"Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories." - Sun Tzu
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Chicago Fire Dept. - Snowed Under - Chicago Blizzard of 2011
Video from WGNTV.com of the Chicago Fire Departement on February 1, 2011 and the disaster on Lake Shore Drive durning the blizzard.
Chicago Fire Dept. - Midway Airport United Flight 553 Crash in 1972 UPDATED
WARNING!!! EXTREMELY GRAPHIC!!!!!
Classic Chicago Fire Department video of United Flight 553 that crashed December 8,1972 after attempting to land at Midway Airport This is the flight that some believe had something to do with former President Richard Nixon and the Watergate Hotel burglary that killed sever people with direct knowlegde of the Watergate break in. There was also a suitcase recovered from the ruins with a large amount of cash that is also believed linked to the break in!
PREPARATIONS FOR WORLD WAR 3
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20403 --------------- Preparing for World War III, Targeting Iran
Humanity is at a dangerous crossroads. War preparations to attack Iran are in "an advanced state of readiness". Hi tech weapons systems including nuclear warheads are fully deployed.
This military adventure has been on the Pentagon's drawing board since the mid-1990s. First Iraq, then Iran according to a declassified 1995 US Central Command document.
Escalation is part of the military agenda. While Iran, is the next target together with Syria and Lebanon, this strategic military deployment also threatens North Korea, China and Russia.
Since 2005, the US and its allies, including America's NATO partners and Israel, have been involved in the extensive deployment and stockpiling of advanced weapons systems. The air defense systems of the US, NATO member countries and Israel are fully integrated.
This is a coordinated endeavor of the Pentagon, NATO, Israel's Defense Force (IDF), with the active military involvement of several non-NATO partner countries including the frontline Arab states (members of NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative), Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, among others. (NATO consists of 28 NATO member states Another 21 countries are members of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), The Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative include ten Arab countries plus Israel.)
The roles of Egypt, the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia (within the extended military alliance) is of particular relevance. Egypt controls the transit of war ships and oil tankers through the Suez Canal. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States occupy the South Western coastlines of the Persian Gulf, the Straits of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. In early June, "Egypt reportedly allowed one Israeli and eleven U.S. ships to pass through the Suez Canal in ....an apparent signal to Iran. ... On June 12, regional press outlets reported that the Saudis had granted Israel the right to fly over its airspace..." (Muriel Mirak Weissbach, Israel's Insane War on Iran Must Be Prevented., Global Research, July 31, 2010)
In post 9/11 military doctrine, this massive deployment of military hardware has been defined as part of the so-called "Global War on Terrorism", targeting "non-State" terrorist organizations including al Qaeda and so-called "State sponsors of terrorism",. including Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan.
The setting up of new US military bases, the stockpiling of advanced weapons systems including tactical nuclear weapons, etc. were implemented as part of the pre-emptive defensive military doctrine under the umbrella of the "Global War on Terrorism".
War and the Economic Crisis
The broader implications of a US-NATO Israel attack on Iran are far-reaching. The war and the economic crisis are intimately related. The war economy is financed by Wall Street, which stands as the creditor of the US administration. The US weapons producers are the recipients of the US Department of Defense multibillion dollar procurement contracts for advanced weapons systems. In turn, "the battle for oil" in the Middle East and Central Asia directly serves the interests of the Anglo-American oil giants.
The US and its allies are "beating the drums of war" at the height of a Worldwide economic depression, not to mention the most serious environmental catastrophe in World history. In a bitter twist, one of the major players (BP) on the Middle East Central Asia geopolitical chessboard, formerly known as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, is the instigator of the ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
Media Disinformation
Public opinion, swayed by media hype is tacitly supportive, indifferent or ignorant as to the likely impacts of what is upheld as an ad hoc "punitive" operation directed against Iran's nuclear facilities rather than an all out war. War preparations include the deployment of US and Israeli produced nuclear weapons. In this context, the devastating consequences of a nuclear war are either trivialised or simply not mentioned.
Russia and Syria's alliance remains resilient
Russia has repeatedly blocked efforts towards a UN resolution that could pave the way for intervention in Syria's 10-month crackdown on protesters.
Moscow, a long-standing ally of Damascus and veto-wielding member of the UN, says it fears NATO intervention in Syria would result in another Libya-like scenario and could destabilise the region.
Western countries accuse Russia, which continues to sell heavy weapons to its close Arab friend, of failing to "uphold human rights" by backing the government's military offensive, which has claimed thousands of civilian lives across the country.
Al Jazeera's Neave Barker reports from Moscow on the enduring alliance between the two countries.
Russia to 'bloc UN resolution against Syria'
The US, France and the Arab League are leading the lobbying efforts for a tough Security Council condemning the crackdown on protesters in Syria.
APPLICATION - RADIATION FROM SOLAR FLARE BURSTS!
If you want to read about this video and how it relates to the recent concerns about radiation in Japan, see the following post on my blog: http://thehomescientist.blogspot.com/2011/03/potassium-iodide-and-radiation.html
Here I make potassium iodide from elemental iodine and potassium hydroxide.
3I2 + 6KOH == 5KI + KIO3 + 3H2O
The coproduct of potassium iodate can be separated easily because it is far less soluble in water, and to ensure it was all precipitated out I immersed the solution in an ice bath.
This video is a good demonstration of how things really go when you do chemistry yourself. You start with a bunch of assumptions, and a lot of the time many of these are proven wrong and you have to figure out another way to do it. For example, the additional heating I had to do and the fact that I used too much iodine. I've added a number of annotations to highlight this as well.
Natural Alternative to Potassium Iodide to Avoid the Ridiculous High Prices!
With all the price gauging on Ebay among others, I found an alternative for detox and radiation protection. Aren't there laws against price gauging? It's highway robbery! Jesus is watching you.... L)
http://joyfulveggie.blogspot.com/2010/06/miracle-juice-recipe.html
http://greenupgrader.com/14977/radiation-is-rising-high-iodine-recipes-to-rel...
http://crunchybetty.com/natural-remedies-for-radiation-exposure
http://self-help.vocaboly.com/archives/1136/kelp-an-herb-that-protects-you-fr...
http://nutritionalhealthandwellness.blogspot.com/2011/03/danger-of-radioactiv...
http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Fibromyalgia/forum/11683915-kelp-protect-again...
http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2011/03/15/hawaii-health-dept-avoid-potassi...
Song "The Rain Falls and the Sky Shudders"
by Moby
Monday, January 30, 2012
Potassium Iodine INFO
Information for our patients on Lopez Island to treat radioactive iodine exposure with topical iodine.
Vital Information For Surviving Nuclear Fallout/Dirty bombs/Radiation leaks/Solar Radiation
Every adult should be aware of the information contained in here.Read between the lines.Watch when you have time.Research at the CDC website.make use of a medical library if you have access.
This is a public domain video as it is a work of the US Government.Know what they know so that you can survive.
Links will be posted later because YT is not permitting it!~~~~~~~~~From The Centers for Disease Control
Potassium Iodide (KI) * Radiation Emergency Instructions for Individuals & Families * Dirty Bombs * Sheltering in Place During a Radiation Emergency * Facts About Evacuation During a Radiation Emergency * Nuclear Blast * Radioactive Contamination & Radiation Exposure * Potassium Iodide (KI) * DTPA * Prussian Blue * Neupogen
What is Potassium Iodide (KI)?
Potassium iodide (also called KI) is a salt of stable (not radioactive) iodine. Stable iodine is an important chemical needed by the body to make thyroid hormones. Most of the stable iodine in our bodies comes from the food we eat. KI is stable iodine in a medicine form. This fact sheet from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gives you some basic information about KI. It explains what you should think about before you or a family member takes KI.
What does KI do?
Following a radiological or nuclear event, radioactive iodine may be released into the air and then be breathed into the lungs. Radioactive iodine may also contaminate the local food supply and get into the body through food or through drink. When radioactive materials get into the body through breathing, eating, or drinking, we say that internal contamination has occurred. In the case of internal contamination with radioactive iodine, the thyroid gland quickly absorbs this chemical. Radioactive iodine absorbed by the thyroid can then injure the gland. Because non-radioactive KI acts to block radioactive iodine from being taken into the thyroid gland, it can help protect this gland from injury.
What KI cannot do
Knowing what KI cannot do is also important. KI cannot prevent radioactive iodine from entering the body. KI canprotect only the thyroid from radioactive iodine, not other parts of the body. KI cannot reverse the health effects caused by radioactive iodine once damage to the thyroid has occurred. KI cannotprotect the body from radioactive elements other than radioactive iodine—if radioactive iodine is not present, taking KI is not protective.
How does KI work?
The thyroid gland cannot tell the difference between stable and radioactive iodine and will absorb both. KI works by blocking radioactive iodine from entering the thyroid. When a person takes KI, the stable iodine in the medicine gets absorbed by the thyroid. Because KI contains so much stable iodine, the thyroid gland becomes full and cannot absorb any more iodine—either stable or radioactive—for the next 24 hours.
Iodized table salt also contains iodine; iodized table salt contains enough iodine to keep most people healthy under normal conditions. However, table salt does not contain enough iodine to block radioactive iodine from getting into your thyroid gland. You should not use table salt as a substitute for KI.
How well does KI work?
Knowing that KI may not give a person 100% protection against radioactive iodine is important. How well KI blocks radioactive iodine depends on * how much time passes between contamination with radioactive iodine and the taking of KI (the sooner a person takes KI, the better), * how fast KI is absorbed into the blood, and * the total amount of radioactive iodine to which a person is exposed.
KI is available without a prescription. You should talk to your pharmacist to get KI and for directions about how to take it correctly. Your pharmacist can sell you KI brands that have been approved by the FDA.
http://emergency.cdc.gov/radiation/ki.asp
This is not intended as medical advice or a substitute for a physician.I urge you to see a physician and demand information and medicines BEFORE this happens.
Ask them about calcium and the Hanford nuclear reactor leak.Ask them about kelp,miso and the hospital staff in Nagasaki/Hiroshima who NEVER had radiation sickness.
Ask them about Prussian Blue.
Ask them to provide you photocopies from research&medical journals.
How to Survive a Nuclear Meltdown, Explosion &/or Radioactive Fallout
How to Survive a Nuclear Meltdown, Explosion &/or Radioactive Fallout - Free Information. Here are the links to the info...
How to Survive a Nuclear Attack
http://www.wikihow.com/Survive-a-Nuclear-Attack
Nuclear War Survival Skills
http://www.oism.org/nwss/
I hope this helps.
Steve
Survive nuclear meltdown radioactive fallout nuclear explosion Fukushima plant rods destruction "radiation poisoning" abc cbs fox ap news
NE033X EARTHQUAKE PREDICTION
It is now 22:22, Monday, January 30, 2012, and I would like to try a little experiment. I am predicting a major earthquake to hit somewhere between Alaska and Mexico within 24 hours.
I am narrowing it down to the Seattle - Portland area, and thinking between now and 0500 in the morning.
This has nothing to do with psychic abilities or anything but science.
And, I am not trying to scare anyone - just want to make a record or this in the event I am right - and my theory proves to be on target.
So, to make my theory clear - an earthquake between Alaska and Mexico within 24 hours - of a magnitude 5.0 or higher.
If I am right, I will explain in full how I came to this conclusion.
Thank you.
(I successfully predicted last night's earthquake in Peru. Let's see if my science is right on, or just a good guess.)
I am narrowing it down to the Seattle - Portland area, and thinking between now and 0500 in the morning.
This has nothing to do with psychic abilities or anything but science.
And, I am not trying to scare anyone - just want to make a record or this in the event I am right - and my theory proves to be on target.
So, to make my theory clear - an earthquake between Alaska and Mexico within 24 hours - of a magnitude 5.0 or higher.
If I am right, I will explain in full how I came to this conclusion.
Thank you.
(I successfully predicted last night's earthquake in Peru. Let's see if my science is right on, or just a good guess.)
'Strange sounds' heard WORLDWIDE!- Mystery Solved!!!
Strange Moaning Sounds Around The World are Skyquakes: Warnings From Earth's Destabilizing Core
Harmonics may signal massive Earth core slippage
-- every 13000 years (when we cross the galactic equator?) the earth recieves a galactic wave that distrupts it's balance.
LINK http://goo.gl/4FqDb
Mega-flood triggered cooling 13,000 years ago: scientists
http://goo.gl/oHhvB
Core Spins Faster Than Earth, Lamont Scientists Find
http://goo.gl/eFegI
River reveals chilling tracks of ancient flood
http://goo.gl/A0DMT
Despite the fact that a few believe the Earth may flip on its axis, that's not very likely to happen.
Is the sky falling? No, the Earth's core is slipping...
Massive Solar Proton Event Fry The Earth
http://goo.gl/MdXYV
What is happening is the liquid iron core of the Earth is spinning at a different rate than the planet's rotation and the slippage is causing a measurable migration of the Earth's magnetic field. http://www.amazon.com/Dying-Her-Love-Diary-ebook/dp/B00381ALMK/ref=cm_cr_pr_p...
Earth's magnetic field in state of uncontrollable flux
The skyquakes are caused by harmonics deep inside the Earth traveling from a mutating core through the layers of the planet to the surface. The sky acts as a sounding board capturing and magnifying the sonic and electrical frequencies shot from the center of the world.
Life depends on Earth's core. Something's happening to it.
Death and destruction on an Apocalyptic scale
The stresses building up in the core deep in the heart of the world also migrate outwards to the mantel and eventually the crust. Slipping strata within the bowels of the planet create incredible pressures...pressures so great that temperatures soar and dense metals flow like liquids. [See Doomsday: Earth's core spinning out of control]
Water becomes a superheated plasma and interacts with layers of quartz crystals emitting harmonics audible as a hum and also generating earth lights and skyquakes echoing across the sky . [See: Underground lightning may cause earthquake and volcanic events]
LINK http://goo.gl/4FqDb
The Mysterious Noise 2012
Apocalyptic Sounds Heard All Around The world 2012
Strange Sounds
Strange Sounds Of The Apocalypse - Scotland
Strange Sounds 2012 Earth Groanings Weird
Strange Sounds In Nottingham England
STRANGE SOUNDS IN BIRMINGHAM UK
Strange Sounds in Canada
Strange Sounds Chile January 12, 2012
Strange Sounds Mexico 2012
Explanation of the "Strange Sounds" and Groanings of the Earth heard WORLDWIDE
Strange sound in Chicago, IL. - Weird noise from sky
Strange sounds in Los Angeles, Ca 01/16/2012
Earth Groaning? Strange Noises
Strange iINTENSEe Invisible Sounds in Sky
Strange noises in Melbourne, Australia
STRANGE SOUNDS all over the world (Czech Republic)
Strange Sounds In Edmonton Alberta
Strange Sounds Heard Worldwide in 2012: Trumpets of Revelation?
Mysterious Sounds in Costa Rica (Sounds of the Apocalypse)
"Booming" Trumpet of the "Apocalypse" In Costa Rica 2012 Prophecy Unfolds
StraReports of Strange Sounds all over the World.nge sounds on the Winter road going to Kash from Msne
Mysterious 'Sound Of Apocalypse' on Costa Rica Tv 1/9/12
Strange Sounds Costa Rica 2012
Strange sounds around the world are apocalypse trumpets
2012 - Don't Be Scared - Be Prepared
A new documentary about earths polar shift is available online at: http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureofthings/2010/northgoessouth/
Facts about Magnetic North Pole
Since the 70s, the pole has moved more than 1500 km at a rate of 10 kilometres a year. In the 1980s, this increased to 30 km a year. Today, the Pole travels 50, even 60 km - close to 150 metres a day.
Scientists don't quite know why its speed has increased these past 20 years. The magnetic pole is moving northwest of the geographic pole and may soon be across the Arctic Ocean in Siberia.
To find their bearings, sailors the world over must know the exact angle of difference between the two geographic and the magnetic north poles: the 'magnetic declination.'
The magnetic pole moves from the North to the South and vice versa every 250,000 years on average and does it very suddenly. Over 180 reversals have been recorded already.
As the intensity of the magnetic field tends to diminish, our planet becomes more susceptible to solar storms. In 100 years, the intensity has decreased by 15%."
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureofthings/2010/northgoessouth/
Video retrieved from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/magnetic/
STAND-BY: LIVE 1730 ET!! Your Interview with the President
You asked the questions, and today President Obama will answer.
Tune in at 5:30 p.m. E.T. today for the first-ever completely virtual interview from the White House.
VIA: http://www.whitehouse.gov/
More Than 100 Hurt In Peru Quake
CA, Peru, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- A 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck near the coast of central Peru Monday, injuring 96 people and damaging several buildings, officials said.
