THE PEACOCK REPORT (TPR)

TSA Seeks to Take 'Intelligent' Surveillance Technology to Next Level

The creation of next-generation "intelligent" surveillance systems capable of sensing group- and individual-behavioral changes could be deployed across U.S. airports and other transportation centers -- if the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) can indeed achieve such a capability. The agency's wish-list of new surveillance capabilities includes "micro-behavior detection," an outcome which TSA seeks to accomplish, for instance, via automated recognition of changes in facial expressions "that indicate stress and other anomalies," according to a procurement document that The Peacock Report has located. TSA's Office of Security Technology seeks to create additional micro-behavior detection capabilities such as the "detection and identification of nervous related actions" such as sweating and pacing, the document says.

The first step that TSA's "Intelligent Closed-Circuit Television" (ICCTV) project will take toward achieving this capacity is an assessment of commercially available "automated and semi-automated technology," according to a TSA Request for Information (RFI) dated Feb. 24.  Assessing and cataloging these technologies could be followed by subsequent contracting actions necessary to bring about "an easily-integrated 'system of systems,'" the RFI says:

It is envisioned that such a video system… could be part of an integrated approach to enhancing the security of the national transportation system in the United States by means of remote surveillance… The objective of this RFI is to solicit input from industry related to technologies with operational capabilities that enhance and automate or are capable of automating some of the remote surveillance processes and tools available to meet the TSA’s requirements.

The ICCTV system that TSA envisions likewise would be capable of "macro-behavior detection." Such capabilities would include "individual-level anomaly detection," enabling the agency to spot people "walking in the wrong direction" or simply loitering. That surveillance function would unfold concomitant with the automated or human "tracking or following of individuals within a facility" using multiple cameras, it said. Similarly, it hopes to deploy remote surveillance tools to agents in the field who could tap into this system.

TSA points out that it is carrying out its post-9/11 congressional mandate to deploy advanced technologies that modify and enhance the agency's airport-screening checkpoint capabilities and infrastructure. Such enhancements later could be employed in settings other than airports, according to the RFI:

Finding solutions that secure the aviation transportation mission is the primary focus for this RFI in the near term, but the TSA is interested in the eventual application of operationally effective and suitable security screening technologies for other transportation modes as well.

Media Miss NSA Angle on Navy 'Telecom' Project in Hawaii

Recent media coverage of a $320 million contract to modernize a Navy technology facility in Hawaii have missed -- or ignored -- one critical element of the construction project: this so-called "telecommunications" site also serves as a National Security Agency (NSA) global surveillance center.

The Peacock Report more than a year ago was the first news outlet in the world to report that the Hawaii Cryptologic Center and other NSA facilities would receive hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure and technological upgrades. The piece NSA To Pour Hundreds of Millions Into Surveillance Infrastructure back on April 20, 2006 was a major breaking-news story for TPR; unlike mainstream- and business-media reports a full year later -- reports based simply on a regurgitation of corporate and federal press releases announcing the Shaw-Dick Pacific, LLC, contract -- TPR routinely conducts government-database searches and scours congressional reports to obtain unannounced information often far in advance of "official" release dates.

Please support the efforts of TPR by purchasing a copy of Hotel Dick, a memoir by TPR editor Steve Peacock, or by making a donation via TPR's "tip jar" located on this web site. We thank you in advance,

'Rev. Billy' Arrested for Reciting First Amendment in Public

Free speech gets clubbed over the head, from the Associated Press via Yahoo! News.

Searchable Database of CIA Abuses Now Available

The National Security Archive of George Washington University is now making available to the public "The CIA's Family Jewels" collection of declassified documents -- material that the privately run archive obtained after years of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and legal battles with the agency. Among its most astounding revelations is the now-verifiable fact that the CIA violated its own charter by spying on American citizens, including journalists and peace advocates.

For more information on how to obtain government documents -- requests that any concerned individual can make -- check out the archive's FOIA Basics page for a tutorial and other critical information.

Also, if you wish to support the work of this important organization, please consider making a pledge to the National Security Archive Fund.

CIA-Special Forces Cooperation-Training To Be Outsourced

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) "culture" and "counterterrorism (CT) targeting methods and practices" are the focus of training that a Northern Virginia contractor was slated to begin providing this month to the elite U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), recently located procurement-documents show. According to a sources sought notice that The Peacock Report obtained via a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, USSOCOM had intended to award a sole-source contract for the classes to SpecTal, a  Reston, Va.-based consulting firm composed of ex-CIA, FBI, Dept. of Defense, State Dept., and other former federal employees.

