The best, unimpeachable evidence of the schism or chasm that reached fruition between the two dominant political parties in our government in the 21st century is reflected in the ongoing debate-the “drama-” associated with the re-authorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
In simple terms the view of this act between the parties has done a near flipperoo/~180 in the past two decades, with democrats touting the successes of the program that appear disturbingly correlated with their original-but now apparently forgotten former fear-of the potential for political retribution against enemies and unchecked abuses carved out of a system intended to be adversarial-where under the constitution an accused gets their day in court and a chance to view and counter the evidence and charges brought against them in any attempt to curtail their god given rights: liberty, justice and freedom (privacy.)
Particularly ironic in a country where many are quick to the pearl clutching when it comes to historical affronts that-while real-are so far in the rear-view mirror that they afflicted no one living today. Those who see all the evils of actions taken centuries ago, quick to the criticism of yesteryear as if operative today, somehow fail to include in their logic how the original safeguards enacted to address and preclude such abuses are still needed today. Such close but fatally prejudiced scrutiny of American history touches righteous ends when approached with a view to remembering our history and learning from it.
I am reminded of this when in exchanging email the topic of “Fort Cavazos” came up: the changing of names of military posts-an insult to our military history-is a disgrace and dishonor to all who served throughout our history…
But when done with a view to change or make that history “right,” with no sense or understanding that no amount of meddling will change history and little to no good can-nor will-come from such endeavors, which merely serve to bury and cover things up: where does it stop? Who decides-pays-receives-benefits-ad nauseum…in truth we don’t seem to learn from our history, short as it is in comparison to the world’s elders…
To depart from the esoteric or preachy, in the ongoing debate about the extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) provisions, the Director of National intelligence (DNI) monitors and reports on the 702 process under which the government-represented by the Department of Justice, often executed by the Federal Bumblers of Investigations (FBI,) petitions the FISA Court (FISC) to approve the invasion of privacy otherwise-and normally-protected under laws that call for the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, in cases where there is a credible-and demonstrable-national security issue or predicate that warrants the suspension of constitutional protections.
It is a non-adversarial procedure-there is no representation as normally mandated by our laws, required nor allowed within the statute for the suspect/accused-which highlights the extraordinary nature of the process in a constitutional republic, putting the burden of scrutiny and compliance with the judicial process and federal law-that authorizes such an exception to the constitutionally documented god given rights of those targeted-in the sole judgement, discretion and integrity of the DOJ/FBI and the FISC.
One is tempted to add adjectives or modifiers to the above.
However, all involved sign oaths of office swearing fealty to the constitution and it would be redundant-and a process, degrading futility-to broach such things as ethics, morals and righteousness: in addition to yearning for a time when the mere insinuation of a need for such acknowledgement would constitute fighting words.
It is rightfully a high bar to meet-deliberately so-with safeguards within the system reliant on the integrity of the process. The DNI monitors and reports on the process as a matter of routine, traditionally done because the FISC deals with sources and methods that come under the category of “spying,” which may be an unpalatable term when applied against a political enemy-like some Bad Orange Man-,” but if spying is the application of intelligence tradecraft (e.g., tactics, techniques, and procedures) used in the business of nation state information gathering on enemies-both foreign and domestic, employing such things as personal and electronic surveillance, the use of confidential human sources-often employed in surreptitious or penetration operations, or the recruitment of same to turn or inform while in place, etc., and is therefore classified above normal court law enforcement agency (LEA) caveats/safeguards to protect sources and methods.
Which-importantly-also serves to curtail normal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provisions intended to ensure oversight of the process and shine sunlight on operations as the best antidote to malfeasance on the part of our government and as a safeguard against a history of tyranny that many worry to this day. Spying-in most cases-is the correct term by the very definition of the process.
Those who flinch or recoil against the use of the term spying need only remember-recall-or learn that in the application of electronic surveillance methodology that includes cyber, encryption, decryption, communications and signals intelligence (in the modern era of ubiquitous cell phones, towers, centralized network operations by major signal carriers and telecommunications companies-think 2000 Mules-) there is a “two-hop rule” in which the subject of the surveillance-for instance a Bad Orange Man-is approved for monitoring and then the acquaintances he interacts with-and their acquaintances-are included in the approved surveillance order. If you think of a Fibonacci progression (but why would you) you can get to big numbers quickly with a two-hop rule if followed to a logical conclusion, particularly if you are looking for proximity targeting to seemingly peripheral touch points (1+2+3+6+12+24…, for instance, Paul Manafort residing in Trump Tower-who has already been cleared of charges by DOJ and the FBI-but-Trump, Carter Page breakfasting there, Michael Flynn visiting, etc.,) which is the main idea.
