by Pete Santilli
Before I present indisputable facts that the private sector has always had absolute control over mass data collection and analysis, please allow me to give Rand Paul and Alex Jones the benefit of the doubt that they may not have access to Google and overlooked the obvious. We can only theorize why Rand Paul would meet with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Palantir’s Peter Thiel in Silicon Valley and never come away with a notion that voting for the TPP and grandstanding against the NSA’s exclusive access to bulk data collection would transfer dangerous powers of privacy intrusions from the government to the private sector. Also, we can only speculate why Alex Jones; a self proclaimed 9-11 “inside-job” investigator; would continue publishing pro Rand Paul articles despite overwhelming evidence that Paul’s presidential campaign is being funded by Palantir’s Peter Thiel and all his Silicon Valley data-collection cronies.
Let’s all send them a link to this article and see how they respond thereafter. I’ll bet our national debt that more people like journalist Michael Hastings will die in a car accident before either of these Surveillance Industrial Complex puppets come clean. Today a LewRockwell.com writer calls out Rand Paul’s fraud for what it is. In an article titled FREEDOM Act Passes Senate, Freedom Dies, Daniel McAdams nails it when he says how the Freedom Act is WORSE than the Patriot Act.
1) The recent decision of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the bulk collection of American citizens’ telecommunications information was not authorized by the USA PATRIOT Act means that as of this afternoon, the bulk collection of American citizens’ telecommunications information was an illegal act. The government was breaking the law each time it grabbed our metadata. The moment the FREEDOM is signed by President Obama that same activity will become legal. How is making an unconstitutional and illegal act into a legal one a benefit to civil liberties?
2) The FREEDOM Act turns private telecommunications companies into agents of state security. They will be required to store our personal information and hand it over to state security organs upon demand. How do we know this development is a step in the wrong direction? It is reportedly the brainchild of Gen. Keith B. Alexander, the NSA director at the time! According to press reports, this was but a public relations move to deflect criticism of the bulk collection program. Alexander “saw the move as a way for Obama to respond to public criticism without losing programs the NSA deemed more essential,” reports Homeland Security News.
3) The FREEDOM Act turns private telecommunications companies into depositories of “pre-crime” data for future use of state security agencies. It is a classic authoritarian move for the state to co-opt and subsume the private sector. Once the FREEDOM Act is signed, Americans’ telecommunications information will be retained by the telecommunications companies for the use of state security agencies in potential future investigations. In other words, an individual under no suspicion of any crime and thus deserving full Fourth and Fifth Amendment protection will nevertheless find himself providing evidence against his future self should that person ever fall under suspicion. That is not jurisprudence in a free society.
4) The FREEDOM Act provides liability protection for the telecommunications firms who steal and store our private telecommunications information. In other words, there is not a thing you can do about the theft as long as the thief is a “private” agent of the state.
There are so many dots to connect it’s almost overwhelming; which is how they win & profit — the Surveillance Industrial Complex profits from your info-fatigue. We learned these techniques through Alex Jones’s methods of throwing so much 9-11 information up against the wall (except, of course, the damning factual evidence filed in the federal court system which exposes directed energy technology) keeping everyone corralled in the corner away from the core truth; and then creating a mosh pit of argument on your website to cause everyone to throw their hands in the air in disgust. It’s not only very effective in causing millions of people to virtually ignore the fact that 4000 people died in the world trade center towers, companies like Palantir are actually contracted to employ their info-fatigue technology over & over again. There is documentation exposed by WikiLeaks and Anonymous which clearly implicates Palantir’s involvement in cyber-attacking Wikileaks and Glenn Greenwald on behalf of Bank of America, and then “apologized” ….when they got caught.
