The Pete Hoekstra letter--Russell Tice whistleblower testimony connection

[seafan]

With this week's revelation of Representative Pete Hoekstra's (R-Michigan) sharply worded letter (pdf) sent to George W. Bush on May 18, 2006, blasting the administration for secretly implementing an entire intelligence operation and keeping its existence hidden from Congress, we are left wondering what further egregious violations of our privacy have already occurred.



Marla Brose/The Albuquerque Journal, via Associated Press
Representative Heather A. Wilson, whom President Bush praised in June, has said she has "deep concerns" about intelligence reforms.



Linda Spillers/ABC News, via Associated Press
Representative Peter Hoekstra and Representative Jane Harman appearing on a news program in January.



Rep. Hoekstra is hopping mad, charging in his letter that:

....the administration "might have violated the law by failing to inform Congress of some secret intelligence programs." It also warned that he risked losing his party's support on national security matters.

While Hoekstra does not identify the specific secret intelligence program he is referring to, his letter goes on to state:

"I have learned of some alleged intelligence community activities about which our committee has not been briefed. If these allegations are true, they may represent a breach of responsibility by the administration, a violation of the law, and, just as importantly, a direct affront to me and the members of this committee who have so ardently supported efforts to collect information on our enemies."

Hoekstra had been briefed about both the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program and the Treasury Department's tracking of international banking transactions, both of which were leaked to the media.

He said he did not expect to be briefed about everything intelligence agencies were doing but at least one of the secret activities was a major program which Congress definitely should have been informed about.

So, what are we to make of this newest revelation? We've already had our phones tapped, our e-mail surveilled, our internet searches pawed through, our bank records sifted, private information repeatedly *stolen* by unknown entities, and Attorney General Alberto Gonazles won't rule out opening our first class mail....

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY: Under your interpretation of this, can you go in and do mail searches? Can you go into e-mails? Can you open -- can you open mail? Can you do black bag jobs?

ALBERTO GONZALES: Sir --

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY: And under the idea that you don't have much time to go through what you described as a cumbersome procedure, what most people think is a pretty easy procedure, to get a FISA warrant, can you go and do that of Americans?

ALBERTO GONZALES: Sir, I have tried to outline for you and the committee what the president has authorized, and that is all that he has authorized.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY: Did it authorize the opening of first class mail of U.S. Citizens? Just -- that you can answer yes or no.

ALBERTO GONZALES: There is all kinds of wild speculation about what the --

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY: Did it authorize it?

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER: Let him finish.

ALBERTO GONZALES: There is all kinds of wild speculation out there about what the president has authorized and what we're actually doing. And I'm not going to get into a discussion, Senator, about hypotheticals.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY: Mr. Attorney General, you're not answering my question. I'm not asking you what the president authorized. Does this law --you're the chief law enforcement officer of the country. Does this law authorize the opening of first-class mail of U.S. citizens-- yes or no-- under your interpretation?

ALBERTO GONZALES: Senator, I think -- I think that, again, that is not what is going on here. We're only focused on communications -- international communications where one part of the communication is al-Qaida. That's what this program is all about.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY: You haven't answered my question.

Remember Russell Tice, the NSA whistleblower, who testified about his activities in Special Access Programs at NSA and DoD in a closed session May 17, 2006 in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee?


This meeting was, of course, held out of public view. I always thought it curious that Mr. Tice's hearing was held before the Armed Services Committee rather than the Intelligence Committee.


Here's a clue as to Mr. Tice's testimony, from an article dated May 12, 2006:

A former intelligence officer for the National Security Agency said he plans to tell Senate staffers next week that unlawful activity occurred at the agency under the supervision of Gen. Michael Hayden beyond what has been publicly reported, while hinting that it might have involved the illegal use of space-based satellites and systems to spy on U.S. citizens.

Tice was fired from the NSA last May. He said he plans to tell the committee staffers the NSA conducted illegal and unconstitutional surveillance of U.S. citizens while he was there with the knowledge of Hayden, who has been nominated to become director of the CIA. Tice said one of his co-workers personally informed Hayden that illegal and unconstitutional activity was occurring.