The quake's epicenter was about 9 miles southeast of the city of Ica and about 173 miles south-southeast of the capital of Lima, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Preliminary damage reports by Civil Defense officials indicated the earthquake left at least three people homeless and several buildings uninhabitable, Radio Programas del Peru said.
CNN said several hotels reported power outages but no damage.
Witnesses said shaking was felt as far away as Lima.
The earthquake was 24.4 miles deep, USGS said.
No tsunami warnings were issued.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/01/30/Earthquake-hits-near-Peru-dozens-injured/UPI-44141327927528/#ixzz1kxtw42i6
HugeCME-Major Flare-ProtonStorm--01/28/12
Sunspot Update and a nice review from the latest X 1.7 flare from Region 1402
My Solar Alerts:
http://mysolaralerts.blogspot.com/
NOAA Space Weather Scale for Solar Radiation Storms:
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/NOAAscales/
Here you find the Lasco C2 Movie Helioviewer:
http://helioviewer.org/?movieId=wNM15
ISWA CYGNET Streamer (CME )
http://iswa.gsfc.nasa.gov/downloads/20120127_200000_anim.tim-den.gif
Latest Stereo:
http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/beacon/
Music:
Kevin MacLeod
http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/
January 2012 Solar Flares
This is a video I pieced together from twelve days worth of SOHO C3 images of the sun around the time of the big January solar flare on the 23rd. The sound you hear is a recording of the sun's natural frequency. You can also see a subsequent flare around the 25th.
BREAKING NEWS!!! - EU Adopts Oil Embargo On Iran
BREAKING NEWS!!! - EU adopts oil embargo on Iran
European Union nations have formally adopted an oil embargo against Iran as part of sanctions over its nuclear program.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Monday called the measure part of "an unprecedented set of sanctions."
He says, "I think this shows the resolve of the European Union on this issue."
Diplomats say the measures, adopted by the EU's 27 foreign ministers, include an immediate embargo on new contracts for crude oil and petroleum products while existing ones are allowed to run until July.
Iran says its nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes. But many international officials fear the country is trying to develop nuclear weapons.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union nations agreed Monday on an oil embargo against Iran as part of sanctions meant to pressure the country to resume talks on its nuclear program.
Diplomats said the EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels would officially adopt the measures later Monday, now that the details had been hashed out by the 27 ambassadors to the EU. The measures include an immediate ban on new contracts for Iranian crude oil and petroleum products, while existing contracts will be allowed to run until July.
"I am confident that the EU will give a resolute answer today to Iran's refusal to fulfill its international obligations on the nuclear program," German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said, in anticipation of the official adoption by the foreign ministers.
Iran says its nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes, but many international officials fear the country is trying to develop nuclear weapons.
The EU will also likely freeze the assets of the Iranian central bank.
"The pressure of sanctions is designed to try and make sure that Iran takes seriously our request to come to the table," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.
In October, Ashton sent a letter to Saeed Jalili, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, saying her goal was a negotiated solution that "restores international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program."
She says she has not yet received a reply.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the goal of the sanctions would be to "increase the peaceful, legitimate pressure" on Iran to return to negotiations.
Negotiators have worked hard to try to ensure that the embargo punishes only Iran — and not EU member Greece, which is in dire financial trouble and relies heavily on low-priced Iranian oil.
EU negotiators have agreed to a review of the effects of the sanctions, to be completed by May 1, a diplomat said. He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the subject of ongoing talks.
"It is important to know what will happen to individual countries as a consequence of the sanctions," Ashton said.
Westerwelle said it was critical that action be taken.
"This is not a question of security in the region," he said. "It is a question of security in the world."
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Mystery Illnesses Update - Two Incidents on Jan. 26, 2012 - California & Washington D.C.
These incidents have been mapped: http://zeemaps.com/299401
Many incidents I report were found on: http://hazmat.globalincidentmap.com
Mystery illnesses playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFE81F8F29AD5EA0C&feature=view_all
Incident 1:
"The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) at 24 Street and 1st Avenue was evacuated Thursday morning around 10:04 a.m., according to the Sacramento Fire Department.
Sacramento Fire Asst. Chief Niko King said calls came in of a strong odor of diesel fuel at the location."
Read more:
http://www.news10.net/news/article/175347/2/Sacramento-DMV-evacuated-1-taken-ill-
Incident 2:
"Students and teachers were evacuated from Stuart-Hobson Middle School Thurday afternoon when a fire was reported at the Northeast campus.
The "fire" turned out to be an issue with a fluorescent light ballast. But eight students and one teacher told emergency responders that their eyes were burning, irritated by the odor, said D.C. Fire & EMS spokesman Lon Walls."
Read more at the Washington Examiner:
http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/dc/2012/01/eyes-burning-dcps-students-evacuated/2138366
Incident 2 is quite similar to another incident from Father Judge High School in Philadelphia, PA - December 2011:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlBsk-wtEMo
The same cause of irritation/illness was concluded. Fluorescent light bulb malfunction.
*** I realize my audio is low when speaking, sorry for that, not going to be a problem for much long as I am getting better A/V equipment in the next several days. I could amplify it even MORE but that in turn also amplifies the hissssssss that accompanies the audio.
*** Current mic: a built-in mic/cam combo crap by Dell. Crap model to avoid: SX2210. However, the VIDEO in this (upper left) was recorded with a Sony Handycam CCD-TRV65 in nightshot mode.
Earth Groaning Dawson Creek Canada 2012
The most eerie sound was echoing through the sky from somewhere. It could of even been coming from inside the Earth. It sounded like a low trumpet or a giant low harp. Too weird for words. I'm gonna drive around and see if I can record more. If anyone can explain this noise please send Me some info
Uploaded Jan 13 2012. Dawson Creek BC Canada. Location Unchaga Court Apartments. The street in the video is 13th Street.
and the cars traveling from left to right are on Alaska Ave
I don't know if these were earthquake warning sounds or earth or sky sounds but it was really low to high in frequency. It was like a beast groaning. Animal like really Strange. It sent chills up My spine.. We Had a 5.3 earthquake on April 16th 2001 it was centered 40 km Northeast of town I don't know if that has anything to do with it. But I never heard nothing like this before ever. This was not a Moose cause I went hunting with relatives many times and I never heard anything quite like this. This is not the same sound as they are hearing in Kiev. Its not and engine or machine. it sounded like a beast. I just hope it's not something bad
©Cjb http://youtu.be/RDayJlGrzoQ
Get Ready! Here comes Trouble!
Here comes the sun and Earthquakes! Second Class X flare seen on the 28th.
1/28/2012 -- Year of 2011-- most severe weather on record = OFFICIAL from NOAA
Here is the full blog post with links to the stats and stories .. as well as a breakdown of the OTHER EVENTS that are not listed by NOAA (they only list the BILLION DOLLAR events):
http://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fsincedutch.wordpress.com%2F2012%2F01%2F28%2F1282012-2011-was-the-most-severe-year-of-weather-on-record-officially%2F&session_token=100e-bzwZX2IcDVVcy4fhA12iI58MTMyNzg4MzU4OEAxMzI3Nzk3MTg4
THOUSANDS of people died in severe weather events this past year --- TENS OF THOUSANDS lost homes or were effected Directly by these storms... MILLIONS were partially effected.. and TENS of millions KNOW SOMEONE who was set back by these storms.
If you do NOT have a preparation plan --- please develop one. Im asking you to do it... if you already your plans.. make sure youre stocked up on essential survival items.
Have your family and friends up to speed on what to do/where to go when things get to the point of emergency.
As always.. Don't be scared.. be prepared !
WARNING: igfx.exe - Worm - IRC Bot
A suspicious file named igfx.exe has appeared in a virus analysis report. You can see it on this link
igfxtray.exe is a legitimate process that implements the system tray icon associated with the drivers for the Intel 81x series graphics chipset. It is usually located with C:\Windows\System32
The installer is of about 151 KB. It is identified as
Trojan.IRCBot!rem [PCTools]
Generic.dx!ugm [McAfee]
Trojan:Win32/Sisron [Microsoft]
Trojan.Win32.Ircbrute [Ikarus]
It makes changes to the hosts file so as to block security related websites
It tries to infect other computers in a network by launching a dictionary attack.
It communicates with a IRC channel to carry out malicious activities on the infected computer. You can read an article in Wikipedia devoted to IRCBot
Another useful reading is on Symantec website
There are no standalone removal tools created by Antivirus companies for removing IRCBot. Any antivirus program with help of a good firewall should be able to control the virus.
You can see other similar instances of tis virus under the title Similar in the right column. [keyword: ircbot]
It creates igfx.exe and other files on the infected computer that you need to search and delete. You should end running processes named igfx.exe from Task Manager. And also remove the file's entries from windows startup.
Warning: It is possible that some legitimate software may be using the same file names as that of the virus files. You do not have to delete these files if they belong to some legitimate program installed on your computer. Use Windows Defender or SysInternals Process Explorer to differentiate between them. The information in this article is presented without making any claims regarding its usefulness or otherwise. If you have any objections or questions, please send a note by adding a comment at the end of this page, or mail on support(at)comprolive.com
Preventive measures
Most of the viruses enter your computer when you visit some harmful website. If you use a browser plugin that warns you about harmful websites, you can prevent this from happening. A popular browser plugin is called Web Of Trust (WOT), you can install it from its website on this link.
[ a video about WOT plugin ]
Blocking Javascript of all sites by default can help to prevent drive by download infections. You can use Noscript Plugin for firefox as explained in this video. Similar functionality can be achieved in Google's Chromium browser using the settings in Preferences > Under the Hood > Content Settings > Java Script > Select "Do not Allow". After that when you visit a site, you will see a pop up next to the address bar asking you if you want to allow JavaScript to run for that particular site. The author of NoScript is writing a similar plugin for IE9 called GoodScript. Keep an eye on when it becomes available.
Some of the viruses are downloaded in Internet Cache or in the Temp folder of the windows. The viruses get activated when these files are executed. You can reduce the risk of virus infection if you empty your browser cache and remove windows temp files occasionally, ideally at the end of a browsing session or before closing down your computer. Some programs like CCleaner can be set to do these things automatically. [ a video about CCleaner ]
Do not leave your computer infected and insecure. If you doubt that there could be some undetected virus on your computer, don't leave it like that. Format the hard disk and reinstall windows and all other programs. That is the sure way to clear doubts.
Using System Restore
If you know the duration since your computer is infected, you can try to restore your computer at a prior date, that will be an easy way to undo the changes done by the virus
Using system restore in windows XP
Using system restore in windows Vista
Using system restore in windows7
[ Video of How to use System Restore ]
Boot in safe mode
Sometimes you can not delete a file. You should boot in safe mode and then try to delete it.
How to boot in safe in windows XP
How to boot in safe mode in windows Vista
How to boot in safe mode in windows7
View Hidden Files
You need to enable to view hidden files and folders before searching.
How to Enable to View Hidden Files and Folders in Windows XP
How to Enable to View Hidden Files and Folders in Windows Vista
How to Enable to View Hidden Files and Folders in Windows7
[ Video of How to enable Hidden files and folders ]
Remove Processes from Task Manager
Press Ctrl Alt Del keys to open the Task Manager.Select Processes tab. You will see a list. Look for the names igfx.exe in it. Select if found and press the End Process button. It will ask for your confirmation to end that process. Select Yes. You can end one process at a time. You can find out if a process in Task Manager is good or bad by using Windows Defender in XP and Vista. It shows the path of a process and its publisher. Harmful processes may be shown under Unknown Publisher in windows defender. Whereas in Windows7 you can find that out from the task manager itself. You can watch a video on How to use Windows Defender.
How to use Windows Defender in windows XP
How to use Windows Defender in windows Vista
How to use Windows Defender in windows7
Or you can use Sysinternal's Process Explorer. How to use Sysinternal's Process Explorer
[Video of How to use Sysinternal's/ Windows Process Explorer]
Removing entry from windows startup
The system configuration can be started in xp and in vista by typing msconfig in the run box/ start menu search box.
In xp by clicking on Start > run . The windows startup is reversible. You can check / uncheck any entry from windows startup any number of times. Watch a video on How to Use the Windows Startup
Open system configuration window.Click on the Startup tab. You will see a list all the programs that are scheduled to start with windows. Expand the middle column using your mouse pointer. That will show you the full path of the program. Locate and uncheck the boxes in front of these names "igfx.exe" (also look for any other suspicious names)Press Apply , Press Close/Ok , Select "restart" at the next prompt.
Deleting files
The computer will restart now. Delete the following files and folders. Boot in safe mode or boot in the dos prompt if needed. You can use windows search utility to search for igfx.exe
Files
C:\Windows\System32\mswindows\igfx.exe
Folders
C:\Windows\System32\mswindows
Files in Temp folder
-
Installer File
[file and pathname of the sample #1]
(We do not know the name or the location of sample #1, it could be in your default download location or on the desktop or in a Temp folder. The files and folders in the Temp folder can be automatically removed, if you use a freeware temp files/ registry cleaner software like CCleaner)
Repair Hosts File
To repair/ edit the hosts file. Login as administrator. open the following file in notepad
C:\ WINDOWS \system32 \drivers \etc \hosts
remove anything other than 127.0.0.1 Localhost, and save and close the file.
Registry Keys
Some of the registry keys will be automatically removed if you run Registry menu of CCleaner. For others you can see the report mentioned at the beginning of this article .
Using CCleaner
You can easily remove the files in the temp folder by running CCleaner. You can set CCleaner to run automatically each time the computer starts. Do not forget to run CCleaner > Registry menu to remove the obsolete registry entries.
more about CCleaner on this link
[Video on how to use CCleaner]
Free tools to repair disabled folder options, registry, Task Manager etc
Whereas you can repair disabled Folder Options, disabled Registry Tools, disabled Task Manager, Disabled System Restore etc using these free tools
Tools for Windows Vista
Tools for Windows XP
Tools for Windows7
Use the System File Checker
To repair altered deleted or modified windows system files.
How to run System File Checker utility in windows XP
How to run System File Checker utility in windows Vista
How to run System File Checker utility in windows7
Additional Information
Virus infections are complex. Most of the times a virus on the computer downloads more files and make it complicated. In my attempt to warn users about the different ways that viruses are trying to infect and ways to find them and remove, I have created videos on specific Free tools and manual methods, these videos could be of great help
1) To detect and remove malicious Alternate Data Streams - Stream Armour
2) To detect and remove malicious Services - Advanced WinService Manager
3) To detect and remove viruses in Fake recycle Bin - Watch Video
4) keep an eye on suspicious connections using a Firewall - Free Comodo Firewall
5) A free tool to detect and remove unwanted BHOs - SpyBHO Remover
Reprinted with permission from Threatexpert.com
igfxtray.exe is a legitimate process that implements the system tray icon associated with the drivers for the Intel 81x series graphics chipset. It is usually located with C:\Windows\System32
The installer is of about 151 KB. It is identified as
Trojan.IRCBot!rem [PCTools]
Generic.dx!ugm [McAfee]
Trojan:Win32/Sisron [Microsoft]
Trojan.Win32.Ircbrute [Ikarus]
It makes changes to the hosts file so as to block security related websites
It tries to infect other computers in a network by launching a dictionary attack.
It communicates with a IRC channel to carry out malicious activities on the infected computer. You can read an article in Wikipedia devoted to IRCBot
Another useful reading is on Symantec website
There are no standalone removal tools created by Antivirus companies for removing IRCBot. Any antivirus program with help of a good firewall should be able to control the virus.
You can see other similar instances of tis virus under the title Similar in the right column. [keyword: ircbot]
It creates igfx.exe and other files on the infected computer that you need to search and delete. You should end running processes named igfx.exe from Task Manager. And also remove the file's entries from windows startup.
Warning: It is possible that some legitimate software may be using the same file names as that of the virus files. You do not have to delete these files if they belong to some legitimate program installed on your computer. Use Windows Defender or SysInternals Process Explorer to differentiate between them. The information in this article is presented without making any claims regarding its usefulness or otherwise. If you have any objections or questions, please send a note by adding a comment at the end of this page, or mail on support(at)comprolive.com
Preventive measures
Most of the viruses enter your computer when you visit some harmful website. If you use a browser plugin that warns you about harmful websites, you can prevent this from happening. A popular browser plugin is called Web Of Trust (WOT), you can install it from its website on this link.
[ a video about WOT plugin ]
Blocking Javascript of all sites by default can help to prevent drive by download infections. You can use Noscript Plugin for firefox as explained in this video. Similar functionality can be achieved in Google's Chromium browser using the settings in Preferences > Under the Hood > Content Settings > Java Script > Select "Do not Allow". After that when you visit a site, you will see a pop up next to the address bar asking you if you want to allow JavaScript to run for that particular site. The author of NoScript is writing a similar plugin for IE9 called GoodScript. Keep an eye on when it becomes available.
