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Today's Must Read
Cliche as it may be to say: Mr. Klein goes to Washington.
Tomorrow the Senate Judiciary Committee will get its hands on the surveillance bill passed by the intelligence committee last month. The bill blesses warrantless surveillance of foreign-domestic communications related to gathering foreign intelligence, but its most infamous provision is the legal immunity it seeks to grant telecommunications companies that complied with the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program from 2001 until this January. Civil libertarians are enraged at the provision, which will invalidate a number of class-action lawsuits against the telecoms currently pending. Now they have a new lobbying ally: Mark Klein.
Klein is the retired AT&T technician who disclosed in late 2005 how his former employer had allowed the NSA to use Room 641A of 611 Folsom Street in San Francisco as a vacuum cleaner to capture untold millions of phone and e-mail communications. (You can read his first-hand account here, in a pdf.) His revelations formed the basis for a lawsuit, Hepting v. AT&T, currently before a federal court. Now he's trying to convince Senators not to preempt the case, reports The Washington Post.
The plain-spoken, bespectacled Klein, 62, said he may be the only person in the country in a position to discuss firsthand knowledge of an important aspect of the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program. He is retired, so he isn't worried about losing his job. He did not have security clearance, and the documents in his possession were not classified, he said. He has no qualms about "turning in," as he put it, the company where he worked for 22 years until he retired in 2004."If they've done something massively illegal and unconstitutional -- well, they should suffer the consequences," Klein said. "It's not my place to feel bad for them. They made their bed, they have to lie in it. The ones who did [anything wrong], you can be sure, are high up in the company. Not the average Joes, who I enjoyed working with."
The Bush administration says granting immunity is a matter of basic fairness. One (occasional) administration dissenter from the surveillance program, ex-AG John Ashcroft, agrees -- though Ashcroft now lobbies on behalf of telecoms, so that might, um, inform his perspective.
Klein says that AT&T and its affiliates (and competitors) didn't just give the NSA domestic-to-overseas communications, and it didn't just give subscriber information known as "metadata." It gave them everything:
In an interview yesterday, he alleged that the NSA set up a system that vacuumed up Internet and phone-call data from ordinary Americans with the cooperation of AT&T . Contrary to the government's depiction of its surveillance program as aimed at overseas terrorists, Klein said, much of the data sent through AT&T to the NSA was purely domestic. Klein said he believes that the NSA was analyzing the records for usage patterns as well as for content. ...One of Klein's documents listed links to 16 entities, including Global Crossing, a large provider of voice and data services in the United States and abroad; UUNet, a large Internet provider in Northern Virginia now owned by Verizon; Level 3 Communications, which provides local, long-distance and data transmission in the United States and overseas; and more familiar names such as Sprint and Qwest. It also included data exchanges MAE-West and PAIX, or Palo Alto Internet Exchange, facilities where telecom carriers hand off Internet traffic to each other.
"I flipped out," he said. "They're copying the whole Internet. There's no selection going on here. Maybe they select out later, but at the point of handoff to the government, they get everything."
Tomorrow we'll see whether the Judiciary Committee, which has been more confrontational over surveillance issues than the intelligence committee has, flips out as well -- or whether Klein is in Washington for nothing.
Comments (40)
Habanero wrote on November 7, 2007 9:20 AM:It is called "Sentinel."
Joe Bonham wrote on November 7, 2007 9:21 AM:Tip to Klein: don't fly in small aircraft.
M M wrote on November 7, 2007 9:24 AM:Must as I hate to admit it he's in DC for nothing. Just a little kabuki for the Dems.
WI Resident wrote on November 7, 2007 9:24 AM:Ok, we in WI get to call 2 Senators! I will thank them for their votes against Mukasey and urge similar votes against immunity.
Whatever happened to the Rule of Law?
moondancer wrote on November 7, 2007 9:33 AM:M M
Sad, but you're correct. The dems are in bed with the telecoms. Congress is a management layer in the corporate pyramid that that runs America.
