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If it's more than 30 minutes old, it's not news. It's a blog.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

NSA-JTTF Targeting US Government Communications, Released to GOP

NSA contractors indirectly associated with the GOP appear to have targeted and intercepted highly sensitive, secure communications of FBI agents conducting a classified investigation in Maryland related to public corruption.

John Bolton has received classified NSA transcripts and publicly commented on them. NSA information appears to be continuously provided to GOP and DoJ Staff counsel related to ongoing war crimes investigations.

We can confirm non-NSA-intercepted information continues to surprise the GOP legal defense team. The information which NSA did not intercept, but surprised counsel indirectly associated with the Vice President, was independently generated, transmitted, and received using methods the NSA cannot replicate, monitor, or intercept.

Recommendation: Congress, as a test, should direct auditors to send information through [a] secure and [b] nonsecure channels; and [c] using methods the NSA cannot intercept. Determine which information the GOP responds to.

Expected Results: It is our view that another test would show that information sent through methods the NSA can intercept would not surprise the GOP Staff counsel or legal team associated with the Vice President; and that information sent through other methods which the NSA cannot intercept would surprise the GOP Staff counsel.

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The White House and GOP leadership have been using NSA resources to guide members of Congress to ask questions related to sensitive information. Private information, not released to the senior management in GOP or the US DoJ has been accessed.

Out of the blue Members of Congress have asked details about information that was never released outside secure areas. Other than an illegal leak, the only way to get this secure information is from the NSA Central Security Service, or a contractor working for the NSA in the transcription centers associated with the satellite ground stations.

The President has blocked DoJ OPR from reviewing these issues, and there has been no formal White House-directed investigation to identify the sourses of these GOP leaks. It is our view that the White House is the source.

Curious, when asked about NSA oversight, the same members of Congress have admitted that they didn't know all the details.

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The types of information intercepted do not match the means by which the FBI conducts its investigations. Information which was still classified was presented as if open only when the FBI made contact with court officials. However, these FBI contacts would not have generated the information released to the court, media, or other sources outside DoJ.

It appears that the surveillance is ongoing, but the GOP may comment on information where there are outside parties present. This is a ruse to thwart detection of the NSA-GOP data transfer of information related to internal US Attorney and FBI discussions.

Ref Courts would not be in a position to disclose FBI investigations. This is a ruse. The NSA is releasing only details that appear to have been compromised.

___ Which specific NSA contractor had this information from the FBI classified communications?

___ Why should we believe that FBI investigations, when conducted in court, would be released?

No way. That's not how the FBI works. They can enter a facility, never disclose the investigation, and review records indirectly. Nobody in the court would have necessarily known the FBI was or wasn't doing anything.

The more likely reason for the disclosure has nothing to do with the court, but with the GOP assuming once the FBI entered the court the court staff could be blamed for the release of information, and the NSA-JTTF targeting of the FBI investigation would not be disclosed.

___ How did the GOP know about FBI classified communications and investigations which court staff would never have known?

Most likely: The FBI was independently doing something which nobody inside the court would have known about. The FBI isn't going to announce to the court staff handling records, "We want to look at this case because we're doing a public corruption investigation." No way. The information about this didn't come from the court, but from the inside DoJ communications which the FBI never publicly released.

Again, NSA-JTTF would, without FISA court oversight, be able to target anything the GOP wanted.

___ How many of the FISA warrants, which the President approved, would have been rejected by the FISA court because they were rally going after sensitive FBI and US Attorney communications?

___ Once the warrant for this monitoring was known, what would the NSA contractors have had to have done?

___ By not getting a warrant, but asserting this was "national security," how did the GOP use NSA resources to get details of investigations which were never released outside the FBI, and never directly provided to the DOJ Staff of GOP?

___ Would anyone at Verizon have known whether the NSA was using the Verizon facilities to tap into the fiber optic lines for sensitive embassy communications; or how this information as passed to the GOP for political use?

___ How did Cheney get information related to Plame, but he made comments on the Newspaper as a distraction from the real method by which he got his information? [ Details: The NYT Editorial Ruse, and What Fitzgerald is likely looking at ]

___ Why is Libby's lawyer only surprised by information that has been gleaned outside what the NSA has an ability to intercept?

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REf It appears the NSA and JTTF have been targeting sensitive US government communications, then forwarding this information outside official channels to Members of Congress. The aim of the release is, in part, to affect the elections.

___ Why is the NSA and JTTF targeting US Attorneys?

___ Which NSA contractors are getting access to the travel records of DOJ Employees?

___ Why are DoJ Employees home phone numbers being given to GOP Members of Congress?

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___ Ref How did the GOP know the status of a secret DoJ investigation in Maryland not released outside official channels?

Recall Bolton had access to the NSA transcripts, knowing enough to send a congratulatory note to someone after Bolton reviewed NSA transcripts.

___ Who inside the GOP had access to the NSA transcripts related to the progress of the FBI in their public corruption investigation?

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Ref The DoJ Staff counsel calls to Members of Congress was part of a wider effort, not a single action. Elston knew there were larger efforts underway within the Republican Party to glean information the GOP was not entitled; and to improperly use this information for non-official objectives.

Note: A call like this to the US Attorney isn't something that just happens out of the blue. It appears NSA and JTTF were tapping the US Attorney lines, knew the status of the investigation, and this prompted the GOP to put pressure on Members of Congress to call the US Attorneys.

___ How did the GOP know who to call?

___ What information about the US Attorney discussions was released?

___ When did the NSA notify the GOP that this matter was under review?

___ When did the President and others inside the GOP, using this NSA-collected information, decide to put pressure on the US Attorneys to bring indictments?

It also appears JTTF-NSA resources and contractors provided the GOP Members of Congress with personal information about the US Attorneys, including Private contact information: Ref

___ How would a member of Congress know [a] to ask about something that had not been disclosed outside DoJ; and [b] the hotel room where the US Attorney was staying?