[iwar] [fc:Fox.News.Reports:.Israel.is.spying.in.and.on.the.U.S.]

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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Fox.News.Reports:.Israel.is.spying.in.and.on.the.U.S.]
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Carl Cameron Reports - Some U.S. investigators believe that Israel
is spying in and on the U.S. and may have known things they didn't
tell us before September 11
Wednesday, December 12, 2001

------------------------------------------------------------------

BRIT HUME, HOST: It has been more than 16 years since a civilian
working for the Navy was charged with passing secrets to Israel.
Jonathan Pollard pled guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage and
is serving a life sentence. At first, Israeli leaders claimed
Pollard was part of a rogue operation, but later took
responsibility for his work.

Now Fox News has learned some U.S. investigators believe that
there are Israelis again very much engaged in spying in and on the
U.S., who may have known things they didn't tell us before
September 11. Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron has details in
the first of a four-part series.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Since September 11, more
than 60 Israelis have been arrested or detained, either under the
new patriot anti-terrorism law, or for immigration violations. A
handful of active Israeli military were among those detained,
according to investigators, who say some of the detainees also
failed polygraph questions when asked about alleged surveillance
activities against and in the United States.

There is no indication that the Israelis were involved in the 9-11
attacks, but investigators suspect that they Israelis may have
gathered intelligence about the attacks in advance, and not shared
it. A highly placed investigator said there are "tie-ins." But
when asked for details, he flatly refused to describe them,
saying, "evidence linking these Israelis to 9-11 is classified. I
cannot tell you about evidence that has been gathered. It's
classified information."

Fox News has learned that one group of Israelis, spotted in North
Carolina recently, is suspected of keeping an apartment in
California to spy on a group of Arabs who the United States is
also investigating for links to terrorism. Numerous classified
documents obtained by Fox News indicate that even prior to
September 11, as many as 140 other Israelis had been detained or
arrested in a secretive and sprawling investigation into suspected
espionage by Israelis in the United States.

Investigators from numerous government agencies are part of a
working group that's been compiling evidence since the mid '90s.
These documents detail hundreds of incidents in cities and towns
across the country that investigators say, "may well be an
organized intelligence gathering activity."

The first part of the investigation focuses on Israelis who say
they are art students from the University of Jerusalem and Bazala
Academy. They repeatedly made contact with U.S. government
personnel, the report says, by saying they wanted to sell cheap
art or handiwork.

Documents say they, "targeted and penetrated military bases." The
DEA, FBI and dozens of government facilities, and even secret
offices and unlisted private homes of law enforcement and
intelligence personnel. The majority of those questioned, "stated
they served in military intelligence, electronic surveillance
intercept and or explosive ordinance units."

Another part of the investigation has resulted in the detention
and arrests of dozens of Israelis at American mall kiosks, where
they've been selling toys called Puzzle Car and Zoom Copter.
Investigators suspect a front.

Shortly after The New York Times and Washington Post reported the
Israeli detentions last months, the carts began vanishing. Zoom
Copter's Web page says, "We are aware of the situation caused by
thousands of mall carts being closed at the last minute. This in
no way reflects the quality of the toy or its salability. The
problem lies in the operators' business policies."

Why would Israelis spy in and on the U.S.? A general accounting
office investigation referred to Israel as country A and said,
"According to a U.S. intelligence agency, the government of
country A conducts the most aggressive espionage operations
against the U.S. of any U.S. ally."

A defense intelligence report said Israel has a voracious appetite
for information and said, "the Israelis are motivated by strong
survival instincts which dictate every possible facet of their
political and economical policies. It aggressively collects
military and industrial technology and the U.S. is a high priority
target."

The document concludes: "Israel possesses the resources and
technical capability to achieve its collection objectives."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

A spokesman for the Israeli embassy here in Washington issued a
denial saying that any suggestion that Israelis are spying in or
on the U.S. is "simply not true." There are other things to
consider. And in the days ahead, we'll take a look at the U.S.
phone system and law enforcement's methods for wiretaps. And an
investigation that both have been compromised by our friends
overseas.

HUME: Carl, what about this question of advanced knowledge of what
was going to happen on 9-11? How clear are investigators that some
Israeli agents may have known something?

CAMERON: It's very explosive information, obviously, and there's a
great deal of evidence that they say they have collected — none of
it necessarily conclusive. It's more when they put it all
together. A bigger question, they say, is how could they not have
know? Almost a direct quote.