Dennis wrote on November 7, 2007 9:40 AM:M M wrote on November 7, 2007 9:24 AM:
"Must as I hate to admit it he's in DC for nothing. Just a little kabuki for the Dems."
I think he's there for good reason, to be loyal to average Americans. As for the Democrats, they still don't have the message that Americans were voting against the Bush regime, not for Democrats. But you can bet the Democrats will cave on this as they have caved on everything else.
No doubt you've notice the mainstream media downplaying the fact that we are not trusted by our own government, rather we are watched 24/7, every day. Sites like this one are the only place to get honest news, and as soon as the FCC is finished with the internet, that will be corrupted, too.
You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.
theWalrus wrote on November 7, 2007 9:48 AM:Yes, I'm sure there will be a few Committee members who wil "flip out" at the hearing.
Then they'll support the bill.
Dismayed wrote on November 7, 2007 10:04 AM:They know they are guilty and that the only defense they have it to watch us like hawks and make preemptive strikes or roll back the rule of law.
Prosecute the bums. It is time to give them something to work on besides burning the Constitution. You can bet they'll drag it out to protect themselves.
Landmine wrote on November 7, 2007 10:08 AM:"Congress is a management layer in the corporate pyramid that runs America."
Thanks "moondancer".
If you want to stop bumping into the furniture, turns the lights on!
FMArouet wrote on November 7, 2007 10:22 AM:Kudos to Mark Klein. At least he is trying.
In the warrantless surveillance state the revelations of Mr. Klein and others point to the following likely SOP:
(1) Collect all data transmissions (e-mails, credit card transactions, web page visits, blog postings, online purchases, banking transactions, brokerage transactions, currency transfers, etc.) and at least the call/billing records of all voice telephone communications.
(2) Likely also use warrantless National Security Letters (or even less formal requests) to gain access to proprietary databases (customer records, medical records, motor vehicle records, library lending records, credit card records, IRS tax records, brokerage account records, etc.).
(3) Save all of this data in massive databases in hard drive farms.
(4) Use link analysis and data-mining techniques to sift through the data at leisure to look for patterns and networks among persons of interest. While the initial justification for the whole edifice may have been the need to hunt down terrorists, the reality is likely a more mundane effort to monitor potential political opposition.
(5) Likely farm out much of this data-mining to private contractors, though the defense, Homeland Security, and intelligence communities surely do their share.
(6) Given the track record of the Unitary Executive Republicans, we should not be surprised if such data-mining has been conducted against individual political opponents (or even supporters) for purposes of gaining political leverage (i.e., blackmail).
(7) It should also not be surprising if the massive databases have been made available to Republican-linked contractors to help target promising areas for voter suppression and for microtargeting direct mail or e-mail campaigns.
In short, in seven short years the Bush/Cheney ideologues have successfully, and without any legal consequences, instituted a national electronic surveillance state. Meanwhile, Congress stands idly by, its key members of both parties (such as the weak and not-very-bright Sen. Jay Rockefeller) having been bought off by key telecoms that seek to avoid liability for clearly illegal acts.
The Orwellian state is not a looming threat. It has already arrived. And it is proving to be far more effective than the crude authoritarianism of, say, the former Soviet Union or East Germany.
There is no need to go to the trouble of intimidating millions of informants to report on neighbors and coworkers, when anyone's contacts, memberships, financial status, political activities, and personal beliefs can be laid bare through a fairly simple act of electronic surveillance accomplished with a few key strokes--sort of a Google sifting through anyone's personal data.
TheraP wrote on November 7, 2007 10:30 AM:Given the excellent post by FMArouet, I think moondancer's sentence should now read:
Congress is a "managed" layer in the corporate pyramid that that runs America.
Perhaps they want to leave a few congress people to stand up for We the People, in order to make their control seem less total. But it inconceivable that cheney and rove had access to everything and failed to use it to "manage" congress.
We've got "managed care" for health. And likely "managed legislative" branch as well.
draftedin68 wrote on November 7, 2007 10:48 AM:Why the silence?
