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The National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC) posted a press release Friday. It seems Russell Tice, former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence analyst has been subpoenaed to testify in front of a federal grand jury. Here is short excerpt from the complete press release.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- July 28, 2006
NSA WHISTLEBLOWER TO TESTIFY BEFORE FEDERAL GRAND JURY

Government Begins its Witch Hunt Targeting Whistleblowers

On Wednesday, July 26, Russell Tice, former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence analyst and a member of National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC), was approached outside his home by two FBI agents who served him with a subpoena to testify in front of a federal grand jury. NSWBC has obtained a copy of the subpoena issued for Mr. Tice’s testimony and is releasing it to the public for the first time. The subpoena directs Mr. Tice to appear before the jury on August 2, 2006 at 1:00 p.m. in the Eastern District of Virginia. Mr. Tice “will be asked to testify and answer questions concerning possible violations of federal criminal law.� [To view the subpoena click here].

In response to the subpoena, Mr. Tice issued the following statement: “This latest action by the government is designed only for one purpose: to ensure that people who witness criminal action being committed by the government are intimidated into remaining silent.� He continued: “To this date I have pursued all the appropriate channels to report unlawful and unconstitutional acts conducted [by the government] while I served as an intelligence officer with the NSA and DIA. It was with my oath as a US intelligence officer to protect and preserve the U.S. Constitution weighing heavy on my mind that I reported acts that I know to be unlawful and unconstitutional. The freedom of the American people cannot be protected when our constitutional liberties are ignored and our nation has decayed into a police state.�

On December 22, 2005, the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition made public a request by Tice to report to Congress probable unlawful and unconstitutional acts by the government while he was an intelligence officer with NSA and DIA. In a press release, NSWBC urged the congress to hold hearings and let Mr. Tice testify. Mr. Tice, a responsible veteran intelligence officer, tried to use the so-called appropriate channels, including the United States Congress, to responsibly and lawfully disclose government wrongdoing. [To read the release click here].

Contact: Sibel Edmonds, National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, sedmonds@nswbc.org

Wired has an article showing a traceroute output claiming they can see the NSA wiretap in San Francisco. I did the same traceroute to nsa.gov from New York City and have a strangely similar line in my output.

From the Wired post:

If you’re a Windows user, fire up an MS-DOS command prompt. Now type tracert followed by the domain name of the website, e-mail host, VoIP switch, or whatever destination you’re interested in. Watch as the program spits out your route, line by line.

C:\> tracert nsa.gov

1 2 ms 2 ms 2 ms [12.110.110.204]
[...]
7 11 ms 14 ms 10 ms as-0-0.bbr2.SanJose1.Level3.net [64.159.0.218]
8 13 12 19 ms ae-23-56.car3.SanJose1.Level3.net [4.68.123.173]
9 18 ms 16 ms 16 ms [192.205.33.17]
10 88 ms 92 ms 91 ms tbr2-p012201.sffca.ip.att.net [12.123.13.186]
11 88 ms 90 ms 88 ms tbr1-cl2.sl9mo.ip.att.net [12.122.10.41]
12 89 ms 97 ms 89 ms tbr1-cl4.wswdc.ip.att.net [12.122.10.29]
13 89 ms 88 ms 88 ms ar2-a3120s6.wswdc.ip.att.net [12.123.8.65]
14 102 ms 93 ms 112 ms [12.127.209.214]
15 94 ms 94 ms 93 ms [12.110.110.13]
16 * * *
17 * * *
18 * *

In the above example, my traffic is jumping from Level 3 Communications to AT&T’s network in San Francisco, presumably over the OC-48 circuit that AT&T tapped on February 20th, 2003, according to the Klein docs.

The magic string you’re looking for is sffca.ip.att.net. If it’s present immediately above or below a non-att.net entry, then — by Klein’s allegations — your packets are being copied into room 641A, and from there, illegally, to the NSA.