Now I know that all you “Stand With Rand” minions will of course blindly support Palantir’s corporate gibberish and plausible deniability spin, but before you have a stroke defending Rand Paul and Palantir based on corporate bullshit apology and denial, please remember that before Edward Snowden released documentation that the NSA was involved in bulk data collection, the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lied to Congress. It wasn’t until he got caught lying that he came clean and said he “forgot”. So, keep standing with Rand until you notice the smell of manure emanating exactly where you are standing. We “conspiracy theorists” (that’s what you called us when we talked about the sophisticated technology they are using to surveil us) have actually been laughing all along — at a bunch of pre-programmed wing-nuts; standing in cow shit; sucking on Rand Paul or Hillary Clinton binkies; calling us ‘conspiracy theorists’.
Make no mistake; it’s not just us ‘conspiracy theorists’ who are laughing at you/Americans. The Surveillance Industrial Complex is laughing all the way to the bank. They’re cracking up at us shouting “We Stand With Rand” as Rand Paul mentions that he wants to stop the NSA from collecting your ‘phone records’. Even the government laughs because they’ve been do that well before Americans started using rotary dial phones. Do you know who else is laughing at the dumbed-down Americans worried about the equivalent of tapping their rotary dial phone? Government contractors, social media companies, and law enforcement. Knowing what we now know about the Rand Paul scam, we can easily speculate that they’re all saying, (sniper snicker) “If they only knew what we’re doing to them…thank God for Rand Paul keeping this idiots focused on their measly phone records…”.
As we delve into the treasure trove of information made available to us through WikiLeaks, Glenn Greenwald & Edward Snowden, we discover the truth about what we can only describe as The Matrix. Let me be clear; the Rand Paul grand standing hoax about data-collection was a fraud perpetrated upon the public. At minimum, if Rand Paul claims ignorance about the private sector’s data collection and analysis or if he is actually this oblivious to the Matrix, then he is not qualified to be the President of the United States. Even Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters knows:
….The President has put in place an organization….. that contains the kinda database…that know one has ever seen before in life. …and that database will have information about everything…on every individual….in ways that it has never been done before….
The so-called “organization” which has been assembled is a private corporate entity which cannot function at full capacity on behalf of the U.S. government with the U.S. Constitution and civil rights obstructing it’s path to technological progress. If the Surveillance Industrial Complex is to exceed the demands of it’s wealthiest customer — the U.S. government — then the government would have to compromise in a couple of important areas. (1) Fast track the TPP; giving corporations supremacy over the U.S. Constitution and (2) Remove the NSA’s monopoly over bulk data collection and storage. In the past 3 weeks prior to this writing; Rand Paul has propelled his name into accomplishing both; all the while pretending to demand transparency about elements of the TPP which the American public really have no clue about, and also pretending to defend the privacy of all rotary-dial telephone users. Never once have we heard Rand Paul mention anything about what he knows to be “the kinda database that know one has ever seen before in life”.
Never once have we heard Rand Paul, or even his info-babe Alex Jones mention the secret shadow government agency which is scarier than the NSA; the National Security Analysis Center. an obscure element of the Justice Department that has grown from its creation in 2008 into a sprawling 400-person, $150 million-a-year multi-agency organization employing almost 300 analysts, the majority of whom are corporate contractors. Never once has Rand Paul talked about the true dangers of putting bulk data collection and analysis in the hands of the private sector. Essentially; the bulk data collection; storage and analysis has been re-distributed from the government’s NSA to the most dangerous and powerful corporate subcontractors in the world. [A list of contractors known to be associated with NSAC can be viewed here.]
The Center has its roots in the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force (FTTTF), (see FBI declassified document about FTTTF) a small cell established in October 2001 to look for additional 9/11-like terrorists who might have entered the United States. But with the emergence of significant “homegrown” threats in the late aughts, the Task Force’s focus was thought to be too narrow. NSAC was created to focus scrutiny on new threat, specifically on Americans, particularly Muslims, who might pose a hidden threat (the Task Force became a unit within NSAC’s bureaucratic umbrella).
