Report: NSA creating spy system to monitor domestic infrastructure

[unhappycamper]

Report: NSA creating spy system to monitor domestic infrastructure
By Daniel Tencer
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 -- 9:07 pm

The National Security Agency has begun work on an "expansive" spy system that will monitor critical infrastructure inside the United States for cyber-attacks, in a move that detractors say could end up violating privacy rights and expanding the NSA's domestic spying abilities.

The Wall Street Journal cites unnamed sources as saying that the NSA has issued a $100-million contract to defense contractor Raytheon to build a system dubbed "Perfect Citizen," which will involve placing "sensors" at critical points in the computer networks of private and public organizations that run infrastructure, organizations such as nuclear power plants and electric grid operators.

In an email obtained by the Journal, an unnamed Raytheon employee describes the system as "Big Brother."

"The overall purpose of the is our Government...feel(s) that they need to insure the Public Sector is doing all they can to secure Infrastructure critical to our National Security," the email states. "Perfect Citizen is Big Brother."

"Raytheon declined to comment on this email," the Journal reports.



unhappycamper comment: And on NSA's web site, they say:




These are our commitments to you, our fellow citizens:

* We will act with integrity to advance the rights, goals, and values of the Nation.
* We will adhere to the spirit and the letter of the Constitution and the laws and regulations of the United States.
* We will support and protect our troops in the field.
* We will combat terrorism around the globe - when necessary, putting our lives on the line to preserve the Nation.
* We will provide our policymakers, negotiators, ambassadors, law enforcement community, and military the vital intelligence they need to protect and defend the Nation.
* We will defend the national security networks vital to our Nation.
* We will be a trusted steward of public resources and place prudent judgment over expediency.
* We will continually strive for transparency in all our review, monitoring, and decision-making processes.
* We will be accountable for our actions and take responsibility for our decisions.

[old mark]

1. Obama should have repaired the damage done by the GOP in the "Patriot" Act...

yet he has not and is evidently expanding the US Gestapo.

They don't want us to have all those "rights"...After all, the government know wahat's best for us, right Mr. President?
Rec.

mark

[Octafish]

2. 'Perfect Citizen'

How apt. No innocent person has a thing to fear. Right.

[mopinko]

3. i don't think the mic is under civilian control.

they just go along, doing what they want, lying any time they feel they need to, submitting bogus budgets, bogus threat assessments, and thumbing their nose at the commander and chief.
they live in their own world. this obama guy is here now, but he will be gone one day, so why pay any attention to him. imho, they are not gonna pay a wit of attention to anything obama says until his second term. if then.

[Better Believe It]

4. What makes you think that President Obama is opposed to the "perfect citizen" project?

[mopinko]

5. i don't know if he is or he isn't. my point was that

blaming this on him ignores the facts on the ground. he may be vehemently opposed, and these suckers wouldn't care.

[Better Believe It]

6. If President Obama were strongly opposed to this project it wouldn't get off the ground.

He is the President and he does have the power to stop it. He isn't a weak, helpless soul in the White House.

[mopinko]

9. well, i have a different opinion.

i don't happen to hold him responsible for every detail of the federal government, and particularly the mic. they just tolerate civilian leadership and mostly go their own way.
besides, don't you think they should protect essential assets?

[Mika]

7. Glad my taxes are being used to protect for-profit infrastructure.

More externalization of corporate risk.

[Robb]

8. Um so? Other than the boogah boogah of "big brother"....

...Can someone explain to me why monitoring potential assaults on electric grids and nuclear power plants is a bad idea?

From WSJ:

The federal government is launching an expansive program dubbed "Perfect Citizen" to detect cyber assaults on private companies and government agencies running such critical infrastructure as the electricity grid and nuclear-power plants, according to people familiar with the program.

The surveillance by the National Security Agency, the government's chief eavesdropping agency, would rely on a set of sensors deployed in computer networks for critical infrastructure that would be triggered by unusual activity suggesting an impending cyber attack, though it wouldn't persistently monitor the whole system, these people said.

Edited to add another sentence from WSJ.

[Dank Nugs]

10. This makes every single person working on behalf of the Government / NSA a legitimate target. n/t