Now here is MY output from NYC:

PB-G4-17:~ patrick$ sudo traceroute whitehouse.gov
traceroute to nsa.gov (63.161.169.137), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets

1 * * *
[...]
5 pos3-0.nycmnyg-rtr1.nyc.rr.com (24.29.101.201)
6 pos0 (24.29.98.5)
7 24.29.97.25 (24.29.97.25)
8 so-7-1.car2.weehawken1.level3.net (63.208.104.41)
9 ge-7-0-0.mp1.weehawken1.level3.net (4.68.125.137)
10 so-4-2-0.bbr1.newyork1.level3.net (64.159.1.65)
11 ae-13-55.car3.newyork1.level3.net (4.68.97.146)
12 192.205.33.93 (192.205.33.93)
13 tbr2-p032301.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.123.3.110)
14 gbr5-p40.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.122.11.26)
15 12.123.214.57 (12.123.214.57)
16 12.126.221.90 (12.126.221.90)
17 12.110.110.132 (12.110.110.132)
18 * * *
19 * * *
20 * * *

Is this actually evidence of the NSA tapping the internet?

I guess it really comes down to the fact that these are traceroutes to nsa.gov and we may just be seeing the routing to that network. I don’t see this node when I traceroute any other address.
Here is my traceroute to whitehouse.gov:

PB-G4-17:~ patrick$ sudo traceroute whitehouse.gov
traceroute to whitehouse.gov (63.161.169.137), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets

1 * * *
[...]
5 pos3-0.nycmnyg-rtr1.nyc.rr.com (24.29.101.201)
6 pos0 (24.29.98.5)
7 24.29.97.25 (24.29.97.25)
8 so-7-1.car2.weehawken1.level3.net (63.208.104.41)
9 ge-7-0-0.mp1.weehawken1.level3.net (4.68.125.137)
10 so-4-2-0.bbr1.newyork1.level3.net (64.159.1.65)
11 ge-6-0-0-55.gar3.newyork1.level3.net (4.68.97.132)
12 4.68.110.70 (4.68.110.70)
13 sl-bb23-pen-4-0-0.sprintlink.net (144.232.20.123)
14 sl-bb22-pen-14-0.sprintlink.net (144.232.8.178)
15 sl-bb21-pen-15-0.sprintlink.net (144.232.16.29)
16 sl-bb23-rly-0-0.sprintlink.net (144.232.20.32)
17 sl-gw19-rly-10-0.sprintlink.net (144.232.14.42)
18 sl-fema-1-0.sprintlink.net (144.232.184.78)
19 205.160.212.222 (205.160.212.222)

I certainly don’t profess to be an internet routing guru so you’ll have to decide for yourself.

Shane Harris and Murray Waas have an article on the National Journal’s site about an internal Justice Department inquiry into whether investigators were improperly denied security clearances.

You already know my feelings on this issue, so I’ll save the rant for another day.

From the article:

The only classified information that OPR investigators were seeking about the NSA’s eavesdropping program was what had already been given to Ashcroft, Gonzales and other department attorneys in their original approval and advice on the program, the two senior government officials said. And, by nature, OPR’s request was limited to documents such as internal Justice Department communications and legal opinions, and didn’t extend to secrets that are the sole domain of other agencies, the two officials said.

Please check out their story.

[via: Crooks and Liars]

One of my favorite bands They Might Be Giants has produced some ringtones including one titled “Call Connected by the NSA�.

[via: The social software Weblog (direct to post)]

The Fourth amendment to the constitution of the United States of America consists of one sentence and yet grants each citizen of the US with a great deal of freedom.

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.�

I am appalled that President Bush would blatantly violate the trust of Americans by authorizing the NSA to monitor the personal habits of US citizens.

The fact that americans aren’t screaming for impeachment is downright disheartening. It’s as if people don’t care that our personal freedoms are slowly (or not so slowly) being eroded. For now the NSA is only monitoring “call patternsâ€?. How long until that includes “call contentâ€? or worse?

More importantly why isn’t the Department of Justice able to get security clearance to review this “call pattern monitoringâ€? program? Putting the NSA, or any part of government, above accountability in this manner defeats the “Check and Balanceâ€? concept that is at the very heart of our constitution and smacks of authoritarianism.

President Bush’s actions have spoken much louder than his words. He has shown time and time again his willingness to unilaterally re-interpret the laws of this country in order to further his personal agenda and without regard to the constitution or any other branch of government.