We probably won't see much in the MSM about Klein's story unless the enormity of what was going on is better explained.
Lots, and I mean LOTS of people know exactly what kind of traffic goes through the Folsom Street building and most of them understand that what Klein has documented is basically a series of wire taps placed on extremely high volume voice and data transmission circuits.
These same people would also know that the type of data transmission being tapped cannot be sifted by any equipment that would fit into that room. The tapped signals HAD to be sent some place else housing a BUNCH of equipment needed for demodulation and examination.
The silence from these people can olny mean that
1 - they haven't been sought out by the ball-chasing puppies of the MSM,
2 - they lack Mark Klein's bravery and patriotism, or
3 - they've been "talked" to.
anonymouse wrote on November 7, 2007 11:01 AM:the important result to note here is that nobody will actually be punished for wavering from the Constitution. This only occurred when "We the People" lived in a democracy.
Nowdays the folks in charge get to pick and choose who will be punished... and it will NOT be the cronies supporting them.
It WILL, however, always include the common folk... IMHO
RWN wrote on November 7, 2007 11:17 AM:The vast Right-wing Conspiracy was a smoke screen, it actually is the Vast American Fascist Conspiracy. The conspiracy is three-fold, the Judiciary where through the last 20 years appointments on the Fed Bench have been unmistakeable authoritarians---mentored and massaged like Scalia, Alito, Roberts up through the ranks of Fed District to the Appeals Court and into the Supreme Court. They also work in authoritarian executive posts in between where they go private as corporate counsel's. The Legislature is totally co-opted not only passing laws and corporate welfare programs while dissembling civil liberties but worse, they are the last front towards authoritarians because actually the power in government is vested in the Congress. They can rise up and remove justices and executive branch members through impeachment.
Savage's book on top the library published over the last three years including Dean's book demonstrate how prevalent this move is.
I warn you all. Watch as drama plays out. Don't you feel that on the GOP side, has co-opted the entire conspiracy to Guiliani who is the poster child for opposition by the theo-con's and yet today the old crazy man endorsed him. Why? Fed Justice Appointments, no...not at all...Guiliani is the trusted one for the authoritarians. Why Clinton...because that is who the authoritatians want to run against.
Watch if Obama, Edwards or Kucinich actually gains the nomination? Watch if actually a landslide prevails, will there be a peaceful transfer of power?
Phil wrote on November 7, 2007 11:18 AM:This is a nightmare. While I don't think the telecoms should get immunity, maybe a better negotiation, assuming this data sharing is still beind done, should be to agree to require all the telecoms to come clean AND stop all this data sharing in exchange for some sort of legal protection from class action lawsuits and criminal prosecution. The goal should be to stop this practice (as well as allowing individuals who were hurt to sue). I am not excusing this behavior by the telecos but practically trying to stop it.
liz wrote on November 7, 2007 11:22 AM:NO IMMUNITY FOR CRIMINALS
spamonwry wrote on November 7, 2007 11:24 AM:A Great Big Thank You, and a tip of the Hat for Mark Klein....
Now, does ANYONE doubt that the wide swath of eavesdropping "accidentally" netted Democratic politicians' phone calls, probably in their entirety? ANYONE who became an "enemy," such as Valerie Plame & her husband, not to mention all of the Demo candidates in 2004, 2006, & up to now - have had every word they've heard or spoken recorded & passed on to the political teams in the Presidunce's administration.
It's the old "Your either with us, or you're against us," writ large. Anyone who might, possibly, potentially, etc., be "not with" the Repugnicons has had just about every word recorded for political reasons - to preempt any campaign tactic & finesse the candidate.
Oh, well, it's been so common the last 7 years that it's just "normal," like waterboarding....
Praedor Atrebates wrote on November 7, 2007 11:39 AM:The only acceptable result is NO immunity for Telecoms and a REQUIREMENT that all the illegally collected data be purged/deleted/wiped from government databases. They must NOT be allowed to eat fruit from that poisoned tree.
