Secure Liberties Newsletter

seanvitka@gmail.com on January 20, 2022

TOP LINE

The FBI just cemented its relationship with Clearview AI, according to CyberScoop, meaning we’re all one step closer to the “end of privacy as we know it.” The contract is only for $18,000, but it gives the FBI online access to billions of images illicitly scraped from social media companies without users’ consent. CyberScoop further found “more than 20 federal law enforcement contracts” for facial recognition had been awarded since June — when GAO released this damning report on the technology.

Biden “considering” redesignation of Houthis as a terrorist organization as war on Yemen escalates this month. In a press conference yesterday, Biden confirmed he is considering calls by the UAE ambassador to put the Houthis back on the terrorist designation list, which would automatically impose strict economic sanctions on the movement that currently governs a large percentage of Yemenis. This comes as the UAE-backed “Giants Brigades” have increased offensive activity in Yemen in the past weeks. In an apparent response, the Houthis launched a drone attack on the Abu Dhabi Airport on Monday. Saudi airstrikes and Houthi cross-border attacks have increased in January as well. Last year, 50 organizations called on the Biden Administration to reverse Trump’s terrorist designation of the Houthis due to the threat it would pose to humanitarian operations, importation of crucial goods, and prospects for negotiations. Shortly after that letter, the Biden admin reversed the Trump-era policy, stating their concern for the humanitarian consequences.

Are you also wondering what happens with FISA, Section 702, and Privacy Shield collide? Then do we have the panel for you! Check out our event on Monday, 1/24, at noon.

AT HOME

Are DHS and the FBI busy?: DOJ is creating a “unit focused on domestic terrorism,” according to AAG Matthew Olsen. Olsen announced the new unit during a hearing about the January 6 insurrection while attempting to maintain a variety of competing and disprovable claims, including that the government is effectively responding to the insurrection, generalizing the threat as “domestic violent extremism,” and minimizing that his own National Security Division’s counterterrorism office apparently isn’t enough. This development brings massive risk: the insurrectionists have their defenders in Congress, while people of color and environmental and social justice activists have been wrongly targeted for decades.

Speaking of targeting activists, an oil company just lost its lawsuit to keep government records secret, according to The Intercept, which requested them. Energy Transfer, the company behind the Dakota Access pipeline, hired TigerSwan, a security firm led by a “former commander of the elite Army unit Delta Force,” to counter environmental activists. According to leaked documents, TigerSwan “approached the water protectors as ‘an ideologically driven insurgency with a strong religious component.’” TigerSwan’s tactics, meanwhile, include “aerial surveillance, communications monitoring, infiltration of activist circles, and coordination with law enforcement agencies.” Energy Transfer plans to appeal. Check out Alleen Brown’s incredible series on this here.

A Chairman by any other name: Mike Turner is now top R on HPSCI. The news comes after Devin Nunes, who definitely isn’t a cow, resigned from Congress to “become chief executive of former President Donald Trump’s fledgling social media company.” Yep.

Rep. Turner sees HPSCI’s role as “protecting our national security and the intelligence community, according to Politico. That’s not a great start considering both intelligence committees were created to oversee intelligence agencies, not “protect” them. He is aspiring for a more functional relationship with Chairman Schiff. Here’s a list of unresolved Inspector General recommendations, in case any of them are serious about the job.

SecDef Lloyd Austin “streamlined” the process for using the National Guard in DC, and also reclaimed the authority to approve requests for personnel to participate in civil law enforcement, including “crowd control, traffic control, search, seizure, arrest or temporary detention.” That authority had been delegated to the Army secretary.

Guantánamo pressure on Biden escalates as SJC aides, experts, and even Sen. Diane Feinstein argue the administration has the power to close the notorious torture site. Experts have consistently pointed this out for some time, but we took note of this article that quotes a Senate Democratic aide as saying the “administration has the authority to get this done.”

ABROAD

As the humanitarian crisis rapidly worsens in cash-strapped Afghanistan, calls abound for unfreezing US-held assets. Recent harrowing reports show how a bad situation is getting worse in Afghanistan since the US withdrawal. Much of this has to do with economic collapse following the sharp drop in international assistance, strict US sanctions, and the freezing of over $9 billion in Afghan central bank reserves — throwing the banking system, and therefore the entire economy, in shambles. The head of Afghanistan’s independent central bank (set up by the US), Shah Mehrabi, has proposed a plan to disperse the US-held reserves in tranches, allowing for the US to monitor their disbursements to local banks in order to solve the urgent liquidity crisis. It is unclear whether the Biden Administration will entertain the proposal. Check out our RELEVANT, TOO section for several articles we recommend on the subject.

