[Infowarrior] - Domestic Spying, Inc.

[Richard Forno]

Domestic Spying, Inc.
by Tim Shorrock , Special to CorpWatch
November 27th, 2007


A new intelligence institution to be inaugurated soon by the Bush
administration will allow government spying agencies to conduct broad
surveillance and reconnaissance inside the United States for the first time.
Under a proposal being reviewed by Congress, a National Applications Office
(NAO) will be established to coordinate how the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) and domestic law enforcement and rescue agencies use imagery
and communications intelligence picked up by U.S. spy satellites. If the
plan goes forward, the NAO will create the legal mechanism for an
unprecedented degree of domestic intelligence gathering that would make the
U.S. one of the world's most closely monitored nations. Until now, domestic
use of electronic intelligence from spy satellites was limited to scientific
agencies with no responsibility for national security or law enforcement.

The intelligence-sharing system to be managed by the NAO will rely heavily
on private contractors including Boeing, BAE Systems, L-3 Communications and
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). These companies
already provide technology and personnel to U.S. agencies involved in
foreign intelligence, and the NAO greatly expands their markets. Indeed, at
an intelligence conference in San Antonio, Texas, last month, the titans of
the industry were actively lobbying intelligence officials to buy products
specifically designed for domestic surveillance.

The NAO was created under a plan tentatively approved in May 2007 by
Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell. Specifically, the NAO
will oversee how classified information collected by the National Security
Agency (NSA), the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and other
key agencies is used within the U.S. during natural disasters, terrorist
attacks and other events affecting national security. The most critical
intelligence will be supplied by the NSA and the NGA, which are often
referred to by U.S. officials as the ³eyes² and ³ears² of the intelligence
community.

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http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14821