Since it’s formation in 2001, very rarely has Alex Jones covered the FTTTF or NSAC, and for those of us who have watched him clam-up on certain issues like mind control technology; 9-11 evidence as well as his uncharacteristic hiring of Stratfor/Parker Media intel operatives such as Molly Maroney, we’re just now beginning to understand who is controlling and/or throttling the flow of information through Alex Jones. Again, we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t believe the NSAC or the FTTTF were important enough in 2001-2014, but in 2015 we know what the Surveillance Industrial Complex has evolved into. Therefore, everyone must recognize that Alex Jones is supporting Rand Paul because he knows how he will benefit once Paul is in the White House —- all at the expense of the lab rats who frequent his InfoWars website and provide input data for Booze Allen Hamilton to analyze with their Palantir software. The so-called info-warrior is a nothing less than Jabba-The-Hut sitting on his throne concealing the most important information in all human history. Either that, or he’s (a) not aware of the Surveillance Industrial Complex, or (b) he doesn’t think it’s important enough. In every case, Alex Jones must be indicted for fraud right beside his golden ticket Rand Paul, and it will be impossible for Jones to distance himself from Rand Paul, especially after claiming that he single handedly propelled Paul’s political career. (See link: Confronted About Alex Jones, Rand Paul Tries To Downplay Their Alliance)
Now it’s time for you to do your own homework. That’s right. It’s time for Americans to stop finally stop relying upon their info-savior to spoon feed them with documents which have been strategically published and indexed on the internet by sophisticated government contractors in support of their narrative and credibility. It’s time for you to pull the veil back on your own. Form your own opinion based on the overwhelming amount of top-secret data which has been released to the public by Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, Wikileaks, anonymous, etc. The information is there, but unfortunately the books are scattered all over the floor. Over the coming days, weeks and months, we will try to assemble as many stories, links and reports to help you make sense of all this. The only thing I will personally insist that each of our readers to do is steer clear of anyone who is NOT exposing this information — they are not on the side of humanity.
Who and What Are The “Trolls”?
Before you begin digging into the details, you absolutely must first recognize how the enemy of humanity is attacking the truth-tellers. This is not conspiracy theory, as we now know about the sophisticated technology that is employed to shut down the truth. Trolls are covert agents who frequent important stories like this one, and they pretend to be “concerned” about the credibility of the messenger on behalf of their fellow readers. The number one sign of a troll is someone who insists that they are not — and do so under an anonymous user name. For instance, my name is Peter Santilli; I stand behind my writings and comments in every interaction with readers on the internet. Anyone can verify my name; background and identity and I also encourage anyone to come join me in the streets and meet with me personally. You will notice that almost every single negative article written about me (especially after I exposed previously undisclosed 9-11 evidence, Hillary Clinton and Benghazi, etc.), comments and/or or blog posts were written about me by people who cannot afford to reveal their true identity. Be very suspicious of people who are paid to intentionally disparage, demonize, attack and even subtly win the “hearts and minds” of the unsuspecting readers. Not everyone is a paid troll, but it is 100% fact that the unpaid trolls are directly influenced and manipulated by the paid trolls — the paid trolls exponentially build a team of unpaid trolls to help them do their dirty work. After I read the documents released by Wikileaks, Glen Greenwald and Edward Snowden, I then realized why and how we were attacked by our adversaries. It’s a very complex & sophisticated cyber warfare tactic employed by the Surveillance Industrial Complex, and it’s now very well documented. In fact, most of the interactions you participate in on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and in comment threads on the internet on websites like InfoWars.com are manufactured by “bots”. Here’s some information for you to read which now makes what we used to believe was a conspiracy theory and solidifies it as fact:
The Strange Case of Barrett Brown
In February 2011, a year after Brown penned his defense of Anonymous, and against the background of its actions during the Arab Spring, Aaron Barr, CEO of the private intelligence company HBGary, claimed to have identified the leadership of the hacktivist collective. (In fact, he only had screen names of a few members). Barr’s boasting provoked a brutal hack of HBGary by a related group called Internet Feds (it would soon change its name to “LulzSec”). Splashy enough to attract the attention of The Colbert Report, the hack defaced and destroyed servers and websites belonging to HBGary. Some 70,000 company e-mails were downloaded and posted online. As a final insult to injury, even the contents of Aaron Barr’s iPad were remotely wiped.