"SPECTAL is the only known source for the required training," a notice dated May 15 said. "They are the only known source which can provide training based on direct operational experience."

However, it appears that other potential contractors may have contested this proposed sole-source award, evidenced by a revised notice posted to FedBizOpps on May 29. In that notice, USSOCOM notified contract-seekers that the previous solicitation document was:

NO LONGER VALID. THIS REQUIREMENT IS BEING PROCURED THROUGH FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION. PLEASE SEE SOLICITATION NUMBER 05222007 AT THE FOLLOWING LINK: http://www.fbo.gov/spg/ODA/USSOCOM/SOAL-KB/05222007/listing.html

Although the link leads to a "Not Found: Does Not Exist On This Server" message, a database search of the above-mentioned solicitation-number  did indeed result in a separate solicitation for competitive proposals -- a solicitation that USSOCOM issued, ironically, one week before the release of the modified notice from May 29.

The following is a run-down of the proposed training regimen... regardless of who teaches the classes. According to the original and revised documents:

Training on CIA Culture, at a minimum, shall include instruction on the following:

1. Cultural differences between the CIA and Special Operations Forces (SOF);   
2. Strategies for increasing cooperation between the CIA and SOF both in theatre and at HQ SOCOM and examples where cooperation failed at both levels;    
3. Exercises, at both levels, which will increase cooperation;
4. Demonstration of successful completion of this course means a student will be able to understand the cultural differences between the CIA and SOCOM, operate within the CIA environment, request information from the CIA and support a CIA lead operation.

Training on CIA CT targeting, at a minimum, shall include instruction on the following:

1. Targeting methods and practices overview;
2. Targeting as analytical support to operations;   
3. Targeting as adding structure and process to operations, including the basics of human assets and the human source acquisition cycle; 
4. CIA targeting concepts and methodologies;
5. An applicable targeting exercise bringing together all instructional areas;
6. Demonstration of successful completion of this course means a student will understand DoD and CIA targeting, roles of targeteers, philosophies of targeting and the differences between DoD and CIA in each of these areas.

DoD Outsourcing Assessment of 'Human Screening' Methods

Private contractors soon will conduct "rapid human screening" experiments on behalf of the Dept. of Defense (DoD), which is recruiting outside firms to assess the viability of existing truth-detection techniques. The Defense Academy for Credibility Assessment (DACA), formerly known as DoD Polygraph Institute, will oversee this endeavor for the Pentagon's Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) unit.

The newly named division is expanding its human-screening polygraph capabilities "to non-polygraph techniques for detecting deception," Secrecy News reported earlier this year. The recruitment of contractors to assess and report to DoD on existing methods for "rapid human screening" is the latest development in this area of counterintelligence and interrogation, according to a contracting document that The Peacock Report recently located via routine database research.

This two-phase project will involve a review of existing literature on techniques and technologies, as well as testing of such methods on "human participants," the document says:

The effort must specifically address instrumental and behavioral procedures that are applicable in multi-cultural (English and non-[E]nglish speaking) samples. An investigative priority shall be to identify and reduce factors contributing to assessment variability. The contractor shall develop and implement a research protocol, using established experimental procedures, to recruit, assign the credibility of, test the credibility of, and compensate human participants. The second task will be an optional task in which the contractor shall conduct validation studies to replicate and extend efforts from the first task.

DACA anticipates releasing a detailed, formal solicitation on this procurement on or around May 8.

Firm Gets Contract to Provide Kids' Data to Military

A list of potentially college-bound high school students will cost the U.S. Military Academy (USMA) at West Point nearly $58,000 to obtain, a move that will enable the institution to target-market certain kids based on personally identifiable information gleaned from that list. According to a contracting document that The Peacock Report has located, the USMA intends to award a no-bid, sole-source contract for this list of adolescents to the National Research Center for College & University Admissions (NRCCUA), a Missouri research and database-operations firm that prides itself for annually gathering "information on student attitudes and educational plans from nearly 5.5 million students" across the U.S.

NRCCUA will deliver to the USMA an unspecified number of "names of college bound high school students who meet certain criteria and have expressed certain interests," according to the document, which was first circulated via FedBizOpps on Wednesday. "The NRCCUA will conduct a nationwide search of students in 9th, 10th, and 11th grades that meet USMA selected criteria."

The company website touts its ability to collect names and personal data "through a nationwide post secondary planning survey of students in more than 20,000 high schools. Secondary school educators distribute, supervise and return questionnaires to NRCCUA." 

