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Thread: Intelligence post-Snowden: a debate

  1. #121
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default NSA -v- cyber crime

    Quote Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09 View Post
    Why with the ability of the NSA does it not use it's power in order to counter the coming massive wave of cyber criminality that is hitting the world's businesses as well as the common man in any country around this globe.

    Fighting this criminal wave that is already out there earning literally Billions in illegal activities seems to be for me far more of a danger than jihadi's that have already known how to avoid the NSA since 2005.

    The ability to shut down or destroy critical infrastructures and or demand money from these companies seems to me to be a far more important place to focus the sheer unlimited internet abilities of the NSA which might win them more friends than what they now have.

    http://news.yahoo.com/massive-malwar...125834620.html/
    I too have wondered why state hi-tech agencies (not all intell) appear to rarely combat common, public issues. After a couple of encounters I suspect they are simple 'not for purpose' and their criminal opponents are far more agile, move faster and rarely are accountable to many.
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  2. #122
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    Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo View Post
    I too have wondered why state hi-tech agencies (not all intell) appear to rarely combat common, public issues. After a couple of encounters I suspect they are simple 'not for purpose' and their criminal opponents are far more agile, move faster and rarely are accountable to many.
    David---there is no money in it unless the corporate world pays which I think they would if the service was solid. It would be a cash cow for governments. But then they could not be able to listen to all of us which is more important than the world's power grids crashing which makes one wonder just where are their priorities.

    The article on that particular new Trojan that I posted the link to--was dissected by my people and it is not a criminal one---we are classifying it as e NSA based on the sophistication built into it--and it has been out there for over five years and not picked up by the standard anti viral programs currently on the market--meaning it knew how to hide from detection which means it went through some rigorous testing before being released into the wild as well as the targeted companies where it has been found.

    Although from an article in Der Spiegel from today---they are indicating that the NSA is about as successful as a monkey carrying a really big knife would be in the ongoing fight against jihadi's----example the big NSA data center for data storage in Utah has had 13 total melt downs in the past few years which really should never happen to central data centers.

    The article indicates they are nowhere close to there current image that has them made out to be---even jihadi's I spoke to in 2005/2006 knew they were watched on the net and knew how to avoid it---so the argument Snowdon is helping them with his document releases does not hold water.

    Even UBL knew better than use a cell, internet or for that matter anything else---the German Parliament that is handling the NSA Merkel cell investigation is going back to the standard old line typewriters to side step both the NSA and the CIA.

    http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzp...-a-981254.html
    Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 07-16-2014 at 01:13 PM.

  3. #123
    Council Member AdamG's Avatar
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    Default US Flying Blind To Looming Terror Plots

    Growing Blind Spot

    Adding to the intelligence challenge is the fact that Al Qaeda’s resurgence has been fueled in large part by a new generation of Islamic extremists, many of them veterans of the Arab Spring uprisings, who are extremely sophisticated in their use of social media for propaganda, recruitment and especially communication. The Islamic State shock troops that captured nearly a third of Iraq in a matter of days used Twitter as a battlefield communication platform, for instance, in an offensive that resembled blitzkrieg by flash mob.

    “You know, they all fly in a swarm. There’s no leader there. There’s nobody who says, ‘Yeah, we have a map and we have to go this way,’” Dutch intelligence chief Rob Bertholee recently told CBS News. “But, amazingly, they all go the same way.”
    http://breakingdefense.com/2014/07/u...error-plots/4/
    A scrimmage in a Border Station
    A canter down some dark defile
    Two thousand pounds of education
    Drops to a ten-rupee jezail


    http://i.imgur.com/IPT1uLH.jpg

  4. #124
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    AdamG,

    I am not convinced that the apparent lack of intelligence on current ISIS activity, as distinct from information - much of it on social media - is the same as the intelligence required to hinder if not stop the plotting of a terror attack beyond Iraq-Syria.

    There have been a few reports and comments that before Mosul and dating back to the US exit from Iraq information collection declined. One must also wonder if accurate reporting upwards was welcomed, let alone provided.

    Traffic analysis, imagery and much more once directed to ISIS, its allies and the vicinity can help 'degrading'. The real key is access to those within, whether it is their records (ISIS appears to be rather bureaucratic in this regard) and people.

