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Newer News: April 2014

March 2014 Intelligence News

• Did Obama Order a New Cyber Attack? by Shane Harris, Foreign Policy: The Complex, March 28. "On June 21, 2013, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a classified order authorizing the military to conduct an operation in cyberspace. The question is, did the military actually launch a cyber attack on a computer network -- which would be one of the few in documented history -- as a result of the order?"
• Background Conference Call on the Bulk Telephone Metadata Program, March 27. "We're here to describe the President's decision about the path forward on the 215 Telephony Bulk Metadata Program, and our desire to work with Congress to see legislation effected to achieve the principles that the President talked about in his January 17th speech."
• Statement by the President on the Section 215 Bulk Metadata Program, White House news release, March 27. "Having carefully considered the available options, I have decided that the best path forward is that the government should not collect or hold this data in bulk. Instead, the data should remain at the telephone companies for the length of time it currently does today."
• Fact Sheet: The Administration's Proposal for Ending the Section 215 Bulk Telephony Metadata Program, White House news release, March 27. "This fact sheet describes the steps the Administration has taken to implement this transition, details the President's proposal for a new program to replace the Section 215 program, and outlines the steps the Administration will be taking in the near future to realize the President's vision."
• Harry Reid asks CIA to limit Congress interaction during spying investigation by Spencer Ackerman, The Guardian, March 21. "In the latest escalation of the battle between the US Senate and the Central Intelligence Agency, Senate majority leader Harry Reid has requested that the CIA suspend at least some interaction with Senate staff while a new investigation into potential spying on Congress proceeds."
• FISC Orders Govt to Explain Its Failure to Notify the Court of Record Preservation Orders, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, March 21. "As the government is well aware, it has a heightened duty of candor to the Court in ex parte proceedings."
• The most interesting tidbits from the Clinton document dump (Part 2), Washington Post, March 14. "The documents include an admission by Clinton's CIA director, George Tenet, that he couldn't bring himself to oppose a lawsuit aimed at forcing the government to disclose how much it spent on spying, because he didn't believe doing so would cause any harm to American espionage."
• The White House Has Been Covering Up the Presidency's Role in Torture for Years by Marcy Wheeler, The Intercept, March 13. "We can be sure about one thing: The Obama White House has covered up the Bush presidency's role in the torture program for years. Specifically, from 2009 to 2012, the administration went to extraordinary lengths to keep a single short phrase, describing President Bush's authorization of the torture program, secret."
• Exclusive: CIA emails reveal tension over terrorism probe by Josh Gerstein, Politico, March 12. "Internal Central Intelligence Agency emails detail misgivings about an in-house review of aggressive, Bush-era interrogations of terrorism suspects and show how that inquiry was curtailed by a separate Justice Department probe, according to the documents obtained by POLITICO."
• Allegations of CIA spying on the Senate deserve investigation by Dana Milbank, Washington Post, March 12. "President Obama's foes have been trying for years to uncover scandal in his administration. But the most damning allegation of wrongdoing was leveled on the Senate floor Tuesday morning -- by a friend."
• How a Court Secretly Evolved, Extending U.S. Spies' Reach by Charlie Savage and Laura Poitras, New York Times, March 12. "Ten months after the Sept. 11 attacks, the nation's surveillance court delivered a ruling that intelligence officials consider a milestone in the secret history of American spying and privacy law. Called the 'Raw Take' order -- classified docket No. 02-431 -- it weakened restrictions on sharing private information about Americans, according to documents and interviews."
• Ruppersberger calls for an end to NSA's phone data collection by John Fritze, Baltimore Sun, March 12. "Ruppersberger would discontinue the government's mass collection of phone data, which has been heavily criticized by privacy rights groups, and instead require intelligence agencies to get court orders on a case-by-case basis before they mine information held by telecommunication companies."
• FISC Order Granting Government Motion for Relief, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, March 12. "For the foregoing reasons, the government's motion for temporary relief from the five year destruction rule is granted."
• Senator accuses CIA of spying on Congress by Adam Serwer, MSNBC, March 11. "Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein accused the CIA on Tuesday of violating the law and the Constitution of the United States by interfering in a committee investigation into Bush-era torture of terror suspects."
• Sen. Feinstein's Statement on Intel Committee's CIA Detention, Interrogation Report, March 11. "Mr. President, the recent actions that I have just laid out make this a defining moment for the oversight of our Intelligence Community. How Congress responds and how this is resolved will show whether the Intelligence Committee can be effective in monitoring and investigating our nation’s intelligence activities, or whether our work can be thwarted by those we oversee."
• Motion to FISC to Lift Destruction Order, before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, March 11. "The United States respectfully moves this Court for temporary relief from the BR metadata destruction requirement."
• FISC Denies Govt Motion to Preserve Metadata Longer Than 5 Years, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, March 7. "The demonstrated need for preservation does not warrant retention after five years."
• DNI Releases Budget Figure for FY 2015 Base Appropriations Request for the National Intelligence Program, news release, March 6. "The aggregate amount of base appropriations requested for the FY 2015 National Intelligence Program is $45.6 billion."
• DOD Releases Military Intelligence Program Base Request for Fiscal Year 2015, news release, March 6. "The Department of Defense released today the Military Intelligence Program (MIP) Request for fiscal year 2015. The total base request is $13.3 billion."
• Read the Pentagon's $59 Billion 'Black Budget' by Brandy Zadrozny, The Daily Beast, March 6. "President Obama proposed a $495.6 billion defense budget yesterday, almost half a billion dollars leaner than the previous year's. But there's still one category where the Department of Defense is not scaling back: its secret projects."
• Obama knew CIA secretly monitored intelligence committee, senator claims by Spencer Ackerman, The Guardian, March 5. "A leading US senator has said that President Obama knew of an 'unprecedented action' taken by the CIA against the Senate intelligence committee, which has apparently prompted an inspector general's inquiry at Langley."
• Summary of FY2015 Budget Request for the National Intelligence Program, March 4. "Provides $45.6 billion in base discretionary funding for the National Intelligence Program to support national security goals and reflect a deliberative process to focus funding on the most critical capabilities."
• Ukraine: Why didn't the U.S. know sooner? by Josh Gerstein and Burgess Everett, Politico, March 4. "Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's history as a tough-as-nails leader bent on restoring Russia's sphere of influence, the U.S. intelligence community failed to read the signs when it came to Ukraine."
• NSA chief criticises media and suggests UK was right to detain David Miranda by Spencer Ackerman, The Guardian, March 4. "Keith Alexander says revelations have caused 'grave damage' and claims officials are making 'headway' on 'media leaks'."