance material
- NSA agreed to stop providing this, but didn't tell
Richardson about Shamrock or Minaret
- however, events of this year (1973) marked the end of
Minaret
- Abzug committee prompted by New York Daily News report,
7/22/75, that NSA and FBI had been monitoring
commercial cable traffic (Operation Shamrock)
+ 6/30/76 175 page report on Justice Dept.
investigation of Shamrock and Minaret
- only 2 copies prepared, classified TOP SECRET UMBRA,
HANDLE VIA COMINT CHANNELS ONLY
+ 3/4/77 Justice Dept. recommends against prosecution
of any NSA or FBI personnel over Operations Shamrock
and Minaret
- decided that NSCID No. 9 (aka No. 6) gave NSA
sufficient leeway
+ the NSA program, begun in August 1945, to monitor all
telegrams entering or leaving the U.S.
- reminiscent of Yardley's arrangements in the 1920s
(and probably some others)
- known only to Louis Tordella and agents involved
- compartmentalization
+ Plot Links of Operation Shamrock to Operation Ultra
Black
- many links, from secrecy, compartmentalization, and
illegality to the methods used and the subversion of
government power
- "Shamrock was blown...Ultra Black burrowed even
deeper."
+ NSA, FBI, and surveillance of Cuban sympathizers
- "watch list" used
- were there links to Meyer Lansky and Trafficante via
the JFK-Mafia connection?
- various Watergate break-in connections (Cubans used)
- Hoover ended black-bag operations in 1967-8
+ NSA, FBI, and Dissenters (COINTELPRO-type activities)
+ 10/20/67 NSA is asked to begin collecting information
related to civil disturbances, war protesters, etc.
- Army Intelligence, Secret Service, CIA, FBI, DIA were
all involved
- arguably, this continues (given the success of FBI
and Secret Service in heading off major acts of
terrorism and attempted assassinations)
+ Huston Plan and Related Plans (1970-71)
- 7/19/66 Hoover unofficially terminates black bag
operations
+ 1/6/67 Hoover officially terminates black bag
operations
- fearing blowback, concerned about his place in
history
+ 6/20/69 Tom C. Huston recommends increased
intelligence activity on dissent
- memo to NSA, CIA, DIA, FBI
- this later becomes basis of Huston Plan
+ 6/5/70 Meeting at White House to prepare for Huston
Plan; Interagency Committee on Intelligence (Ad Hoc),
ICI
- Nixon, Huston, Ehrlichman, Haldeman, Noel Gayler of
NSA. Richard Helms of CIA, J. Edgar Hoover of FBI,
Donald V. Bennett of DIA
- William Sullivan of FBI named to head ICI
+ NSA enthusiastically supported ICI
- PROD named Benson Buffham as liaison
- sought increased surreptitious entries and
elimination of legal restrictions on domestic
surveillance (not that they had felt bound by
legalisms)
- recipients to be on "Bigot List" and with even more
security than traditional TOP SECRET, HANDLE VIA
COMINT CHANNELS ONLY
-
+ 7/23/70 Huston Plan circulated
- 43 pages, entitled Domestic Intelligence Gathering
Plan: Analysis and Stategy
- urged increased surreptitious entries (for codes,
ciphers, plans, membership lists)
- targeting of embassies
+ 7/27/70 Huston Plan cancelled
- pressure by Attorney General John Mitchell
- and perhaps by Hoover
- Huston demoted; he resigned a year later
- but the Plan was not really dead...perhaps Huston's
mistake was in being young and vocal and making the
report too visible and not deniable enough
+ 12/3/70 Intelligence Evaluation Committee (IEC) meets
(Son-of-Huston Plan)
- John Dean arranged it in fall of '70
- Robert C. Mardian, Assistant AG for Internal Security
headed up the IEC
- Benson Buffham of NSA/PROD, James Jesus Angleton of
CIA, George Moore from FBI, Col. John Downie from DOD
- essentially adopted all of Huston Plan
+ 1/26/71 NSA issues NSA Contribution to Domestic
Intelligence (as part of IEC)
- increased scope of surveillance related to drugs (via
BNDD and FBI), foreign nationals
- "no indication of origin" on generated material
- full compartmentalization, NSA to ensure compliance
+ 8/4/71 G. Gordon Liddy attends IEC meeting, to get
them to investigate leaks of Pentagon Papers
- channel from NSA/PROD to Plumber's Unit in White
House, bypassing other agencies
+ 6/7/73 New York Times reveals details of Huston Plan
- full text published
- trials of Weatherman jeopardized and ultimately
derailed it
+ 10/1/73 AG Elliot Richardson orders FBI and SS to
stop requesting NSA surveillance material
- NSA agreed to stop providing this, but didn't tell
Richardson about Shamrock or Minaret
- however, events of this year (1973) marked the end of
Minaret
+ FINCEN, IRS, and Other Economic Surveillance
- set up in Arlington as a group to monitor the flows of
money and information
+ eventually these groups will see the need to actively
hack into computer systems used by various groups that
are under investigation
- ties to the death of Alan Standorf? (Vint Hill)
- Casolaro, Riconosciutto
11.3.6. "Does the government want to monitor economic transactions?"