    Leaving aside the shrill warnings of ISIS-inspired if not caused doom to date their 'shock & awe' campaign has been incredibly successful in getting them attention worldwide. Why seek to launch an attack beyond the region, if not the local battlefield?

    In support of my armchair views there is this article on ISIS at home:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-hostages.html
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 09-17-2014 at 12:09 PM. Reason: Add last line and link
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  5. #125
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    I am sure the Snowden debate will continue, partly as there is disagreement over his motivation, his choice of partners, a pending film I think and whether the damage caused has really affected intelligence gathering - especially SIGINT and other electronic int.

    Beyond those matters is whether the balance between liberty and security, the citizen and the state has been shifted - largely without public knowledge and legislative approval, as shown by this week's revelations in the UK:http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/...s-surveillance

    A short Uk academic outlook, used at a recent book fair. It has many familiar points, but is succinct:http://memex.naughtons.org/archives/2014/11/02/20807

    The second came via Twitter a far longer blog piece assembling the knowledge given by Snowden and the former NSA insider, William Binney's explanation:http://www.alexaobrien.com/secondsight/wb/binney.html
    davidbfpo

  6. #126
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Understanding digital intelligence from a British perspective

    Professor Sir David Omand has written a short commentary, it reflects his years as an "insider" and his studies since. He remains a stalwart defender of what GCHQ in particular has been doing:http://strifeblog.org/2015/02/05/und...h-perspective/

    I note his emphasis that:
    The issue is how we the public can be sure that under any future government these tools cannot be misused.
    davidbfpo

  7. #127
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Chertoff: everyone should have a right to encryption

    A somewhat surprising report ex-DHS head says:
    I'm sympathetic to law enforcement, but nevertheless I've come to the conclusion that requiring network managers or ISPs to retain a key that would allow them to decrypt data moving back and forth on a particular device is not something the government should require....If you require companies to manage a network to retain a key to decrypt, I guarantee you another provider will allow someone else in the world to have that key. What happens is, honest people will have a key to encrypted data that's held by a third party. As we've seen in the past, that can lead to problems.

    It's harder to crack encryption without the key—you have to go to the person who has the device and get them to give you the key somehow, but we don't normally, in a free society, require people to organize their lives in a way that makes life easier for law enforcement.... When they come to your house with a warrant, we don't give them a tour.
    Link:http://motherboard.vice.com/en_ca/re...o-encrypt-data
    davidbfpo

  8. #128
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Bulk collection: before the NSA came the DEA

    Two reports on what some IIRC had suspected. From the most comprehensive USA today report, which starts with:
    The U.S. government started keeping secret records of Americans' international telephone calls nearly a decade before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, harvesting billions of calls in a program that provided a blueprint for the far broader National Security Agency surveillance that followed.For more than two decades, the Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration amassed logs of virtually all telephone calls from the USA to as many as 116 countries linked to drug trafficking, current and former officials involved with the operation said. The targeted countries changed over time but included Canada, Mexico and most of Central and South America.
    Link:http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2...tion/70808616/


    The collection was halted, after over twenty years by Attorney-General Holder in September 2013:
    Officials said the Justice Department told the DEA that it had determined it could not continue both surveillance programs, particularly because part of its justification for sweeping NSA surveillance was that it served national security interests, not ordinary policing.
    Short of time? A shorter report:http://venturebeat.com/2015/04/07/de...w-report-says/
    davidbfpo

  9. #129
    Council Member Firn's Avatar
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    Talk about mission creep on a gigantic scale. Over a year ago I wrote:

    Quote Originally Posted by Firn View Post


    Why do I imagine the NSA&Co as kids visiting the brave new candy store? There is just so much good new stuff around that it is impossible to resist even if mother constitution might say no...

    I'm pretty sure that when it comes to technology those organizations will have a very hard time to unlearn even if the legal framework should change.
    It sounds simplistic but kids in a brave new candy store fits better then ever. All those clever people could just not resist the attraction of all that sweet stuff and it's sugar rush of possibilities, power and internal incentives. I have no doubt that the few pedantic naysayers talking about constitution, laws and possibly economic sense had not as a brilliant career path as the smart guys uncovering new means to gather data in ever more amazing amounts...

