NSA meta data no help

from Greg
The Verge posted a story about NSA data collection programs producing no usable results according to the New America Foundation. I am no fan of the NSA meta data program. They have collected information on every phone call I have made since becoming a Verizon customer three years ago. You can have my meta data when you pry it from my cold dead iPhone.

Read the full story HERE

Read the report HERE

Get a PDF of the report HERE

from The Verge
Is NSA surveillance really necessary to defend against terrorist attacks? It's been a common claim by the agency's defenders as the programs come under scrutiny, but a report released today by the New America Foundation casts doubt on that logic. The report examines how NSA surveillance functioned in 225 counterterrorism cases since 9/11 and concludes that the agency wasn't as crucial as it would have you believe.

The report found that the NSA was responsible for 7.5 percent of counterterrorism investigations, and there was only one case out of the 225 that was initiated by NSA evidence. The case involved a cab driver named Basaaly Moalin who was convicted of sending money to Somalian terrorist groups. While successful, the case did not involve any direct threat of attack, and took more than two months between the initial tip and the eventual action by the FBI. Far more common were cases initiated by traditional tools like informants or suspicious-activity reports, which helped law enforcement focus their attention on particular targets. "The overall problem for US counterterrorism officials is not that they need vaster amounts of information from the bulk surveillance programs," the report says, "but that they don’t sufficiently understand or widely share the information they already possess."

from the New America Foundation
By PetervBergen, David Sterman, Emily Schneider, Bailey Cahall

January 13, 2014

On June 5, 2013, the Guardian broke the first story in what would become a flood of revelations regarding the extent and nature of the NSA’s surveillance programs.  Facing an uproar over the threat such programs posed to privacy, the Obama administration scrambled to defend them as legal and essential to U.S. national security and counterterrorism. Two weeks after the first leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden were published, President Obama defended the NSA surveillance programs during a visit to Berlin, saying: “We know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information not just in the United States, but, in some cases, threats here in Germany. So lives have been saved.”  Gen. Keith Alexander, the director of the NSA, testified before Congress that: “the information gathered from these programs provided the U.S. government with critical leads to help prevent over 50 potential terrorist events in more than 20 countries around the world.”  Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said on the House floor in July that “54 times [the NSA programs] stopped and thwarted terrorist attacks both here and in Europe – saving real lives.”  

However, our review of the government’s claims about the role that NSA “bulk” surveillance of phone and email communications records has had in keeping the United States safe from terrorism shows that these claims are overblown and even misleading.  An in-depth analysis of 225 individuals recruited by al-Qaeda or a like-minded group or inspired by al-Qaeda’s ideology, and charged in the United States with an act of terrorism since 9/11, demonstrates that traditional investigative methods, such as the use of informants, tips from local communities, and targeted intelligence operations, provided the initial impetus for investigations in the majority of cases, while the contribution of NSA’s bulk surveillance programs to these cases was minimal. Indeed, the controversial bulk collection of American telephone metadata, which includes the telephone numbers that originate and receive calls, as well as the time and date of those calls but not their content, under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, appears to have played an identifiable role in initiating, at most, 1.8 percent of these cases. NSA programs involving the surveillance of non-U.S. persons outside of the United States under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act played a role in 4.4 percent of the terrorism cases we examined, and NSA surveillance under an unidentified authority played a role in 1.3 percent of the cases we examined. 

Regular FISA warrants not issued in connection with Section 215 or Section 702, which are the traditional means for investigating foreign persons, were used in at least 48 (21 percent) of the cases we looked at, although it’s unclear whether these warrants played an initiating role or were used at a later point in the investigation. (Click on the link to go to a database of all 225 individuals, complete with additional details about them and the government’s investigations of these cases: http://natsec.newamerica.net/nsa/analysis).

