SPY SECRETS - WikiLeaks Puts America at Risk

"WikiLeaks publishes purported CIA cyber tools for hacking phones, TVs" PBS NewsHour 3/7/2017

aka WikiLeaks, a Terrorist Support Group

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SUMMARY:  WikiLeaks published thousands of pages on Tuesday of what it says are files about the CIA and its hacking activities.  The material comes reportedly from the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence and includes a range of documents which describe cyber tools for hacking cellphones, computers, television and even vehicles.  Jeffrey Brown speaks Mark Mazzetti of The New York Times about the revelations.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  The material comes from the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence.  It includes a range of documents from 2013 to 2016 which describe cyber-tools for hacking cell phones, computers, television, and even vehicles.

The documents also contain computer code.  One program, dubbed Weeping Angel, entails infecting Samsung smart TVs, turning them into bugging devices.  Another program is aimed at hacking Apple and Android cell phones, undercutting encryption on services like WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram.

WikiLeaks also says these documents show that when the CIA discovered flaws in computer code written by Apple, Google, or Samsung, [and] it failed to notify those companies about the vulnerabilities to allow fixes to be made.

Mark Mazzetti of The New York Times has been covering this, and joins us now.

Mark, welcome to you.

So, the CIA hasn't said much so far.  What do we know about the authenticity of the documents and where they came from?

MARK MAZZETTI, The New York Times:  Well, we're still trying to confirm the authenticity.

We have several people we have spoken to today who say they believe they're authentic.  We have heard nothing thus far from the government indicating that they are not.  Some people we have spoken to have said that some of the code names that were cited in the documents are, indeed, legitimate.

So it does appear at the moment — and I should say at the moment — that they are legitimate.

JEFFREY BROWN:  Well, when you look at the totality, Mark, of all of these cyber-tools that being described, help us understand, what are they aimed at?  What is this program about?

MARK MAZZETTI:  Well, they're a series of — and we're talking about thousands of documents that are laying out some of the tools the CIA allegedly has to carry out hacking of any number of different devices (as you said, [for example]  cars) against foreign adversaries or people overseas.

I should stress that there is — unlike the Snowden disclosures, there were not specific mentions of where these have been used.  But they're more sort of like the toolkit the CIA has.  And it's pretty expansive, if the documents are to be believed.

And in terms of where they came from, you asked.  I mean, that's another thing we're still trying to figure out.  WikiLeaks said today that they had a source come to them who was concerned about the use of these tools.  We don't know anything about the source.  And there's a lot of questions still at the moment.

"Panetta: WikiLeaks dump of hacking documents 'seriously damaging' to CIA" PBS NewsHour 3/8/2017

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SUMMARY:  A day after WikiLeaks published documents on the CIA's tools for hacking into personal electronics, Reuters reported that intelligence officials are focused on contractors as the likeliest source of the leak.  How is the CIA likely responding to the revelations?  Former CIA Director Leon Panetta joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the consequences for counterterrorism efforts and more.

"When smart devices are always on, vulnerability may be a trade-off of convenience" PBS NewsHour 3/9/2017

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SUMMARY:  WikiLeaks' release of a trove of documents about the CIA's ability to breach smartphone and TV encryption was a revelation of potential vulnerabilities that surprised many.  Hari Sreenivasan separates fact from fiction about their capabilities to take advantage of those devices with Brian Barrett, news editor of Wired, and how to be mindful about the reality of today's “internet of things.”

INSIDE JOB - NSA Espionage Suspect Flight Risk

"NSA contractor suspected of espionage is deemed a flight risk" PBS NewsHour 10/21/2016

REF:  The Shadow Brokers (with ransom note)

AGAIN - Snowden is a TRAITOR and he knows it, which is why he fled.

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SUMMARY:  The National Security Agency contractor accused of mishandling massive amounts of classified data has been deemed a flight risk.  In August, Harold Martin was arrested at his home in Maryland, where the equivalent of half a billion pages of documents and electronic data was found, some allegedly taken from NSA headquarters.  William Brangham speaks with Matt Apuzzo of The New York Times for more.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  A judge ruled today that a Maryland man accused of stealing massive amounts of information from the National Security Agency was a flight risk and will remain in federal custody.

William Brangham has the story.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM (NewsHour):  This past August, Harold Martin III was arrested at his home in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.  In his house, investigators discovered the equivalent of half-a-billion pages of documents and electronic data, some allegedly taken from the NSA's headquarters at nearby Fort Meade.

Among the documents were ones marked top-secret and also tools used by the NSA to hack into the computer networks of foreign governments.

Joining me now for more on this case is Matt Apuzzo, who's been covering this story for The New York Times.

Matt Apuzzo, welcome.

I wonder if you would just start off by laying out the case against this gentleman, and what is his defense?

MATT APUZZO, The New York Times:  Well, I mean, what is fascinating is there is the case that's been brought.

And the case that's been brought, as you said, is; hey, this guy had terabytes, billions of pages of documents in his house, in his shed, in the back seat of his car, in the trunk of his car, and, obviously, you're not supposed to do that.  So, there is that case.

But then there is this other case that's kind of looming over all this, and the question is, is he the guy who, not too long ago, facilitated the release of NSA documents, basically for ransom, put them up for sale online?  These were hacking tools, the way the government, the United States government, hacks into other countries and businesses and whatnot?

And so that's really what's going on here, is, there's, OK, he mishandled classified information.  He has basically admitted that.  But is he the guy, is he part of some network that's putting information up for sale?