Which starts out as a very slick and clever technique early-on, but clever is not smart and can become very awkward to justify when you consider that if undertaken against a presidential wannabe, there is a risk they may become their party’s nominee-now entitled to Defensive Briefings (normally mandatory) by the US Government about foreign intelligence activity for the candidate to be concerned about (which I jokingly refer to as a briefing on the dangers of the deep state and swamp,) as well as eventually gaining access to a version of the Presidential Daily Briefing and current intelligence matters.
It is near comical-Keystone Cop-like-to think that in the nightmare scenario of DOJ and FBI screw ups, what outcome can be worse than when someone you have been spying on, illegally-in an ethically and morally bankrupt way, with zero evidence and zero benefit of the doubt applied-as contrasted with their political opponent-HRC-while guilty of pursuing through the might of the US justice system techniques-a whole of government effort to find some dirt-that such a person may go on to become the presidential nominee and subsequently the president-with at some point the DOJ and FBI operations crossing the line from sham due diligence of assessing the threat of a US citizen, to treason: deliberate attempts to undermine a duly elected president. Aided, abetted, and encouraged by a sitting US president of the opposing political party.
A president who somehow could not bring himself to tell the shamming liars to “knock it off.”
Many familiar with what might be termed the roaring 50s and 60s may recall those “Wild West” days when J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI could implement such intrusive processes at the drop of a hat, under the auspices of COINTELPRO and ELSUR (Counter-Intelligence and Electronic Surveillance Programs.) Both programs were originally designed against the “scourge of communist infiltration” of the United States-the Red scare of the 1950s best characterized by the witch-hunt-like efforts of Senator Joseph McCarthy.
These techniques were increasingly adopted in the early 1960s and soon became a routine procedure done by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (AG RFK) in his quest to go after the mob-Mafia-as he increased the application of such techniques after an assist in congressional authorization that resulted in 33 of 37 US government agencies having authority to do some manner of telephone monitoring, 17 of which could do so with no requirement to warn monitored persons of the effort.
With an increasingly strained relationship between AG RFK and FBI Director Hoover-whose single focus was on eradication of the bogeyman of Communism, while patently downplaying or outright denying the existence of an organized mob-Mafia element operating vast criminal enterprises from Chicago to New York to Florida, New Orleans, Texas, Las Vegas/Nevada, California and Cuba, responsible for increased drug trafficking, gambling, sports betting, racketeering and a movement into Labor Unions-there was-in effect-near total lack of cooperation initially between the two leading components of the American Justice system.
Perhaps best characterized by AG RFK’s efforts to expose the fraud of the Red scare, where efforts to force registration of these organizations and their members resulted in the disclosure that there were only some ~8,000 Communists in the US, but shockingly 1500 of those identified were FBI informants, plants or officers. Resulting in the embarrassing disclosure by RFK that Hoover’s FBI was the single-most important funding source for the Communists.
Besides these surveillance (spying) efforts being often ill-to not-coordinated or deconflicted and run independent of the FBI, with whom there was near open warfare in a relationship strained by personal animus between the two leaders-as RFK targeted the influence of organized crime takeover of the unions-there was almost a complete disconnect in the priorities for several years that saw AG RFK spend an inordinate amount of time, resources and effort against a threat the FBI had failed to even identify during a period when the congress initially and later the AG’s office was all over it.
To put it in perspective, AG RFK had increased racketeering prosecutions by 300% in 1961, 700% over 1960, while convictions were up over 350% in 1961 and over 400% since 1960. New laws regulating the interstate shipment of gambling “information or equipment” resulted in 852 FBI investigations in 1961: Hoover got the message (particularly as he approached mandatory federal retirement age.)
While these prosecutions were likely long overdue, there is a fine line when the government goes after an individual or an entity, which elected officials cross at their peril lest we become no better than the alleged criminals being chased.
Fast forward to the mid-1970s and we see the Church Commission attempting to rein-in many of these grown-out of control practices to address-among other things-violation of rights, improper techniques and tradecraft, and the gathering and use of information that many US courts increasingly refused to permit as evidence in government trials because of standards such as “fruit of the poisoned tree,” where evidence was gained through means subsequently deemed illegal by the courts, as well as the gathering of testimony from witnesses that were not provided sufficient legal representation upon incarceration, among dozens of largely procedural issues increasingly rejecting commonly applied tools of the trade for law enforcement.
The more infamous aspect pursued by Church was the exposure and attempt to decouple the use of military intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency from involvement or applications within the United States in terms of-violations of-their statutory charters. Use of the military counter-intelligence resources was called out for their extensive use in penetrating college campus groups, particularly in the long decade or so where the protests against the Vietnam War reached peak activity. Many would argue at the time that this was related to the “training” of these forces (hahaha.)