Surveillance of American phone metadata has had no discernible impact on preventing acts of terrorism and only the most marginal of impacts on preventing terrorist-related activity, such as fundraising for a terrorist group. Furthermore, our examination of the role of the database of U.S. citizens’ telephone metadata in the single plot the government uses to justify the importance of the program – that of Basaaly Moalin, a San Diego cabdriver who in 2007 and 2008 provided $8,500 to al-Shabaab, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia – calls into question the necessity of the Section 215 bulk collection program.  According to the government, the database of American phone metadata allows intelligence authorities to quickly circumvent the traditional burden of proof associated with criminal warrants, thus allowing them to “connect the dots” faster and prevent future 9/11-scale attacks. Yet in the Moalin case, after using the NSA’s phone database to link a number in Somalia to Moalin, the FBI waited two months to begin an investigation and wiretap his phone. Although it’s unclear why there was a delay between the NSA tip and the FBI wiretapping, court documents show there was a two-month period in which the FBI was not monitoring Moalin’s calls, despite official statements that the bureau had Moalin’s phone number and had identified him. ,  This undercuts the government’s theory that the database of Americans’ telephone metadata is necessary to expedite the investigative process, since it clearly didn’t expedite the process in the single case the government uses to extol its virtues. 

Additionally, a careful review of three of the key terrorism cases the government has cited to defend NSA bulk surveillance programs reveals that government officials have exaggerated the role of the NSA in the cases against David Coleman Headley and Najibullah Zazi, and the significance of the threat posed by a notional plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange. 

Related articles

• Study Shows NSA Metadata Collection Doesn't Prevent Terrorist Attacks
• Nsa Snooping Fails to Prevent Terrorist Attacks, Watchdog Group Says
• New America Foundation Report: "Do NSA's Bulk Surveillance Programs Stop Terrorists?" Nope
• NSA Bulk Collection of Americans' Phone Data Had "No Discernible Impact" on Preventing Terrorism, Says New Study

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Anonymous Reveals The 24 hr Violence Cycle in Syria

Part of the Syrian government email dump that was published by Par-anoia.net contained daily reports from the Syrian government to its embassy at the U.N. on terrorist attacks occurring on its soil. These "terrorists" were, of course, Syrian rebels looking to overthrow Assad. While the country has been in a state of civil war for many months, it's eye-opening to see the level of violence when it's broken down by dozens of specific instances on a daily basis as it is done in these reports. There are literally dozens of them in the email dump. I arranged for the translation of two documents to share via this blog.


CHART: Attacks and Security Breaches by Armed Terrorist Groups on 11/5/2012 to 8 o’clock to 11/6/2012

 Martyrs:  Civilians- 0.  Military: 20

Wounded: Civilians- 1. Military 157

Kidnapped: Civilians- 0. Military 4

Militants: Under arrest- 0. Dead 4

Cases of shootings by militants: Civilians: 4. Military 44

Response by Military to shootings: 35

IED: Exploded- 6. Dismantled – 1. Exploded during Manufacturing- 0

Robberies: Public- 1. Private-1. Weapon theft- 3

Insurgent Infiltration Attempts- Lebanon- 1. Turkey- 0. Iraq- 1. Jordan- 0.

Cutting off/ burning of routes: Civilian – 1. Military- 1.

Physical damage: Public- 6. Private – 7

Violations committed by “armed terrorist groups” from 8 o’clock 11/5/2012 to 8 o’clock to 11/6/2012

#1. Place: Lebanese Border. Time: 10:30pm. Attempt to infiltrate from the Lebanese border to enter Syrian territory. Shots fired at Syrian Border Guards in the Talkalakh area.

# 2. Place: Iraqi Border. Time: 11:00pm. Shots fired inside Iraqi territory at Syrian Border guards. Attempted infiltration into Syrian territory Hassan station in Deir al-Zour.

# 3. Place: Damascus and surrounding areas. Time: 8:30pm. IED exploded in the Sahel region- According to a supervisor of the order keeping officers two members were wounded.

# 4. Place: Damascus and surrounding areas. Time: 11:00am. An assistant was kidnapped in Harasata area and his weapons were stolen.

# 5. Place: Damascus and surrounding areas. Time: 11:15 am. A thermal Rocket was launched at a health vehicle belonging to the order keeping forces in Doma, wounding one member.

# 6. Place: Damascus and surrounding areas. Time: 6:00am. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Zamalaka, killing one member and wounding 3 others.

