U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor

TSA Seeks to Take ' Intelligent ' Surveillance Technology to Next Level

The creation of next-generation "intelligent" surveillance systems capable of sensing group- and individual-behavioral changes could be deployed across U.S. airports and other transportation centers -- if the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) can indeed achieve such a capability. The agency's wish-list of new surveillance capabilities includes "micro-behavior detection," an outcome which TSA seeks to accomplish, for instance, via automated recognition of changes in facial expressions "that indicate stress and other anomalies," according to a procurement document that The Peacock Report has located. TSA's Office of Security Technology seeks to create additional micro-behavior detection capabilities such as the "detection and identification of nervous related actions" such as sweating and pacing, the document says.

The first step that TSA's "Intelligent Closed-Circuit Television" (ICCTV) project will take toward achieving this capacity is an assessment of commercially available "automated and semi-automated technology," according to a TSA Request for Information (RFI) dated Feb. 24.  Assessing and cataloging these technologies could be followed by subsequent contracting actions necessary to bring about "an easily-integrated 'system of systems,'" the RFI says:

It is envisioned that such a video system… could be part of an integrated approach to enhancing the security of the national transportation system in the United States by means of remote surveillance… The objective of this RFI is to solicit input from industry related to technologies with operational capabilities that enhance and automate or are capable of automating some of the remote surveillance processes and tools available to meet the TSA’s requirements.

The ICCTV system that TSA envisions likewise would be capable of "macro-behavior detection." Such capabilities would include "individual-level anomaly detection," enabling the agency to spot people "walking in the wrong direction" or simply loitering. That surveillance function would unfold concomitant with the automated or human "tracking or following of individuals within a facility" using multiple cameras, it said. Similarly, it hopes to deploy remote surveillance tools to agents in the field who could tap into this system.

TSA points out that it is carrying out its post-9/11 congressional mandate to deploy advanced technologies that modify and enhance the agency's airport-screening checkpoint capabilities and infrastructure. Such enhancements later could be employed in settings other than airports, according to the RFI:

Finding solutions that secure the aviation transportation mission is the primary focus for this RFI in the near term, but the TSA is interested in the eventual application of operationally effective and suitable security screening technologies for other transportation modes as well.

Media Miss NSA Angle on Navy ' Telecom ' Project in Hawaii

Recent media coverage of a $320 million contract to modernize a Navy technology facility in Hawaii have missed -- or ignored -- one critical element of the construction project: this so-called "telecommunications" site also serves as a National Security Agency (NSA) global surveillance center.

The Peacock Report more than a year ago was the first news outlet in the world to report that the Hawaii Cryptologic Center and other NSA facilities would receive hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure and technological upgrades. The piece NSA To Pour Hundreds of Millions Into Surveillance Infrastructure back on April 20, 2006 was a major breaking-news story for TPR; unlike mainstream- and business-media reports a full year later -- reports based simply on a regurgitation of corporate and federal press releases announcing the Shaw-Dick Pacific, LLC, contract -- TPR routinely conducts government-database searches and scours congressional reports to obtain unannounced information often far in advance of "official" release dates.

Please support the efforts of TPR by purchasing a copy of Hotel Dick, a memoir by TPR editor Steve Peacock, or by making a donation via TPR's "tip jar" located on this web site. We thank you in advance,

CIA-Special Forces Cooperation-Training To Be Outsourced

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) "culture" and "counterterrorism (CT) targeting methods and practices" are the focus of training that a Northern Virginia contractor was slated to begin providing this month to the elite U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), recently located procurement-documents show. According to a sources sought notice that The Peacock Report obtained via a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, USSOCOM had intended to award a sole-source contract for the classes to SpecTal, a  Reston, Va.-based consulting firm composed of ex-CIA, FBI, Dept. of Defense, State Dept., and other former federal employees.

"SPECTAL is the only known source for the required training," a notice dated May 15 said. "They are the only known source which can provide training based on direct operational experience."