The Senate Intelligence Committee plans to hold Hayden's confirmation hearing next week. "I think the people I talk to next week are going to be shocked when I tell them what I have to tell them. It's pretty hard to believe," Tice said. "I hope that they'll clean up the abuses and have some oversight into these programs, which doesn't exist right now."

Tice originally asked to meet with the Senate and House Intelligence committees, but they did not respond to his request.

Tice said his information is different from the Terrorist Surveillance Program that Bush acknowledged in December and from news accounts this week that the NSA has been secretly collecting phone call records of millions of Americans.

"It's an angle that you haven't heard about yet," he said.

According to an unclassified resume, Tice was a specialist in space operations systems, command and control warfare, advanced technology and all-source collection analysis. During an 18-year career, he worked on some of the most secretive programs in the government.

And Rep. Hoekstra's scathing letter to the White House was dated May 18, 2006, just ONE DAY after Russell Tice met with the Senate Armed Services Committee, informing them of alleged illegal activities by the NSA/DoD.





It may emerge soon that Russell Tice's classified testimony has exposed the next egregious violation of our human rights by the rogue Bush Administration . Satellite surveillance of private citizens.

What will we, citizens of the world, do about this?

[rodeodance]

1. can't do much. the war on terror trumps commonsense!

..What will we, citizens of the world, do about this?

[Doctor_J]

2. We'll let them steal enough seats to stay in power

and then for the next two years just let the grip of fascism get even tighter. Sort of like we've done for the last 6 years. We as Americans have lost the will to live free. We're very happy living under a totalitarian regime, as long as Fear Factor is still on the air.

[seafan]

3. More on Tice's valiant efforts to give his testimony:

From June 12, 2006:

House Government Reform National Security Subcommittee Chairman Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and ranking member Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, have told the NSA they want to hear from Russell Tice, who worked on what are known as "special access programs" at the agency until he was fired in May 2005.

And there was no response from the NSA.

Tice originally wrote letters last December asking to meet with the Senate and House Intelligence committees. He got a meeting earlier this year with staff from the House Intelligence Committee, but they told him they were not cleared to hear what he had to say.

Interesting how some of the politicians are treating him like he is disfigured with leprosy.

Instead, Tice met last month in a closed session with senior staff from the Senate Armed Services Committee.

snip

Tice said he told the staffers everything he knew. But he said the aides did not say how, or if, they would follow up on his allegations.

But Chris Shays and Dennis Kucinich aren't giving up.

Shays and Kucinich believe that the House Government Reform Committee has jurisdiction to hear from Tice. In a May 17 letter to the NSA, the lawmakers argue that they can hear from Tice because the House Intelligence Committee does not have exclusive jurisdiction over special access programs that Tice worked.

"If the SAP does not fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of , but rather under the jurisdiction of the Armed Services Committee, the House rules provide that the Government Reform Committee may exercise oversight jurisdiction to investigate allegations of illegal activity under that government program," the letter said.

So, Russell Tice has been fired, smeared, shut down, given a false and damaging psychological "evaluation" and isolated behind *classification*, so the people will not hear of our government's illegal activities against all of us.

It won't work for much longer.

Tice was fired after the NSA ordered him to undergo psychological evaluations following a separate clash with agency leadership, and psychologists diagnosed him as being paranoid. Tice claimed the order to undergo psychological evaluations was retaliation for raising concerns. He also said he saw an independent psychologist who found no evidence that he has a mental disorder.

[DemReadingDU]

4. Larry Johnson: House Intel Chief Misses the Boat

Today's news from Eric Lichtblau and Scott Shane that the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Peter Hoekstra, sent a nasty gram to the White House complaining of being kept in the dark on intelligence matters is significant, but misleading. It is significant because Hoekstra is staunch defender of the Bush Administration and yet is now willing to insist that his committee must be briefed on intel operations. So far, so good. What the reporters missed is the underlying message in Hoekstra's letter--that the Bush Administration is being too soft on the intel community, particularly the CIA, and that the CIA is a rogue political actor.

