[Infowarrior] - The FBI Deputizes Business

[Richard Forno]

Exclusive! The FBI Deputizes Business
By Matthew Rothschild, February 7, 2008
Infragard
http://www.progressive.org/mag_rothschild0308

Today, more than 23,000 representatives of private industry are working
quietly with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The members of
this rapidly growing group, called InfraGard, receive secret warnings of
terrorist threats before the public does‹and, at least on one occasion,
before elected officials. In return, they provide information to the
government, which alarms the ACLU. But there may be more to it than that.
One business executive, who showed me his InfraGard card, told me they have
permission to ³shoot to kill² in the event of martial law.
InfraGard is ³a child of the FBI,² says Michael Hershman, the chairman of
the advisory board of the InfraGard National Members Alliance and CEO of the
Fairfax Group, an international consulting firm.

InfraGard started in Cleveland back in 1996, when the private sector there
cooperated with the FBI to investigate cyber threats.

³Then the FBI cloned it,² says Phyllis Schneck, chairman of the board of
directors of the InfraGard National Members Alliance, and the prime mover
behind the growth of InfraGard over the last several years.

InfraGard itself is still an FBI operation, with FBI agents in each state
overseeing the local InfraGard chapters. (There are now eighty-six of them.)
The alliance is a nonprofit organization of private sector InfraGard
members.

³We are the owners, operators, and experts of our critical infrastructure,
from the CEO of a large company in agriculture or high finance to the guy
who turns the valve at the water utility,² says Schneck, who by day is the
vice president of research integration at Secure Computing.

³At its most basic level, InfraGard is a partnership between the Federal
Bureau of Investigation and the private sector,² the InfraGard website
states. ³InfraGard chapters are geographically linked with FBI Field Office
territories.²

In November 2001, InfraGard had around 1,700 members. As of late January,
InfraGard had 23,682 members, according to its website, www.infragard.net,
which adds that ³350 of our nation¹s Fortune 500 have a representative in
InfraGard.²

To join, each person must be sponsored by ³an existing InfraGard member,
chapter, or partner organization.² The FBI then vets the applicant. On the
application form, prospective members are asked which aspect of the critical
infrastructure their organization deals with. These include: agriculture,
banking and finance, the chemical industry, defense, energy, food,
information and telecommunications, law enforcement, public health, and
transportation.

FBI Director Robert Mueller addressed an InfraGard convention on August 9,
2005. At that time, the group had less than half as many members as it does
today. ³To date, there are more than 11,000 members of InfraGard,² he said.
³From our perspective that amounts to 11,000 contacts . . . and 11,000
partners in our mission to protect America.² He added a little later, ³Those
of you in the private sector are the first line of defense.²

He urged InfraGard members to contact the FBI if they ³note suspicious
activity or an unusual event.² And he said they could sic the FBI on
³disgruntled employees who will use knowledge gained on the job against
their employers.²

In an interview with InfraGard after the conference, which is featured
prominently on the InfraGard members¹ website, Mueller says: ³It¹s a great
program.²

The ACLU is not so sanguine.

³There is evidence that InfraGard may be closer to a corporate TIPS program,
turning private-sector corporations‹some of which may be in a position to
observe the activities of millions of individual customers‹into surrogate
eyes and ears for the FBI,² the ACLU warned in its August 2004 report The
Surveillance-Industrial Complex: How the American Government Is Conscripting
Businesses and Individuals in the Construction of a Surveillance Society.

InfraGard is not readily accessible to the general public. Its
communications with the FBI and Homeland Security are beyond the reach of
the Freedom of Information Act under the ³trade secrets² exemption, its
website says. And any conversation with the public or the media is supposed
to be carefully rehearsed.