Some of the viruses are downloaded in Internet Cache or in the Temp folder of the windows. The viruses get activated when these files are executed. You can reduce the risk of virus infection if you empty your browser cache and remove windows temp files occasionally, ideally at the end of a browsing session or before closing down your computer. Some programs like CCleaner can be set to do these things automatically. [ a video about CCleaner ]
Do not leave your computer infected and insecure. If you doubt that there could be some undetected virus on your computer, don't leave it like that. Format the hard disk and reinstall windows and all other programs. That is the sure way to clear doubts.
Using System Restore
If you know the duration since your computer is infected, you can try to restore your computer at a prior date, that will be an easy way to undo the changes done by the virus
Using system restore in windows XP
Using system restore in windows Vista
Using system restore in windows7
[ Video of How to use System Restore ]
Boot in safe mode
Sometimes you can not delete a file. You should boot in safe mode and then try to delete it.
How to boot in safe in windows XP
How to boot in safe mode in windows Vista
How to boot in safe mode in windows7
View Hidden Files
You need to enable to view hidden files and folders before searching.
How to Enable to View Hidden Files and Folders in Windows XP
How to Enable to View Hidden Files and Folders in Windows Vista
How to Enable to View Hidden Files and Folders in Windows7
[ Video of How to enable Hidden files and folders ]
Remove Processes from Task Manager
Press Ctrl Alt Del keys to open the Task Manager.Select Processes tab. You will see a list. Look for the names igfx.exe in it. Select if found and press the End Process button. It will ask for your confirmation to end that process. Select Yes. You can end one process at a time. You can find out if a process in Task Manager is good or bad by using Windows Defender in XP and Vista. It shows the path of a process and its publisher. Harmful processes may be shown under Unknown Publisher in windows defender. Whereas in Windows7 you can find that out from the task manager itself. You can watch a video on How to use Windows Defender.
How to use Windows Defender in windows XP
How to use Windows Defender in windows Vista
How to use Windows Defender in windows7
Or you can use Sysinternal's Process Explorer. How to use Sysinternal's Process Explorer
[Video of How to use Sysinternal's/ Windows Process Explorer]
Removing entry from windows startup
The system configuration can be started in xp and in vista by typing msconfig in the run box/ start menu search box.
In xp by clicking on Start > run . The windows startup is reversible. You can check / uncheck any entry from windows startup any number of times. Watch a video on How to Use the Windows Startup
Open system configuration window.Click on the Startup tab. You will see a list all the programs that are scheduled to start with windows. Expand the middle column using your mouse pointer. That will show you the full path of the program. Locate and uncheck the boxes in front of these names "igfx.exe" (also look for any other suspicious names)Press Apply , Press Close/Ok , Select "restart" at the next prompt.
Deleting files
The computer will restart now. Delete the following files and folders. Boot in safe mode or boot in the dos prompt if needed. You can use windows search utility to search for igfx.exe
Files
C:\Windows\System32\mswindows\igfx.exe
Folders
C:\Windows\System32\mswindows
Files in Temp folder
-
Installer File
[file and pathname of the sample #1]
(We do not know the name or the location of sample #1, it could be in your default download location or on the desktop or in a Temp folder. The files and folders in the Temp folder can be automatically removed, if you use a freeware temp files/ registry cleaner software like CCleaner)
Repair Hosts File
To repair/ edit the hosts file. Login as administrator. open the following file in notepad
C:\ WINDOWS \system32 \drivers \etc \hosts
remove anything other than 127.0.0.1 Localhost, and save and close the file.
Registry Keys
Some of the registry keys will be automatically removed if you run Registry menu of CCleaner. For others you can see the report mentioned at the beginning of this article .
Using CCleaner
You can easily remove the files in the temp folder by running CCleaner. You can set CCleaner to run automatically each time the computer starts. Do not forget to run CCleaner > Registry menu to remove the obsolete registry entries.
more about CCleaner on this link
[Video on how to use CCleaner]
Free tools to repair disabled folder options, registry, Task Manager etc
Whereas you can repair disabled Folder Options, disabled Registry Tools, disabled Task Manager, Disabled System Restore etc using these free tools
Tools for Windows Vista
Tools for Windows XP
Tools for Windows7
Use the System File Checker
To repair altered deleted or modified windows system files.
How to run System File Checker utility in windows XP
How to run System File Checker utility in windows Vista
How to run System File Checker utility in windows7
Additional Information
Virus infections are complex. Most of the times a virus on the computer downloads more files and make it complicated. In my attempt to warn users about the different ways that viruses are trying to infect and ways to find them and remove, I have created videos on specific Free tools and manual methods, these videos could be of great help
1) To detect and remove malicious Alternate Data Streams - Stream Armour
2) To detect and remove malicious Services - Advanced WinService Manager
3) To detect and remove viruses in Fake recycle Bin - Watch Video
4) keep an eye on suspicious connections using a Firewall - Free Comodo Firewall
5) A free tool to detect and remove unwanted BHOs - SpyBHO Remover
Reprinted with permission from Threatexpert.com
1/26/2012 -- USDA says NEW WARM LATITUDES shift north = Russia/Sibera North pole
ALL POINTS BULLETIN TO PEOPLE INTERESTED IN THE TOPIC OF EARTH CHANGES!
This story is a MUST READ !!! http://sincedutch.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/1262012-usda-confirms-warm-latitud...
FINALLY ! It all ties together.
Strange animal deaths starting last year.... global uptick in earthquakes.... weather patterns shifting / changing noticeably .... compasses showing variances .... airports changing their runway alignment .... sun rising early in Greenland .... record snow over Russia/Alaska .... north pole shifting .... gravity and moon anomalies... the list goes on.. but you get the point..
And now this latest story — the USDA confirms that indeed WARM LATITUDES have shifted north!!!
ALERT !! What once was the climate of New Orleans Louisiana to North Florida is now the Climate of South Missouri to North Carolina !!! Plants will be able to live in these warmer new climates developing... thus some tropical species will thrive in what were once colder temperate zones.
This is HUGE news!!!
In my opinion — this all can now be put together into one narrative — THE EARTHS MAGNETIC POLES HAVE SHIFTED .. this is not wild conspiracy talk .. it is now being confirmed by stories like this USDA announcement.
Original USDA story here: http://www.ksdk.com/news/world/article/299650/28/USDA-releases-new-planting-z...
===============================
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PLEASE help if you can !
The help of the INDIVIDUAL viewer is indeed needed !!!
As you can see on my websites — I have no advertisements, sponsors, and am not selling any products.
In exchange for no corporate backing...
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MANY THANKS for thinking about helping —- and special thanks to those who have helped in the past !
Thursday, January 26, 2012
NOVA Magnetic Pole Flip 530,000 Years Overdue & Happening Now?
A new documentary about earths polar shift is available online at: http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureofthings/2010/northgoessouth/
Facts about Magnetic North Pole
Since the 70s, the pole has moved more than 1500 km at a rate of 10 kilometres a year. In the 1980s, this increased to 30 km a year. Today, the Pole travels 50, even 60 km - close to 150 metres a day.
Scientists don't quite know why its speed has increased these past 20 years. The magnetic pole is moving northwest of the geographic pole and may soon be across the Arctic Ocean in Siberia.
To find their bearings, sailors the world over must know the exact angle of difference between the two geographic and the magnetic north poles: the 'magnetic declination.'
The magnetic pole moves from the North to the South and vice versa every 250,000 years on average and does it very suddenly. Over 180 reversals have been recorded already.
As the intensity of the magnetic field tends to diminish, our planet becomes more susceptible to solar storms. In 100 years, the intensity has decreased by 15%."
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/natureofthings/2010/northgoessouth/
Video retrieved from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/magnetic/
Magnetic Pole Shifting/Grand Alignment
http://nsidc.org/data/google_earth/index.html#sea_ice_index_sept
NICT Magnetosphere Jan 21-22 2012 - Losing the Southpole, Immense Blast!
Source: http://www2.nict.go.jp/y/y223/simulation/realtime/index.html
http://poleshift.ning.com/profiles/blogs/please-place-your-soho-amp
Divers has discovered an unexplained object resting at the bottom of the Baltic Sea near Sweden
CNN - Brooke Bowman
Nearby on the sea floor is another, smaller object with a similar shape.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/video-divers-large-unexplained-object-bo...
"This thing turned up. My first reaction was to tell the guys that we have a UFO here on the bottom," said Peter Lindberg, the leader of the amateur treasure hunters.
SKY VIEW TIME LAPSE SUNRISE JANUARY 26, 2012 A VERY BUSY UNIVERSE
CFHT CLOUDCAM TIME LAPSE SUNSET TO SUNRISE JANUARY 25-26, 2012
Venus, Jupiter, and Mars — three of our four closest planetary neighbors — adorn the evening sky as the new year breaks. Venus is the dazzling "evening star" in the west at sunset, with only slightly fainter Jupiter high in the south at the same hour. Orange Mars rises by around 11 p.m. as January opens, but about two hours earlier at month's end.
January 26, 2012
The crescent Moon and the dazzling "evening star" stand high in the west-southwest as night falls this evening. Venus, the evening star, is to the lower left of the Moon.
January 27, 2012
Leo, the lion, springs into the evening sky this month. Its brightest star, Regulus, rises around 7:30 or 8 p.m., with the body of the lion following over the next couple of hours. Denebola, the star that marks its tail, rises around 10 p.m.
January 28, 2012
The big dog trots across the southern sky on winter nights — the constellation Canis Major. It is escorted by the little dog, Canis Minor, which is to the upper left of the big dog in early evening, marked by its brightest star, Procyon.
SUNSET PLANETS: For the second day in a row, Venus and the crescent Moon are shining together in the sunset sky. Look west at the end of the day for a beautiful view.
MORE SOLAR ACTIVITY: Sunspot AR1402, the source of this week's powerful M9-class solar flare, is acting up again. On Jan. 26th between 0100 UT and 0600 UT, a sequence of C-class magnetic eruptions around the active region hurled a bright coronal mass ejection over the sun's north pole. The cloud is not heading toward Earth, at least not directly. This and future eruptions from AR1402 are unlikely to be geoeffective as the sunspot is turning away from our planet. By week's end it will be on the far side of the sun, blasting its CMEs toward planets on the opposite side of the solar system.
When an intense solar flare erupted from the sun this week, it exploded from a busy sunspot on the surface of our nearest star.
The sunspot, which scientists call Active Region 1402, appears as a huge blemish moving across the northern region of the sun in photos snapped by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and other spacecraft. In addition to firing off several flares in recent days, the sunspot unleashed a powerful eruption late Sunday night (Jan. 22) to create the strongest solar radiation storm since 2005 to hit Earth.
That radiation storm is bombarding Earth today and may spark dazzling northern lights displays for skywatchers at northern latitudes where it is currently night, NASA scientists have said. It may also create minor interference with satellites in Earth orbit, but poses no threat to the six astronauts currently living on the International Space Station, they added.
Sunspots on the solar surface arise from intense magnetic activity on the sun. This activity can block the flow of heat through the sun's convection process, which in turn causes some areas of the star's surface to cool down. These cooler regions appear dimmer than their surrounding areas, creating the dark blemishes known as sunspots. Sunspots are temporary features on the sun that can last for several days or up to several weeks. They typically range from 1,500 miles to 30,000 miles (2,500-50,000 kilometers) in size.
One of the largest sunspots in recent years occurred in late 2011, when a sunspot about 50,000 miles (80,000 km) long, and 25,000 miles (40,000 km) wide was spotted by space telescopes.
The sun's sunspot cycle lasts 11 years and serves as a key identifier for the solar weather cycle. Right now, the sun is in an active phase of its current weather cycle — called Solar Cycle 24 — which is expected to peak in 2013.
space.com
spaceweather.com
stardate.org
strictlyhonest.com
spaceref.com
Strange sounds 2012, 23 Jan, West Midlands, UK
"I was walking my dog this evening when I heard this really freaky sound. I searched on the internet to find out what it might be and realised lots of other people have been hearing similar sounds. I'm fightened now and want an explanation! I'm sorry the video isn't very long but I got too scared to stay there any longer."
Strange Sounds Banff Alberta Canada Jan 22 2012
"We were over by Vermillion Lakes and the sound started again, I'm sure people on the highway above heard it this time with us"
Weird strange noise in entire sky over Belair, South Australia, 24 January 2012
"Very loud, deep, surround sound over Belair. Sounded like a massive machine of some kind hugely amplified."
Strange Sounds Banff Alberta Canada Jan 23 2012
"this time we were at Johnson lake when we heard the sound, what's going on 3 days in a row, people in town told us they heard it downtown as well by kellers"
Waking up to strange sounds in my neighborhood - Montreal
"I woke up this morning and heard this super weird and loud sound. Some of you, like me, might think this is probably a kid miserably trying to play the tuba or something, but I assure you when I stepped outside, it was far from that. This weird noise went on for about 3 hours...
Super weird....."
Strange Sounds Reported Around North Battleford 2012
Mirrored from YTer http://www.youtube.com/user/StephenHannardADGUK
There's been a lot of buzz over the last few weeks about strange sounds being heard in the atmosphere. People around the world and here at home have reported hearing some bizarre noises. The latest were recorded in the Battlefords last weekend.
Ian Hamilton, North Battleford's mayor, says he can't explain it. "What I experienced was a scraping sound, like a snowplow."
Mike Halstead, a North Battleford resident, was lying in bed when his phone rang. Calls and text messages came in from his friends, each reporting strange noises. "That's when the goose bumps got me and I thought 'that's awfully strange'."
It's now days after and the city is still abuzz with talk about the sounds. Everyone has his or her own theory. But the phenomenon has stretched beyond North Battleford. Similar experiences were reported in Saskatoon, northern Saskatchewan, and parts of the USA and Europe.
University of Saskatchewan professor Jean-Pierre St. Maurice says there is a natural explanation. "Somehow they are picking up noise from an electrical antenna that is there. That is electromagnetic noise. "
St. Maurice says its normal and there is nothing to worry about. Whether a scientific explanation will satisfy all the people who heard something they can't explain is up in the air.
Strange sound in Germany / with english subs ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSPiSRHvI3A&feature=player_embedded
Earth Groans Or HAARP Warfare? - The Strange Sound Phenomenon: http://beforeitsnews.com/story/1113/070/Earth_Groans_Or_HAARP_Warfare_-_The_S...
Strange sounds in Conklin, Alberta Jan. 12/2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtLNmdZTf_g&feature=youtu.be
Strange sounds 2012 manitoba canada (the pas) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf4e-AxJ7nM&feature=youtu.be
STRANGE SOUNDS sound in Czech Republic. Scary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjQcEP_Y72o&feature=youtu.be
Strange sounds on Earth - 1 (US TV) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLXrw2iZ99Y&feature=youtu.be
Strange Rumbling Sound - Maryland US http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwx6OmnD_jg&feature=youtu.be
MORE STRANGE SOUNDS FROM BUDAPEST HUNGARY January 11th 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMe3jwUeqII&feature=youtu.be
Strange Sounds Costa Rica 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqsGBEk_Uy8&feature=youtu.be
Strange Sounds in Colorado Before Earthquake http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JArPkrS4LYQ&feature=youtu.be
ADG Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alien-Disclosure-Group/189249627773146
Follow ADG on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ADG_UK
strange sounds January in San Bernardino, CA
Unknown loud sound in san bernardino, Ca jan. 12, 2012. only caught the last few seconds of it.
BREAKING NEWS!! -Triple Threat Solar Flare Blasts Radiation Storm Toward Earth
A fastball of high-energy matter from the Sun is blasting toward the Earth and is expected to cause the largest solar radiation storm since 2005.
Late last night, a solar flare caused a coronal mass ejection, or the release of a burst of charged particles, from the sun's atmosphere, and it's heading toward the Earth at 1,400 miles per second, according to NASA.
The concern is that a magnetic storm from the solar flare could affect GPS systems and some communications systems, especially in higher altitudes in the north. NASA estimates that the storm could reach the Earth's magnetic field as early as tomorrow morning Eastern Time.
"With the radiation storm in progress now, satellite operators could be experiencing trouble, and there are probably impacts as well to high frequency [radio] communications in polar regions," Doug Biesecker, a physicist at the Space Weather Prediction Center, told the Washington Post.
Spaceweather.com said the cloud that broke off from an active sun spot will deliver a "strong glancing blow" to the Earth's magnetic field.