However, it appears that other potential contractors may have contested this proposed sole-source award, evidenced by a revised notice posted to FedBizOpps on May 29. In that notice, USSOCOM notified contract-seekers that the previous solicitation document was:

NO LONGER VALID. THIS REQUIREMENT IS BEING PROCURED THROUGH FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION. PLEASE SEE SOLICITATION NUMBER 05222007 AT THE FOLLOWING LINK: http://www.fbo.gov/spg/ODA/USSOCOM/SOAL-KB/05222007/listing.html

Although the link leads to a "Not Found: Does Not Exist On This Server" message, a database search of the above-mentioned solicitation-number  did indeed result in a separate solicitation for competitive proposals -- a solicitation that USSOCOM issued, ironically, one week before the release of the modified notice from May 29.

The following is a run-down of the proposed training regimen... regardless of who teaches the classes. According to the original and revised documents:

Training on CIA Culture, at a minimum, shall include instruction on the following:

1. Cultural differences between the CIA and Special Operations Forces (SOF);   
2. Strategies for increasing cooperation between the CIA and SOF both in theatre and at HQ SOCOM and examples where cooperation failed at both levels;    
3. Exercises, at both levels, which will increase cooperation;
4. Demonstration of successful completion of this course means a student will be able to understand the cultural differences between the CIA and SOCOM, operate within the CIA environment, request information from the CIA and support a CIA lead operation.

Training on CIA CT targeting, at a minimum, shall include instruction on the following:

1. Targeting methods and practices overview;
2. Targeting as analytical support to operations;   
3. Targeting as adding structure and process to operations, including the basics of human assets and the human source acquisition cycle; 
4. CIA targeting concepts and methodologies;
5. An applicable targeting exercise bringing together all instructional areas;
6. Demonstration of successful completion of this course means a student will understand DoD and CIA targeting, roles of targeteers, philosophies of targeting and the differences between DoD and CIA in each of these areas.

DoD Outsourcing Assessment of ' Human Screening ' Methods

Private contractors soon will conduct "rapid human screening" experiments on behalf of the Dept. of Defense (DoD), which is recruiting outside firms to assess the viability of existing truth-detection techniques. The Defense Academy for Credibility Assessment (DACA), formerly known as DoD Polygraph Institute, will oversee this endeavor for the Pentagon's Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) unit.

The newly named division is expanding its human-screening polygraph capabilities "to non-polygraph techniques for detecting deception," Secrecy News reported earlier this year. The recruitment of contractors to assess and report to DoD on existing methods for "rapid human screening" is the latest development in this area of counterintelligence and interrogation, according to a contracting document that The Peacock Report recently located via routine database research.

This two-phase project will involve a review of existing literature on techniques and technologies, as well as testing of such methods on "human participants," the document says:

The effort must specifically address instrumental and behavioral procedures that are applicable in multi-cultural (English and non-[E]nglish speaking) samples. An investigative priority shall be to identify and reduce factors contributing to assessment variability. The contractor shall develop and implement a research protocol, using established experimental procedures, to recruit, assign the credibility of, test the credibility of, and compensate human participants. The second task will be an optional task in which the contractor shall conduct validation studies to replicate and extend efforts from the first task.

DACA anticipates releasing a detailed, formal solicitation on this procurement on or around May 8.

Firm Gets Contract to Provide Kids ' Data to Military

A list of potentially college-bound high school students will cost the U.S. Military Academy (USMA) at West Point nearly $58,000 to obtain, a move that will enable the institution to target-market certain kids based on personally identifiable information gleaned from that list. According to a contracting document that The Peacock Report has located, the USMA intends to award a no-bid, sole-source contract for this list of adolescents to the National Research Center for College & University Admissions (NRCCUA), a Missouri research and database-operations firm that prides itself for annually gathering "information on student attitudes and educational plans from nearly 5.5 million students" across the U.S.

NRCCUA will deliver to the USMA an unspecified number of "names of college bound high school students who meet certain criteria and have expressed certain interests," according to the document, which was first circulated via FedBizOpps on Wednesday. "The NRCCUA will conduct a nationwide search of students in 9th, 10th, and 11th grades that meet USMA selected criteria."

