Secure Liberties Newsletter

seanvitka@gmail.com on June 10, 2021

TOP LINE

Spying on journalists spark fears for free press and sources, with the newest writing on this coming from Eric Lichtblau, a target himself. The DOJ obtained his and three other NY Times reporters’ information in 2020 as part of an undisclosed leak investigation into their sources. The DOJ also sought their email records — a fight the Biden administration continued to wage. The Trump admin also seized email and phone records from WaPo and CNN. This longer take from our friends at the First Branch Forecast is also worth a read.

Sen. Wyden asked the DoD if it’s buying US internet activity and location records without a warrant — and got a classified response, in the latest news about checkbook surveillance. This comes after introduction of the aptly named Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, and he says the classification is wrong. Relatedly, former SecDef Robert Gates said Obama authorized the NSA to engage “cyberattacks of domestic origin” in 2010.

In the wake of last month’s assault on Gaza, 122 organizations are urging Biden to block delivery of $735 million in weapons to Israel. Last month progressives in the House and Senate introduced legislation to block the sale, however there was not enough time to garner veto-proof support during the 15-day window Congress has to review arms sales to Israel and other close allies. As the letter notes, however, Biden could still stop the sale himself.

Dept of Commerce’s surveillance operation “collected information on hundreds of people inside and outside the department,” per The Washington Post. This is the biggest story while we were out: without any legal authority, the Investigations and Threat Management Service searched employees’ offices and emails and “scoured Americans’ social media for critical comments about the census.” A search for “Chinese words” resulted “in the monitoring of many Asian American employees over benign correspondence.”

SURVEILLANCE

SCOTUS finally limits the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which may curtail prosecutions under a law that has a long history of being “inconsistently and capriciously applied.” The CFAA is the extremely broad law that led to the suicide of Aaron Swartz, co-founder of Demand Progress, while he was being threatened with decades in prison.

Colonial Pipeline had abysmal cybersecurity, and members may (finally) lose their patience for it, per The Washington Post. As Rep. John Katko says, “If your pipeline provides fuel to 45 percent of the east coast, why are you only hardening systems AFTER an attack?” This comes after Bloomberg reported that the hack started with a single compromised password that allowed access to a legacy VPN — which didn’t even have two-factor authentication turned on, well below the bare minimum in terms of cybersecurity for critical infrastructure. Meanwhile, FBI Director Wray is comparing cyber attacks to 9/11.

The Danish Defense Intelligence Service helped the NSA spy on German Chancellor and President — and on the US government itself. Another candidate for chancellor, also a target, said “this is a scandal.” We have nothing to add.

The FBI, meanwhile, wants all the IP addresses of people who read a USA Today story, in another troubling subpoena use. Turns out viewing the article in question could land readers’ information in the FBI’s hands. Gannett, the owner of the paper, is challenging the order on First Amendment grounds.

Facial recognition continues to raise concerns… and one county took action. Last week, 42 groups (who doesn’t like the meaning of life?) highlighted “six major civil rights concerns regarding law enforcement use of face recognition technology,” just before the anniversaries of Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft pausing sales to law enforcement. Meanwhile, King County, WA, just passed the first county-wide ban. Amazon has extended its pause “until further notice.” Relatedly, The NY Times published this thorough review of how Clearview AI “blew the future of privacy in America wide open.”

Off-the-books and in-the-sky: The Chicago Police Department used asset forfeiture proceeds to start a secret drone program. CPD has reportedly used the same tactic to buy other controversial surveillance tech like Stingrays. Civil asset forfeiture has been its own controversial due process violation for years.

CBP app tracks “religion, race, skin color, fingerprints, eye scans, blood type” in what Mijente calls “a dangerous, racist expansion of surveillance.” CBP received emergency approval from OMB to use the app, CBP One, in May, per the LA Times. See this LA Daily News article on how mass surveillance puts immigrants and refugees at risk.

What Is America’s Spy Court Hiding From the Public? Check out this op-ed from the groups calling on SCOTUS to make FISC opinions less secret. Also check out Demand Progress’s testimony to the Defense Approps Subcommittee calling for transparency via reports to Congress and the public.

ARMS, INTEL, and NDAA

Senate passes US Innovation and Competition Act as 65+ orgs warn of zero-sum Cold War thinking towards China. The bill calls for $250 billion in spending to boost research, funding, and programs to compete with China economically and counter what the co-sponsors view as malign Chinese Communist Party influence. The organizations denounced the “dangerously short-sighted” framing of the bill.

15 organizations call on Biden Administration to revise Army field manual to prevent torture, per the Army Times.

Appeal filed in response to first use of information obtained by torture in Guantanamo: “No court has ever sanctioned the use of torture in this way,” wrote defense lawyers. Relatedly, journalist Shawn Musgrave and public records advocate Kel McClanahan are taking a new tilt at SSCI’s torture report.

US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan “about halfway finished,” says Gen McKenzie, but outstanding questions remain. Without providing details, the CENTCOM commander told reporters the withdrawal was going smoothly. Conversations continue, however, over what the US’s broader counterterrorism and intelligence strategy will be after the ground troops are gone. The New York Times reported this week that the CIA is “scrambling” to find bases in neighboring countries to continue operations — including drone strikes — in the region.

What’s happening with Guantanamo? Apparently, the Biden Administration is working behind the scenes to close the US detention facility. According to NBC News, the Biden admin wants to transfer some detainees to foreign countries, and hopes Congress will allow the transfer of the rest of the detainees to the US mainland. For now, the Biden admin will not be opening up a State Department office or name an envoy in charge of closing Gitmo.

On Tuesday, Secretary Blinken met with the House Foreign Affairs Committee to discuss foreign policy strategies and the FY 2022 budget. This thread from the Quincy Institute captures the main highlights.

RELEVANT, TOO

Oracle Boasted That Its Software Was Used Against U.S. Protesters. Then It Took the Tech to China.

New Demos report: Data Capitalism and Algorithmic Racism

U.S. Capitol Attack Is Reshaping The Federal Counterterrorism Budget

Pentagon Plans to Monitor Social Media of Military Personnel for Extremist Content

Trojan Shield: How the FBI Secretly Ran a Phone Network for Criminals

Center for International Policy report: Enduring U.S. Support for Saudi-Led Operations in Yemen

The secret behind Amazon’s domination in cloud computing (it’s hiring former government officials with access)

Parallel construction in the UK?: Police claim to have identified drug dealer’s fingerprints from photo showing his fingers

Federation of American Scientists: DOD Again Presses for New FOIA Exemption

Opinion: Congress Has a Chance to Reclaim Its War Powers

Rep. McCollum: My Bill Would Stop US Aid From Funding Palestinian Suffering