HUME: Going into the fact that they were spying on some Arabs,
right?

CAMERON: Correct.

HUME: All right, Carl, thanks very much.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Part 2 of 4

BRIT HUME, HOST: Last time we reported on the approximately 60
Israelis who had been detained in connection with the Sept. 11
terrorism investigation.  Carl Cameron reported that U.S.
investigators suspect that some of these Israelis were spying on
Arabs in this country, and may have turned up information on the
planned terrorist attacks back in September that was not passed
on.

Tonight, in the second of four reports on spying by Israelis in
the U.S., we learn about an Israeli-based private communications
company, for whom a half-dozen of those 60 detained suspects
worked. American investigators fear information generated by this
firm may have fallen into the wrong hands and had the effect of
impeded the Sept. 11 terror inquiry. Here's Carl Cameron's second
report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):  Fox News has
learned that some American terrorist investigators fear certain
suspects in the Sept. 11 attacks may have managed to stay ahead of
them, by knowing who and when investigators are calling on the
telephone.  How?

By obtaining and analyzing data that's generated every time
someone in the U.S. makes a call.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What city and state, please?

CAMERON:  Here's how the system works. Most directory assistance
calls, and virtually all call records and billing in the U.S. are
done for the phone companies by Amdocs Ltd., an Israeli-based
private elecommunications company.

Amdocs has contracts with the 25 biggest phone companies in
America, and more worldwide.  The White House and other secure
government phone lines are protected, but it is virtually
impossible to make a call on normal phones without generating an
Amdocs record of it.

In recent years, the FBI and other government agencies have
investigated Amdocs more than once.  The firm has repeatedly and
adamantly denied any security breaches or wrongdoing.  But sources
tell Fox News that in 1999, the super secret national security
agency, headquartered in northern Maryland, issued what's called a
Top Secret sensitive compartmentalized information report, TS/SCI,
warning that records of calls in the United States were getting
into foreign hands – in Israel, in particular.

Investigators don't believe calls are being listened to, but the
data about who is calling whom and when is plenty valuable in
itself.  An internal Amdocs memo to senior company executives
suggests just how Amdocs generated call records could be used.
“Widespread data mining techniques and algorithms.... combining
both the properties of the customer  (e.g., credit rating) and
properties of the specific ‘behavior….’” Specific behavior, such
as who the customers are calling.

The Amdocs memo says the system should be used to prevent phone
fraud.   But U.S. counterintelligence analysts say it could also
be used to spy through the phone system.  Fox News has learned
that the N.S.A has held numerous classified conferences to warn
the F.B.I. and C.I.A. how Amdocs records could be used.  At one
NSA briefing, a diagram by the Argon national lab was used to show
that if the phone records are not secure, major security breaches
are possible.

Another briefing document said, "It has become increasingly
apparent that systems and networks are vulnerable.…Such crimes
always involve unauthorized persons, or persons who exceed their
authorization...citing on exploitable vulnerabilities."

Those vulnerabilities are growing, because according to another
briefing, the U.S. relies too much on foreign companies like
Amdocs for high-tech equipment and software.  "Many factors have
led to increased dependence on code developed overseas.... We buy
rather than train or develop solutions."

U.S. intelligence does not believe the Israeli government is
involved in a misuse of information, and Amdocs insists that its
data is secure. What U.S. government officials are worried about,
however, is the possibility that Amdocs data could get into the
wrong hands, particularly organized crime.  And that would not be
the first thing that such a thing has happened.  Fox News has
documents of a 1997 drug trafficking case in Los Angeles, in which
telephone information, the type that Amdocs collects, was used to
"completely compromise the communications of the FBI, the Secret
Service, the DEO and the LAPD."

We'll have that and a lot more in the days ahead – Brit.

HUME:  Carl, I want to take you back to your report last night on
those 60 Israelis who were detained in the anti-terror
investigation, and the suspicion that some investigators have that
they may have picked up information on the 9/11 attacks ahead of
time and not passed it on.

There was a report, you'll recall, that the Mossad, the Israeli
intelligence agency, did indeed send representatives to the U.S.
to warn, just before 9/11, that a major terrorist attack was
imminent.  How does that leave room for the lack of a warning?

