Saturday, May 13, 2006

Planting spy stories

By Creature


Is the Bush administration planting stories in the media, the American media, to help shape public opinion on domestic spying?

Last night, before hitting the hay, I read how I was "going to be shocked" by the upcoming testimony former NSA staffer Russell Tice. This, thanks to Think Progress:

A former intelligence officer for the National Security Agency said Thursday he plans to tell Senate staffers next week that unlawful activity occurred at the agency under the supervision of Gen. Michael Hayden beyond what has been publicly reported, while hinting that it might have involved the illegal use of space-based satellites and systems to spy on U.S. citizens. … [Emphasis Added]

Okay, so my interested was piqued. Like, oh my god, I can't believe we are in for more revelations. And, even though my outrage meter was pretty much pushing maximum, I was ready to be even more outraged than I had been over the "biggest database ever" revelations. But wait, this morning I read that I have nothing to be outraged about. It seems the super secret spy agency, that I assume Mr. Tice was going to expose, just outed themselves, with a feel good story no less, to the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON - A little-known spy agency that analyzes imagery taken from the skies has been spending significantly more time watching U.S. soil.

In an era when other intelligence agencies try to hide those operations, the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper, is proud of that domestic mission.

He said the work the agency did after hurricanes Rita and Katrina was the best he'd seen an intelligence agency do in his 42 years in the spy business.

"This was kind of a direct payback to the taxpayers for the investment made in this agency over the years, even though in its original design it was intended for foreign intelligence purposes," Clapper said in a Thursday interview with The Associated Press.

How sweet, the touchy-feely spooks helped with Rita and Katrina, and the America people got payback from their spy satellite 401K. Thankfully, at least they only used their spy satellite in a warm fuzzy way that helped the people through a disaster. Right? Well, Gen. Clapper hints at a few other uses, but, of course, they are totally innocuous uses.

On Clapper's watch of the last five years, his agency has found ways to expand its mission to help prepare security at Super Bowls and political conventions or deal with natural disasters, such as hurricanes and forest fires.

With help, the agency can also zoom in. Its officials cooperate with private groups, such as hotel security, to get access to footage of a lobby or ballroom. That video can then be linked with mapping and graphical data to help secure events or take action, if a hostage situation or other catastrophe happens.

This super-secret satellite spying agency helped with security at political conventions? Well, you can bet there are a whole lot of detailed photos of peaceful protesters stored somewhere. But wait, it's okay because Gen. Clapper assures us that he would never ask Congress to expand the agencies power and that the program "doesn't really affect or threaten anyone's privacy or civil liberties when you are looking at a large collective area." Great, I feel so much better.

Now, people of the blogosphere, tell me this story did not come out today, tell me that this story was not planted in the media, as an attempt to soften the blow we are about to endure when Russell Tice gives his "shocking" testimony to the Senate next week. Whether it is a "push" poll in the WaPo, or this warm and fuzzy spy leak story from the Associated Press, the Bush administration is out there aggressively "framing" public opinion so the American people will give them a free pass, and keep their criminal asses out of jail.

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)

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3 Comments:

  • What is the great love affair with all this technology. The CIA and Rumsfelf have gone high tech and what is their record. WMD, Iraq occupation, the fall of the Soviet Union, Iran 1979 were all intel/tech failures. You cannot win a war or find WMD from a computerized sit room in Washington or Qatar. We need to get on the ground and observe with human eyes and use high tech intel both. This high tech military/intel is mostly benefitting the defence contractors profit margins. The midevil Afgans defeated the USSR with an effective insurgency, with all the USSR technical superiority.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:49 PM  

  • Right on Rudi! The US needs people power, on the ground, and competent, for sure.

    By Blogger creature, at 9:28 AM  

  • Any objective reader in the past two years has seen that the WH and Cabal Admin has spent 1.6 BILLIOn in domestic propaganda for framing and influencing the curd for the American sheeple.

    Be honest here with TomKat and American Idol as pinnacle consumption how difficult is it to manipulate the herd?


    http://freepress.net/propaganda/

    http://www.freepress.net/propaganda/=pentagon


    Bush PR costs taxpayers $1.6 billion
    Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Hearst Newspapers

    Tuesday, February 14, 2006

    Washington -- The Bush administration spent at least $1.6 billion on public relations and advertising campaigns over 30 months, according to a report released Monday by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

    The report, requested by congressional Democrats, shows that government agencies are relying on outside consultants to help pitch their messages to the public, whether it's to bolster public support for the war in Iraq, deter buying prescription drugs from Canada or recruit for the armed forces.


    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/14/MNG2JH80H61.DTL&feed=rss.news

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:39 PM  

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