The HBGary hack may have been designed to humiliate the company, but it had the collateral effect of dropping a gold mine of information into Brown’s lap. One of the first things he discovered was a plan to neutralize Glenn Greenwald’s defense of Wikileaks by undermining them both. (“Without the support of people like Glenn, wikileaks would fold,” read one slide.) The plan called for “disinformation,” exploiting strife within the organization and fomenting external rivalries—“creating messages around actions to sabotage or discredit the opposing organization,” as well as a plan to submit fake documents and then call out the error.” Greenwald, it was argued, “if pushed,” would “choose professional preservation over cause.”
Other plans targeted social organizations and advocacy groups. Separate from the plan to target Greenwald and WikiLeaks, HBGary was part of a consortia that submitted a proposal to develop a “persona management” system for the United States Air Force, that would allow one user to control multiple online identities for commenting in social media spaces, thus giving the appearance of grassroots support or opposition to certain policies.
HBGary was to be tasked with creating an army of sock-puppets to spread propaganda or infiltrate groups:
HBGary was part of a consortia that submitted a proposal to develop a “persona management” system for the United States Air Force, that would allow one user to control multiple online identities for commenting in social media spaces, thus giving the appearance of grassroots support or opposition to certain policies.
After the HBGary fiasco, the sock-puppet contracts where awarded to a firm called Ntrepid
Ntrepid Corporation, registered out of Los Angeles, bills itself as a privacy and identity protection firm in some job postings, and a national security contractor in others, but its official website was amazingly just one page deep and free of even a single word of description.In spite of their thin online presence, Speaks said the firm was awarded $2,760,000 to carry out the “persona management” contract
Ntrepid also owns a product called Tartan. Those familiar with the Occupy crackdown may have heard of it:
In another document on Ntrepid letterhead, titled “Tartan Influence Model: Anarchist Groups,” Tartan is positioned as a software tool that can help combat domestic protestors who operate in “an amorphous network of anarchist and protest groups” and suggests that these groups are prone to violence. They name Occupy Wall Street and Occupy D.C. as part of the problem, and have “built Occupy networks through online communication with anarchists.” By identifying the threat of anarchistic, supposedly violent protestors, Tartan sells its services by saying their software “identifies the hidden relationships among organizers of seemingly unrelated movements… To mitigate the ability of anarchists to incite violence… Law enforcement must identify the complex network of relationships among anarchist leaders
Democrats call for an investigation of law firm, 3 tech companies
A group of House Democrats is calling on Republican leaders to investigate a prominent Washington law firm and three federal technology contractors, who have been shown in hacked e-mails discussing a “disinformation campaign” against foes of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
In a letter to be released Tuesday, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and more than a dozen other lawmakers wrote that the e-mails appear “to reveal a conspiracy to use subversive techniques to target Chamber critics,” including “possible illegal actions against citizens engaged in free speech.”
The lawmakers say it is “deeply troubling” that “tactics developed for use against terrorists may have been unleashed against American citizens.“
HOW COVERT AGENTS INFILTRATE THE INTERNET TO MANIPULATE, DECEIVE, AND DESTROY REPUTATIONS
Hacked e-mails reveal plans for dirty-tricks campaign against U.S. Chamber foes
FBI Data-Mining Programs Resurrect “Total Information Awareness”
A fast-growing FBI data-mining system billed as a tool for hunting terrorists is being used in hacker and domestic criminal investigations, and now contains tens of thousands of records from private corporate databases, including car-rental companies, large hotel chains and at least one national department store. (Ryan Singel, “FBI’s Data-Mining System Sifts Airline, Hotel, Car-Rental Records,” Wired, September 23, 2009)
Rand Paul Had Sitdowns With Mark Zuckerberg And Peter Thiel Jul. 14, 2014, 9:41 AM
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) reportedly had meetings with two top Silicon Valley billionaires at Allen & Company’s Sun Valley conference in Idaho.