Warrants. They want info? Get a goddamned warrant.
carolyn wrote on November 7, 2007 11:54 AM:THANK YOU, MARK KLEIN!
Jane wrote on November 7, 2007 11:57 AM:Without you this would only be conjecture. Anybody else out there think this alone comes to the level of impeachment of the authorities who authorized this violation of citizens' rights?
Quick Take:
A law relieving the Telecoms of responsibility for protecting their costumer's data is unconstitutional because it would be a law impairing the obligations of contracts.
If I hand my goods to a bailee and he allows them to be stolen and the government subsequently passes a law allowing my goods to be stolen (which it is entitled to do -- it can reduce penalties in criminal law just not increase them retroactively) it cannot protect the bailee from my suit for damages for allowing my goods to be stolen because that rests on my contract with the bailee, not on the criminal law and contract rights are protected in the Constitution.
The same should hold true for a contract to transmit information -- if the Telecom company allows my information to be stolen they are responsible to me under our contract. The government is not allowed to do anything about that. It has no more right to abrogate that part of my contract than to call for a debt moratorium.
Jeannie wrote on November 7, 2007 12:05 PM:liz wrote on November 7, 2007 11:22 AM:
NO IMMUNITY FOR CRIMINALS
'Nuff said.
jason kennedy wrote on November 7, 2007 12:22 PM:Jane
While what you say is fine and good, the problem in the telcoms case has been showing standing.
How do you show, in the first place, that your contract with your telco has been breached if the WH and the Telco are invoking national security as a defense against disclosing their practices and, of course, who was impacted by these practices.
bk wrote on November 7, 2007 12:33 PM:He's not there for nothing. The truth needs to be on the record. At least this way there's a chance we can make the bastards squirm later on.
TheraP wrote on November 7, 2007 1:12 PM:bk writes: "The truth needs to be on the record."
This is exactly the position the Jews took in Concentration Camps. They knew most of them would not survive. But they agreed that the survivors would "remember" - that the truth would be told and retold.
Right now, we may not have the power to change things to the degree we would like, but we have the power to extract as much of the truth as we can, to put that information together to the degree we can.
And history will not forget.
Gtash wrote on November 7, 2007 1:13 PM:I want to see the telecoms dragged into court for violating laws that have been on the books since 1927. I want to see Mr. Klein provide as much on the record testimony against these companies for warrantless "net-scraping" before this information becomes further bound in secrecy or gag orders. I do not want the Congress to permit this revised FISA legislation go forward.
Do I think Dems will cave? I think they probably will, but they should hear loud and clear from all of us that we object more strenuously than they can possibly imagine. Pelosi and Reid need to be confronted now.
Centerpunch wrote on November 7, 2007 1:32 PM:My dad was tasked to switching-taps at base stations in the late sixties while working at Southern Bell, Tampa.
By 70-71, we were relocated to the DC area, wherein he worked for several security contractors throughout the world during the seventies... places like Nicaragua, UAE, and Iraq.
If you think this shit is new and significant, I've got a light for that blunt you're smoking.
BTW: He was found dead in his car in a back corner of a parking lot in Laurel, MD, not far from Ft. Mead, in May 2000-- and the tapping info was informed conjecture via family who were never actually completely privy to who he actually worked for or what he actually did for a living-- all I have left is his passports, and a wink. The rest of his personal belongings are missing, including his ratty old Polo briefcase that was his trademark sidekick...gone.
erland wrote on November 7, 2007 1:43 PM:FINALLY! I have been rooting for Mark Klein to go more public ever since Wired and others broke his story.
If anyone has actually looked at the documents he made public, a little bit of IT knowledge will help you grasp the enormity of the program.
They are able to collect and interpret real-time data traffic at the lowest level, and god knows what kind of back-end the NSA has written. Theoretically, it's trivial for an agent to sit at a machine and just pick a person or group out of the pool, sit back and watch the links they're clicking, Skype conversations, whatever they want... as though the agent were literally looking over your shoulder.