... What caught my eye is Hoekstra's outrage over news that Steven Kappes, the former Director of Operations at the CIA who resigned because of a dispute with Porter Goss, was coming back to the Agency as the Deputy Director. Once you understand how extreme and venomous Hoekstra's world view toward the CIA is, we can begin to understand why many intelligence officers, regardless of political persuasion, have lost confidence in Congressional oversight of the intelligence community.

For those not familiar with the details on the initial Kappes flap, here's the rundown.

http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/07/house_intel_chi.html

[KoKo]

7. Interesting post....for those wondering why Hoekstra would suddenly

be trying to out another BushCo spying operation. There's always another motive it seems. So, Hoekstra's deflecting this onto CIA and we were told that Hayden was approved on the condition that Steven Kappes would be brought back to ride herd over him.

hmmmm....it's hard to know who to believe or not these days and maybe the truth is in the very "grey" middle. :shrug:

[liberal N proud]

5. Kick and Recommend

[LincolnMcGrath]

6. K & R FRONT PAGE

:yourock:

[Disturbed]

8. Gen Hayden authorized illegal spying and

many Dems voted yes on his appointment as CIA Chief. Why?

[OzarkDem]

9. K & R

[Marie26]

10. What would that involve?

I'm not too clear on what illegal spying by "space-based satellites and systems" would involve. It's not illegal to just get an overview of the land, right? Like Google Earth? It's my understanding that the government doesn't need a warrant to spy on people or things that are within public view. So, for this to be illegal, these spy satellites would have to somehow intrude on places where there's a reasonable expectation of privacy. Are these satellites capable of looking through obstructions into houses, for example? What exactly would such a system do?

[jasmeel]

11. I'm wondering the same thing. Anyone have any clue what they

could do with this type of spying.

[seafan]

12. Some links of interest:

Spy satellite debate comes out in the open, January 3, 2005

Over the decades, spying from space has always earned super-secret status. They are the black projects, fulfilling dark tasks and often bankrolled by blank check.

However last month, several U.S. senators openly blew the whistle on a mystery spy satellite program, critical of its high cost while calling into question its utility in today’s post-9/11 world.

One lawmaker, Jay D. Rockefeller, D-W.V., the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, openly criticized the program on the Senate floor. He said the program "is totally unjustified and very wasteful and dangerous to national security," adding that he has voted to terminate the program for two years, with no success.

There is now a delicate dance under way between issues of national security and open public scrutiny about taxpayer dollars being spent wisely or squandered. Meanwhile, the swirl of secrecy seems to be revolving around a top-secret "stealthy" satellite project, code-named Misty.

(much more)

I Spy

Amateur satellite spotters can track everything government spymasters blast into orbit. Except the stealth bird codenamed Misty.

snip

In late 2004, a fierce closed-door debate on Capitol Hill burst into the open. Several senators announced publicly that they believed Congress was frittering away precious budget dollars on a proposed new version of Misty. At $9.5 billion, it was likely the largest item in the intelligence budget. While being careful not to mention the codename or specific nature of the project, US senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), described the new satellite as "unnecessary, ineffective, overbudget, and too expensive."

Part of the reason for the apparent ineffectiveness, of course, is the skill of the satellite sleuths. Even if the observers do not currently have a bead on Misty, the fact that they have seen it and continue to look for it - and have posted info on pretty much everything else - raises questions about the efficacy and expense of stealth technology in space. "It's not an encouraging data point that these dudes could find the damn thing," observes the University of Maryland's Lewis.

Not surprisingly, the intelligence community isn't happy with the amateur observers. "If we had our druthers, we would prefer that these things not end up on the Internet," says Rick Oborn, an NRO spokesperson. "It's no secret that other countries stop doing what they're doing when the satellites are overhead." Several years ago, then-senator Bob Kerrey (D-Nebraska) went a step further when he suggested that hobbyists who publish spy-sat information online are supporting terrorists.