In his Playbook newsletter Sunday, Politico’s Mike Allen reported Paul, who is considering a presidential bid in 2016, “had private sit-downs with the investor Peter Thiel and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg” while at the conference. Allen described Paul’s presence at the confab as “another sign of how far he has come since his insurgent victory as a Tea Party torch-bearer.”
A spokesperson for Paul has not responded to a request from Business Insider about what he discussed with Thiel and Zuckerberg. However, it is natural that Paul, who has emerged as a leader of the libertarian wing of the Republican Party, might seek to curry favor and position himself for potential donations from Silicon Valley.
Paul has been attempting to court support among the tech set by focusing on his opposition to the National Security Agency’s surveillance program. Last year, he traveled to California to give a lecture at the Google campus in Mountain View.
Thiel is perhaps the best known avatar of Silicon Valley libertarianism. He gave $2.6 million to a PAC that supported the presidential campaign of Paul’s father, former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) in 2012.
Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force Databases
From its unique perch, the National Security Analysis Center (NSAC) and the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force (FTTTF) have access to some 90 known databases and sources, as well as over 40 intelligence community (IC) and law enforcement databases, the very names of which are classified. The Center also facilitates and coordinates information sharing agreements with public and proprietary companies that collect unique information. Task Force analysts have unlimited access to the full range of databases, which include, according to documents obtained by Phase Zero:
·FBI, Justice Department, State Department and Department of Homeland Security national databases, which include Asset Forfeiture Management System (AFMS), Automated Case Support (ACS), Consular Consolidated Database Interface (CCDI), Data Loading and Analysis System (DaLas), Data Integration and Visualization System (DIVS), eGuardian, Guardian, National Crime Information Center (NCIC), National Law enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS), Sentinel (formerly the Investigative Data Warehouse), National Name Check (NNC), NETLEADS, Refugees, Asylum, and Parole System (RAPS), Risk Management System (RMS), and USPS and USPIS databases;
·Government investigative databases, including Arrival Departure Information System (ADIS), Central Adjudication Tracking System (CATS), Central Index System (CIS), Contract Linguist Information Program (CLIP) Database and/or Contract Linguist Enterprise Database (CLED), Defense Clearance and Investigations Index (DCII) Database, ENFORCE (DHS), Deportable Alien Control System (DACS), Joint Personnel Adjudication System (JPAS), Office of Personnel Management (OPM) databases, the DOD QTIP/eQTIP; the IC’s Scattered Castles, Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), Targus, and WebMSQ/M204;
·Intelligence community (IC) databases, which include Biometrics Identity Intelligence Resources (BIR2/BIIR), CIA External Name Trace System (CENTS), CIA Wire, Combating Terrorism Knowledge Base (CTKB), the Contractor Translator Interpreter Data Entry System (C-TIDES), DAIIS, DCGS Intelligence Suites, FISHNET, GEMINI, Harmony, IC Reach, Intelink, Multi Media Messenger (M3), National Counter Terror Center (NCTC) Online, NSA Pulse, PORTICO, Proton, Bedrock, Shoebox, QLIX, Swordfish, Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) 2, TCOP, Tripwire Analytic Capability (TAC), and Web Intelligence Search Engine (WISE);
·Treasury Department and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) databases, which include Banking Secrecy Act (BSA) data, the IRS Currency Banking Retrieval System (ICBRS), SQ11, SQPQ, SQ94, and Treasury Enforcement Communications Systems (TECS);
·Commercial databases, which include Accurint, AUTOTRACK/Autotrack XP, Choicepoint/CLEAR, Dun & Bradstreet, Equifax, Factiva, Hoovers, Lexis-Nexis, Westlaw; and
·State Level databases that include Virginia Criminal Intelligence Network (VCIN), criminal databases, driver’s license databases, etc.