- Incontrovertibly, they _want_ to. Whether they have actual
plans to do so is more debatable. The Clipper and Digital
Telephony proposals are but two of the indications they
have great plans laid to ensure their surveillance
capabilities are maintained and extended.
- The government will get increasingly panicky as more Net
commerce develops, as trade moves offshore, and as
encryption spreads.
11.3.7. A danger of the surveillance society: You can't hide
- seldom discussed as a concern
- no escape valve, no place for those who made mistakes to
escape to
- (historically, this is a way for criminals to get back on a
better track--if a digital identity means their record
forever follows them, this may...)
+ A growing problem in America and other "democratic"
countries is the tendency to make mandatory what were once
voluntary choices. For example, fingerprinting children to
help in kidnapping cases may be a reasonable thing to do
voluntarily, but some school districts are planning to make
it mandatory.
- This is all part of the "Let's pass a law" mentality.
11.3.8. "Should I refuse to give my Social Security Number to those
who ask for it?"
- It's a bit off of crypto, but the question does keep coming
up on the Cypherpunks list.
- Actually, they don't even need to ask for it
anymore....it's attached to so many _other_ things that pop
up when they enter your name that it's a moot point. In
other words, the same dossiers that allow the credit card
companies to send you "preapproved credit cards" every few
days are the same dossiers that MCI, Sprint, AT&T, etc. are
using to sign you up.
11.3.9. "What is 'Privacy 101'?"
- I couldn't think of a better way to introduce the topic of
how individuals can protect their privacy, avoid
interference by the government, and (perhaps) avoid taxes.
- Duncan Frissell and Sandy Sandfort have given out a lot of
tips on this, some of them just plain common sense, some of
them more arcane.
+ They are conducting a seminar, entitled "PRIVACY 101" and
the archives of this are available by Web at:
- http://www.iquest.com/~fairgate/privacy/index.html
11.3.10. Cellular phones are trackable by region...people are getting
phone calls as they cross into new zones, "welcoming" them
- but it implies that their position is already being tracked
11.3.11. Ubiquitous use of SSNs and other personal I.D.
11.3.12. cameras that can recognize faces are placed in many public
places, e.g., airports, ports of entry, government buildings
- and even in some private places, e.g., casinos, stores that
have had problems with certain customers, banks that face
robberies, etc.
11.3.13. speculation (for the paranoids)
- covert surveillance by noninvasive detection
methods...positron emission tomography to see what part of
the brain is active (think of the paranoia possibility!)
- typically needs special compounds, but...
11.3.14. Diaries are no longer private
+ can be opened under several conditions
- subpoena in trial
- discovery in various court cases, including divorce,
custody, libel, etc.
- business dealings
- psychiatrists (under Tarasoff ruling) can have records
opened; whatever one may think of the need for crimes
confessed to shrinks to be reported, this is certainly a
new era
- Packwood diary case establishes the trend: diaries are no
longer sacrosanct
- An implication for crypto and Cypherpunks topics is that
diaries and similar records may be stored in encrypted
forms, or located in offshore locations. There may be more
and more use of offshore or encrypted records.
By Tim May, see README
HTML by Jonathan Rochkind