The company website touts its ability to collect names and personal data "through a nationwide post secondary planning survey of students in more than 20,000 high schools. Secondary school educators distribute, supervise and return questionnaires to NRCCUA." 

NRCCUA's mission statement/marketing pitch is "Creating a brighter future for America's youth, with integrity... through a unique process that captures and shares educational and career aspirations...one dream at a time."

Upon closer inspection of its methods and services, it's clear that this "unique process" does indeed capture the aspirations of children, as evidenced by this promise to potential clients: "We will pinpoint and provide you with each matched student’s complete name field, year of high school graduation, high school name, email address, grade point average and more."

DoD Hiring Private Contractors For Domestic Counterintelligence Ops

The Dept. of Defense (DoD) is planning to hire private contractors to "orchestrate" counterintelligence (CI) operations conducted in the U.S. and elsewhere in the near future, according to a presolicitation document that TPR located during a routine search of the FedBizOpps database. The document, dated Nov. 17, briefly notes that "Counterintelligence Support Element," or CISE, providers will be hired to carry out strategic CI efforts in order to "systematically identify and degrade foreign intelligence and terrorist threats at various sites to include National Capital Region (NCR), Hawaii, Florida, Germany, North Carolina, Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado and other locations as deem [sic] necessary by the United States Government..."

Although the FBI is the lead agency for CI ops taking place on U.S. soil, it should be noted that the Bureau nonetheless works jointly with the U.S. intelligence "community" on CI measures. It remains unclear whether the FBI will have oversight of -- or will anything to do with -- these contractors, however.

Further details on this endeavor are expected to be released on or around Dec. 5, when DITCO, the Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DITCO) will make the full "solicitation and related documents" available.

Contractor Gets Millions for Radio, TV, Leaflet PSYOPS Technology Project

A $100 million contract to support psychological operations (PSYOPS) that U.S. Special Forces carry out internationally via aerial leafleting and radio and TV broadcasts has been awarded to CACI International, a Virginia-based vendor for Defense and Homeland Security IT services. CACI will provide up to four years of PSYOPS technology- and other electronic systems-assistance to the U.S. Navy Air Warfare Center, whose Special Communications Requirements (SCR) Division is tasked with designing and maintaining federal systems for C4ISR – command, control, computers, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

Although the Navy and the Pentagon publicly earlier this week began spinning the award by emphasizing the vague provision of C4ISR services to the military, a closer inspection of related contracting documents reveals an expanded list of possible recipients of the SCR unit’s work, including the White House Communications Agency, the FBI, and "other federal agencies" that the documents did not identify.

The bulk of the direct propaganda segment of the contract indeed appears to center upon the Special Operations Command of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, respectively, for whom CACI would assist in the use of what are known as the Special Operations Media System Broadcast (SOMSB) and the Fly Away Broadcast System (FABS). The contract, however, is not exclusively for those purposes, as it also entails the deployment of digital network technologies, military and commercial satellite communications, and encryption and IT security devices -- goods and services that CACI feasibly could provide to any of the above-named Naval clients. Although the documents do not elaborate on what CACI will offer to the "other" agencies, they point out that systems and sub-systems under the contract will be used at "locations or platforms including shipboard, aircraft/airborne, weapon systems, on small crafts, boats, shelters or vehicles."

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New DHS Project Seeks To Create Border Surveillance Airships is Steve Peacock's latest contribution to The Narcosphere.

A collection of over one-hundred previous pieces that Peacock has written on U.S. "drug war" and economic development policy can be found in his Narcosphere "reporter's notebook," Follow the Money: Bird's Eye View.

NATO Developing Master Database -- Total Information Awareness Revisited?

Although Congress in recent years put a halt to the Pentagon’s Total Information Awareness (TIA) project – later renamed Terrorist Information Awareness after the public got wind of the controversial initiative – now NATO is taking a shot at developing what appears to be a similar version of a multimedia “grand database,” as the Dept. of Defense formerly referred to the system. According to procurement documents that TPR has obtained, NATO already has developed a prototype electronic master-database designed to hold “large amounts of data” on people and “regions of interest” around the globe. The organization now wants to enhance that prototype system, and intends to bring aboard private contractors, trained in cognitive psychology and experienced in “human factors analysis,” to assess the system and make recommendations for its continued modernization.