Visit narus.com for info on some of the hardware that is being used here, look at their board of directors: former DARPA, NSA, and AT&T employees. AT&T has written a C library that provides simple methods for grabbing voice and data streams on their network (called "Hancock").
There's a nexus between telecoms, NSA, and DARPA, and it appears they are trying to implement the Total Information Awareness program that was "canceled" years ago due to public outrage.
KnotIookin wrote on November 7, 2007 2:00 PM:Sentinel makes 'cointelpro' seem ALMOST legal
REP wrote on November 7, 2007 2:05 PM:FMArouet finished the post with the concept of computers working for the White House recording all the communications of anyone.
nm wrote on November 7, 2007 3:14 PM:Who is anyone? Who does the White House want to monitor? Anyone who is a political leader. Anyone that they want to get at and punish. Anyone who is a leader in government. All of the Presidential appointees. All of the Military leaders. All of the Cabinet Members.
This is how the Bush administration
governs America. They tell people what to do and what to say, and then they monitor those people to make sure that the orders are carried out.
Anyone who is monitored is graded on
their achivement and their effort.
Anyone with high scores gets promoted
by the White House.
Landmine wrote on November 7, 2007 10:08 AM:
"Congress is a management layer in the corporate pyramid that runs America."
Or, as Frank Zappa put it, "Congress is the entertainment division of the military industrial complex."
Anonymouse wrote on November 7, 2007 3:18 PM:I know we've gone over this before, but could someone explain to me why telecoms would need immunity for something the Administration claims is completely legal and above-board?
???? wrote on November 7, 2007 3:21 PM:So, if they vacuumed up everything, they should have those missing emails, right?
v. popvli wrote on November 7, 2007 4:24 PM:this might be off topic, but i would've thought today's must read would be about cheney and the articles of impeachment in the HJC. but not here, not in the daily muck, no article yet. hello, TPM? someone asleep at the switchboard?
pointus wrote on November 7, 2007 5:59 PM:This country is toast. The scary part is, now the Canadian border patrol is turning back any visiting American with any sort of arrest record. We are becoming prisoners in our own country. Next "terrorist" attack, the Halliburton concentration camps are open for business. c***suckers.
prostratedragon wrote on November 7, 2007 6:23 PM:If you want a preview of Mr. Klein's testimony, All Things Considered ran an interview with him this evening. It should be up on the NPR website later tonight. I heard part of it, and in a sensible world what he has to say would be a bombshell.
Bill W wrote on November 7, 2007 6:59 PM:prostratedragon wrote:
"If you want a preview of Mr. Klein's testimony, All Things Considered ran an interview with him this evening. It should be up on the NPR website later tonight. ..."
AT&T Wiretap Whistleblower Fights Senate Deal
Perfidius wrote on November 7, 2007 7:48 PM:npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16088947
One more time for the people in the back. Such immunity is unconstitutional, because it rescinds the fourth amendment.
Lots of luck with the Inferior Court, but there it is.
Anonymous wrote on November 7, 2007 8:50 PM:The retroactive immunity isn’t for the telecoms…
It’s for Bush and Cheney!
Mark Klein is not alone. There are many other technicians with knowledge and evidence just like Mark.
They are waiting for the “cover up vote” before they expose the extensive corruption. Then it will be too late.
Watch this vote closely, for those that vote for immunity are voting for the cover up.
Don’t be fooled, everyone voting knows full well what they are doing.
Paranoid yet? wrote on November 7, 2007 8:55 PM:I honestly can't believe I'm living through this!
lambert strether wrote on November 8, 2007 1:27 AM:I hate to bring this up, but the situation is actually worse than Klein and the very astute FMArouet have described it.
If one corporation can get retroactive immunity for these illegal acts this time, another corporation is going to ask for retroactive immunity for other illegal acts the next time.
And the next, and the next, and the next.
Retroactive immunity for the telcos really does mean the end of the rule of law; the stakes are that big.