# 7. Place: Damascus and surrounding areas. Time: 6:30am. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Wadi al-Qarn, killing two members and wounding 14 others.

# 8. Place: Damascus and surrounding areas. Time: 7:30am. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Harmala- wounding two members.

# 9. Place: Daraa and surrounding areas. Time: 9:00pm. Armed ambush of a car killing members of the order keeping forces in Noa, resulting in the deaths of two members and the robbery of their weapons.

# 10. Place: Daraa and surrounding areas. Time: 11:00 pm.  Shots were fired civilians in Cannula.

# 11. Place: Daraa and surrounding areas. Time: 11:00 am. A road was cut off near Sheikh Meskeen, leading to the investigation of cars for military members.

# 12. Place Daraa and surrounding areas. Time: 3:00pm. A Mazda car was stolen from the electric company during a repair mission in Sheikh Messkeen.

# 13.  Place: Daraa and surrounding areas. Time: 2:00pm. Shots fired at an UN vehicle located in Noa, resulting in damage to the car.

# 14. Place: Daraa and surrounding areas. Time: 3:30pm. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Noa, wounding two members.

# 15. Place: Daraa and surrounding areas. Time: 4:00pm. Shots fired at order keeping forces in a displaced persons camp in Daraa, killing one member and a policeman, injuring 18 members.

# 16. Place: Quneitra. Time: 12:00pm. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Beer Al-Ajam accompanied by the explosion of an IED, injuring 9 members, 3 were officers.

# 17. Place: Quneitra. Time: 1:30pm. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Khan Arriba, wounding an officer.

# 18. Place: Homs and surrounding areas. Time: 9:30pm. Explosion of an IED on the public road of Homs- at the junction- injuring two members.

#19. Place: Homs and surrounding areas. Time: 6:00am. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Sultania, killing 3 members.

# 20. Place: Homs and surrounding areas. Time: 12:00pm. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Homs, injuring one member.

# 21. Place: Homs and surrounding areas. Time 1:30pm. Armed ambush of a car killing order keeping members in Abel and injuring two officers.

#22. Place: Homs and surrounding areas. Time: 2:00pm. Shots fired at order keeping forces, injuring 3.

# 23. Place: Hama and surrounding areas. Time 9:00pm. A Hyundai car was stolen number /520866/ in Sooq Al-Gahnim.

# 24. Place: Hama and surrounding areas. Time 11:00am. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Sooq al Shajra, injuring one member.

#25. Place: Hama and surrounding areas. Time: 3:00pm. Shots fired at order keeping forces between Moorook and Kafir Zeta, injuring one member.

# 26. Place Hama and surrounding areas. Time: 5:00 pm. Shots fired at citizens in the village of Zhoria, injuring one member.

# 27. Place: Aleppo and surrounding areas. Time: 5:00am. Shots fired at security forces in several areas, killing 2 assistants, a policeman, a soldier, an order-keeping member, and wounding 64 members 7 of them were officers.

# 28. Place: Aleppo and surrounding areas. Time: 9:30am. Shots fired at General Mohammad Ako during his return from his house on the public road of Aleppo. Resulting in his martyrdom.

# 29.  Place: Aleppo and surrounding areas. Time 12:00pm. Mortars fired in several neighborhoods in Aleppo with limited damage to the area.

# 30. Place: Idlib and surrounding areas. Time: 8:00pm. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Wadi al-Deif, injuring 6 members.

# 31. Place: Idlib and surrounding areas. Time 6:30 am. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Gissr al-Sogoor, injuring one member.

# 32. Place: Idlib and surrounding areas. Time: 8:00am. An IED was planted in Bilal Mosque in Jericho.

# 33. Place: Idlib and surrounding areas. Time: 8:30am. A suicide terrorist attacker blew himself up in a car bomb with an estimated weight of explosives at 500 kilograms, close to a military checkpoint located near the Center of Agricultural Development. This resulted in the death of two members and wounded 11 others including two officers. It also destroyed 3 cars and 6 armored vehicles.

# 34. Place: Idlib and surrounding areas. Time: 9:00am. Shots fired at order keeping members in Jericho, killing Colonel Ahmed Kamal Mustafa and injuring two members.