    P.S: It is fitting that it a big push into the wrong direction came with the 'war on drugs' which is at best highly questionable in it's extent and methods, if not overall misguided. A great, rather stupid midwife for the next breed of smart and unwise mass-surveillance.
    Last edited by Firn; 04-09-2015 at 06:51 AM.
    ... "We need officers capable of following systematically the path of logical argument to its conclusion, with disciplined intellect, strong in character and nerve to execute what the intellect dictates"

    General Ludwig Beck (1880-1944);
    Speech at the Kriegsakademie, 1935

  10. #130
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    The debate in the UK on intelligence post-Snowden continues, although usually away from the media foreground and as this article by a critic explains there has been a lot going on in legal proceedings. Doubly useful for the links within:http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy...e-and-winning/

    Now the Conservatives are free of their coalition partners, the Liberal-Democrats, it is expected that new legislation will appear soon.
    davidbfpo

  11. #131
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    Default Talking with the agencies

    Yesterday, in the last post, I said:
    The debate in the UK on intelligence post-Snowden continues, although usually away from the media foreground....
    Then today a tweet arrived from Duncan Campbell, an investigative journalist with a long history of exposing intelligence matters officialdom here would prefer not to be. He was invited to a conference @ Ditchley Park (a retreat for private discussions) on 'Intelligence, Security and Privacy' and has some unattributed comments.

    Starting with:
    No-one argued against calls for greater openness...The purpose of the conference (the host said), was to explore "how can governments achieve the right balance between gathering enough information to keep their citizens safe, without those same citizens feeling that their privacy is being unreasonably invaded"
    Link:http://www.duncancampbell.org/conten...n-not-required

    A full report will be published soon by the Ditchley ParkFoundation, meantime The Intercept has a report and list of attendees:https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2...-surveillance/
    davidbfpo

  12. #132
    Council Member Firn's Avatar
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    So it is the French turn to be upset. After the other spying relevations it was all too obvious that the French presidents have also been a target and most likely are still. Now I'm pretty sure that many high up were aware of that but I don't now to which extent the French public was. In any case the whole discussion will damage the image of the US to an unkown degree and not help the relationship.

    We will never know how the ups and downs stack up but it is difficult to deny that a part of the vast US investment cause a big fallout but also had huge opportunity costs. Likely a lot smaller then the Iraqi adventure but still a very considerable ones. Sometimes the will to achieve more security results in some of it's loss and a high price tag.*




    *Hindsight is always easy and the other way around it is much harder. History is of course full of examples, a classic one is Athen's inability to resist to the lure of improving it's naval dominance before the war by supporting Cortinth which led to the defeat of it's empire.

    In 435 BC it was again involved in a quarrel with Corinth over the control of Epidamnus, and sought assistance from Athens (see Battle of Sybota).

    This new alliance was one of the chief immediate causes of the Peloponnesian War, in which Corcyra was of considerable use to the Athenians as a naval station, but did not render much assistance with its fleet. The island was nearly lost to Athens by two attempts of the oligarchic faction to effect a revolution; on each occasion the popular party ultimately won the day and took a most bloody revenge on its opponents (427 BC and 425 BC).[23]

    ......

    Three Syracusan generals went to Corinth seeking allies against Athenian invasion.[35] The Corinthians "voted at once to aid [the Syracusans] heart and soul". They also sent a group to Lacedaemon to rouse Spartan assistance. After a convincing speech from the Athenian renegade Alcibiades, the Spartans agreed to send troops to aid the Sicilians.[36]
    All from Wikipedia for quick quotes. All in all I'm still convinced that the candy plays a big role for the intelligence kids. Some of the technical stuff must be amazingly cool.
    Last edited by Firn; 06-24-2015 at 06:20 PM.
    ... "We need officers capable of following systematically the path of logical argument to its conclusion, with disciplined intellect, strong in character and nerve to execute what the intellect dictates"

    General Ludwig Beck (1880-1944);
    Speech at the Kriegsakademie, 1935

  13. #133
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default In Contempt of Bulk Surveillance: It’s Too Easy