NRCCUA's mission statement/marketing pitch is "Creating a brighter future for America's youth, with integrity... through a unique process that captures and shares educational and career aspirations...one dream at a time."

Upon closer inspection of its methods and services, it's clear that this "unique process" does indeed capture the aspirations of children, as evidenced by this promise to potential clients: "We will pinpoint and provide you with each matched student’s complete name field, year of high school graduation, high school name, email address, grade point average and more."

America: Freedom to Fascism

Get your hands on a copy of America: Freedom to Fascism and you will help support the sort of investigative reporting and commentary you've come to expect from The Peacock Report, which will receive a portion of the proceeds from such sales. Click on the image to your literal right, and ponder for a moment that: America: Freedom to Fascism is "a compelling and troubling account of how the wealth of our nation was silently passed from its citizens to a handful of powerful bankers in 1913. That's the year the Federal Reserve Act and the 16th Amendment were introduced, giving a privately held corporation the means to control our finances while ensuring its interest payments through the strong arms of the newly-formed Internal Revenue Service.

"Ever since then, Russo suggests, Americans have been gradually conditioned to accept fewer freedoms and a lower standard of living... all the while considering debt and servitude as distinctly American values. Russo's first and most cogent point is simple: Americans are not required to pay a federal income tax. That's a bold statement to make, as few people believe that such a fraud could be perpetrated for so long. My father, himself an accountant, insists that the income tax is a very real thing. Russo takes that same belief to IRS employees and simply asks them to cite where it says an unapportioned income tax is required of us all. Guess what? They can't.

"In a telling segment Sheldon Cohen, former commissioner of the IRS, goes so far as to reject Supreme Court rulings and the Constitution as benchmarks over what is legal with regards to taxation. Russo also interviews members of the tax honesty movement as well as disenfranchised IRS agents who agree that no law on the books conjures up a requirement to send the government part of one's hard-earned paycheck. Russo then showcases court cases where those accused of tax evasion have won precisely because the prosecution cannot provide evidence of a legal federal income tax law.

"It's shocking to have it hammered into your head over and over that you've thrown your money away for nothing, but repetition is good; it helps knock loose the deeply entrenched belief that we owe a portion of our livelihood to our government."

DoD Hiring Private Contractors For Domestic Counterintelligence Ops

The Dept. of Defense (DoD) is planning to hire private contractors to "orchestrate" counterintelligence (CI) operations conducted in the U.S. and elsewhere in the near future, according to a presolicitation document that TPR located during a routine search of the FedBizOpps database. The document, dated Nov. 17, briefly notes that "Counterintelligence Support Element," or CISE, providers will be hired to carry out strategic CI efforts in order to "systematically identify and degrade foreign intelligence and terrorist threats at various sites to include National Capital Region (NCR), Hawaii, Florida, Germany, North Carolina, Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado and other locations as deem [sic] necessary by the United States Government..."

Although the FBI is the lead agency for CI ops taking place on U.S. soil, it should be noted that the Bureau nonetheless works jointly with the U.S. intelligence "community" on CI measures. It remains unclear whether the FBI will have oversight of -- or will anything to do with -- these contractors, however.

Further details on this endeavor are expected to be released on or around Dec. 5, when DITCO, the Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DITCO) will make the full "solicitation and related documents" available.

Diminishing Press Freedom in U.S. Seen As 'Alarming'

The United States continued its steady drop in a worldwide press-freedom index, falling an additional nine slots this year to #53. This comes as no surprise here at TPR, which in August obtained a U.S. Navy document revealing how the agency, as a matter of policy, views journalists in the same light as – and arguably a less favorable light than – foreign spies. According to an annual report from the group Reporters Without Borders, it is clear that such contempt for journalists is government-wide. Indeed, it is no wonder that the organization declared that the "steady erosion of press freedom in the United States... is extremely alarming."

The U.S., it should be noted, had been positioned at #17 in 2002 when the group first offered the yearly ranking.

"Relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply deteriorated after the president used the pretext of national security to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his war on terrorism," the organization said. "The zeal of federal courts which, unlike those in 33 US states, refuse to recognize the media’s right not to reveal its sources, even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all with terrorism.

"Freelance journalist and blogger Josh Wolf was imprisoned when he refused to hand over his video archives. Sudanese cameraman Sami al-Haj, who works for the pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera, has been held without trial since June 2002 at the US military base at Guantanamo, and Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein has been held by US authorities in Iraq since April this year."