# 35. Place Idlib and surrounding areas. Time: 11:30am. IED explosion during a vehicle patrol by order keeping forces on Idlib Road- Mosstoma, wounding an officer and a Brigadier General.

# 36. Place Idlib and surrounding areas. Time: 1:00pm. Shots fired at order keeping forces on Idlib Road-Mosstoma, injuring 4 members.

# 37. Place: Idlib and surrounding areas. Time: 2:30om. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Mara Al-Naman- Wadi al-Deif, killing the Captain Ahmed Mahmoud al-Waray and injuring 5 members.

# 38. Place: Idlib and surrounding areas. Time: 3:15pm. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Jina al-Qoora, wounding two including one Brigadier General and destroying an armored car.

CHART: Attacks and Security Breaches by Armed Terrorist Groups on 11/4/2012 to 8 o’clock to 11/5/2012

Martyrs:  Civilians- 2.  Military: 31

Wounded: Civilians- 2. Military 81

Kidnapped: Civilians- 7. Military 5

Militants: Under arrest- 0. Dead 4

Cases of shootings by militants: Civilians: 3. Military 40

Response by Military to shootings: 32

IED: Exploded- 2. Dismantled – 0. Exploded during Manufacturing- 0

Robberies: Public- 3. Private-4. Weapon theft- 6

Insurgent Infiltration Attempts- Lebanon- 0. Turkey- 0. Iraq- 1. Jordan- 0.

Cutting off/ burning of routes: Civilian – 1. Military- 0.

Physical damage: Public- 4. Private - 2

Violations committed by “armed terrorist groups” from 8 o’clock 11/4/2012 to 8 o’clock to 11/5/2012

# 1. Place: The Lebanese Border. Time: 1:00 am Description: Shots fired from within Lebanese territory at Syrian Border Guards in Al Qusayr.

# 2. Place: The Lebanese Border. Time: 6:00 pm Description: Shots fired from within Lebanese territory at Syrian Border Guards.

# 3. Place: Iraqi Border. Time: 7:30 pm. Description : Attempt to sneak from Iraqi territory to Syrian territory and shots fired on Syrian Border Guards from the area of Zaraya.

# 4. Place: Damascus and surrounding areas. Time: 8:10 pm. Description: Shots fired at Syrian order keeping forces in Harasta and Kantara resulting in martyrdom of six guards.

# 5. Place: Damascus and surrounding areas. Time: 8:10 pm Description: Explosion of an IED in front of a police station following shots fired at order keeping forces, damaging the building.

# 6. Place: Damascus and surrounding areas. Time: 6:00 am. Description: Shots fired at order keeping forces in Zmalaka resulting in the martyrdom of three soldiers.

# 7. Place: Damascus and surrounding areas. Time: 7:20 am. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Arabeen, wounding two.

# 8. Place: Damascus and surrounding areas. Time: 8:00 am. Description: Shots fired at a vehicle carrying order-keeping forces in Alibaug, wounding two.

# 9. Place: Damascus and surrounding areas. Time: 9:00 am. Description: Shots fired at order keeping forces in Madaya resulting in the martyrdom of Raed Abdel Rahman Salama.

# 10. Place: Damascus and surrounding areas. Time: 10:00 am. Description: Shots fired at order keeping forces in Biblia, martyring one and wounding another.

# 11. Place: Damascus and surrounding areas. Time: 4:30 pm. Description: Shots and mortars fired at the order keeping forces’ barracks in Harasat, destroying the building and burning the furniture.

# 12. Place: Damascus and surrounding areas. Time: 9:00 pm. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Harasta-Kantara, wounding four.

# 13. Place: Damascus and surrounding areas. Time: 11:30 am. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Haraan, injuring one.

# 14. Place: Daraa and surrounding areas. Time: 8:00 pm. A citizen was killed in Jassim.

# 15. Place: Daraa and surrounding areas. Time: 9:00 pm. A citizen was kidnapped in Darra.

# 16. Place: Daraa and surrounding areas. Time: 12:00 pm. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Sheikh Misken, wounding one.