    An essay in Lawfare by a computer security SME; towards the end:
    We need to act like every open wireless network or hotel in the Washington area is potentially compromised. And with the low cost of such installation, it doesn’t even need to remain the realm of foreign intelligence services. How much money could criminals make with such systems?
    At this point, it doesn’t matter if the NSA disappeared tomorrow. The precedents are now well established. After all, if the US can target NATO allies with bulk surveillance and attack-by-name, who can’t do the same to us? And I personally believe the US has more to lose than we have to gain.
    The only robust defense against Internet surveillance is universal encryption....
    Link:https://www.lawfareblog.com/contempt...e-its-too-easy
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  14. #134
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Edward Snowden: Spies and the Law

    Snowden has been interviewed in Moscow by the BBC's Peter Taylor for thirty minutes; the introduction says:
    Edward Snowden, the man responsible for the biggest leak of top secret intelligence files the world has ever seen, gives his first BBC interview to Panorama. Russia has given him sanctuary. America wants him back. With opinion sharply divided, Snowden is acknowledged to have raised the debate over privacy and national security to a new level - framing the agenda for this autumn's parliamentary debate over controversial new legislation previously criticised as 'the snoopers' charter'.
    Alas the programme has been archived, it maybe on YouTube, but I have not looked.
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 03-27-2017 at 02:31 PM.
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  15. #135
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    Default Edward Snowden: Spies and the Law

    The transcript of the interview has appeared and it has several passages of note:https://www.opendemocracy.net/digita...edward-snowden
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  16. #136
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    Default Mass surveillance can't catch terrorists. That's the uncomfortable truth

    This article by Professor Thomas Rid, Kings War Studies, is notable, even if some of the opening lines are based on the Paris attackers planner ebing in Syria, not France or was it Belguim?

    A couple of key sentences:
    ..bulk interception, our fallback method of getting some handle on encrypted communications in order to prevent attacks, may be failing. What some misleadingly call “mass surveillance,” may not nearly be as useful (or as scary) as both proponents and critics think.

    (Later) The forward-looking and much harder discussion is about intelligence and law enforcement capabilities and methods that will actually work against the next generation of extremists.
    Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...r-attacks.html
    davidbfpo

  17. #137
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    Default General Michael Hayden on Cybersurveillance in the Post-Snowden Age

    General Hayden gave a speech recently, plus a Q&A (1hr video), which caused a few ripples on Twitter, possibly for this:
    Snowden stimulated and destroyed a necessary debate.
    The conference summary refers to:
    During his address, General Hayden delivered an unapologetic defense of the NSA’s recently revealed activities, yet remained candid about where the agency has made mistakes and where it can improve. In particular, the speech raises a profound question: can intelligence activities succeed in a society that demands greater and greater transparency about those activities?
    Link:https://www.lawfareblog.com/lawfare-podcast-episode-108-general-michael-hayden-cybersurveillance-post-snowden-age?

    His speech is 40 mins long and is available too as a podcast.

    I have always found him forthright, almost entertaining, but found one example rather jarring. He compared the Cold War work of the NSA intercepting microwave communications within the USSR as it crossed the Urals to missile bases to monitoring all domestic phone traffic.

    An intelligence "lurker" commented:
    I have never weighed Hayden up. He never sounds that smart
    Today I found General Hayden has a book out, 'Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror', from Penguin Press and has a scathing review in The New Yorker:http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...of-the-shadows

    Amazon (USA) has several excellent to good review:http://www.amazon.com/Playing-Edge-A...+Age+of+Terror
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 06-09-2016 at 08:51 PM. Reason: Was a stand alone thread with 3.7k views.
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  18. #138
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    James Bamford, author on the NSA from a long time ago IIRC, has a long, detailed review of General Hayden and his book:http://www.thenation.com/article/mic...-big-leap-off/

    Here is an indicator:
     Now, in America’s greatest intelligence disaster since then, Hayden was the man in charge...... It takes a special kind of military officer to follow-up the worst intelligence failure since Pearl Harbor with possibly the worse intelligence blunder of all time.
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    Default Pardon Me, I’m Edward Snowden

    Last edited by davidbfpo; 01-01-2017 at 03:21 PM.

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    Default The Fable of Edward Snowden

    The Fable of Edward Snowden

    Entry Excerpt:



    --------
    Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
    This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

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