(much more)

The Menace of Satellite Surveillance, June 19, 2003

snip

The government agency most heavily involved in satellite surveillance technology is the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), an arm of the Pentagon. NASA is concerned with civilian satellites, but there is no hard and fast line between civilian and military satellites. NASA launches all satellites, from either Cape Kennedy in Florida or Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, whether they are military- operated, CIA-operated, corporate-operated or NASA's own. Blasting satellites into orbit is a major expense. It is also difficult to make a quick distinction between government and private satellites; research by NASA is often applicable to all types of satellites. Neither the ARPA nor NASA makes satellites; instead, they underwrite the technology while various corporations produce the hardware.

Corporations involved in the satellite business include Lockheed, General Dynamics, RCA, General Electric, Westinghouse, Comsat, Boeing, Hughes Aircraft, Rockwell International, Grumman Corp., CAE Electronics, Trimble Navigation and TRW.

snip

Inside or outside, in any weather, anyplace on earth, at any time of day, a satellite "parked" in space in a geosynchronous orbit (whereby the satellite, because it moves in tandem with the rotation of the earth, seems to stand still) can detect the speech of a human target. Apparently, as with reconnaissance in general, only by taking cover deep within the bowels of a lead-shielding fortified building could you escape audio monitoring by a satellite.

There are various other satellite powers, such as manipulating electronic instruments and appliances like alarms, electronic watches and clocks, a television, radio, smoke detector and the electrical system of an automobile. For example, the digital alarm on a watch, tiny though it is, can be set off by a satellite from hundreds of miles up in space. And the light bulb of a lamp can be burned out with the burst of a laser from a satellite. In addition, street lights and porch lights can be turned on and off at will by someone at the controls of a satellite, the means being an electromagnetic beam which reverses the light's polarity. Or a lamp can be made to burn out in a burst of blue light when the switch is flicked. As with other satellite powers, it makes no difference if the light is under a roof or a ton of concrete--it can still be manipulated by a satellite laser. Types of satellite lasers include the free-electron laser, the x-ray laser, the neutral-particle-beam laser, the chemical- oxygen-iodine laser and the mid-infra-red advanced chemical laser.

....one of the most bizarre uses of a satellite is to physically assault someone. An electronic satellite beam--using far less energy than needed to blast nuclear missiles in flight-- can "slap" or bludgeon someone on earth.

(much more, very disturbing.)

Out Of The Black, Into The Red: The NRO Has to Go Commercial, 12/08/94

snip

The emergence of commercial spy-satellites will give intelligence agencies and combat units an alternative source of militarily-useful images. Currently, agencies and combat units buy low-grade images from the European SPOT satellite, capable of seeing objects no smaller than 10 meters.

Much of the NRO's work could be performed by commercial spy-satellites, said Robert Steele, a former Marine Corps and CIA intelligence official who now operates Open Sources Solutions Inc., based in Oakton, Va.

The three main players in the commercial spy-satellite industry are: WorldView Imaging Corp., Livermore, Calif., which is building a three-meter resolution satellite; a three-company consortium called Eyeglass Intl., Dulles, Va., receiving much of its funding for its one-meter resolution satellite from a Saudi Arabian company, Eirad Intl.; and Lockheed Corp.'s Space Imaging Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif.

Foreign players including Russian military satellite programs, some of which are offering images through American distribution companies, as well as the French-led SPOT program.

(much more)

Commercial Use of Spy Satellites to Begin; Private Ventures Hope for Profits, February 10, 1997

Commercial spy satellites are about to let anyone with a credit card peer down from the heavens into the compounds of dictators or the backyards of neighbors with high fences.

The first satellite is scheduled to fly into orbit in April or May, another in December and perhaps a dozen in all during the next decade. The launchings will end a monopoly that advanced nations held for nearly four decades on orbital espionage.

Rivaling military spy craft in the sharpness of their photos, the new American-made satellites are designed to see objects on the ground as small as a yard or so in diameter -- cars and hot tubs, for example.

While the new craft pose knotty security and privacy questions, their builders tend to play down such issues and instead pledge to aid cartography, law enforcement, oil exploration, disaster relief and urban planning, among other things.

"The possibilities are endless," says a brochure from Earthwatch Inc. of Longmont, Colo., which is first in line to send up the new satellites.

(much more)