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Newer News: October 2013

September 2013 Intelligence News

• NSA on Intentional Misuse of SIGINT Authorities, NSA Inspector General letter to Sen. Grassley, September 11. "Since 1 January 2003, there have been 12 substantiated instances of intentional misuse of the signals intelligence (SIGINT) authorities of the Director of the National Security Agency."
• Former FBI Employee Pleads Guilty to Leak of Classified Information, Justice Department news release, September 23. "Donald John Sachtleben, a former FBI bomb technician who later worked as a government contractor for the agency, has filed a petition to plead guilty to newly filed charges of unlawfully disclosing national defense information relating to a disrupted terrorist plot."
• Designation of Successors to Act as Director of National Intelligence, presidential memorandum, September 20. "The following officials of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in the order listed, shall act as and perform the functions and duties of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) during any period in which the DNI and the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence have died, resigned, or otherwise become unable to perform the functions and duties of the DNI."
• LinkedIn Motion to the FISC for Authorization to Report Aggregate FISA Orders, September 17. LinkedIn moves the Court for a judgment that Linkedin may, without violating any provision oflaw, publicly report the total number of compulsory requests it receives from the United States government and the total number of users or accounts encompassed within such requests."
• Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis's clearance draws scrutiny by Leigh Munsil, Politico, September 17. "The cases of the National Security Agency leaker, and yesterday's Washington Navy Yard shooter show just how dependent the national security apparatus is on outside contractors. And, critics say, it exposes serious flaws in the screening process necessary for access to sensitive jobs and highly secure buildings."
• Washington Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis heard voices by Richard A. Serrano, David Cloud and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times, September 17. "The security clearance system is not foolproof," said Steven Aftergood, a secrecy and security expert with the Federation of American Scientists. "But what is reasonable to expect is that evidence of past criminal activity and a propensity to violence should be detected, and in this case the process failed to do that."
• Cyber security: The new arms race for a new front line by Anna Mulrine, Christian Science Monitor, September 15. "The Pentagon -- and a growing cyber industrial complex -- gears up for the new front line: cyberspace. Cyber defense is necessary. But it could cost us."
• Intelligence Officials Admit That Edward Snowden's NSA Leaks Call For Reforms by Andy Greenberg, Forbes, September 13. "Over the past week, two high-level intelligence officials have now acknowledged that the still-widening scandal around Snowden's disclosures of classified information have actually led to a worthwhile public debate and warrant legal reforms."
• FISC Order on ACLU Motion for Release of Section 215 Opinions, September 13. "The unauthorized disclosure in June 2013 of a Section 215 order, and government statements in response to that disclosure, have engendered considerable public interest and debate about Section 215."
• Doubts raised about independence of White House panel on NSA privacy by Ali Watkins, McClatchy Newspapers, September 7. "President Barack Obama has announced the names of the five members of a task force to examine the National Security Agency's controversial collection of Internet and cell phone records, but privacy and open government advocates say they don't believe the panel is likely to be very critical of the NSA program."
• U.S. intelligence agencies spend millions to hunt for insider threats, document shows by Carol D. Leonnig, Julie Tate and Barton Gellman, Washington Post, September 1. "The U.S. government suspects that individuals with connections to al-Qaeda and other hostile groups have repeatedly sought to obtain jobs in the intelligence community, and it reinvestigates thousands of employees a year to reduce the threat that one of its own may be trying to compromise closely held secrets, according to a classified budget document."