Meanwhile Congressional Democrats weigh in on US-Afghanistan policy, with mixed signals. Before the new year, 46 Democratic lawmakers penned a letter to the Biden, urging him to unconditionally unfreeze the seized Afghan central bank reserves mentioned above and expressing concern with the humanitarian effects of US sanctions on the Taliban. Another bipartisan letter sent in December, with 39 signatures, calling for a conditional release of US-seized assets for the purposes of paying teachers and feeding school children. It also calls for designating a completely new central bank (despite the current existence of a functioning central bank operating independently of the Taliban). Yesterday The Intercept reported yet two more letters circulating in Congress asking for a heavy conditions-based approach. The leader of one letter, Rep. Raskin, has responded to criticisms of this approach by delaying release pending further edits.

Afghanistan is not the only area where US sanctions are under fire. There has been a recent uptick in reporting on the failures of US sanctions to secure foreign policy and national security objectives, as well as their harm to civilian populations. Check out these new reports and articles on US sanctions on Venezuela, Syria, and this overview of sanctions’ inflationary consequences, touching on Iran as well.

Senators attempt to move forward a sweeping Russia sanctions bill through a tight schedule. The Defending Ukraine Sovereignty Act of 2022, led by Senators Menendez and Van Hollen, is aimed at deterring Russia from a military invasion of Ukraine, which the Biden admin has characterized as likely. The sweeping bill hosts a series of ‘triggers,’ some vaguely defined, for massive economic sanctions on Russia’s financial system, Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, and entities that interact with it. It also includes increasing security ties with countries neighboring Russia, and explicitly refuses to cede to Russia’s main demand of preventing Ukraine’s NATO membership. It’s a pretty tense situation, which we will continue to follow. Some food for thought: Katrina vanden Heuvel and James Carden recommend in Responsible Statecraft that Biden’s Russia policy should incorporate more “strategic empathy.”

Representatives call for elimination of IMF surcharges in a letter sent earlier this month sent to Secretary Yellen. Currently, the IMF charges extra penalty fees on heavily indebted countries who are unable to pay back IMF loans on time (think late fees you have to pay at the bank, but worth billions of dollars). Given the already difficult situation for indebted countries grappling with COVID-19, the lawmakers are calling for a review of the policy and its eventual elimination. For more on the issue, we recommend this report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

JCPOA negotiatiors are putting pens to paper to iron out nitty-gritty details. It seems there is some forward (yet still very slow) progress in the talks to revive the “Iran Deal.” Negotiators are now in the ‘drafting phase’ of talks, translating principles that have been agreed upon so far into specific, detailed written proposals. However, many significant disagreements remain, and Iran is still searching for a legal guarantee that the US won’t rip the deal up again. Apparently the Biden admin has a self-imposed deadline at the end of the month on assessing whether there has been enough forward progress in the talks (what comes after is unknown). The International Crisis Group’s latest report argues it’s “now or never” for the deal, and gives a useful, detailed breakdown of the negotiation timeline.

In case you missed the largest story on US air wars in years, we strongly recommend you read Azmat Khan’s series in the Times reviewing thousands of Pentagon records and revealing extensive failures to protect innocent civilians from deadly US airstrikes, along with a jaw dropping lack of accountability. If you’re on the go you can also take a listen to The Daily’s sobering yet informative interview with Khan here.

RELEVANT, TOO

Defense One: The Problem with Drones that Everyone Saw Coming (“Just because drone warfare is less dangerous for American soldiers does not mean it is more effective.”)
Just Security: Time for the Biden Administration to Disavow the Dangerous Soleimani Legal Opinions
WaPo: One month in, there aren’t any huge, known log4j hacks
OTI: Solving the Transatlantic Data Dilemma — Surveillance Reforms to Break the International Gridlock
NPR: Trump officials interfered with the 2020 census beyond cutting it short, email shows
Forbes on DEA: WhatsApp Ordered To Help U.S. Agents Spy On Chinese Phones—No Explanation Required
Just Security: Time for the Biden Administration to Disavow the Dangerous Soleimani Legal Opinions
Foreign Affairs: An Unauthorized War: The Shaky Legal Ground for the U.S. Operation in Syria
Eunomia Substack; The Cruel Farce of U.S. Regime Change Policy in Venezuela
Responsible Statecraft: One step backward: US to assist French in failing African counter-terror ops