Secure Liberties Newsletter
TOP LINE
HUGE: The US military purchased access to over 90% of the world’s internet traffic data, including “people’s email data, browsing history, and other information such as their sensitive internet cookies.” Team Cymru, the private company selling this internet monitoring tool, “Augury,” states on its website that it provides “access to a super majority of all activity on the internet.” Motherboard’s investigation revealed that at least $3.5 million was spent by the US Navy, Cyber Command, and Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency to access the tool. And, a US government procurement record indicates that Augury has over 550 collection points in at least 5 continents and “is updated with at least 100 billion new records each day.”
Senator Wyden wrote to the oversight branches of the DHS, DOJ, and DOD in response to a whistleblower contacting his office regarding the Naval Criminal Investigative Service’s use of Augury. Senator Wyden’s letter requests an investigation into “the warrantless purchase and use of Americans’ internet browsing records… [to] ensure that the government’s surveillance activities are consistent with the Supreme Court’s Carpenter decision and safeguard Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights.”
Newly disclosed OLC memos uncover the Executive’s war on congressional war powers. Last week, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University published 15 Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memos issued between 1945 and 1993 detailing how executive branch lawyers have secretly worked to undermine Congress’s constitutional role in war through executive-friendly opinions. Many of these were penned specifically to circumvent provisions in the 1973 War Powers Resolution, and have never been seen by lawmakers or the public. The disclosures come on the heels of a landmark lawsuit against the DOJ for failure to turn over these memos, as well as other opinions that are at least 25 years old. Advocates and lawmakers have been pushing for provisions demanding further OLC transparency.
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT
NDAA may be moving in October? We say that hesitantly, as every time we’ve tried to cover the NDAA timeline it’s been somewhat of a fool’s errand given its unpredictability. However in a press conference on Tuesday, Schumer announced the Senate will be meeting in October, and that the NDAA will be part of the work agenda. Last week, two dozen Republicans penned a letter to Schumer asking for the bill to be brought to the floor at the end of the month, with an open amendment process. That first ask seems unlikely, but no word yet on the form the NDAA process will take. Stay tuned!
Oh and speaking of NDAA, a new article is out analyzing provisions in the NDAA that strengthen oversight and transparency of U.S. security assistance and civilian harm, written by CIVIC’s Ari Tolany; the Costs of War project dropped a new report which warns against using the war in Ukraine to raise military spending; and William Hartung of the Quincy Institute and Julia Gledhill of POGO team up to write about how the arms industry scams taxpayers.
SURVEILLANCE
CBP is collecting data from up to 10,000 electronic devices per year to store in a database accessible to 2,700 DHS personnel, Senator Wyden revealed in a letter to CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus last week. The data is collected from devices seized from travelers – including US citizens – without warrants and is stored in a centralized database known as the “Automated Targeting System” for 15 years. “Innocent Americans should not be tricked into unlocking their phones and laptops,” wrote Senator Wyden in his letter calling for reforms to stop the “indiscriminate rifling through Americans’ private records without suspicion of a crime.” Senators Wyden and Paul introduced bipartisan legislation to address border searches last year.
The surveillance news doesn’t stop there… ICE must “end its use of technologies and surveillance tactics” wrote Senators Markey and Wyden to ICE Acting Director Tae D. Johnson last week. The letter cites American Dragnet: Data-Driven Deportation in the 21st Century, a report regarding ICE’s expansive surveillance practices, released by the Center on Privacy & Technology earlier this year. “ICE should immediately shut down its Orwellian data-gathering efforts that indiscriminately collect far too much data on far too many individuals,” wrote Senators Markey and Wyden – they previously introduced the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act and the Fourth Amendment is Not for Sale Act. Key documents from the investigation and a Spanish version of the report can be found here.
AFGHANISTAN
US redirects part of seized Afghanistan’s central bank reserves to new fund, and cites preconditions for a full return. As economists and civil society organizations have demanded the Biden administration to return the nearly $9 billion in Afghan central bank assets ($7 bil of which are held by the US) to Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) to stave off further humanitarian crises, Treasury announced last week it will hold $3.5 billion of those reserves in a fund co-administered with the Swiss government and Afghan economists. Officials claim the fund will be used to pay for critical imports for Afghanistan without Taliban involvement, and say that it may be possible to return the funds to DAB if it meets the conditions of political independence, implements anti-money laundering guidelines, and installs third-party monitors. Julie Hollar at FAIR provides an interesting critique of media coverage surrounding the issue here.
ICYMI: a recording of last week’s event “One Year On: Supporting Afghan-Led Social Movements for Justice” can be found here.
STAFF CLEARANCES
Every Senate office is now able to have one staffer with Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) clearance, per a change to the Senate’s Security Manual. Approximately one-third of Senators currently have a personal staffer with TS/SCI clearance – the change, championed by Senators Murphy and Rounds, will drastically increase oversight capacity. Demand Progress has supported the efforts, more information on congressional staff clearances can be found here.
UNITED WE STAND
40+ civil rights and civil liberties groups sent a letter to President Biden with concerns regarding the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program in advance of the United We Stand summit. As part of the summit, the White House announced new efforts by tech companies to combat violent extremism on their platforms. DHS also announced the latest $20 million in CVE grants. “Getting serious about tackling hate violence means recognizing that this framework doesn’t work, and immediately exploring alternatives based in reality that have a demonstrated ability to effectively reduce violence,” said Rep. Tlaib in support of the coalition’s letter.
BASEBALL
Boo @ New York Mets for offering facial recognition ticketing…. yikes! Wicket, a computer vision company, has partnered with the Mets to get fans in faster by giving them the option to upload selfies at MLB.com. The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, a New York based privacy and civil rights group, put out a statement calling on the Mets to remove the surveillance technology from their ticket stands. Either way, go Dodgers!
RECOMMENDED READING
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A report providing a model for a new DHS anti-profiling policy by the Brennan Center’s Harsha Panduranga and Faiza Patel
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A reflective essay from a trip to Gitmo by Center for Victims of Torture’s Yumna Rizvi
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A series of blogs on federal surveillance systems that will likely be used by states for abortion surveillance by Jake Laperruque of the Center for Democracy & Technology
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An advisory re: a phone surveillance technology utilized by jails and prisons across the US by Just Futures Law