Fast forward again to the attack on America-9-11-and we see the US government taking action under the PATRIOT Act to address many of the perceived issues and problems that contributed to a failure to share information between LEA and intelligence that many feel allowed the maniac plotters to train under the radar in spite of what in hindsight reveals a wide path of disturbing and signal information that was not put together to provide indications and warning of the attack.
Whether one believes such information was sufficient to prevent the attack or for the US to heighten awareness of imminent danger, I think it can be credibly argued that even had such warning been processed between and among LEA and intelligence agencies in the pre-DNI days, the only way to stop the attack in the final analysis would have been to shoot down the aircraft with all those people on board-and I just don’t believe we would have taken that unprecedented step with such a high bar of certainty required.
The point being that in the wake of 9-11 and the PATRIOT Act, the US began a new era where the methodology and tradecraft that had been a large focus of the Church Commission’s efforts to rein-in the reach and intrusion of the surveillance state, came back into law.
Full disclosure, many of these provisions were staffed through the agencies to provide input on specific aspects and changes. But in the spirit of doing all that could be done-Patriotism-and a fervor inclined toward action in the face of what I would offer was a wholesale disregard for historic issues and problems like those addressed by the Church Committee, as well as scenarios such as the potential abuse of such provisions by politicians-what I termed at the time the “Nixon Plumbers on steroids scenario-” we blithely stepped forth with major changes to our laws and processes that became the modern version of the Surveillance Act.
Which was a long-winded way to get back to my intended point regarding the recent DNI report on the 702 process chronicled abuses of the FISA and FISC processes. One could be forgiven for thinking it would be a fairly small number in the overall scheme of things, given all the scrutiny and attention the process has drawn in the Trump era: right? Since this era includes all the Russia, Russia, Russia Pee-Pee Hoax government collusion, ANTIFA and Black Liberation Revival Movement activity, the George Floyd riots, the Michigan Governor kidnap plot engineered by the FBI, the Michigan riots against the legislature, the Pipe Bomber and subsequent 6 January 2021 insurrection ruse propagated by the FBI, LEA and politicians.
I mean people were looking-paying attention, and it would take real chutzpah-given such scrutiny-for there to be a lot of misuse and abuses of the process. Without regard to the figures, it would not surprise if some number of these efforts had insufficient predication, were borderline shady or even outright total misuses and abuses of the authority vested in the statute. Also,-“some number-” can be quite large depending on the total, which I never would have come close to with a guess, even with familiarity of the process and usage. How many of these “most serious tools in the toolkit” were documented and reported by the DNI? Close to 280,000 between 2020 and 2021-an average of nearly 400 a day!
This article highlights the problems faced with attempts to recertify the 702 process without major overhaul, from the piece:
Among the most concerning so-called backdoor searches on Americans were disclosures that the FBI ran more than 23,000 queries on people involved in storming the US Capitol, 19,000 on political campaign donors, and 133 on protesters after the police killing of George Floyd. The deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Security and Surveillance Project, Jake Laperruque, said that “these latest revelations should set off alarm bells across Congress,” urging lawmakers in a statement not to re-authorize FISA Section 702 at the end of this year—when it’s due to expire—without a “full overhaul.”
Almost 20% of these efforts focused on Americans. It would be interesting to see a further stratification of data to see how many were undertaken against those “radical religious groups yearning for a return to masses conducted in Latin,” or the parents in Loudoun County or other places, who were fed up and had enough and were vocal at their local school board meetings: Oh, my!
Particularly ironic is the return to a Hoover TTP of focusing on the threat within America, vice external or that represented by the border-China-drugs (which accounted for over 100K deaths in 2022,) or other criminal activity in large cities where crime is exploding because of police reductions and soft on criminal policy.
I think the FISA and FISC have been important to the war on terrorism and have played an important role in combatting threats to the homeland.
Nothing can excuse the abuses undertaken by the DOJ and FBI in plain view of the court system, aided and abetted by a lack of enforcement of checks and balances by a system apparently too harried, busy, or disinterested in ensuring the “I’s” were dotted and the “T’s” were crossed.
Nobody has been-nor will be-held accountable for the rampant abuses that have taken place in the past 22 years. To hear the FBI Director testify that many of these abuses have been known about-such as outlined in the Durham Report-for years: its old news! And that policies have been put in place to mitigate or ameliorate the abuses.
What empty words, coming from a man whose talent in his position seems to be lying and dissembling, particularly when you consider the DNI report encompasses 2020-2021, and we still have scores of people in jail relating to actions on 6 Jan that represent the equivalent of J-Walking offenses: still awaiting court dates and trials.
With all these tools in the toolchest, all these wanton abuses, where is the FBI card carrying 6 Jan pipe-bomber? What should be the most wanted political terrorist in America in one of the most closely watched little dysfunctional places in the nation: our world class law enforcement agency can’t find them.
Another swamp mystery that defies credulity and belief…
7 June 2023
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