³The interests of InfraGard must be protected whenever presented to
non-InfraGard members,² the website states. ³During interviews with members
of the press, controlling the image of InfraGard being presented can be
difficult. Proper preparation for the interview will minimize the risk of
embarrassment. . . . The InfraGard leadership and the local FBI
representative should review the submitted questions, agree on the
predilection of the answers, and identify the appropriate interviewee. . . .
Tailor answers to the expected audience. . . . Questions concerning
sensitive information should be avoided.²

One of the advantages of InfraGard, according to its leading members, is
that the FBI gives them a heads-up on a secure portal about any threatening
information related to infrastructure disruption or terrorism.

The InfraGard website advertises this. In its list of benefits of joining
InfraGard, it states: ³Gain access to an FBI secure communication network
complete with VPN encrypted website, webmail, listservs, message boards, and
much more.²

InfraGard members receive ³almost daily updates² on threats ³emanating from
both domestic sources and overseas,² Hershman says.

³We get very easy access to secure information that only goes to InfraGard
members,² Schneck says. ³People are happy to be in the know.²

On November 1, 2001, the FBI had information about a potential threat to the
bridges of California. The alert went out to the InfraGard membership. Enron
was notified, and so, too, was Barry Davis, who worked for Morgan Stanley.
He notified his brother Gray, the governor of California.

³He said his brother talked to him before the FBI,² recalls Steve Maviglio,
who was Davis¹s press secretary at the time. ³And the governor got a lot of
grief for releasing the information. In his defense, he said, ŒI was on the
phone with my brother, who is an investment banker. And if he knows, why
shouldn¹t the public know?¹ ²

Maviglio still sounds perturbed about this: ³You¹d think an elected official
would be the first to know, not the last.²

In return for being in the know, InfraGard members cooperate with the FBI
and Homeland Security. ³InfraGard members have contributed to about 100 FBI
cases,² Schneck says. ³What InfraGard brings you is reach into the regional
and local communities. We are a 22,000-member vetted body of subject-matter
experts that reaches across seventeen matrixes. All the different stovepipes
can connect with InfraGard.²

Schneck is proud of the relationships the InfraGard Members Alliance has
built with the FBI. ³If you had to call 1-800-FBI, you probably wouldn¹t
bother,² she says. ³But if you knew Joe from a local meeting you had with
him over a donut, you might call them. Either to give or to get. We want
everyone to have a little black book.²

This black book may come in handy in times of an emergency. ³On the back of
each membership card,² Schneck says, ³we have all the numbers you¹d need:
for Homeland Security, for the FBI, for the cyber center. And by calling up
as an InfraGard member, you will be listened to.² She also says that members
would have an easier time obtaining a ³special telecommunications card that
will enable your call to go through when others will not.²

This special status concerns the ACLU.

³The FBI should not be creating a privileged class of Americans who get
special treatment,² says Jay Stanley, public education director of the
ACLU¹s technology and liberty program. ³There¹s no Œbusiness class¹ in law
enforcement. If there¹s information the FBI can share with 22,000 corporate
bigwigs, why don¹t they just share it with the public? That¹s who their real
Œspecial relationship¹ is supposed to be with. Secrecy is not a party favor
to be given out to friends. . . . This bears a disturbing resemblance to the
FBI¹s handing out Œgoodies¹ to corporations in return for folding them into
its domestic surveillance machinery.²

When the government raises its alert levels, InfraGard is in the loop. For
instance, in a press release on February 7, 2003, the Secretary of Homeland
Security and the Attorney General announced that the national alert level
was being raised from yellow to orange. They then listed ³additional steps²
that agencies were taking to ³increase their protective measures.² One of
those steps was to ³provide alert information to InfraGard program.²

³They¹re very much looped into our readiness capability,² says Amy Kudwa,
spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security. ³We provide speakers,
as well as do joint presentations [with the FBI]. We also train alongside
them, and they have participated in readiness exercises.²

On May 9, 2007, George Bush issued National Security Presidential Directive
51 entitled ³National Continuity Policy.² In it, he instructed the Secretary
of Homeland Security to coordinate with ³private sector owners and operators
of critical infrastructure, as appropriate, in order to provide for the
delivery of essential services during an emergency.²

Asked if the InfraGard National Members Alliance was involved with these
plans, Schneck said it was ³not directly participating at this point.²
Hershman, chairman of the group¹s advisory board, however, said that it was.

