[iwar] [fc:Spy.agency.destroys.data,.angering.others.in.probe]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-11-04 20:48:01

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[FC - This one is just beyond comprehension...]

INTELLIGENCE

Spy agency destroys data, angering others in probe

By John Donnelly, Globe Staff, 10/27/2001

ASHINGTON - Analysts at the super-secret National Security Agency, acting on
advice from the organization's lawyers, have been destroying data collected
on Americans or US companies since the Sept. 11 attacks - angering other
intelligence agencies seeking leads in the antiterrorist probe, according to
two people with close intelligence ties.

Some Central Intelligence Agency analysts and staff members of the House and
Senate intelligence committees fear that important information that could
aid in the investigation, and perhaps even redirect it, is being lost in the
process.

In heated discussions with the CIA and congressional staff, NSA lawyers have
turned down requests to preserve the intelligence because the agency's
regulations prohibit the collection of any information on US citizens. The
lawyers said that preserving the information would invite lawsuits from
people whose names appear in the surveillance reports, according to the two,
both of whom are former senior US officials.

But people familiar with the NSA, including some who have worked for it,
dismiss the idea that the agency needed to destroy the information
immediately. Although that's been the NSA's practice in the past, they
believe the NSA's own rules allow it to change that practice in the face of
the threat of terrorism.

They believe the real reason behind the agency's stance is its longstanding
distaste for sharing raw data with other intelligence organizations.

''There are some people in law enforcement who are very unhappy about it,
because they need investigative leads,'' said Vincent Cannistraro, former
director of counterterrorism at the CIA.

The NSA spies on foreigners and foreign governments, using high-tech
operations to intercept phone calls, e-mail messages, and faxes around the
world; collecting data from satellite operations; and translating documents
in foreign languages.

By law, the NSA cannot spy on a citizen of the United States, an immigrant
lawfully admitted to this country for permanent residence, or a US
corporation. But it can, with court permission, target foreigners inside the
United States, including diplomats.

If, in the course of surveillance, NSA analysts learn that it involves a US
citizen or company, ''they are dumping that information right then and
there,'' said the second official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

''There's a view of a lot of people in the intelligence community who say,
`Wait a minute, it could be useful to the FBI; let them look at it.' It's
been the subject of some heated discussion between the agency [CIA] and the
NSA,'' said the official.

The NSA yesterday declined to comment on the issue. The CIA also declined to
comment.

In the aftermath of the air attacks, former US officials and analysts say
that information-sharing has proceeded fairly well between the CIA and the
FBI. But their relationships with the NSA have not significantly changed,
the officials said. The NSA - which is based in Fort Meade, Md., and
operates under the Department of Defense - distributes analysis summaries of
its intelligence-gathering to a select number of senior US officials, but it
doesn't give its raw data - for example, the transcripts from wiretaps - to
anyone. It is such raw data that are especially prized by intelligence
analysts because they provide more context and leads than the distilled
summaries.

It was unclear whether the government's new Homeland Security Office, led by
former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, could help mediate the dispute,
current and former officials said.

The antiterrorism bill signed by President Bush yesterday does not address
the NSA's sharing of domestic data. It does, however, give the FBI greater
freedom to share some of its investigative material with other intelligence
agencies. 

US Representative Charles F. Bass, a New Hampshire Republican who had served
for four years on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said
he knows of a long list of problems arising from the rules governing the
NSA, as well as the NSA's culture of keeping information in-house.

''I think it could be the biggest information problem that we face,'' Bass
said in an interview. ''If somebody is abroad and they even mention the name
of an American citizen, bang, off goes the tap, and no more information is
collected.'' Once a US citizen or corporation is mentioned, NSA's rules
dictate that it must stop that surveillance.

Bass said there should be a further examination of facilitating intelligence
sharing. ''For four years, I listened to stories of intelligence failures,
and it wasn't due to incompetence of anyone in the system, but that the
system is so arcane.''

A congressional outcry in the mid-1970s on US intelligence abuses against
American citizens led to many of the federal regulations strictly
prohibiting the CIA and NSA from domestic spying.

One senior US intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity,
said those civil liberty safeguards remain as important today.

''The NSA has good and longstanding reasons to destroy information collected
domestically,'' the official said. ''If they do anything short of destroying
the information, that smacks of domestic spying, and we have been through
that before and don't want to do it again.''

The intelligence official said the NSA did share information ''in cases to
ward off a threat.''

But the former US officials said many investigators now were extremely
frustrated that many possible leads stemming from the Sept. 11 attack
weren't being followed because of the NSA position.

''The intelligence committee staffs on the Hill are pounding hard to get
something done on this,'' said one of the former officials. ''It should be
done now, but it's going to take this government six months at a minimum to
get its act together and get everyone in the intelligences communities in
sync.''

Cannistraro said the intelligence agencies have made strides in recent
years.

But the issues now with the NSA, he said, illustrate that much more could be
done.

John Donnelly can be reached by e-mail at donnelly@globe.com.

This story ran on page A8 of the Boston Globe on 10/27/2001.

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