The current prototype is designed to “assist with the identification of inter-relationships,” as well as to provide a limited software-based “visualization capability” for analysts working collaboratively in person and increasingly online. This “System of Systems” analysis capability, which is currently under development, envisions the creation of human-to-machine and human-to-human tools for use by NATO nations, whom eventually will work together to collect and analyze information “on a broad scale."

Once this aspect of NATO's transformation is complete, the organization will be better equipped to “provide information and analysis within and across the political, military, economic, social, infrastructure and information domains,” the statement of work (SOW) says. Consequently, NATO nations will be more adept at “identifying individuals and physical entities (including their capabilities, vulnerabilities, and inter-relationships) of adversary, non-aligned and friendly nations and groups,” according to the SOW.

Rise of Surveillance State ' Not Our Fight, ' AT & T Lobbyist Says

The telecom industry has been unwilling to oppose the rise in U.S. government electronic monitoring of the population for a sole reason -- the emergence of the post-9/11 Surveillance State doesn't have an impact on its bottom line, an influential AT&T lobbyist once advised me. Unlike the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), which required companies to make their networks "digital-wiretap friendly," the government's expansive wiretapping powers under the USA Patriot Act didn't cost telecom providers a dime, he said.

I was covering Capitol Hill at the time of the 2001 terrorist attacks, working for Washington, D.C.-based Warren Communications News, publisher of investigative newsletters such as Communications Daily and Washington Internet Daily. Having written hundreds of articles about CALEA for Warren and my previous employers -- Telecommunications Reports International and Inside Washington Publishers -- I was surprised when industry failed to weigh in on the Patriot Act, which had taken center stage on the Hill and at the Bush White House. I reminded my AT&T source that industry and privacy groups stood side-by-side against the FBI and the Clinton Administration during the battle over CALEA, for which they jointly filed court briefs, simultaneously screamed about the multibillion-dollar price tag of the mandatory upgrades, and held hands as they signaled the alarm to Americans about the law's purportedly detrimental affect on consumer costs and privacy.

"The answer is simple," according to the lobbyist, who spoke under condition of anonymity. "It isn't our fight. Why should we argue with the federal government over something that costs us nothing? We've got other things to worry about."

How blessed I was to have an industry insider provide me with such a candid explanation. Consequently, it didn't come as a shock to personally witness Walter McCormick, then-president of the U.S. Telecom Association (USTA), telling former Attorney General John Ashcroft a few months later, "Our industry is the best partner in the country" for your electronic surveillance program. Ashcroft, the keynote speaker at the March 1, 2002, Policy Conference Breakfast, then took the stage alone to beseech -- no, scare the crap out of -- the industry attendees of the USTA event to stay out of the FBI's way. Ashcroft went as far to say that U.S. Special Forces had found documents -- in an Afghanistan cave, no less -- indicating a greater need for telecom carriers to open their networks to the government.

"If given the opportunity, extremists would cripple our telecommunications infrastructure," Ashcroft continued. "We must disrupt those plans."

In a follow-up interview with author Wayne Madsen, who at the time was senior fellow at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Madsen was dumbfounded at McCormick's enthusiasm to become an "avid partner" of the government. Madsen, like myself, had vivid memories of industry virtually skipping along in joyful harmony with its privacy-activist partners as they opposed imminent surveillance-creep.

"I didn't know that companies were more interested in becoming government partners rather than providing services to consumers," Madsen told me.

We now know that most carriers willingly supplied the National Security Agency with consumer phone-records. The American public now knows that the Executive Branch of the U.S. government believes it can intercept the communications of its citizens without court authorization -- authorization which was easy to obtain and rarely denied before 9/11, and is even easier to obtain since the passage of the Patriot Act. We now know that most phone companies -- with the exception of Qwest -- don't give a damn about your privacy, unless it's costing them money to violate it.