Rand Paul Financial Backer Lands in NYT Crosshairs
One of the larger questions looming over Rand Paul’s seemingly inevitable presidential campaign is how he will raise big money. The Kentucky senator has a large grassroots following, but not necessarily the sort of e-mail list that Ted Cruz was able to amass during the 2013 government shutdown and certainly not the sort of entree into the traditional Republican donor base that has fueled past presidential campaigns.
Some, including those in his own camp, have suggested that the young billionaires of Silicon Valley would be a key source of funding for Paul’s campaign: chief among them, Palantir Technologies co-founder and angel investor Joe Lonsdale. Lonsdale was name-checked in an April 2014 New York Times piece as a member of Paul’s nascent finance team, one of the libertarian billionaires Paul had successfully cultivated during his rapid ascent in the Senate.
Now comes a New York Times Magazine piece detailing Lonsdale’s relationship with a Stanford undergraduate, which took place while he was serving as a mentor to the undergraduate’s course in Technology Entrepreneurship. It’s a bizarre story and doesn’t in and of itself say much about Paul’s presidential prospects, but it comes on the heels of a couple of weeks of missteps and bad news for the senator: a vaccine gaffe, an unfortunate CNBC interview, and a call from Weekly Standard senior editor Andrew Ferguson for him to drop out of the presidential running entirely. On the whole, not good for Team Paul.
HBGary, Palantir, Prism, Facebook & The Industrial Surveillance Complex
Two years ago, a batch of stolen e-mails revealed a plot by a set of three defense contractors (Palantir Technologies, Berico Technologies and HBGary Federal) to target activists, reporters, labor unions and political organizations. The plans— one concocted in concert with lawyers for the US Chamber of Commerce to sabotage left-leaning critics, like the Center for American Progress and the SEIU, and a separate proposal to “combat” WikiLeaks and its supporters, including Glenn Greenwald, on behalf of Bank of America— fell apart after reports of their existence were published online. But the episode serves as a reminder that the expanding spy industry could use its government-backed cyber-tools to harm ordinary Americans and political dissident groups.
“I think we need to highlight people like Glenn Greenwald. Glenn was critical in the Amazon to OVH [data center] transition and helped WikiLeaks provide access to information during the transition. It is this level of support we need to attack. These are established professionals that have a liberal bent, but ultimately most of them if pushed will choose professional preservation over cause, such is the mentality of most business professionals. Without the support of people like Glenn WikiLeaks would fold.”
How Spy Agency Contractors Have Already Abused Their Power
“I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you, or your accountant, to a federal judge, to even the president if I had a personal email.” —Edward Snowden, Booz Allen Hamilton whistleblower, during his interview with The Guardian.
Could the sprawling surveillance state enable government or its legion of private contractors to abuse their technology and spy upon domestic political targets or judges?
This is not a far off possibility. Two years ago, a batch of stolen e-mails revealed a plot by a set of three defense contractors (Palantir Technologies, Berico Technologies and HBGary Federal) to target activists, reporters, labor unions and political organizations. The plans— one concocted in concert with lawyers for the US Chamber of Commerce to sabotage left-leaning critics, like the Center for American Progress and the SEIU, and a separate proposal to “combat” WikiLeaks and its supporters, including Glenn Greenwald, on behalf of Bank of America— fell apart after reports of their existence were published online. But the episode serves as a reminder that the expanding spy industry could use its government-backed cybertools to harm ordinary Americans and political dissident groups.
FTTTF : Fact Sheet on Increasing Immigration Safeguards and Improving Vital Information Sharing October 29, 2001
TODAY’S PRESIDENTIAL ACTION
– President Bush convened the first formal meeting of the full Homeland Security Council (HSC).
– The President took another step in the fight against terrorism by issuing a Presidential Directive to improve immigration policies and practices and make it more difficult for terrorists to enter or remain in the United States.
ABOUT THE PRESIDENT’S ACTION TO TIGHTEN IMMIGRATION POLICIES
– Improving legal immigration remains a priority for the Bush Administration, but the Bush Administration is committed to ensuring that our immigration policies and practices do not allow terrorists to enter or remain in the United States.