CAMERON:  I remember the report, Brit. We did it first
internationally right here on your show on the 14th.  What
investigators are saying is that that warning from the Mossad was
nonspecific and general, and they believe that it may have had
something to do with the desire to protect what are called sources
and methods in the intelligence community.  The suspicion being,
perhaps those sources and methods were taking place right here in
the United States.

The question came up in select intelligence committee on Capitol
Hill today.  They intend to look into what we reported last night,
and specifically that possibility – Brit.

HUME:  So in other words, the problem wasn't lack of a warning,
the problem was lack of useful details?

CAMERON:  Quantity of information.

HUME:  All right, Carl, thank you very much.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
HUME: Last time we reported on an Israeli-based company called
Amdocs Ltd. that generates the computerized records and billing
data for nearly every phone call made in America.  As Carl Cameron
reported, U.S. investigators digging into the 9/11 terrorist
attacks fear that suspects may have been tipped off to what they
were doing by information leaking out of Amdocs.
In tonight's report, we learn that the concern about phone
security extends to another company, founded in Israel, that
provides the technology that the U.S. government uses for
electronic eavesdropping.  Here is Carl Cameron's third report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):  The company is
Comverse Infosys, a subsidiary of an Israeli-run private
telecommunications firm, with offices throughout the U.S.  It
provides wiretapping equipment for law enforcement.  Here's how
wiretapping works in the U.S.

Every time you make a call, it passes through the nation's
elaborate network of switchers and routers run by the phone
companies.  Custom computers and software, made by companies like
Comverse, are tied into that network to intercept, record and
store the wiretapped calls, and at the same time transmit them to
investigators.

The manufacturers have continuing access to the computers so they
can service them and keep them free of glitches.  This process was
authorized by the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law
Enforcement Act, or CALEA.   Senior government officials have now
told Fox News that while CALEA made wiretapping easier, it has led
to a system that is seriously vulnerable to compromise, and may
have undermined the whole wiretapping system.

Indeed, Fox News has learned that Attorney General John Ashcroft
and  FBI Director Robert Mueller were both warned Oct. 18 in a
hand-delivered letter from 15 local, state and federal law
enforcement  officials, who complained that "law enforcement's
current  electronic surveillance capabilities are less effective
today than they  were at the time CALEA was enacted."

Congress insists the equipment it installs is secure.  But the
complaint about this system is that the wiretap computer programs
made by  Comverse have, in effect, a back door through which
wiretaps themselves can  be intercepted by unauthorized parties.

Adding to the suspicions is the fact that in Israel, Comverse
works  closely with the Israeli government, and under special
programs, gets  reimbursed for up to 50 percent of its research
and development costs by  the Israeli Ministry of Industry and
Trade.  But investigators within the  DEA, INS and FBI have all
told Fox News that to pursue or even suggest  Israeli spying
through Comverse is considered career suicide.

And sources say that while various F.B.I. inquiries into Comverse
have  been conducted over the years, they've been halted before
the actual  equipment has ever been thoroughly tested for leaks.
A 1999 F.C.C.  document indicates several government agencies
expressed deep concerns that  too many unauthorized non-law
enforcement personnel can access the wiretap  system.  And the
FBI's own nondescript office in Chantilly, Virginia that  actually
oversees the CALEA wiretapping program, is among the most agitated
about the threat.

But there is a bitter turf war internally at F.B.I.  It is the
FBI's  office in Quantico, Virginia, that has jurisdiction over
awarding contracts  and buying intercept equipment.  And for
years, they've thrown much of the  business to Comverse.  A
handful of former U.S. law enforcement officials  involved in
awarding Comverse government contracts over the years now work
for the company.

Numerous sources say some of those individuals were asked to leave
government service under what knowledgeable sources call
"troublesome  circumstances" that remain under administrative
review within the Justice  Department.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And what troubles investigators most, particularly in New York, in
the  counter terrorism investigation of the World Trade Center
attack, is that on  a number of cases, suspects that they had
sought to wiretap and survey  immediately changed their
telecommunications processes.  They started  acting much
differently as soon as those supposedly secret wiretaps went  into
place – Brit.

HUME:  Carl, is there any reason to suspect in this instance that
the  Israeli government is involved?

CAMERON:  No, there's not.  But there are growing instincts in an
awful lot of law enforcement officials in a variety of agencies
who suspect  that it had begun compiling evidence, and a highly
classified investigation  into that possibility – Brit.

HUME:  All right, Carl.  Thanks very much.