PRESIDENTIAL SECURITY - CDC Guard Fired

"Security guard fired after elevator ride with Obama" by Stephanie Condon, CBS News 11/3/2014

Former Secret Service Director Julia Pierson was compelled to resign last month after a series of mishaps at the agency -- including an incident at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in which President Obama found himself on an elevator for a security guard armed with a gun.

Pierson, however, wasn't the only one who lost her job after the incident at the CDC's Atlanta headquarters on Sept. 16.  Kenneth Tate, the private security guard who rode in the elevator with Mr. Obama, was fired about a week after the president's visit, the New York Times reports.

"This was unjust and has been a nightmare," Tate told the Times, explaining his side of the story.

For one thing, Tate said he was assigned to accompany Mr. Obama as the President visited the CDC.  Additionally, while reports initially indicated that Tate was a convicted felon, his employer -- the private security firm Professional Security Corporation -- confirmed to the Times that Tate had no felony or misdemeanor convictions.  Tate had been arrested on robbery and assault charges but never convicted.

The security guard said he was never given an official explanation for his termination, though it seemed like the Secret Service was angry over a picture he tried to take of Mr. Obama's armored limousine, called "the beast."

After he snapped the picture, the Secret Service pulled Tate aside for questioning, he said.  He deleted the picture as requested.  After the interview, the CDC took away his badge, and he was fired about a week later.

SECURITY - The Issue of Private Security Firms for U.S. Diplomatic Sites

"After Benghazi Attack, Private Security Hovers as an Issue" by JAMES RISEN, New York Times 10/12/2012

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Lost amid the election-year wrangling over the militants’ attack on the United States Mission in Benghazi, Libya, is a complex back story involving growing regional resentment against heavily armed American private security contractors, increased demands on State Department resources and mounting frustration among diplomats over ever-tighter protections that they say make it more difficult to do their jobs.

The Benghazi attacks, in which the United States ambassador and three other Americans were killed, come at the end of a 10-year period in which the State Department — sending its employees into a lengthening list of war zones and volatile regions — has regularly ratcheted up security for its diplomats. The aggressive measures used by private contractors eventually led to shootings in Afghanistan and Iraq that provoked protests, including an episode involving guards from an American security company, Blackwater, that left at least 17 Iraqis dead in Baghdad’s Nisour Square.

The ghosts of that shooting clearly hung over Benghazi. Earlier this year, the new Libyan government had expressly barred Blackwater-style armed contractors from flooding into the country. “The Libyans were not keen to have boots on the ground,” one senior State Department official said.

That forced the State Department to rely largely on its own diplomatic security arm, which officials have said lacks the resources to provide adequate protection in war zones.

On Capitol Hill this week, Democrats and Republicans sparred at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing over what happened in Benghazi, whether security at the mission was adequate, and what — if anything — could have been done to prevent the tragedy.

But amid calls for more protection for diplomats overseas, some current and former State Department officials cautioned about the risks of going too far. “The answer cannot be to operate from a bunker,” Eric A. Nordstrom, who until earlier this year served as the chief security officer at the United States Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, told the committee.

Barbara K. Bodine, who served as ambassador to Yemen when the destroyer Cole was bombed in 2000, said: “What we need is a policy of risk management, but what we have now is a policy of risk avoidance. Nobody wants to take responsibility in case something happens, so nobody is willing to have a debate over what is reasonable security and what is excessive.”

For the State Department, the security situation in Libya came down in part to the question of whether it was a war zone or just another African outpost.

Even though the country was still volatile in the wake of the bloody rebellion that ousted Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the State Department did not include Libya on a list of dangerous postings that are high priority for extra security resources.

Only the American Embassies in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan are exempted from awarding security contracts to the lowest bidder. Dangerous posts are allowed to consider “best value” contracting instead, according to a State Department inspector general’s report in February.

Ah, yes. 'Have Gun, Will Travel' for cheap = good security... NOT!

IRAQ - Mistrust of U.S. Contractors

"Flexing Muscle, Baghdad Detains U.S. Contractors" by MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and ERIC SCHMITT, New York Times 1/15/2012

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Iraqi authorities have detained a few hundred foreign contractors in recent weeks, industry officials say, including many Americans who work for the United States Embassy, in one of the first major signs of the Iraqi government’s asserting its sovereignty after the American troop withdrawal last month.

The detentions have occurred largely at the airport in Baghdad and at checkpoints around the capital after the Iraqi authorities raised questions about the contractors’ documents, including visas, weapons permits and authorizations to drive certain routes. Although no formal charges have been filed, the detentions have lasted from a few hours to nearly three weeks.

The crackdown comes amid other moves by the Iraqi government to take over functions that had been performed by the United States military and to claim areas of the country it had controlled. In the final weeks of the military withdrawal, the son of Iraq’s prime minister began evicting Western companies and contractors from the heavily fortified Green Zone, which had been the heart of the United States military operation for much of the war.

Just after the last American troops left in December, the Iraqis stopped issuing and renewing many weapons licenses and other authorizations. The restrictions created a sequence of events in which contractors were being detained for having expired documents that the government would not renew.

The Iraqi authorities have also imposed new limitations on visas. In some recent cases, contractors have been told they have 10 days to leave Iraq or face arrest in what some industry officials call a form of controlled harassment.

Latif Rashid, a senior adviser to the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, and a former minister of water, said in an interview that the Iraqis’ deep mistrust of security contractors had led the government to strictly monitor them. “We have to apply our own rules now,” he said.

Good. I too distrust "security" contractors (aka mercenaries).