– To increase immigration safeguards and improve vital information sharing between federal agencies, President Bush issued a new Homeland Security Presidential Directive to help combat terrorism through more effective immigration policies and practices.
– Among its key features, the Presidential Directive:
– Creates a Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force: The Task Force will coordinate Federal programs designed to: (1) deny entry into the U.S. of aliens associated with, suspected of being engaged in or supporting terrorist activity; and (2) locate, detain, prosecute, or deport any such aliens already present in the U.S. The Task Force will be established by the Attorney General by November 1. Experts from the State Department, FBI, INS, Secret Service, Customs Service and the intelligence community will serve on the Task Force.
– Orders a Thorough Review of Student Visa Policies: International students add greatly to the vitality and quality of our nation’s colleges, universities and other institutions of learning. The Presidential Directive orders the Secretary of State and the Attorney General — working with the Secretary of Education, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Energy and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) — to institute tighter controls and ensure that student visas are being issued appropriately. A goal of the program is to prohibit the education and training of foreign nationals who would use their training to harm the United States and its Allies.
– Better Coordinates Immigration and Customs Policies with Canada and Mexico: Millions of people and billions of dollars of goods move legally between the United States, Canada and Mexico each year. The United States seeks to deny potential terrorists easy entry into the country from Canada or Mexico, while ensuring that legal travel and commerce continues with minimal border restrictions. The Directive orders the Secretaries of State and Treasury and the Attorney General to increase the sharing of customs and immigration information with Canada and Mexico, and work with our neighbors to develop a shared immigration and customs control database. These efforts will ensure the maximum possible compatibility of immigration, customs and visa policies.
The Presidential Directive also:
– Directs the Attorney General and Secretary of the Treasury to enhance the investigative and intelligence analysis capabilities of the INS and the Customs Service, and to increase INS and Customs special agent personnel assigned to Joint Terrorism Task Forces
– Directs the Office of Science and Technology Policy to work with the Attorney General and the Director of Central Intelligence to make recommendations on advanced technology that could be used to aid immigration enforcement
– Directs the Office of Management and Budget to work with the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury and the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security to develop a budgetary plan to support this effort
Is data mining company Palantir’s software behind PRISM surveillance? Palantir says no
Earlier today, Talking Points Memo surfaced a new theory about the NSA and FBI’s PRISM surveillance program: that it originated with data mining software company Palantir. “Palantir has a software package called ‘Prism': ‘Prism is a software component that lets you quickly integrate external databases into Palantir,'” wrote an anonymous source. “That sounds like exactly the tool you’d want if you were trying to find patterns in data from multiple companies.”
Palantir, which offers its services to a variety of industries, is well-known for its national security work. Likely coincidentally, it even once proposed a smear campaign against journalist Glenn Greenwald, who released information about both PRISM and a court order requiring Verizon to turn over call logs. But the company insists its Prism program has nothing to do with surveillance.
“Palantir’s Prism platform is completely unrelated to any US government program of the same name,” the company told us. “Prism is Palantir’s name for a data integration technology used in the Palantir Metropolis platform (formerly branded as Palantir Finance). This software has been licensed to banks and hedge funds for quantitative analysis and research.” Palantir’s overview of the program describes it as a way to integrate databases into its software.
“THIS SOFTWARE HAS BEEN LICENSED TO BANKS AND HEDGE FUNDS FOR QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH.”
So far, none of the companies named in the PRISM leak has given us a statement either admitting or denying Palantir’s involvement. Yahoo and AOL referred us to previous statements about PRISM, reiterating that they do not provide government agencies with access to their servers. As Talking Points Memo’s source points out, of course, that technically means they could be granting access to a third party like Palantir. Likewise, Palantir isn’t explicitly ruling out involvement with the NSA (which has been openly identified previously as a client) — but it is saying that the Prism program isn’t part of any surveillance effort.
…more to come