# 17. Place: Daraa and surrounding areas. Time 1:30 pm. Shots fired at order keeping forces at a camp for displaced people, killing 2 police officers and two order keeping members as well as wounding 5 others including an officer.

# 18. Place: Daraa and surrounding areas. Time 2:30 pm.  A citizen was robbed of 30,000 Lera.

# 19. Place: Quneitra. Time: 5:00 am. Shots fired at order keeping forces in the village of Beer Ajam, resulting in the deaths of 4 assistants and injuring 14 others.

# 20. Place: Homs and surrounding areas. Time: 8:00 pm. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Bab Hood, injuring two members.

# 21. Place: Homs and surrounding areas. Time: 9:30 pm. Shots fired at order keeping forces at the junction of two villages, resulting in the death of Officer Ahmad Ismaial Dayoob and the policeman Mohammad Yusef and the policeman Hussein Ganam.

# 22. Place: Homs and surrounding areas. Time: 4:00am. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Alqaseer, wounding one member.

# 23. Place: Homs and surrounding areas. Time 3:00 pm. Mortar fire on houses in the village Son Al-Aswad, wounding two civilians

# 24. Place: Homs and surrounding areas. Time 4:00 pm. Thermal rocket fired at order keeping forces in Sooq al-Gahnim, wounding one member.

# 25. Place: Hama and surrounding areas. Time: 9:20 am. A government car was stolen model number /63314/ belonging to the Chairman of the Board of Hama in west Al-Mashtal.

# 26. Place: Hama and surrounding areas. Time: 12:00 pm. A citizen was kidnapped, Hyyan Gahnim in Arbaeen, in the city of Hama.

# 27. Place: Hama and surrounding areas. Time: 12:15 pm. A Hyundai car was stolen number /74275/ in the neighborhood Sooq Al-Shjra  and shots were fired at its driver, the citizen Abd Al-Aziz Al-Saman.

# 28. Place: Hama and surrounding areas. Time: 12:40 pm. A Kia car was stolen number /624931/ in Arbaeen in the city of Hama.

# 29.  Place: Hama and surrounding areas. Time: 1:15 pm. An IED exploded during order keeping members’ patrol of the public street - Mahrada in Hama. This resulted in the wounding of one officer and damage to the area.

# 30. Place: Hama and surrounding areas. Time: 3:00 pm. The citizens, Ibrahim al-Rahama, Mohamad Al-Jasam, Jamaa al-Mahmoud,  Mohammad Al-Hassan, Basam Bedoya, were kidnapped and shots were fired killing the civilian Ibrahim Al-Rahmoon.

# 31. Place: Hama and surrounding areas. Time: 7:00 pm. The citizen Mustafa Whabe stole a motorcycle and fired shots in Soran- wounding one civilian.

# 32. Place: Aleppo and surrounding areas. Time: 9:00pm. Shots were fired at order keeping members in Haritan, killing the officer Hasam Yusef and Mojnd Husein Ali Khlil and wounding three members.

  

# 33. Place: Aleppo and surrounding areas. Time: 5:00am. Shots fired on order keeping forces in various areas resulting in the deaths of several officers and policemen and wounding 22 members.

# 34. Place: Aleppo and surrounding areas. Time: 4:00am. Three members of the order keeping forces were kidnapped and a car was stolen in the region of Safera.

# 35. Place: Aleppo and surrounding areas. Time 6:00am. Several mortars were fired towards residences in various areas of Aleppo, resulting in limited damage to the area.

# 36. Place: Idlib and surrounding areas. Time: 8:30pm. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Maarrat al-Nu’man, killing an officer and wounding 12 members.

#37. Place Idlib and surrounding areas. Time 6:00 am. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Jericho – Mahampel- wounding 4 members.

# 38. Place: Idlib and surrounding areas. Time: 11:00 am. The Colonel, Mustafa Abd Al-Rzaq was kidnapped.

# 39. Place: Idib and surrounding areas. Time: 11:00 am. Armed attacked using several types of weapons at Taftanaz airport, wounding one officer.

# 40. Place: Deir Ezzor. Time: 6:00am. Shots fired at order keeping forces in Meadeen, resulting in the death of one officer.

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