Ranked an S3 event by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the radiation storm could mean such things as isolated reboots of Earth-orbiting satellites, according to Spaceweather.com. Spacecraft are not expected to be launched during the event, and aircraft that travel in polar regions will be rerouted as well.
So far, no impacts from the radiation storm have been noticed, and the Earth has seen stronger geomagnetic activity as recently as 2010, according to the National Weather Service's Space Weather Prediction Center.
The Jackdazey Project 2.0 2012 due to be release on 02/12/12 2 days before Valentines day along with the book "Dying For Her Love. at the follwing links
Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Dying-Her-Love-Diary-ebook/dp/B00381ALMK/ref=cm_cr_pr_p...
http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/dying-for-her-love---a-love-diary/17380828
[Free Download Link] http://goo.gl/J3mHU of "Crying Out" and My book "Dying For Her Love" for liking my Facebook Page
Show your support by purchasing this song here:
Get it on Itunes
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-jackdazey-project-vol-1/id271022738
Get it on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/The-Jackdazey-Project-Vol-1/dp/B0019J2B62
Solar Flare Disrupts Communications
olar flare caught on camera
Solar CME January 22 2012
Strongest solar storm since 2005 hitting Earth
SOLAR FLARE M8.7 - CME
M9 Class Flare and CME / RADIATION STORM IN PROGRESS
CME and Solar Event M-9 on Jan 23, 2012
LASCO C2 ParticleStorm 2012/01/23
Solar Flare to Earth! This Week!
SOLAR FLARE 01/19/2012 Heading Earth
Coronal Mass Ejection - CACTus (Jan 23, 2012)
Extreme Solar Flares
Strong Geomagnetic Storm Watch Latest Update
'Strange sounds' heard WORLDWIDE!
Strange Moaning Sounds Around The World are Skyquakes: Warnings From Earth's Destabilizing Core
Harmonics may signal massive Earth core slippage
LINK http://goo.gl/4FqDb
Despite the fact that a few believe the Earth may flip on its axis, that's not very likely to happen.
Is the sky falling? No, the Earth's core is slipping...
Massive Solar Proton Event Fry The Earth
http://goo.gl/MdXYV
What is happening is the liquid iron core of the Earth is spinning at a different rate than the planet's rotation and the slippage is causing a measurable migration of the Earth's magnetic field. http://www.amazon.com/Dying-Her-Love-Diary-ebook/dp/B00381ALMK/ref=cm_cr_pr_p...
Earth's magnetic field in state of uncontrollable flux
The skyquakes are caused by harmonics deep inside the Earth traveling from a mutating core through the layers of the planet to the surface. The sky acts as a sounding board capturing and magnifying the sonic and electrical frequencies shot from the center of the world.
Life depends on Earth's core. Something's happening to it.
Death and destruction on an Apocalyptic scale
The stresses building up in the core deep in the heart of the world also migrate outwards to the mantel and eventually the crust. Slipping strata within the bowels of the planet create incredible pressures...pressures so great that temperatures soar and dense metals flow like liquids. [See Doomsday: Earth's core spinning out of control]
Water becomes a superheated plasma and interacts with layers of quartz crystals emitting harmonics audible as a hum and also generating earth lights and skyquakes echoing across the sky . [See: Underground lightning may cause earthquake and volcanic events]
LINK http://goo.gl/4FqDb
The Mysterious Noise 2012
Apocalyptic Sounds Heard All Around The world 2012
Strange Sounds
Strange Sounds Of The Apocalypse - Scotland
Strange Sounds 2012 Earth Groanings Weird
Strange Sounds In Nottingham England
STRANGE SOUNDS IN BIRMINGHAM UK
Strange Sounds in Canada
Strange Sounds Chile January 12, 2012
Strange Sounds Mexico 2012
Explanation of the "Strange Sounds" and Groanings of the Earth heard WORLDWIDE
Strange sound in Chicago, IL. - Weird noise from sky
Strange sounds in Los Angeles, Ca 01/16/2012
Earth Groaning? Strange Noises
Strange iINTENSEe Invisible Sounds in Sky
Strange noises in Melbourne, Australia
STRANGE SOUNDS all over the world (Czech Republic)
Strange Sounds In Edmonton Alberta
Strange Sounds Heard Worldwide in 2012: Trumpets of Revelation?
Mysterious Sounds in Costa Rica (Sounds of the Apocalypse)
"Booming" Trumpet of the "Apocalypse" In Costa Rica 2012 Prophecy Unfolds
StraReports of Strange Sounds all over the World.nge sounds on the Winter road going to Kash from Msne
Mysterious 'Sound Of Apocalypse' on Costa Rica Tv 1/9/12
Strange Sounds Costa Rica 2012
Strange sounds around the world are apocalypse trumpets
Ex-CIA Officer: Worst-case Iran scenario is WW3!
Washington is fully prepared for an armed conflict with Iran -- says the US defence department. The Pentagon chief Leon Panetta says there's still room for dialogue but sufficient military forces are in the Persian Gulf in case Tehran decides to block a vital oil route there. This comes after Iran said it would close the Strait of Hormuz only if the country's security -- and the security of its nuclear facilities -- is threatened. Tehran is backed by Russia which says military action would bring disastrous results. Iran agreed to resume six-party talks over its atomic programme. But there are fears the country is already under attack, after the latest murder of one of its nuclear scientists, which Tehran blames on Israel. Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi says a military confrontation in the Gulf could lead to a new world war.
How to change your IP Address with a proxy
This short video shows you just how to change your IP Address by installing a proxy plugin to your browser. Full instructional video. Some of the sites referenced (in order of appearance).
http://addons.mozilla.org (Getting the proxy switcher or FoxyProxy plugin)
http://www.proxy-list.org (Finding proxies by country)
http://www.howtofindIP.com (testing your IP)
http://www.topix.net (testing for location)
Interview with former CIA agent Robert Baer
Former CIA agent Robert Baer speaks with Kerry OBrien.
Mr Baer argues that the United States has Iran wrong and that a long-term détente has to be negotiated that recognises the reality of Irans dominance in the Middle East.
ROBERT BAER: ...the United States looks at the Middle East through Israel. And the Arabs and the Persians look at Israel as an outpost of the United States of the West. ...there's financial corruption in Washington. I mean, everywhere you go. I think we've seen that in Iraq with $120 billion which has disappeared of aid money. Money buys votes in Washington.
Fukushima Radiation Rises Nuclear update 1/24/12
Radioactive release from Fukushima plant rises
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says the amount of radioactive substances being released from the plant has risen slightly. It attributes the rise to increased human activities onsite.
Tokyo Electric has been measuring the levels of radioactive substances released from damaged reactors at the plant since the accident in March.
The level measured onsite was 800-trillion becquerels per hour immediately after the accident.
Readings continued to decline, and in November and December dropped to 60 million becquerels per hour. That is about one 13 millionth the initial level.
But the company says the levels were slightly up to 70 million becquerels per hour in January.
The company says that radioactive materials around the No. 2 reactor, the surrounding of which is still highly contaminated, were stirred up by a number of workers going in and out of the building.
They were working to insert an optical fiberscope into the containment vessel as an initial step toward decommissioning the reactor.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012 11:04 +0900 (JST)
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120124_10.html
93% of Japan's nuclear reactors offline
Govt to support Fukushima compensation fund
Noda aims for decisive political action
*WATCH* Sundance Premiere: "Death Row" in NY town where nuclear reactors leaked — "Almost every house on this street had somebody who was sick with cancer or something else" (VIDEO)
Japan Professor: "Inconceivable" that no records were kept by gov't early on in Fukushima crisis — Top official says records will be 'created' soon
Japan Professor: "Inconceivable" that no records were kept by gov't early on in Fukushima crisis — Top official says records will be 'created' soon
M4.3 quake hits near Fukushima within past hour — Strongest intensity felt at monitoring post 14km from plant
NHK: Tepco says increase of radioactive releases is from workers going in and out of Reactor 2 (VIDEO)
Fukushima hit by another M4.5 quake (MAPS)
Radiation dose spikes thoughout Tokyo area after yesterday's quake (CHARTS)
LINK TO PINKSAPPHIRET READING ARTICLE ABOUT OOPS WE WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO SAY THAT HERE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v36JP0NDVBk
CREDITS TO PINKSAPPHIRET on YouTube.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Winamp Tutorial - Playlisting
In this tutorial learn different ways to create and edit your playlists. Including how to add streaming urls to your playlist, how to get Winamp to dynamically generate a playlist, and how to shuffle all songs in your media library.
For more information on Winamp or to watch additional How-to videos visit the Winamp Blog - http://blog.winamp.com/
Winamp Tutorial - Getting Started
This video is geared towards the new Winamp user. Is shows you how to add music to your Winamp media library, how to customize the Bento skin, as well as how to find and upload album art.
For more information on Winamp or to watch additional How-to videos visit the Winamp Blog - http://blog.winamp.com/
Monday, January 23, 2012
FBI CHARGES FORMER CIA AGENT
ALEXANDRIA, VA—A former CIA officer, John Kiriakou, was charged today with repeatedly disclosing classified information to journalists, including the name of a covert CIA officer and information revealing the role of another CIA employee in classified activities, Justice Department officials announced. The charges result from an investigation that was triggered by a classified defense filing in January 2009, which contained classified information the defense had not been given through official government channels, and, in part, by the discovery in the spring of 2009 of photographs of certain government employees and contractors in the materials of high-value detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The investigation revealed that on multiple occasions, one of the journalists to whom Kiriakou is alleged to have illegally disclosed classified information, in turn, disclosed that information to a defense team investigator, and that this information was reflected in the classified defense filing and enabled the defense team to take or obtain surveillance photographs of government personnel. There are no allegations of criminal activity by any members of the defense team for the detainees.
Kiriakou, 47, of Arlington, Va., was a CIA intelligence officer between 1990 and 2004, serving at headquarters and in various classified overseas assignments. He is scheduled to appear at 2 p.m. today before U.S. Magistrate Judge John F. Anderson in federal court in Alexandria.
Kiriakou was charged with one count of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act for allegedly illegally disclosing the identity of a covert officer and two counts of violating the Espionage Act for allegedly illegally disclosing national defense information to individuals not authorized to receive it. Kiriakou was also charged with one count of making false statements for allegedly lying to the Publications Review Board of the CIA in an unsuccessful attempt to trick the CIA into allowing him to include classified information in a book he was seeking to publish.
The four-count criminal complaint, which was filed today in the Eastern District of Virginia, alleges that Kiriakou made illegal disclosures about two CIA employees and their involvement in classified operations to two journalists on multiple occasions between 2007 and 2009. In one case, revealing the employee’s name as a CIA officer disclosed classified information as the employee was and remains covert (identified in the complaint as “Covert Officer A”). In the second case, Kiriakou allegedly disclosed the name and contact information of an employee, identified in the complaint as “Officer B,” whose participation in an operation to capture and question terrorism subject Abu Zubaydah in 2002 was then classified. Kiriakou’s alleged disclosures occurred prior to a June 2008 front-page story in The New York Times disclosing Officer B’s alleged role in the Abu Zubaydah operation.
“Safeguarding classified information, including the identities of CIA officers involved in sensitive operations, is critical to keeping our intelligence officers safe and protecting our national security,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “Today’s charges reinforce the Justice Department’s commitment to hold accountable anyone who would violate the solemn duty not to disclose such sensitive information.”
Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, who was appointed Special Attorney in 2010 to supervise the investigation, said: “I want to thank the Washington Field Office of the FBI and the team of attorneys assigned to this matter for their hard work and dedication to tracing the sources of the leaks of classified information.” Mr. Fitzgerald announced the charges with James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the Washington Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and they thanked the Central Intelligence Agency for its very substantial assistance in the investigation, as well as the Air Force Office of Special Investigations for its significant assistance.
“Protecting the identities of America’s covert operatives is one of the most important responsibilities of those who are entrusted with roles in our nation’s intelligence community. The FBI and our intelligence community partners work diligently to hold accountable those who violate that special trust,” said Mr. McJunkin.
The CIA filed a crimes report with the Justice Department on March 19, 2009, prior to the discovery of the photographs and after reviewing the Jan. 19, 2009, classified filing by defense counsel for certain detainees with the military commission then responsible for adjudicating charges. The defense filing contained information relating to the identities and activities of covert government personnel, but prior to Jan. 19, 2009, there had been no authorized disclosure to defense counsel of the classified information. The Justice Department’s National Security Division, working with the FBI, began the investigation. To avoid the risk of encountering a conflict of interest because of the pending prosecutions of some of the high-value detainees, Mr. Fitzgerald was assigned to supervise the investigation conducted by a team of attorneys from the Southern District of New York, the Northern District of Illinois, and the Counterespionage Section of the National Security Division who were not involved in pending prosecutions of the detainees.
According to the complaint affidavit, the investigation determined that no laws were broken by the defense team as no law prohibited defense counsel from filing a classified document under seal outlining for a court classified information they had learned during the course of their investigation. Regarding the 32 pages of photographs that were taken or obtained by the defense team and provided to the detainees, the investigation found no evidence the defense attorneys transmitting the photographs were aware of, much less disclosed, the identities of the persons depicted in particular photographs and no evidence that the defense team disclosed other classified matters associated with certain of those individuals to the detainees. The defense team did not take photographs of persons known or believed to be current covert officers. Rather, defense counsel, using a technique known as a double-blind photo lineup, provided photograph spreads of unidentified individuals to their clients to determine whether they recognized anyone who may have participated in questioning them. No law or military commission order expressly prohibited defense counsel from providing their clients with these photo spreads.
Further investigation, based in part on e-mails recovered from judicially-authorized search warrants served on two e-mail accounts associated with Kiriakou, allegedly revealed that:
Kiriakou disclosed to Journalist A the name of Covert Officer A and the fact that Covert Officer A was involved in a particular classified operation. The journalist then provided the defense investigator with the full name of the covert CIA employee;
Kiriakou disclosed or confirmed to Journalists A, B, and C the then-classified information that Officer B participated in the Abu Zubaydah operation and provided two of those journalists with contact information for Officer B, including a personal e-mail address. One of the journalists subsequently provided the defense investigator with Officer B’s home telephone number, which the investigator used to identify and photograph Officer B; and
Kiriakou lied to the CIA regarding the existence and use of a classified technique, referred to as a “magic box,” in an unsuccessful effort to trick the CIA into allowing him to publish information about the classified technique in a book.
Upon joining the CIA in 1990 and on multiple occasions in following years, Kiriakou signed secrecy and non-disclosure agreements not to disclose classified information to unauthorized individuals.
Regarding Covert Officer A, the affidavit details a series of e-mail communications between Kiriakou and Journalist A in July and August 2008. In an exchange of e-mails on July 11, 2008, Kiriakou allegedly illegally confirmed for Journalist A that Covert Officer A, whose first name only was exchanged at that point, was “the team leader on [specific operation].” On August 18, 2008, Journalist A sent Kiriakou an e-mail asking if Kiriakou could pick out Covert Officer A’s last name from a list of names Journalist A provided in the e-mail. On Aug. 19, 2008, Kiriakou allegedly passed the last name of Covert Officer A to Journalist A by e-mail, stating “It came to me last night.” Covert Officer A’s last name had not been on the list provided by Journalist A. Later that same day, approximately two hours later, Journalist A sent an e-mail to the defense investigator that contained Covert Officer A’s full name. Neither Journalist A, nor any other journalist to the government’s knowledge, has published the name of Covert Officer A.
At the time of Kiriakou’s allegedly unauthorized disclosures to Journalist A, the identification of Covert Officer A as “the team leader on [specific operation]” was classified at the Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) level because it revealed both Covert Officer A’s identity and his association with the CIA’s Rendition, Detention, and Interrogation (RDI) Program relating to the capture, detention, and questioning of terrorism subjects. The defense investigator was able to identify Covert Officer A only after receiving the e-mail from Journalist A, and both Covert Officer A’s name and association with the RDI Program were included in the January 2009 classified defense filing. The defense investigator told the government that he understood from the circumstances that Covert Officer A was a covert employee and, accordingly, did not take his photograph. No photograph of Covert Officer A was recovered from the detainees at Guantanamo.
In a recorded interview last Thursday, FBI agents told Kiriakou that Covert Officer A’s name was included in the classified defense filing. The affidavit states Kiriakou said, among other things, “How the heck did they get him? . . . [First name of Covert Officer A] was always undercover. His entire career was undercover.” Kiriakou further stated that he never provided Covert Officer A’s name or any other information about Covert Officer A to any journalist and stated “Once they get the names, I mean this is scary.”