InfraGard members, sometimes hundreds at a time, have been used in ³national
emergency preparation drills,² Schneck acknowledges.

³In case something happens, everybody is ready,² says Norm Arendt, the head
of the Madison, Wisconsin, chapter of InfraGard, and the safety director for
the consulting firm Short Elliott Hendrickson, Inc. ³There¹s been lots of
discussions about what happens under an emergency.²

One business owner in the United States tells me that InfraGard members are
being advised on how to prepare for a martial law situation‹and what their
role might be. He showed me his InfraGard card, with his name and e-mail
address on the front, along with the InfraGard logo and its slogan,
³Partnership for Protection.² On the back of the card were the emergency
numbers that Schneck mentioned.

This business owner says he attended a small InfraGard meeting where agents
of the FBI and Homeland Security discussed in astonishing detail what
InfraGard members may be called upon to do.

³The meeting started off innocuously enough, with the speakers talking about
corporate espionage,² he says. ³From there, it just progressed. All of a
sudden we were knee deep in what was expected of us when martial law is
declared. We were expected to share all our resources, but in return we¹d be
given specific benefits.² These included, he says, the ability to travel in
restricted areas and to get people out.
But that¹s not all.

³Then they said when‹not if‹martial law is declared, it was our
responsibility to protect our portion of the infrastructure, and if we had
to use deadly force to protect it, we couldn¹t be prosecuted,² he says.

I was able to confirm that the meeting took place where he said it had, and
that the FBI and Homeland Security did make presentations there. One
InfraGard member who attended that meeting denies that the subject of lethal
force came up. But the whistleblower is 100 percent certain of it. ³I have
nothing to gain by telling you this, and everything to lose,² he adds. ³I¹m
so nervous about this, and I¹m not someone who gets nervous.²

Though Schneck says that FBI and Homeland Security agents do make
presentations to InfraGard, she denies that InfraGard members would have any
civil patrol or law enforcement functions. ³I have never heard of InfraGard
members being told to use lethal force anywhere,² Schneck says.

The FBI adamantly denies it, also. ³That¹s ridiculous,² says Catherine
Milhoan, an FBI spokesperson. ³If you want to quote a businessperson saying
that, knock yourself out. If that¹s what you want to print, fine.²

But one other InfraGard member corroborated the whistleblower¹s account, and
another would not deny it.

Christine Moerke is a business continuity consultant for Alliant Energy in
Madison, Wisconsin. She says she¹s an InfraGard member, and she confirms
that she has attended InfraGard meetings that went into the details about
what kind of civil patrol function‹including engaging in lethal force‹that
InfraGard members may be called upon to perform.

³There have been discussions like that, that I¹ve heard of and participated
in,² she says.

Curt Haugen is CEO of S¹Curo Group, a company that does ³strategic planning,
business continuity planning and disaster recovery, physical and IT
security, policy development, internal control, personnel selection, and
travel safety,² according to its website. Haugen tells me he is a former FBI
agent and that he has been an InfraGard member for many years. He is a huge
booster. ³It¹s the only true organization where there is the public-private
partnership,² he says. ³It¹s all who knows who. You know a face, you trust a
face. That¹s what makes it work.²

He says InfraGard ³absolutely² does emergency preparedness exercises. When I
ask about discussions the FBI and Homeland Security have had with InfraGard
members about their use of lethal force, he says: ³That much I cannot
comment on. But as a private citizen, you have the right to use force if you
feel threatened.²

³We were assured that if we were forced to kill someone to protect our
infrastructure, there would be no repercussions,² the whistleblower says.
³It gave me goose bumps. It chilled me to the bone.²