WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
Newsweek
Updated: 7:02 p.m. ET Oct. 5, 2005
Oct. 5, 2005 - The Pentagon would be granted new powers to conduct undercover intelligence gathering inside the United States—and then withhold any information about it from the public—under a series of little noticed provisions now winding their way through Congress.
Citing in part the need for “greater latitude” in the war on terror, the Senate Intelligence Committee recently approved broad-ranging legislation that gives the Defense Department a long sought and potentially crucial waiver: it would permit its intelligence agents, such as those working for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), to covertly approach and cultivate “U.S. persons” and even recruit them as informants—without disclosing they are doing so on behalf of the U.S. government. The Senate committee’s action comes as President George W. Bush has talked of expanding military involvement in civil affairs, such as efforts to control pandemic disease outbreaks.
The provision was included in last year’s version of the same bill, but was knocked out after its details were reported by NEWSWEEK and critics charged it could lead to “spying” on U.S. citizens. But late last month, with no public hearings or debate, a similar amendment was put back into the same authorization bill—an annual measure governing U.S. intelligence agencies—at the request of the Pentagon. A copy of the 104-page committee bill, which has yet to be voted on by the full Senate, did not become public until last week.
At the same time, the Senate intelligence panel also included in the bill two other potentially controversial amendments—one that would allow the Pentagon and other U.S. intelligence agencies greater access to federal government databases on U.S. citizens, and another granting the DIA new exemptions from disclosing any “operational files” under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). “What they are doing is expanding the Defense Department’s domestic intelligence activities in secret—with no public discussion,” said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, a civil-liberties group that is often critical of government actions in the fight against terrorism.
But Don Black, a DIA spokesman, said Wednesday that the new provisions were limited in scope and would only give the DIA the same investigative powers as the FBI and CIA—powers that are crucial to the agency’s expanded mission in tracking the terrorist threat. “We’re not trying to do investigations of people inside the United States,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is follow leads about terrorist activities.”
The proposed new powers governing the Pentagon’s intelligence operations comes at a time when there is already internal debate within Washington over proposals to expand domestic Defense Department activities—in part because of the outcry over the botched response by other U.S. government agencies to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. President Bush ratcheted the debate up Tuesday during his press conference when he suggested for the first time that the U.S. military might be used to quarantine members of the public in the event of an outbreak of the avian flu. “And who best to be able to effect a quarantine?” Bush asked during his press conference. “One option is the use of a military that’s able to plan and move. And so that’s why I put it on the table.”
But the move to expand Pentagon intelligence activities inside the United States carries special resonance—in part because of embarrassing disclosures about the U.S. military engaging in domestic spying during the 1960s and 1970s. Revelations that the U.S. military had penetrated and spied on antiwar protestors led to tight new restrictions imposed by Congress. One of the chief restrictions is a legal requirement that the DIA or any other Defense Department intelligence agency conform to the provisions of the Privacy Act, a Watergate-era law that requires government officials seeking information from a U.S. resident to disclose who they are and what they want the information for.
Ever since the September 11 terror attacks, which gave the Pentagon expanded new counterterrorism authority, DIA officials have maintained that this restriction (which does not apply to the FBI or the CIA) has severely hampered its ability to approach U.S. residents and recruit them as informants. Many of the agency’s potential targets are members of ethnic communities inside the United States—such as Pakistanis or Arabs with close relatives in the Middle East. Such persons may often travel overseas, either for business, family or educational reasons and may have contacts with friends or relatives who have been tied to terrorist groups or hostile foreign government officials—making them tempting targets for recruitment as DIA informants, the agency argues.
DIA officials also say the provision approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee has important protections against abuses: any approaches to U.S. residents must be specifically approved by the director of DIA, coordinated with the FBI and could not be used to gather information about the “domestic activities of any United States person.” One senior DIA official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the agency only contemplates using the provision in a limited number of cases where the potential foreign intelligence information is “significant.”
“This isn’t for run-of-the-mill stuff,” said the senior DIA official. “We’ve tried to write in these protections so this will be used only in limited circumstances where we can’t do it any other way.”
But Martin, the civil-liberties advocate, said the DIA recruitment provision must be looked at in the context of two other measures tucked into the Senate intelligence authorization bill. One of them specifically grants the DIA a blanket exemption from having to search any of its “operational files” when it receives a FOIA request. There is already such a FOIA exemption for CIA operational files. But Martin contended that some of the DIA’s activities that are currently not covert would be covered by the new exemption, thereby extending a greater cone of secrecy around the agency. (The senior DIA official said the agency was “wasting time, energy and manpower” conducting FOIA requests for agency files that, at the end of the day, don’t get released anyway because they involve classified information.)
Another little-noticed provision of the bill would create a four-year pilot program that would allow U.S. intelligence agencies to have access to data collected about U.S. residents by other government agencies and covered by the Privacy Act. The FBI can already obtain many such records—such as pilot licenses or Transportation Department licenses for driving hazardous-waste materials or other government permits and applications—for law-enforcement purposes. The new Senate intelligence provision would allow U.S. intelligence agencies, such as the CIA and the DIA, or "parent" agencies such as the Pentagon itself, to collect such information deemed by the agency director to be useful in intelligence gathering related to international terrorism or weapons of mass destruction. No court order would be required for the information to be shared
Sounds like a Gestapo operation don't it 8O
By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
Newsweek
Updated: 7:02 p.m. ET Oct. 5, 2005
Oct. 5, 2005 - The Pentagon would be granted new powers to conduct undercover intelligence gathering inside the United States—and then withhold any information about it from the public—under a series of little noticed provisions now winding their way through Congress.