Regarding Officer B, the affidavit states that he worked overseas with Kiriakou on an operation to locate and capture Abu Zubaydah, and Officer B’s association with the RDI Program and the Abu Zubaydah operation in particular were classified until that information was recently declassified to allow the prosecution of Kiriakou to proceed.
In June 2008, The New York Times published an article by Journalist B entitled “Inside the Interrogation of a 9/11 Mastermind,” which publicly identified Officer B and reported his alleged role in the capture and questioning of Abu Zubaydah—facts which were then classified. The article attributed other information to Kiriakou as a source, but did not identify the source(s) who disclosed or confirmed Officer B’s identity. The charges allege that at various times prior to publication of the article, Kiriakou provided Journalist B with personal information regarding Officer B, knowing that Journalist B was seeking to identify and locate Officer B. In doing so, Kiriakou allegedly confirmed classified information that Officer B was involved in the Abu Zubaydah operation. For example, Kiriakou allegedly e-mailed Officer B’s phone number and personal e-mail address to Journalist B, who attempted to contact Officer B via his personal e-mail in April and May 2008. Officer B had provided his personal e-mail address to Kiriakou, but not to Journalist B or any other journalist. Subsequently, Kiriakou allegedly revealed classified information by confirming for Journalist B additional information that an individual with Officer B’s name, who was associated with particular contact information that Journalist B had found on a website, was located in Pakistan in March 2002, which was where and when the Abu Zubaydah operation took place.
After The New York Times article was published, Kiriakou sent several e-mails denying that he was the source for information regarding Officer B, while, at the same time, allegedly lying about the number and nature of his contacts with Journalist B. For example, in an e-mail dated June 30, 2008, Kiriakou told Officer B that Kiriakou had spoken to the newspaper’s ombudsman after the article was published and said that the use of Officer B’s name was “despicable and unnecessary” and could put Officer B in danger. Kiriakou also denied that he had cooperated with the article and claimed that he had declined to talk to Journalist B, except to say that he believed the article absolutely should not mention Officer B’s name. “[W]hile it might not be illegal to name you, it would certainly be immoral,” Kiriakou wrote to Officer B, according to the affidavit.
From at least November 2007 through November 2008, Kiriakou allegedly provided Journalist A with Officer B’s personal contact information and disclosed to Journalist A classified information revealing Officer B’s association with the RDI Program. Just as Journalist A had disclosed to the defense investigator classified information that Kiriakou allegedly imparted about Covert Officer A, Journalist A, in turn, provided the defense investigator information that Kiriakou had disclosed about Officer B. For example, in an e-mail dated April 10, 2008, Journalist A provided the defense investigator with Officer B’s home phone number, which, in light of Officer B’s common surname, allowed the investigator to quickly and accurately identify Officer B and photograph him. Both Officer B’s name and his association with the RDI Program were included in the January 2009 classified defense filing, and four photographs of Officer B were among the photos recovered at Guantanamo.
In the same recorded interview with FBI agents last week, Kiriakou said he “absolutely” considered Officer B’s association with the Abu Zubaydah operation classified, the affidavit states. Kiriakou also denied providing any contact information for Officer B or Officer B’s association with the Abu Zubaydah operation to Journalists A and B prior to publication of the June 2008 New York Times article. When specifically asked whether he had anything to do with providing Officer B’s name or other information about Officer B to Journalist B prior to the article, Kiriakou stated “Heavens no.”
As background, the affidavit states that sometime prior to May 22, 2007, Kiriakou disclosed to Journalist C classified information regarding Officer B’s association with Abu Zubaydah operation, apparently while collaborating on a preliminary book proposal. A footnote states that Journalist C is not the coauthor of the book Kiriakou eventually published.
Prior to publication of his book, The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA’s War on Terror, Kiriakou submitted a draft manuscript in July 2008 to the CIA’s Publication Review Board (PRB). In an attempt to trick the CIA into allowing him to publish information regarding a classified investigative technique, Kiriakou allegedly lied to the PRB by falsely claiming that the technique was fictional and that he had never heard of it before. In fact, according to a transcript of a recorded interview conducted in August 2007 to assist Kiriakou’s coauthor in drafting the book, Kiriakou described the technique, which he referred to as the “magic box,” and told his coauthor that the CIA had used the technique in the Abu Zubaydah operation. The technique was also disclosed in the June 2008 New York Times article and referred to as a “magic box.”
In his submission letter to the PRB, Kiriakou flagged the reference to a device called a “magic box,” stating he had read about it in the newspaper article but added that the information was “clearly fabricated,” as he was unaware of and had used no such device. The affidavit contains the contents of an August 2008 e-mail that Kiriakou sent his coauthor admitting that he lied to the PRB in an attempt to include classified information in the book. The PRB subsequently informed Kiriakou that the draft manuscript contained classified information that he could not use, and information regarding the technique that Kiriakou included in the manuscript remained classified until it was recently declassified to allow Kiriakou’s prosecution to proceed.
Upon conviction, the count charging illegal disclosure of Covert Officer A’s identity to a person not authorized to receive classified information carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, which must be imposed consecutively to any other term of imprisonment; the two counts charging violations of the Espionage Act each carry a maximum term of 10 years in prison; and making false statements carries a maximum prison term of five years. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000.
A complaint contains only allegations and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The government is being represented in court by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Iris Lan (Southern District of New York) and Mark E. Schneider (Northern District of Illinois), and DOJ trial attorney Ryan Fayhee, of the Counterespionage Section of the National Security Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Owings (Eastern District of Virginia) will assist in the matter under local court rules.
http://www.fbi.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/2012/former-cia-officer-john-kiriakou-charged-with-disclosing-covert-officers-identity-and-other-classified-information-to-journalists-and-lying-to-cias-publications-review-board
Kiriakou, 47, of Arlington, Va., was a CIA intelligence officer between 1990 and 2004, serving at headquarters and in various classified overseas assignments. He is scheduled to appear at 2 p.m. today before U.S. Magistrate Judge John F. Anderson in federal court in Alexandria.
Kiriakou was charged with one count of violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act for allegedly illegally disclosing the identity of a covert officer and two counts of violating the Espionage Act for allegedly illegally disclosing national defense information to individuals not authorized to receive it. Kiriakou was also charged with one count of making false statements for allegedly lying to the Publications Review Board of the CIA in an unsuccessful attempt to trick the CIA into allowing him to include classified information in a book he was seeking to publish.
The four-count criminal complaint, which was filed today in the Eastern District of Virginia, alleges that Kiriakou made illegal disclosures about two CIA employees and their involvement in classified operations to two journalists on multiple occasions between 2007 and 2009. In one case, revealing the employee’s name as a CIA officer disclosed classified information as the employee was and remains covert (identified in the complaint as “Covert Officer A”). In the second case, Kiriakou allegedly disclosed the name and contact information of an employee, identified in the complaint as “Officer B,” whose participation in an operation to capture and question terrorism subject Abu Zubaydah in 2002 was then classified. Kiriakou’s alleged disclosures occurred prior to a June 2008 front-page story in The New York Times disclosing Officer B’s alleged role in the Abu Zubaydah operation.
“Safeguarding classified information, including the identities of CIA officers involved in sensitive operations, is critical to keeping our intelligence officers safe and protecting our national security,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “Today’s charges reinforce the Justice Department’s commitment to hold accountable anyone who would violate the solemn duty not to disclose such sensitive information.”
Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, who was appointed Special Attorney in 2010 to supervise the investigation, said: “I want to thank the Washington Field Office of the FBI and the team of attorneys assigned to this matter for their hard work and dedication to tracing the sources of the leaks of classified information.” Mr. Fitzgerald announced the charges with James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the Washington Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and they thanked the Central Intelligence Agency for its very substantial assistance in the investigation, as well as the Air Force Office of Special Investigations for its significant assistance.
“Protecting the identities of America’s covert operatives is one of the most important responsibilities of those who are entrusted with roles in our nation’s intelligence community. The FBI and our intelligence community partners work diligently to hold accountable those who violate that special trust,” said Mr. McJunkin.
The CIA filed a crimes report with the Justice Department on March 19, 2009, prior to the discovery of the photographs and after reviewing the Jan. 19, 2009, classified filing by defense counsel for certain detainees with the military commission then responsible for adjudicating charges. The defense filing contained information relating to the identities and activities of covert government personnel, but prior to Jan. 19, 2009, there had been no authorized disclosure to defense counsel of the classified information. The Justice Department’s National Security Division, working with the FBI, began the investigation. To avoid the risk of encountering a conflict of interest because of the pending prosecutions of some of the high-value detainees, Mr. Fitzgerald was assigned to supervise the investigation conducted by a team of attorneys from the Southern District of New York, the Northern District of Illinois, and the Counterespionage Section of the National Security Division who were not involved in pending prosecutions of the detainees.
According to the complaint affidavit, the investigation determined that no laws were broken by the defense team as no law prohibited defense counsel from filing a classified document under seal outlining for a court classified information they had learned during the course of their investigation. Regarding the 32 pages of photographs that were taken or obtained by the defense team and provided to the detainees, the investigation found no evidence the defense attorneys transmitting the photographs were aware of, much less disclosed, the identities of the persons depicted in particular photographs and no evidence that the defense team disclosed other classified matters associated with certain of those individuals to the detainees. The defense team did not take photographs of persons known or believed to be current covert officers. Rather, defense counsel, using a technique known as a double-blind photo lineup, provided photograph spreads of unidentified individuals to their clients to determine whether they recognized anyone who may have participated in questioning them. No law or military commission order expressly prohibited defense counsel from providing their clients with these photo spreads.
Further investigation, based in part on e-mails recovered from judicially-authorized search warrants served on two e-mail accounts associated with Kiriakou, allegedly revealed that:
Kiriakou disclosed to Journalist A the name of Covert Officer A and the fact that Covert Officer A was involved in a particular classified operation. The journalist then provided the defense investigator with the full name of the covert CIA employee;
Kiriakou disclosed or confirmed to Journalists A, B, and C the then-classified information that Officer B participated in the Abu Zubaydah operation and provided two of those journalists with contact information for Officer B, including a personal e-mail address. One of the journalists subsequently provided the defense investigator with Officer B’s home telephone number, which the investigator used to identify and photograph Officer B; and
Kiriakou lied to the CIA regarding the existence and use of a classified technique, referred to as a “magic box,” in an unsuccessful effort to trick the CIA into allowing him to publish information about the classified technique in a book.
Upon joining the CIA in 1990 and on multiple occasions in following years, Kiriakou signed secrecy and non-disclosure agreements not to disclose classified information to unauthorized individuals.
Regarding Covert Officer A, the affidavit details a series of e-mail communications between Kiriakou and Journalist A in July and August 2008. In an exchange of e-mails on July 11, 2008, Kiriakou allegedly illegally confirmed for Journalist A that Covert Officer A, whose first name only was exchanged at that point, was “the team leader on [specific operation].” On August 18, 2008, Journalist A sent Kiriakou an e-mail asking if Kiriakou could pick out Covert Officer A’s last name from a list of names Journalist A provided in the e-mail. On Aug. 19, 2008, Kiriakou allegedly passed the last name of Covert Officer A to Journalist A by e-mail, stating “It came to me last night.” Covert Officer A’s last name had not been on the list provided by Journalist A. Later that same day, approximately two hours later, Journalist A sent an e-mail to the defense investigator that contained Covert Officer A’s full name. Neither Journalist A, nor any other journalist to the government’s knowledge, has published the name of Covert Officer A.
At the time of Kiriakou’s allegedly unauthorized disclosures to Journalist A, the identification of Covert Officer A as “the team leader on [specific operation]” was classified at the Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) level because it revealed both Covert Officer A’s identity and his association with the CIA’s Rendition, Detention, and Interrogation (RDI) Program relating to the capture, detention, and questioning of terrorism subjects. The defense investigator was able to identify Covert Officer A only after receiving the e-mail from Journalist A, and both Covert Officer A’s name and association with the RDI Program were included in the January 2009 classified defense filing. The defense investigator told the government that he understood from the circumstances that Covert Officer A was a covert employee and, accordingly, did not take his photograph. No photograph of Covert Officer A was recovered from the detainees at Guantanamo.
In a recorded interview last Thursday, FBI agents told Kiriakou that Covert Officer A’s name was included in the classified defense filing. The affidavit states Kiriakou said, among other things, “How the heck did they get him? . . . [First name of Covert Officer A] was always undercover. His entire career was undercover.” Kiriakou further stated that he never provided Covert Officer A’s name or any other information about Covert Officer A to any journalist and stated “Once they get the names, I mean this is scary.”
Regarding Officer B, the affidavit states that he worked overseas with Kiriakou on an operation to locate and capture Abu Zubaydah, and Officer B’s association with the RDI Program and the Abu Zubaydah operation in particular were classified until that information was recently declassified to allow the prosecution of Kiriakou to proceed.
In June 2008, The New York Times published an article by Journalist B entitled “Inside the Interrogation of a 9/11 Mastermind,” which publicly identified Officer B and reported his alleged role in the capture and questioning of Abu Zubaydah—facts which were then classified. The article attributed other information to Kiriakou as a source, but did not identify the source(s) who disclosed or confirmed Officer B’s identity. The charges allege that at various times prior to publication of the article, Kiriakou provided Journalist B with personal information regarding Officer B, knowing that Journalist B was seeking to identify and locate Officer B. In doing so, Kiriakou allegedly confirmed classified information that Officer B was involved in the Abu Zubaydah operation. For example, Kiriakou allegedly e-mailed Officer B’s phone number and personal e-mail address to Journalist B, who attempted to contact Officer B via his personal e-mail in April and May 2008. Officer B had provided his personal e-mail address to Kiriakou, but not to Journalist B or any other journalist. Subsequently, Kiriakou allegedly revealed classified information by confirming for Journalist B additional information that an individual with Officer B’s name, who was associated with particular contact information that Journalist B had found on a website, was located in Pakistan in March 2002, which was where and when the Abu Zubaydah operation took place.
After The New York Times article was published, Kiriakou sent several e-mails denying that he was the source for information regarding Officer B, while, at the same time, allegedly lying about the number and nature of his contacts with Journalist B. For example, in an e-mail dated June 30, 2008, Kiriakou told Officer B that Kiriakou had spoken to the newspaper’s ombudsman after the article was published and said that the use of Officer B’s name was “despicable and unnecessary” and could put Officer B in danger. Kiriakou also denied that he had cooperated with the article and claimed that he had declined to talk to Journalist B, except to say that he believed the article absolutely should not mention Officer B’s name. “[W]hile it might not be illegal to name you, it would certainly be immoral,” Kiriakou wrote to Officer B, according to the affidavit.
From at least November 2007 through November 2008, Kiriakou allegedly provided Journalist A with Officer B’s personal contact information and disclosed to Journalist A classified information revealing Officer B’s association with the RDI Program. Just as Journalist A had disclosed to the defense investigator classified information that Kiriakou allegedly imparted about Covert Officer A, Journalist A, in turn, provided the defense investigator information that Kiriakou had disclosed about Officer B. For example, in an e-mail dated April 10, 2008, Journalist A provided the defense investigator with Officer B’s home phone number, which, in light of Officer B’s common surname, allowed the investigator to quickly and accurately identify Officer B and photograph him. Both Officer B’s name and his association with the RDI Program were included in the January 2009 classified defense filing, and four photographs of Officer B were among the photos recovered at Guantanamo.
In the same recorded interview with FBI agents last week, Kiriakou said he “absolutely” considered Officer B’s association with the Abu Zubaydah operation classified, the affidavit states. Kiriakou also denied providing any contact information for Officer B or Officer B’s association with the Abu Zubaydah operation to Journalists A and B prior to publication of the June 2008 New York Times article. When specifically asked whether he had anything to do with providing Officer B’s name or other information about Officer B to Journalist B prior to the article, Kiriakou stated “Heavens no.”
As background, the affidavit states that sometime prior to May 22, 2007, Kiriakou disclosed to Journalist C classified information regarding Officer B’s association with Abu Zubaydah operation, apparently while collaborating on a preliminary book proposal. A footnote states that Journalist C is not the coauthor of the book Kiriakou eventually published.
Prior to publication of his book, The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA’s War on Terror, Kiriakou submitted a draft manuscript in July 2008 to the CIA’s Publication Review Board (PRB). In an attempt to trick the CIA into allowing him to publish information regarding a classified investigative technique, Kiriakou allegedly lied to the PRB by falsely claiming that the technique was fictional and that he had never heard of it before. In fact, according to a transcript of a recorded interview conducted in August 2007 to assist Kiriakou’s coauthor in drafting the book, Kiriakou described the technique, which he referred to as the “magic box,” and told his coauthor that the CIA had used the technique in the Abu Zubaydah operation. The technique was also disclosed in the June 2008 New York Times article and referred to as a “magic box.”