------------------------------------------------------------

Part 4 of 4

TONY SNOW, HOST:  This week, senior correspondent Carl Cameron has
reported on a longstanding government espionage investigation. 
Federal officials this year have arrested or detained nearly 200
Israeli citizens suspected of belonging to an "organized
intelligence-gathering operation."   The Bush administration has
deported most of those arrested after Sept. 11, although some are
in custody under the new anti-terrorism law.

Cameron also investigates the possibility that an Israeli firm
generated billing data that could be used for intelligence
purpose, and describes concerns that the federal government's own
wiretapping system may be vulnerable.  Tonight, in part four of
the series, we'll learn about the probable roots of the probe: a
drug case that went bad four years ago in L.A.  

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):  Los Angeles,
1997, a major local, state and federal drug investigating sours. 
The suspects:  Israeli organized crime with operations in New
York, Miami, Las Vegas, Canada, Israel and Egypt.  The
allegations: cocaine and ecstasy trafficking, and sophisticated
white-collar credit card and computer fraud.  

The problem: according to classified law enforcement documents
obtained by Fox News, the bad guys had the cops’ beepers, cell
phones, even home phones under surveillance.  Some who did get
caught admitted to having hundreds of numbers and using them to
avoid arrest. 

"This compromised law enforcement communications between LAPD
detectives and other assigned law enforcement officers working
various aspects of the case.  The organization discovered
communications between organized crime intelligence division
detectives, the FBI and the Secret Service."

Shock spread from the DEA to the FBI in Washington, and then the
CIA.   An investigation of the problem, according to law
enforcement documents, concluded, "The organization has apparent
extensive access to database systems to identify pertinent
personal and biographical information."

When investigators tried to find out where the information might
have come from, they looked at Amdocs, a publicly traded firm
based in Israel.   Amdocs generates billing data for virtually
every call in America, and they do credit checks.  The company
denies any leaks, but investigators still fear that the firm's
data is getting into the wrong hands.  

When investigators checked their own wiretapping system for leaks,
they grew concerned about potential vulnerabilities in the
computers that intercept, record and store the wiretapped calls. 
A main contractor is Comverse Infosys, which works closely with
the Israeli government, and under a special grant program, is
reimbursed for up to 50 percent of its research and development
costs by Israel's Ministry of Industry and Trade. 

Asked this week about another sprawling investigation and the
detention of 60 Israeli since Sept. 11, the Bush administration
treated the questions like hot potatoes.  

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY:  I would just refer
you to the Department of Justice with that.  I'm not familiar with
the report.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE:  I'm aware that some Israeli
citizens have been detained.  With respect to why they're being
detained and the other aspects of your question – whether it's
because they're in intelligence services, or what they were doing
– I will defer to the Department of Justice and the FBI to answer
that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMERON:  Beyond the 60 apprehended or detained, and many deported
since Sept. 11, another group of 140 Israeli individuals have been
arrested and detained in this year in what government documents
describe as  "an organized intelligence gathering operation,"
designed to "penetrate government facilities."  Most of those
individuals said they had served in the Israeli military, which is
compulsory there.  

But they also had, most of them, intelligence expertise, and
either worked for Amdocs or other companies in Israel that
specialize in wiretapping.  Earlier this week, the Israeli embassy
in Washington denied any spying against or in the United States –
Tony.

SNOW:  Carl, we've heard the comments from Ari Fleischer and Colin
Powell.  What are officials saying behind the scenes?

CAMERON:  Well, there's real pandemonium described at the FBI, 
the DEA and the INS.  A lot of these problems have been well known
to some  investigators, many of who have contributed to the
reporting on this  story.  And what they say is happening is
supervisors and management are  now going back and collecting much
of the information, because there's  tremendous pressure from the
top levels of all of those agencies to find  out exactly what's
going on.  

At the DEA and the FBI already a variety of administration reviews
are  under way, in addition to the investigation of the
phenomenon.  They want  to find out how it is all this has come
out, as well as be very careful  because of the explosive nature
and very political ramifications of the  story itself – Tony. 

SNOW:  All right, Carl, thanks.

------------------------end---------------------------------

Third party comments of each part can be viewed after the
parts themselves at the following web sites:

Part 1 - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/589762/posts
Part 2 - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/590068/posts
Part 3 - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/590668/posts
Part 4 - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/592499/posts

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