Citing in part the need for “greater latitude” in the war on terror, the Senate Intelligence Committee recently approved broad-ranging legislation that gives the Defense Department a long sought and potentially crucial waiver: it would permit its intelligence agents, such as those working for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), to covertly approach and cultivate “U.S. persons” and even recruit them as informants—without disclosing they are doing so on behalf of the U.S. government. The Senate committee’s action comes as President George W. Bush has talked of expanding military involvement in civil affairs, such as efforts to control pandemic disease outbreaks.
The provision was included in last year’s version of the same bill, but was knocked out after its details were reported by NEWSWEEK and critics charged it could lead to “spying” on U.S. citizens. But late last month, with no public hearings or debate, a similar amendment was put back into the same authorization bill—an annual measure governing U.S. intelligence agencies—at the request of the Pentagon. A copy of the 104-page committee bill, which has yet to be voted on by the full Senate, did not become public until last week.
At the same time, the Senate intelligence panel also included in the bill two other potentially controversial amendments—one that would allow the Pentagon and other U.S. intelligence agencies greater access to federal government databases on U.S. citizens, and another granting the DIA new exemptions from disclosing any “operational files” under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). “What they are doing is expanding the Defense Department’s domestic intelligence activities in secret—with no public discussion,” said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, a civil-liberties group that is often critical of government actions in the fight against terrorism.
But Don Black, a DIA spokesman, said Wednesday that the new provisions were limited in scope and would only give the DIA the same investigative powers as the FBI and CIA—powers that are crucial to the agency’s expanded mission in tracking the terrorist threat. “We’re not trying to do investigations of people inside the United States,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is follow leads about terrorist activities.”
The proposed new powers governing the Pentagon’s intelligence operations comes at a time when there is already internal debate within Washington over proposals to expand domestic Defense Department activities—in part because of the outcry over the botched response by other U.S. government agencies to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. President Bush ratcheted the debate up Tuesday during his press conference when he suggested for the first time that the U.S. military might be used to quarantine members of the public in the event of an outbreak of the avian flu. “And who best to be able to effect a quarantine?” Bush asked during his press conference. “One option is the use of a military that’s able to plan and move. And so that’s why I put it on the table.”
But the move to expand Pentagon intelligence activities inside the United States carries special resonance—in part because of embarrassing disclosures about the U.S. military engaging in domestic spying during the 1960s and 1970s. Revelations that the U.S. military had penetrated and spied on antiwar protestors led to tight new restrictions imposed by Congress. One of the chief restrictions is a legal requirement that the DIA or any other Defense Department intelligence agency conform to the provisions of the Privacy Act, a Watergate-era law that requires government officials seeking information from a U.S. resident to disclose who they are and what they want the information for.
Ever since the September 11 terror attacks, which gave the Pentagon expanded new counterterrorism authority, DIA officials have maintained that this restriction (which does not apply to the FBI or the CIA) has severely hampered its ability to approach U.S. residents and recruit them as informants. Many of the agency’s potential targets are members of ethnic communities inside the United States—such as Pakistanis or Arabs with close relatives in the Middle East. Such persons may often travel overseas, either for business, family or educational reasons and may have contacts with friends or relatives who have been tied to terrorist groups or hostile foreign government officials—making them tempting targets for recruitment as DIA informants, the agency argues.
DIA officials also say the provision approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee has important protections against abuses: any approaches to U.S. residents must be specifically approved by the director of DIA, coordinated with the FBI and could not be used to gather information about the “domestic activities of any United States person.” One senior DIA official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the agency only contemplates using the provision in a limited number of cases where the potential foreign intelligence information is “significant.”
“This isn’t for run-of-the-mill stuff,” said the senior DIA official. “We’ve tried to write in these protections so this will be used only in limited circumstances where we can’t do it any other way.”
But Martin, the civil-liberties advocate, said the DIA recruitment provision must be looked at in the context of two other measures tucked into the Senate intelligence authorization bill. One of them specifically grants the DIA a blanket exemption from having to search any of its “operational files” when it receives a FOIA request. There is already such a FOIA exemption for CIA operational files. But Martin contended that some of the DIA’s activities that are currently not covert would be covered by the new exemption, thereby extending a greater cone of secrecy around the agency. (The senior DIA official said the agency was “wasting time, energy and manpower” conducting FOIA requests for agency files that, at the end of the day, don’t get released anyway because they involve classified information.)
Another little-noticed provision of the bill would create a four-year pilot program that would allow U.S. intelligence agencies to have access to data collected about U.S. residents by other government agencies and covered by the Privacy Act. The FBI can already obtain many such records—such as pilot licenses or Transportation Department licenses for driving hazardous-waste materials or other government permits and applications—for law-enforcement purposes. The new Senate intelligence provision would allow U.S. intelligence agencies, such as the CIA and the DIA, or "parent" agencies such as the Pentagon itself, to collect such information deemed by the agency director to be useful in intelligence gathering related to international terrorism or weapons of mass destruction. No court order would be required for the information to be shared
Sounds like a Gestapo operation don't it 8O