In his submission letter to the PRB, Kiriakou flagged the reference to a device called a “magic box,” stating he had read about it in the newspaper article but added that the information was “clearly fabricated,” as he was unaware of and had used no such device. The affidavit contains the contents of an August 2008 e-mail that Kiriakou sent his coauthor admitting that he lied to the PRB in an attempt to include classified information in the book. The PRB subsequently informed Kiriakou that the draft manuscript contained classified information that he could not use, and information regarding the technique that Kiriakou included in the manuscript remained classified until it was recently declassified to allow Kiriakou’s prosecution to proceed.
Upon conviction, the count charging illegal disclosure of Covert Officer A’s identity to a person not authorized to receive classified information carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, which must be imposed consecutively to any other term of imprisonment; the two counts charging violations of the Espionage Act each carry a maximum term of 10 years in prison; and making false statements carries a maximum prison term of five years. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000.
A complaint contains only allegations and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The government is being represented in court by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Iris Lan (Southern District of New York) and Mark E. Schneider (Northern District of Illinois), and DOJ trial attorney Ryan Fayhee, of the Counterespionage Section of the National Security Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Owings (Eastern District of Virginia) will assist in the matter under local court rules.
http://www.fbi.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/2012/former-cia-officer-john-kiriakou-charged-with-disclosing-covert-officers-identity-and-other-classified-information-to-journalists-and-lying-to-cias-publications-review-board
Saturday, January 21, 2012
CAN YOU HELP SOLVE A MYSTERY?
The blog you are reading now is the fourth in a line of websites I have created over the years with the intent of opening the eyes of the general public to what I believe is a global conspiracy to enslave most of the world in a master/slave society.
I could always tell that I was doing a good job when the sites were closed for one reason or another! Every time there was no good reason for the sites closure - they just were deleted! The first was a real upset because I had gathered one of the most thorough collections of historic photographs of a place in Northern California called Bohemian Grove! To this day, many of these photos I have been unable to find online. I was told a library in California now housed much of this collection, but I don't know?
This little quest of mine began a very long time ago, but truly began after the death of a reporter named Danny Casolaro. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Casolaro I use the word "death" very loosely because Danny was murdered. Again, my own opinion, and I still challenge anyone to successfully prove to me that Danny committed suicide!
Well, this post is not about any of my "far-fetched wacky conspiracy theories", but it concerns some communications I received from 2003 to 2005. It all began with hints to lead me in different directions concerning several various subjects. And virtually every single post I published in an old blog called ne033x were the result of a cryptic message I received from an unknown person on the internet.
I still cannot explain this, but the blog was closed down oneday and I could no longer access it. Yet, it was still there?
And it still is today:
http://ne033x.blogspot.com/
It had been SPAMED hard prior to closing, and someone told me the SPAM caused search crawlers to mirror the site - or something technical like that. Whatever the reasons, it remains to exist on the internet today and I have jokingly referred to it as "the site that isn't there".
Now all the communications from this mysterious person were in a riddled code form, and most were fairly simple to solve. Until 2005 when I received my last message from him - in a very public way - and in a very obvious code. To this day, I cannot solve it. So, that's where you come in.
Can you solve this coded mystery?
The public message showed up as a comment in regards to the deaths of several scientists around the world. The comment can be seen here:
http://ne033x.blogspot.com/2004/11/scientists-deaths-are-under-microscope.html
If anyone researches the name he - or she - used, you'll understand exactly what I am inferring.Okay, so I know this seems ridiculous, but I received messages from this person prior to this last one that I got, and they were all in cryptic form - and with a little research I was able to solve most of them. And, there's directions that this person lead me to that resulted in many stories and articles I've reported on. Some so unbelievable that I couldn't believe them myself until I did some thorough research - like airliners full of people being intentionally crashed in order to kill one or two prominent individuals - because no one would kill hundreds of people just to stop someone from making a speech at the U.S. Senate...
Maybe it's nothing, but this was the last message I received, and after two years of communication - he - or she - never contacted me again. Let me stress, that I absolutely DO NOT want to know the identity of this person - just any insight concerning what I feel is some kind of coded message. And, maybe it's nothing too - that's fine.
Okay, so I'm getting off-track... So I then discovered that he had set up a blog for the sole purpose of sending me a message. That blog and posting is here:
http://xes666.blogspot.com/
Okay, so there you have it. I am looking for some assistance in breaking this code - if it is a code?.Considering the cryptic nature of our previous communications, every single thing from the message, to the name, to the web address itself seems to be some sort of clue - I just cannot figure it out!
So, any good code breakers out there?
Have a wonderful day, my friend,
ne033x
I could always tell that I was doing a good job when the sites were closed for one reason or another! Every time there was no good reason for the sites closure - they just were deleted! The first was a real upset because I had gathered one of the most thorough collections of historic photographs of a place in Northern California called Bohemian Grove! To this day, many of these photos I have been unable to find online. I was told a library in California now housed much of this collection, but I don't know?
This little quest of mine began a very long time ago, but truly began after the death of a reporter named Danny Casolaro. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Casolaro I use the word "death" very loosely because Danny was murdered. Again, my own opinion, and I still challenge anyone to successfully prove to me that Danny committed suicide!
Well, this post is not about any of my "far-fetched wacky conspiracy theories", but it concerns some communications I received from 2003 to 2005. It all began with hints to lead me in different directions concerning several various subjects. And virtually every single post I published in an old blog called ne033x were the result of a cryptic message I received from an unknown person on the internet.
I still cannot explain this, but the blog was closed down oneday and I could no longer access it. Yet, it was still there?
And it still is today:
http://ne033x.blogspot.com/
It had been SPAMED hard prior to closing, and someone told me the SPAM caused search crawlers to mirror the site - or something technical like that. Whatever the reasons, it remains to exist on the internet today and I have jokingly referred to it as "the site that isn't there".
Now all the communications from this mysterious person were in a riddled code form, and most were fairly simple to solve. Until 2005 when I received my last message from him - in a very public way - and in a very obvious code. To this day, I cannot solve it. So, that's where you come in.
Can you solve this coded mystery?
The public message showed up as a comment in regards to the deaths of several scientists around the world. The comment can be seen here:
http://ne033x.blogspot.com/2004/11/scientists-deaths-are-under-microscope.html
If anyone researches the name he - or she - used, you'll understand exactly what I am inferring.Okay, so I know this seems ridiculous, but I received messages from this person prior to this last one that I got, and they were all in cryptic form - and with a little research I was able to solve most of them. And, there's directions that this person lead me to that resulted in many stories and articles I've reported on. Some so unbelievable that I couldn't believe them myself until I did some thorough research - like airliners full of people being intentionally crashed in order to kill one or two prominent individuals - because no one would kill hundreds of people just to stop someone from making a speech at the U.S. Senate...
Maybe it's nothing, but this was the last message I received, and after two years of communication - he - or she - never contacted me again. Let me stress, that I absolutely DO NOT want to know the identity of this person - just any insight concerning what I feel is some kind of coded message. And, maybe it's nothing too - that's fine.
Okay, so I'm getting off-track... So I then discovered that he had set up a blog for the sole purpose of sending me a message. That blog and posting is here:
http://xes666.blogspot.com/
Okay, so there you have it. I am looking for some assistance in breaking this code - if it is a code?.Considering the cryptic nature of our previous communications, every single thing from the message, to the name, to the web address itself seems to be some sort of clue - I just cannot figure it out!
So, any good code breakers out there?
Have a wonderful day, my friend,
ne033x
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Steve Gordon - Where The Earth Meets The Sky
"Love Life. Do Good. Live Well."
~ Kevin Ngo ~
"Let your life mean something. Become an inspiration to others so that they may try to do more and to become more than they are today."
~Thomas D. Willhite~
"Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time."
~Leo Buscaglia~
"Every second that you live you are never going to get back. You are never going to get to change what you said, didn't say, did, or didn't do. Live how you want to live. Act how you want to be remembered, because you never know how long or short you are going to be here."
~Emily Doberstein~
Phobos-Grunt
Russia's first planetary mission in 15 years faces potentially fatal problem almost immediately after entering its initial Earth orbit. A two-stage Zenith rocket lifted off from Site 45 in Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on Nov. 9, 2011, at 00:16:02.871 Moscow Time. Russian space agency, Roskosmos, limited its 'coverage' of the mission's initial phase by two sentences about the successful launch, however provided no updates on the status of orbital maneuvers in time for critical engine burns. During the entire night of November 8 and early morning of November 9, a web site of NPO Lavochkin, the spacecraft's prime developer, featured 'news' about the preparation of the mission and awards to the company's workers!
The official Russian media, which avalanched the Internet with headlines about the successful launch, were also eerily silent about the post-liftoff status of the mission. Thus, Russia's first 21st century planetary mission was circling Earth in the state of a virtual informational blackout.
GoogleSatTrack
http://www.lizard-tail.com/isana/tracking/?target=phobos_grunt
EXPOSING THE GLOBAL SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM
IN THE LATE 1980S, IN A DECISION IT PROBABLY REGRETS, THE US PROMPTED NEW ZEALAND TO JOIN A NEW AND HIGHLY SECRET GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM. HAGER'S INVESTIGATION INTO IT AND HIS DISCOVERY OF THE ECHELON DICTIONARY HAS REVEALED ONE OF THE WORLD'S BIGGEST, MOST CLOSELY HELD INTELLIGENCE PROJECTS. THE SYSTEM ALLOWS SPY AGENCIES TO MONITOR MOST OF THE WORLD'S TELEPHONE, E-MAIL, AND TELEX COMMUNICATIONS.
For 40 years, New Zealand's largest intelligence agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) the nation's equivalent of the US National Security Agency (NSA) had been helping its Western allies to spy on countries throughout the Pacific region, without the knowledge of the New Zealand public or many of its highest elected officials. What the NSA did not know is that by the late 1980s, various intelligence staff had decided these activities had been too secret for too long, and were providing me with interviews and documents exposing New Zealand's intelligence activities. Eventually, more than 50 people who work or have worked in intelligence and related fields agreed to be interviewed.
The activities they described made it possible to document, from the South Pacific, some alliance-wide systems and projects which have been kept secret elsewhere. Of these, by far the most important is ECHELON.
Designed and coordinated by NSA, the ECHELON system is used to intercept ordinary e-mail, fax, telex, and telephone communications carried over the world's telecommunications networks. Unlike many of the electronic spy systems developed during the Cold War, ECHELON is designed primarily for non-military targets: governments, organizations, businesses, and individuals in virtually every country. It potentially affects every person communicating between (and sometimes within) countries anywhere in the world.
It is, of course, not a new idea that intelligence organizations tap into e-mail and other public telecommunications networks. What was new in the material leaked by the New Zealand intelligence staff was precise information on where the spying is done, how the system works, its capabilities and shortcomings, and many details such as the codenames.
The ECHELON system is not designed to eavesdrop on a particular individual's e-mail or fax link. Rather, the system works by indiscriminately intercepting very large quantities of communications and using computers to identify and extract messages of interest from the mass of unwanted ones. A chain of secret interception facilities has been established around the world to tap into all the major components of the international telecommunications networks. Some monitor communications satellites, others land-based communications networks, and others radio communications. ECHELON links together all these facilities, providing the US and its allies with the ability to intercept a large proportion of the communications on the planet.
The computers at each station in the ECHELON network automatically search through the millions of messages intercepted for ones containing pre-programmed keywords. Keywords include all the names, localities, subjects, and so on that might be mentioned. Every word of every message intercepted at each station gets automatically searched whether or not a specific telephone number or e-mail address is on the list.
The thousands of simultaneous messages are read in "real time" as they pour into the station, hour after hour, day after day, as the computer finds intelligence needles in telecommunications haystacks.
SOMEONE IS LISTENING
The computers in stations around the globe are known, within the network, as the ECHELON Dictionaries. Computers that can automatically search through traffic for keywords have existed since at least the 1970s, but the ECHELON system was designed by NSA to interconnect all these computers and allow the stations to function as components of an integrated whole. The NSA and GCSB are bound together under the five-nation UKUSA signals intelligence agreement. The other three partners all with equally obscure names are the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Britain, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) in Canada, and the Defense Signals Directorate (DSD) in Australia.
The alliance, which grew from cooperative efforts during World War II to intercept radio transmissions, was formalized into the UKUSA agreement in 1948 and aimed primarily against the USSR. The five UKUSA agencies are today the largest intelligence organizations in their respective countries. With much of the world's business occurring by fax, e-mail, and phone, spying on these communications receives the bulk of intelligence resources. For decades before the introduction of the ECHELON system, the UKUSA allies did intelligence collection operations for each other, but each agency usually processed and analysed the intercept from its own stations.
Under ECHELON, a particular station's Dictionary computer contains not only its parent agency's chosen keywords, but also has lists entered in for other agencies. In New Zealand's satellite interception station at Waihopai (in the South Island), for example, the computer has separate search lists for the NSA, GCHQ, DSD, and CSE in addition to its own. Whenever the Dictionary encounters a message containing one of the agencies' keywords, it automatically picks it and sends it directly to the headquarters of the agency concerned. No one in New Zealand screens, or even sees, the intelligence collected by the New Zealand station for the foreign agencies. Thus, the stations of the junior UKUSA allies function for the NSA no differently than if they were overtly NSA-run bases located on their soil.
The first component of the ECHELON network are stations specifically targeted on the international telecommunications satellites (Intelsats) used by the telephone companies of most countries. A ring of Intelsats is positioned around the world, stationary above the equator, each serving as a relay station for tens of thousands of simultaneous phone calls, fax, and e-mail. Five UKUSA stations have been established to intercept the communications carried by the Intelsats.
The British GCHQ station is located at the top of high cliffs above the sea at Morwenstow in Cornwall. Satellite dishes beside sprawling operations buildings point toward Intelsats above the Atlantic, Europe, and, inclined almost to the horizon, the Indian Ocean. An NSA station at Sugar Grove, located 250 kilometers southwest of Washington, DC, in the mountains of West Virginia, covers Atlantic Intelsats transmitting down toward North and South America. Another NSA station is in Washington State, 200 kilometres southwest of Seattle, inside the Army's Yakima Firing Center. Its satellite dishes point out toward the Pacific Intelsats and to the east.
The job of intercepting Pacific Intelsat communications that cannot be intercepted at Yakima went to New Zealand and Australia. Their South Pacific location helps to ensure global interception. New Zealand provides the station at Waihopai and Australia supplies the Geraldton station in West Australia (which targets both Pacific and Indian Ocean Intelsats).
Each of the five stations' Dictionary computers has a codename to distinguish it from others in the network. The Yakima station, for instance, located in desert country between the Saddle Mountains and Rattlesnake Hills, has the COWBOY Dictionary, while the Waihopai station has the FLINTLOCK Dictionary. These codenames are recorded at the beginning of every intercepted message, before it is transmitted around the ECHELON network, allowing analysts to recognize at which station the interception occurred.
New Zealand intelligence staff has been closely involved with the NSA's Yakima station since 1981, when NSA pushed the GCSB to contribute to a project targeting Japanese embassy communications. Since then, all five UKUSA agencies have been responsible for monitoring diplomatic cables from all Japanese posts within the same segments of the globe they are assigned for general UKUSA monitoring.3 Until New Zealand's integration into ECHELON with the opening of the Waihopai station in 1989, its share of the Japanese communications was intercepted at Yakima and sent unprocessed to the GCSB headquarters in Wellington for decryption, translation, and writing into UKUSA-format intelligence reports (the NSA provides the codebreaking programs).
"COMMUNICATION" THROUGH SATELLITES
The next component of the ECHELON system intercepts a range of satellite communications not carried by Intelsat.In addition to the UKUSA stations targeting Intelsat satellites, there are another five or more stations homing in on Russian and other regional communications satellites. These stations are Menwith Hill in northern England; Shoal Bay, outside Darwin in northern Australia (which targets Indonesian satellites); Leitrim, just south of Ottawa in Canada (which appears to intercept Latin American satellites); Bad Aibling in Germany; and Misawa in northern Japan.
A group of facilities that tap directly into land-based telecommunications systems is the final element of the ECHELON system. Besides satellite and radio, the other main method of transmitting large quantities of public, business, and government communications is a combination of water cables under the oceans and microwave networks over land. Heavy cables, laid across seabeds between countries, account for much of the world's international communications. After they come out of the water and join land-based microwave networks they are very vulnerable to interception. The microwave networks are made up of chains of microwave towers relaying messages from hilltop to hilltop (always in line of sight) across the countryside. These networks shunt large quantities of communications across a country. Interception of them gives access to international undersea communications (once they surface) and to international communication trunk lines across continents. They are also an obvious target for large-scale interception of domestic communications.
Because the facilities required to intercept radio and satellite communications use large aerials and dishes that are difficult to hide for too long, that network is reasonably well documented. But all that is required to intercept land-based communication networks is a building situated along the microwave route or a hidden cable running underground from the legitimate network into some anonymous building, possibly far removed. Although it sounds technically very difficult, microwave interception from space by United States spy satellites also occurs.4 The worldwide network of facilities to intercept these communications is largely undocumented, and because New Zealand's GCSB does not participate in this type of interception, my inside sources could not help either.
NO ONE IS SAFE FROM A MICROWAVE
A 1994 expos of the Canadian UKUSA agency, Spyworld, co-authored by one of its former staff, Mike Frost, gave the first insights into how a lot of foreign microwave interception is done (see p. 18). It described UKUSA "embassy collection" operations, where sophisticated receivers and processors are secretly transported to their countries' overseas embassies in diplomatic bags and used to monitor various communications in foreign capitals.
Since most countries' microwave networks converge on the capital city, embassy buildings can be an ideal site. Protected by diplomatic privilege, they allow interception in the heart of the target country. *6 The Canadian embassy collection was requested by the NSA to fill gaps in the American and British embassy collection operations, which were still occurring in many capitals around the world when Frost left the CSE in 1990. Separate sources in Australia have revealed that the DSD also engages in embassy collection. *7 On the territory of UKUSA nations, the interception of land-based telecommunications appears to be done at special secret intelligence facilities. The US, UK, and Canada are geographically well placed to intercept the large amounts of the world's communications that cross their territories.
The only public reference to the Dictionary system anywhere in the world was in relation to one of these facilities, run by the GCHQ in central London. In 1991, a former British GCHQ official spoke anonymously to Granada Television's World in Action about the agency's abuses of power. He told the program about an anonymous red brick building at 8 Palmer Street where GCHQ secretly intercepts every telex which passes into, out of, or through London, feeding them into powerful computers with a program known as "Dictionary." The operation, he explained, is staffed by carefully vetted British Telecom people: "It's nothing to do with national security. It's because it's not legal to take every single telex. And they take everything: the embassies, all the business deals, even the birthday greetings, they take everything. They feed it into the Dictionary." *8 What the documentary did not reveal is that Dictionary is not just a British system; it is UKUSA-wide.
Similarly, British researcher Duncan Campbell has described how the US Menwith Hill station in Britain taps directly into the British Telecom microwave network, which has actually been designed with several major microwave links converging on an isolated tower connected underground into the station.
The NSA Menwith Hill station, with 22 satellite terminals and more than 4.9 acres of buildings, is undoubtedly the largest and most powerful in the UKUSA network. Located in northern England, several thousand kilometers from the Persian Gulf, it was awarded the NSA's "Station of the Year" prize for 1991 after its role in the Gulf War. Menwith Hill assists in the interception of microwave communications in another way as well, by serving as a ground station for US electronic spy satellites. These intercept microwave trunk lines and short range communications such as military radios and walkie talkies. Other ground stations where the satellites' information is fed into the global network are Pine Gap, run by the CIA near Alice Springs in central Australia and the Bad Aibling station in Germany. *10 Among them, the various stations and operations making up the ECHELON network tap into all the main components of the world's telecommunications networks. All of them, including a separate network of stations that intercepts long distance radio communications, have their own Dictionary computers connected into ECHELON.
In the early 1990s, opponents of the Menwith Hill station obtained large quantities of internal documents from the facility. Among the papers was a reference to an NSA computer system called Platform. The integration of all the UKUSA station computers into ECHELON probably occurred with the introduction of this system in the early 1980s. James Bamford wrote at that time about a new worldwide NSA computer network codenamed Platform "which will tie together 52 separate computer systems used throughout the world. Focal point, or `host environment,' for the massive network will be the NSA headquarters at Fort Meade. Among those included in Platform will be the British SIGINT organization, GCHQ."
LOOKING IN THE DICTIONARY
The Dictionary computers are connected via highly encrypted UKUSA communications that link back to computer data bases in the five agency headquarters. This is where all the intercepted messages selected by the Dictionaries end up. Each morning the specially "indoctrinated" signals intelligence analysts in Washington, Ottawa,Cheltenham, Canberra, and Wellington log on at their computer terminals and enter the Dictionary system. After keying in their security passwords, they reach a directory that lists the different categories of intercept available in the data bases, each with a four-digit code. For instance, 1911 might be Japanese diplomatic cables from Latin America (handled by the Canadian CSE), 3848 might be political communications from and about Nigeria, and 8182 might be any messages about distribution of encryption technology.
They select their subject category, get a "search result" showing how many messages have been caught in the ECHELON net on that subject, and then the day's work begins. Analysts scroll through screen after screen of intercepted faxes, e-mail messages, etc. and, whenever a message appears worth reporting on, they select it from the rest to work on. If it is not in English, it is translated and then written into the standard format of intelligence reports produced anywhere within the UKUSA network either in entirety as a "report," or as a summary or "gist."
INFORMATION CONTROL
A highly organized system has been developed to control what is being searched for by each station and who can have access to it. This is at the heart of ECHELON operations and works as follows.
The individual station's Dictionary computers do not simply have a long list of keywords to search for. And they do not send all the information into some huge database that participating agencies can dip into as they wish. It is much more controlled.
The search lists are organized into the same categories, referred to by the four digit numbers. Each agency decides its own categories according to its responsibilities for producing intelligence for the network. For GCSB, this means South Pacific governments, Japanese diplomatic, Russian Antarctic activities, and so on.
The agency then works out about 10 to 50 keywords for selection in each category. The keywords include such things as names of people, ships, organizations, country names, and subject names. They also include the known telex and fax numbers and Internet addresses of any individuals, businesses, organizations, and government offices that are targets. These are generally written as part of the message text and so are easily recognized by the Dictionary computers.
The agencies also specify combinations of keywords to help sift out communications of interest. For example, they might search for diplomatic cables containing both the words "Santiago" and "aid," or cables containing the word "Santiago" but not "consul" (to avoid the masses of routine consular communications). It is these sets of words and numbers (and combinations), under a particular category, that get placed in the Dictionary computers. (Staff in the five agencies called Dictionary Managers enter and update the keyword search lists for each agency.)
The whole system, devised by the NSA, has been adopted completely by the other agencies. The Dictionary computers search through all the incoming messages and, whenever they encounter one with any of the agencies' keywords, they select it. At the same time, the computer automatically notes technical details such as the time and place of interception on the piece of intercept so that analysts reading it, in whichever agency it is going to, know where it came from, and what it is. Finally, the computer writes the four-digit code (for the category with the keywords in that message) at the bottom of the message's text. This is important. It means that when all the intercepted messages end up together in the database at one of the agency headquarters, the messages on a particular subject can be located again. Later, when the analyst using the Dictionary system selects the four- digit code for the category he or she wants, the computer simply searches through all the messages in the database for the ones which have been tagged with that number.
This system is very effective for controlling which agencies can get what from the global network because each agency only gets the intelligence out of the ECHELON system from its own numbers. It does not have any access to the raw intelligence coming out of the system to the other agencies. For example, although most of the GCSB's intelligence production is primarily to serve the UKUSA alliance, New Zealand does not have access to the whole ECHELON network. The access it does have is strictly controlled. A New Zealand intelligence officer explained: "The agencies can all apply for numbers on each other's Dictionaries. The hardest to deal with are the Americans. ... [There are] more hoops to jump through, unless it is in their interest, in which case they'll do it for you."
There is only one agency which, by virtue of its size and role within the alliance, will have access to the full potential of the ECHELON system the agency that set it up. What is the system used for? Anyone listening to official "discussion" of intelligence could be forgiven for thinking that, since the end of the Cold War, the key targets of the massive UKUSA intelligence machine are terrorism, weapons proliferation, and economic intelligence. The idea that economic intelligence has become very important, in particular, has been carefully cultivated by intelligence agencies intent on preserving their post-Cold War budgets. It has become an article of faith in much discussion of intelligence. However, I have found no evidence that these are now the primary concerns of organizations such as NSA.
QUICKER INTELLIGENCE,SAME MISSION
A different story emerges after examining very detailed information I have been given about the intelligence New Zealand collects for the UKUSA allies and detailed descriptions of what is in the yards-deep intelligence reports New Zealand receives from its four allies each week. There is quite a lot of intelligence collected about potential terrorists, and there is quite a lot of economic intelligence, notably intensive monitoring of all the countries participating in GATT negotiations. But by far, the main priorities of the intelligence alliance continue to be political and military intelligence to assist the larger allies to pursue their interests around the world. Anyone and anything the particular governments are concerned about can become a target.
With capabilities so secret and so powerful, almost anything goes. For example, in June 1992, a group of current "highly placed intelligence operatives" from the British GCHQ spoke to the London Observer: "We feel we can no longer remain silent regarding that which we regard to be gross malpractice and negligence within the establishment in which we operate." They gave as examples GCHQ interception of three charitable organizations, including Amnesty International and Christian Aid. As the Observer reported: "At any time GCHQ is able to home in on their communications for a routine target request," the GCHQ source said. In the case of phone taps the procedure is known as Mantis. With telexes it is called Mayfly. By keying in a code relating to Third World aid, the source was able to demonstrate telex "fixes" on the three organizations. "It is then possible to key in a trigger word which enables us to home in on the telex communications whenever that word appears," he said. "And we can read a pre-determined number of characters either side of the keyword."12 Without actually naming it, this was a fairly precise description of how the ECHELON Dictionary system works. Again, what was not revealed in the publicity was that this is a UKUSA-wide system. The design of ECHELON means that the interception of these organizations could have occurred anywhere in the network, at any station where the GCHQ had requested that the four-digit code covering Third World aid be placed.
UKUSA Signals Intelligence Agreement Partners
Australia-------------------- Defense Signals Directorate (DSD)
Canada----- Communications Security Establishment (CSE)
New Zealand---- Communications Security Bureau (GCSB)
UK---- Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ)
USA----------------------- National Security Agency (NSA)
Note that these GCHQ officers mentioned that the system was being used for telephone calls. In New Zealand, ECHELON is used only to intercept written communications: fax, e-mail, and telex. The reason, according to intelligence staff, is that the agency does not have the staff to analyze large quantities of telephone conversations.
Mike Frost's expos of Canadian "embassy collection" operations described the NSA computers they used, called Oratory, that can "listen" to telephone calls and recognize when keywords are spoken. Just as we can recognize words spoken in all the different tones and accents we encounter, so too, according to Frost, can these computers. Telephone calls containing keywords are automatically extracted from the masses of other calls and recorded digitally on magnetic tapes for analysts back at agency headquarters. However, high volume voice recognition computers will be technically difficult to perfect, and my New Zealand-based sources could not confirm that this capability exists. But, if or when it is perfected, the implications would be immense. It would mean that the UKUSA agencies could use machines to search through all the international telephone calls in the world, in the same way that they do written messages. If this equipment exists for use in embassy collection, it will presumably be used in all the stations throughout the ECHELON network. It is yet to be confirmed how extensively telephone communications are being targeted by the ECHELON stations for the other agencies.
The easiest pickings for the ECHELON system are the individuals, organizations,and governments that do not use encryption. In New Zealand's area, for example, it has proved especially useful against already vulnerable South Pacific nations which do not use any coding, even for government communications (all these communications of New Zealand's neighbors are supplied, unscreened, to its UKUSA allies). As a result of the revelations in my book, there is currently a project under way in the Pacific to promote and supply publicly available encryption software to vulnerable organizations such as democracy movements in countries with repressive governments. This is one practical way of curbing illegitimate uses of the ECHELON capabilities.
One final comment. All the newspapers, commentators, and "well placed sources" told the public that New Zealand was cut off from US intelligence in the mid-1980s. That was entirely untrue. The intelligence supply to New Zealand did not stop, and instead, the decade since has been a period of increased integration of New Zealand into the US system. Virtually everything the equipment, manuals, ways of operating, jargon, codes, and so on, used in the GCSB continues to be imported entirely from the larger allies (in practice, usually the NSA). As with the Australian and Canadian agencies, most of the priorities continue to come from the US, too.
The main thing that protects these agencies from change is their secrecy. On the day my book arrived in the book shops, without prior publicity, there was an all-day meeting of the intelligence bureaucrats in the prime minister's department trying to decide if they could prevent it from being distributed. They eventually concluded, sensibly, that the political costs were too high. It is understandable that they were so agitated.
Throughout my research, I have faced official denials or governments refusing to comment on publicity about intelligence activities. Given the pervasive atmosphere of secrecy and stonewalling, it is always hard for the public to judge what is fact, what is speculation, and what is paranoia. Thus, in uncovering New Zealand's role in the NSA-led alliance, my aim was to provide so much detail about the operations the technical systems, the daily work of individual staff members, and even the rooms in which they work inside intelligence facilities that readers could feel confident that they were getting close to the truth. I hope the information leaked by intelligence staff in New Zealand about UKUSA and its systems such as ECHELON will help lead to change.
For 40 years, New Zealand's largest intelligence agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) the nation's equivalent of the US National Security Agency (NSA) had been helping its Western allies to spy on countries throughout the Pacific region, without the knowledge of the New Zealand public or many of its highest elected officials. What the NSA did not know is that by the late 1980s, various intelligence staff had decided these activities had been too secret for too long, and were providing me with interviews and documents exposing New Zealand's intelligence activities. Eventually, more than 50 people who work or have worked in intelligence and related fields agreed to be interviewed.
The activities they described made it possible to document, from the South Pacific, some alliance-wide systems and projects which have been kept secret elsewhere. Of these, by far the most important is ECHELON.
Designed and coordinated by NSA, the ECHELON system is used to intercept ordinary e-mail, fax, telex, and telephone communications carried over the world's telecommunications networks. Unlike many of the electronic spy systems developed during the Cold War, ECHELON is designed primarily for non-military targets: governments, organizations, businesses, and individuals in virtually every country. It potentially affects every person communicating between (and sometimes within) countries anywhere in the world.
It is, of course, not a new idea that intelligence organizations tap into e-mail and other public telecommunications networks. What was new in the material leaked by the New Zealand intelligence staff was precise information on where the spying is done, how the system works, its capabilities and shortcomings, and many details such as the codenames.
The ECHELON system is not designed to eavesdrop on a particular individual's e-mail or fax link. Rather, the system works by indiscriminately intercepting very large quantities of communications and using computers to identify and extract messages of interest from the mass of unwanted ones. A chain of secret interception facilities has been established around the world to tap into all the major components of the international telecommunications networks. Some monitor communications satellites, others land-based communications networks, and others radio communications. ECHELON links together all these facilities, providing the US and its allies with the ability to intercept a large proportion of the communications on the planet.
The computers at each station in the ECHELON network automatically search through the millions of messages intercepted for ones containing pre-programmed keywords. Keywords include all the names, localities, subjects, and so on that might be mentioned. Every word of every message intercepted at each station gets automatically searched whether or not a specific telephone number or e-mail address is on the list.
The thousands of simultaneous messages are read in "real time" as they pour into the station, hour after hour, day after day, as the computer finds intelligence needles in telecommunications haystacks.
SOMEONE IS LISTENING
The computers in stations around the globe are known, within the network, as the ECHELON Dictionaries. Computers that can automatically search through traffic for keywords have existed since at least the 1970s, but the ECHELON system was designed by NSA to interconnect all these computers and allow the stations to function as components of an integrated whole. The NSA and GCSB are bound together under the five-nation UKUSA signals intelligence agreement. The other three partners all with equally obscure names are the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Britain, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) in Canada, and the Defense Signals Directorate (DSD) in Australia.
The alliance, which grew from cooperative efforts during World War II to intercept radio transmissions, was formalized into the UKUSA agreement in 1948 and aimed primarily against the USSR. The five UKUSA agencies are today the largest intelligence organizations in their respective countries. With much of the world's business occurring by fax, e-mail, and phone, spying on these communications receives the bulk of intelligence resources. For decades before the introduction of the ECHELON system, the UKUSA allies did intelligence collection operations for each other, but each agency usually processed and analysed the intercept from its own stations.
Under ECHELON, a particular station's Dictionary computer contains not only its parent agency's chosen keywords, but also has lists entered in for other agencies. In New Zealand's satellite interception station at Waihopai (in the South Island), for example, the computer has separate search lists for the NSA, GCHQ, DSD, and CSE in addition to its own. Whenever the Dictionary encounters a message containing one of the agencies' keywords, it automatically picks it and sends it directly to the headquarters of the agency concerned. No one in New Zealand screens, or even sees, the intelligence collected by the New Zealand station for the foreign agencies. Thus, the stations of the junior UKUSA allies function for the NSA no differently than if they were overtly NSA-run bases located on their soil.
The first component of the ECHELON network are stations specifically targeted on the international telecommunications satellites (Intelsats) used by the telephone companies of most countries. A ring of Intelsats is positioned around the world, stationary above the equator, each serving as a relay station for tens of thousands of simultaneous phone calls, fax, and e-mail. Five UKUSA stations have been established to intercept the communications carried by the Intelsats.
The British GCHQ station is located at the top of high cliffs above the sea at Morwenstow in Cornwall. Satellite dishes beside sprawling operations buildings point toward Intelsats above the Atlantic, Europe, and, inclined almost to the horizon, the Indian Ocean. An NSA station at Sugar Grove, located 250 kilometers southwest of Washington, DC, in the mountains of West Virginia, covers Atlantic Intelsats transmitting down toward North and South America. Another NSA station is in Washington State, 200 kilometres southwest of Seattle, inside the Army's Yakima Firing Center. Its satellite dishes point out toward the Pacific Intelsats and to the east.
The job of intercepting Pacific Intelsat communications that cannot be intercepted at Yakima went to New Zealand and Australia. Their South Pacific location helps to ensure global interception. New Zealand provides the station at Waihopai and Australia supplies the Geraldton station in West Australia (which targets both Pacific and Indian Ocean Intelsats).
Each of the five stations' Dictionary computers has a codename to distinguish it from others in the network. The Yakima station, for instance, located in desert country between the Saddle Mountains and Rattlesnake Hills, has the COWBOY Dictionary, while the Waihopai station has the FLINTLOCK Dictionary. These codenames are recorded at the beginning of every intercepted message, before it is transmitted around the ECHELON network, allowing analysts to recognize at which station the interception occurred.
New Zealand intelligence staff has been closely involved with the NSA's Yakima station since 1981, when NSA pushed the GCSB to contribute to a project targeting Japanese embassy communications. Since then, all five UKUSA agencies have been responsible for monitoring diplomatic cables from all Japanese posts within the same segments of the globe they are assigned for general UKUSA monitoring.3 Until New Zealand's integration into ECHELON with the opening of the Waihopai station in 1989, its share of the Japanese communications was intercepted at Yakima and sent unprocessed to the GCSB headquarters in Wellington for decryption, translation, and writing into UKUSA-format intelligence reports (the NSA provides the codebreaking programs).
"COMMUNICATION" THROUGH SATELLITES
The next component of the ECHELON system intercepts a range of satellite communications not carried by Intelsat.In addition to the UKUSA stations targeting Intelsat satellites, there are another five or more stations homing in on Russian and other regional communications satellites. These stations are Menwith Hill in northern England; Shoal Bay, outside Darwin in northern Australia (which targets Indonesian satellites); Leitrim, just south of Ottawa in Canada (which appears to intercept Latin American satellites); Bad Aibling in Germany; and Misawa in northern Japan.
A group of facilities that tap directly into land-based telecommunications systems is the final element of the ECHELON system. Besides satellite and radio, the other main method of transmitting large quantities of public, business, and government communications is a combination of water cables under the oceans and microwave networks over land. Heavy cables, laid across seabeds between countries, account for much of the world's international communications. After they come out of the water and join land-based microwave networks they are very vulnerable to interception. The microwave networks are made up of chains of microwave towers relaying messages from hilltop to hilltop (always in line of sight) across the countryside. These networks shunt large quantities of communications across a country. Interception of them gives access to international undersea communications (once they surface) and to international communication trunk lines across continents. They are also an obvious target for large-scale interception of domestic communications.
Because the facilities required to intercept radio and satellite communications use large aerials and dishes that are difficult to hide for too long, that network is reasonably well documented. But all that is required to intercept land-based communication networks is a building situated along the microwave route or a hidden cable running underground from the legitimate network into some anonymous building, possibly far removed. Although it sounds technically very difficult, microwave interception from space by United States spy satellites also occurs.4 The worldwide network of facilities to intercept these communications is largely undocumented, and because New Zealand's GCSB does not participate in this type of interception, my inside sources could not help either.
NO ONE IS SAFE FROM A MICROWAVE
A 1994 expos of the Canadian UKUSA agency, Spyworld, co-authored by one of its former staff, Mike Frost, gave the first insights into how a lot of foreign microwave interception is done (see p. 18). It described UKUSA "embassy collection" operations, where sophisticated receivers and processors are secretly transported to their countries' overseas embassies in diplomatic bags and used to monitor various communications in foreign capitals.
Since most countries' microwave networks converge on the capital city, embassy buildings can be an ideal site. Protected by diplomatic privilege, they allow interception in the heart of the target country. *6 The Canadian embassy collection was requested by the NSA to fill gaps in the American and British embassy collection operations, which were still occurring in many capitals around the world when Frost left the CSE in 1990. Separate sources in Australia have revealed that the DSD also engages in embassy collection. *7 On the territory of UKUSA nations, the interception of land-based telecommunications appears to be done at special secret intelligence facilities. The US, UK, and Canada are geographically well placed to intercept the large amounts of the world's communications that cross their territories.
The only public reference to the Dictionary system anywhere in the world was in relation to one of these facilities, run by the GCHQ in central London. In 1991, a former British GCHQ official spoke anonymously to Granada Television's World in Action about the agency's abuses of power. He told the program about an anonymous red brick building at 8 Palmer Street where GCHQ secretly intercepts every telex which passes into, out of, or through London, feeding them into powerful computers with a program known as "Dictionary." The operation, he explained, is staffed by carefully vetted British Telecom people: "It's nothing to do with national security. It's because it's not legal to take every single telex. And they take everything: the embassies, all the business deals, even the birthday greetings, they take everything. They feed it into the Dictionary." *8 What the documentary did not reveal is that Dictionary is not just a British system; it is UKUSA-wide.
Similarly, British researcher Duncan Campbell has described how the US Menwith Hill station in Britain taps directly into the British Telecom microwave network, which has actually been designed with several major microwave links converging on an isolated tower connected underground into the station.
The NSA Menwith Hill station, with 22 satellite terminals and more than 4.9 acres of buildings, is undoubtedly the largest and most powerful in the UKUSA network. Located in northern England, several thousand kilometers from the Persian Gulf, it was awarded the NSA's "Station of the Year" prize for 1991 after its role in the Gulf War. Menwith Hill assists in the interception of microwave communications in another way as well, by serving as a ground station for US electronic spy satellites. These intercept microwave trunk lines and short range communications such as military radios and walkie talkies. Other ground stations where the satellites' information is fed into the global network are Pine Gap, run by the CIA near Alice Springs in central Australia and the Bad Aibling station in Germany. *10 Among them, the various stations and operations making up the ECHELON network tap into all the main components of the world's telecommunications networks. All of them, including a separate network of stations that intercepts long distance radio communications, have their own Dictionary computers connected into ECHELON.
In the early 1990s, opponents of the Menwith Hill station obtained large quantities of internal documents from the facility. Among the papers was a reference to an NSA computer system called Platform. The integration of all the UKUSA station computers into ECHELON probably occurred with the introduction of this system in the early 1980s. James Bamford wrote at that time about a new worldwide NSA computer network codenamed Platform "which will tie together 52 separate computer systems used throughout the world. Focal point, or `host environment,' for the massive network will be the NSA headquarters at Fort Meade. Among those included in Platform will be the British SIGINT organization, GCHQ."
LOOKING IN THE DICTIONARY
The Dictionary computers are connected via highly encrypted UKUSA communications that link back to computer data bases in the five agency headquarters. This is where all the intercepted messages selected by the Dictionaries end up. Each morning the specially "indoctrinated" signals intelligence analysts in Washington, Ottawa,Cheltenham, Canberra, and Wellington log on at their computer terminals and enter the Dictionary system. After keying in their security passwords, they reach a directory that lists the different categories of intercept available in the data bases, each with a four-digit code. For instance, 1911 might be Japanese diplomatic cables from Latin America (handled by the Canadian CSE), 3848 might be political communications from and about Nigeria, and 8182 might be any messages about distribution of encryption technology.
They select their subject category, get a "search result" showing how many messages have been caught in the ECHELON net on that subject, and then the day's work begins. Analysts scroll through screen after screen of intercepted faxes, e-mail messages, etc. and, whenever a message appears worth reporting on, they select it from the rest to work on. If it is not in English, it is translated and then written into the standard format of intelligence reports produced anywhere within the UKUSA network either in entirety as a "report," or as a summary or "gist."
INFORMATION CONTROL
A highly organized system has been developed to control what is being searched for by each station and who can have access to it. This is at the heart of ECHELON operations and works as follows.
The individual station's Dictionary computers do not simply have a long list of keywords to search for. And they do not send all the information into some huge database that participating agencies can dip into as they wish. It is much more controlled.
The search lists are organized into the same categories, referred to by the four digit numbers. Each agency decides its own categories according to its responsibilities for producing intelligence for the network. For GCSB, this means South Pacific governments, Japanese diplomatic, Russian Antarctic activities, and so on.
The agency then works out about 10 to 50 keywords for selection in each category. The keywords include such things as names of people, ships, organizations, country names, and subject names. They also include the known telex and fax numbers and Internet addresses of any individuals, businesses, organizations, and government offices that are targets. These are generally written as part of the message text and so are easily recognized by the Dictionary computers.
The agencies also specify combinations of keywords to help sift out communications of interest. For example, they might search for diplomatic cables containing both the words "Santiago" and "aid," or cables containing the word "Santiago" but not "consul" (to avoid the masses of routine consular communications). It is these sets of words and numbers (and combinations), under a particular category, that get placed in the Dictionary computers. (Staff in the five agencies called Dictionary Managers enter and update the keyword search lists for each agency.)
The whole system, devised by the NSA, has been adopted completely by the other agencies. The Dictionary computers search through all the incoming messages and, whenever they encounter one with any of the agencies' keywords, they select it. At the same time, the computer automatically notes technical details such as the time and place of interception on the piece of intercept so that analysts reading it, in whichever agency it is going to, know where it came from, and what it is. Finally, the computer writes the four-digit code (for the category with the keywords in that message) at the bottom of the message's text. This is important. It means that when all the intercepted messages end up together in the database at one of the agency headquarters, the messages on a particular subject can be located again. Later, when the analyst using the Dictionary system selects the four- digit code for the category he or she wants, the computer simply searches through all the messages in the database for the ones which have been tagged with that number.
This system is very effective for controlling which agencies can get what from the global network because each agency only gets the intelligence out of the ECHELON system from its own numbers. It does not have any access to the raw intelligence coming out of the system to the other agencies. For example, although most of the GCSB's intelligence production is primarily to serve the UKUSA alliance, New Zealand does not have access to the whole ECHELON network. The access it does have is strictly controlled. A New Zealand intelligence officer explained: "The agencies can all apply for numbers on each other's Dictionaries. The hardest to deal with are the Americans. ... [There are] more hoops to jump through, unless it is in their interest, in which case they'll do it for you."
There is only one agency which, by virtue of its size and role within the alliance, will have access to the full potential of the ECHELON system the agency that set it up. What is the system used for? Anyone listening to official "discussion" of intelligence could be forgiven for thinking that, since the end of the Cold War, the key targets of the massive UKUSA intelligence machine are terrorism, weapons proliferation, and economic intelligence. The idea that economic intelligence has become very important, in particular, has been carefully cultivated by intelligence agencies intent on preserving their post-Cold War budgets. It has become an article of faith in much discussion of intelligence. However, I have found no evidence that these are now the primary concerns of organizations such as NSA.
QUICKER INTELLIGENCE,SAME MISSION
A different story emerges after examining very detailed information I have been given about the intelligence New Zealand collects for the UKUSA allies and detailed descriptions of what is in the yards-deep intelligence reports New Zealand receives from its four allies each week. There is quite a lot of intelligence collected about potential terrorists, and there is quite a lot of economic intelligence, notably intensive monitoring of all the countries participating in GATT negotiations. But by far, the main priorities of the intelligence alliance continue to be political and military intelligence to assist the larger allies to pursue their interests around the world. Anyone and anything the particular governments are concerned about can become a target.
With capabilities so secret and so powerful, almost anything goes. For example, in June 1992, a group of current "highly placed intelligence operatives" from the British GCHQ spoke to the London Observer: "We feel we can no longer remain silent regarding that which we regard to be gross malpractice and negligence within the establishment in which we operate." They gave as examples GCHQ interception of three charitable organizations, including Amnesty International and Christian Aid. As the Observer reported: "At any time GCHQ is able to home in on their communications for a routine target request," the GCHQ source said. In the case of phone taps the procedure is known as Mantis. With telexes it is called Mayfly. By keying in a code relating to Third World aid, the source was able to demonstrate telex "fixes" on the three organizations. "It is then possible to key in a trigger word which enables us to home in on the telex communications whenever that word appears," he said. "And we can read a pre-determined number of characters either side of the keyword."12 Without actually naming it, this was a fairly precise description of how the ECHELON Dictionary system works. Again, what was not revealed in the publicity was that this is a UKUSA-wide system. The design of ECHELON means that the interception of these organizations could have occurred anywhere in the network, at any station where the GCHQ had requested that the four-digit code covering Third World aid be placed.
UKUSA Signals Intelligence Agreement Partners
Australia-------------------- Defense Signals Directorate (DSD)
Canada----- Communications Security Establishment (CSE)
New Zealand---- Communications Security Bureau (GCSB)
UK---- Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ)
USA----------------------- National Security Agency (NSA)
Note that these GCHQ officers mentioned that the system was being used for telephone calls. In New Zealand, ECHELON is used only to intercept written communications: fax, e-mail, and telex. The reason, according to intelligence staff, is that the agency does not have the staff to analyze large quantities of telephone conversations.
Mike Frost's expos of Canadian "embassy collection" operations described the NSA computers they used, called Oratory, that can "listen" to telephone calls and recognize when keywords are spoken. Just as we can recognize words spoken in all the different tones and accents we encounter, so too, according to Frost, can these computers. Telephone calls containing keywords are automatically extracted from the masses of other calls and recorded digitally on magnetic tapes for analysts back at agency headquarters. However, high volume voice recognition computers will be technically difficult to perfect, and my New Zealand-based sources could not confirm that this capability exists. But, if or when it is perfected, the implications would be immense. It would mean that the UKUSA agencies could use machines to search through all the international telephone calls in the world, in the same way that they do written messages. If this equipment exists for use in embassy collection, it will presumably be used in all the stations throughout the ECHELON network. It is yet to be confirmed how extensively telephone communications are being targeted by the ECHELON stations for the other agencies.
The easiest pickings for the ECHELON system are the individuals, organizations,and governments that do not use encryption. In New Zealand's area, for example, it has proved especially useful against already vulnerable South Pacific nations which do not use any coding, even for government communications (all these communications of New Zealand's neighbors are supplied, unscreened, to its UKUSA allies). As a result of the revelations in my book, there is currently a project under way in the Pacific to promote and supply publicly available encryption software to vulnerable organizations such as democracy movements in countries with repressive governments. This is one practical way of curbing illegitimate uses of the ECHELON capabilities.
One final comment. All the newspapers, commentators, and "well placed sources" told the public that New Zealand was cut off from US intelligence in the mid-1980s. That was entirely untrue. The intelligence supply to New Zealand did not stop, and instead, the decade since has been a period of increased integration of New Zealand into the US system. Virtually everything the equipment, manuals, ways of operating, jargon, codes, and so on, used in the GCSB continues to be imported entirely from the larger allies (in practice, usually the NSA). As with the Australian and Canadian agencies, most of the priorities continue to come from the US, too.
The main thing that protects these agencies from change is their secrecy. On the day my book arrived in the book shops, without prior publicity, there was an all-day meeting of the intelligence bureaucrats in the prime minister's department trying to decide if they could prevent it from being distributed. They eventually concluded, sensibly, that the political costs were too high. It is understandable that they were so agitated.
Throughout my research, I have faced official denials or governments refusing to comment on publicity about intelligence activities. Given the pervasive atmosphere of secrecy and stonewalling, it is always hard for the public to judge what is fact, what is speculation, and what is paranoia. Thus, in uncovering New Zealand's role in the NSA-led alliance, my aim was to provide so much detail about the operations the technical systems, the daily work of individual staff members, and even the rooms in which they work inside intelligence facilities that readers could feel confident that they were getting close to the truth. I hope the information leaked by intelligence staff in New Zealand about UKUSA and its systems such as ECHELON will help lead to change.
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