Daily Archives: April 27, 2017

April 26, 2017

An NSA spying blimp known as the Hover Hammer was seen by several residents of Maryland, according to The Intercept.

To residents of Maryland, catching an occasional glimpse of a huge white blimp floating in the sky is not unusual. For more than a decade, the military has used the state as a proving ground for new airships destined for Afghanistan or Iraq. But less known is that the test flights have sometimes served a more secretive purpose involving National Security Agency surveillance.

Back in 2004, a division of the NSA called the National Tactical Integration Office fitted a 62-foot diameter airship called the Hover Hammer with an eavesdropping device, he continued, adding that The agency launched the three-engine airship at an airfield near Solomons Island, Maryland.

From there, the blimp was able to vacuum up international shipping data emanating from the Long Island, New York area,' Gallagher explained, citing a classified document published on Monday. The spy equipment on the airship was called Digital Receiver Technology a proprietary system manufactured by a Maryland-based company of the same name which can intercept wireless communications, including cellphone calls.

The report continuedby saying, Unsurprisingly, privacy groups have expressed concerns about the prospect of the blimps being used domestically to spy on Americans. However, military officials have often been quick to dismiss such fears.

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NSA blimp spied on US citizens - TRUNEWS

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Russian Cybercriminals Are Loving Those Leaked NSA Windows ... Forbes 150000 Windows machines now thought to be infected with leaked NSA malware. NSA backdoor detected on >55000 Windows boxes can now be remotely removedArs Technica How leaked NSA spy tools created a hacking free-for-allCNNMoney Leaked NSA tools, now infecting over 200000 machines, will be weaponized for yearsCyberScoop TechTarget -LifeZette -TrendinTech -TechNet Blogs - Microsoft all 63 news articles »

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Russian Cybercriminals Are Loving Those Leaked NSA Windows ... - Forbes

The surveillance hawks it would appear are never satisfied. When it comes to harvesting the data of American citizens, their mantra seems to be too much is never enough. The most recently revealed tool in the considerable arsenal of the surveillance state is a three-engine blimp equipped with eavesdropping apparatus.

As the online magazine The Intercept is reporting, the 62-foot diameter airship ominously named the Hover Hammer was fitted with an eavesdropping device back in 2004. The Intercept published a classified document on Monday as part of the Snowden Archive. That classified document shows that the Hover Hammer can be manned or remotely piloted and has already done demonstration flights up to 10,700 feet including a test in which the airship launched from an airfield near Solomons Island, Maryland and was able to intercept international shipping data emanating from the Long Island, New York area, including lines of bearing. Just to clarify, both Maryland and Long Island, New York, are in the United States, so the fact that the Hover Hammer intercepted international shipping data is considerably less than the whole story. In sweeping up that data, the Digital Receiver Technology model 1301 receiver onboard the airship undoubtedly also picked up domestic communications including mobile phone calls, texts, mobile data traffic, and presumably WiFi and other signals.

Moreover, since the document dated August 9, 2004 also says that other experiments were being conducted at that time including the use of onboard imagery sensors, it is a foregone conclusion that the past 13 years have been a heyday of domestic surveillance for the NSA (which operates the aircraft) and other three-letter-agencies that make up the surveillance state. After all, imagery sensors is just tech jargon for cameras. It is to be expected that these imagery sensors would include heat signature sensors as well as infrared sensors. This aircraft even as it existed in 2004 is a surveillance dream come true and a privacy living nightmare.

Of course, it is certain that the aircraft is not what it was in 2004; technology never stands still. In fact, the classified document leaked by Snowden and only recently published by The Intercept as part of the Snowden Archive shows that in 2004, the craft was already being sized up for more changes than just the addition of onboard imagery sensors:

The current plans are to develop the airship for unmanned operations at altitudes of approximately 20,000 feet for up to 48 hours. Future variants are planned to be 200 feet in diameter and will operate at 68,000 feet with mission durations of up to six months. NTIO and S3's Tactical Platforms are already collaborating on options for deploying SIGINT systems on this platform.

So, bigger is better in the darkened minds of the surveillance hawks. If the Hover Hammer could read signals from Maryland to Long Island being a mere 62 feet in diameter and topping out at flights reaching just under 11,000 feet, imagine what could be done with a 200-foot diameter craft flying at 68,000 feet.

And, as The Intercepts Ryan Gallagher pointed out in the article linked above, these eyes in the sky are big business for the surveillance state, which has big plans for them:

In recent years, airships or aerostats, as they are formally called have been a source of major military investment. Between 2006 and 2015, the U.S. Army paid Raytheon some $1.8 billion to develop a massive missile-defense blimp called the JLENS, which is equipped with powerful radar that can scan in any direction 310 miles. (Thats almost the entire length of New York state.) In October 2015, the JLENS attracted national attention after one became untethered amid testing and drifted north from Maryland to Pennsylvania before it was brought back under control. In 2010, the Army commissioned another three airships called Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicles as part of a $517 million contract with Northrop Grumman. The company stated that the airships would shape the future of the militarys intelligence-gathering capabilities and provide a persistent unblinking stare from the sky.

Of course, the surveillance hawks are not the least bit above misleading or even outright lying to the American people for whom they presumably work. As The Intercept article says:

Unsurprisingly, privacy groups have expressed concerns about the prospect of the blimps being used domestically to spy on Americans. However, military officials have often been quick to dismiss such fears. In August 2015, Lt. Shane Glass told Baltimore broadcaster WBAL that the JLENS blimps being tested in Maryland were not equipped with cameras or eavesdropping devices. There are no cameras on the system, and we are not capable of tracking any individuals, Glass stated.

Even if that were true and considering the fact that the surveillance state is populated by pathological liars, that would be a thin limb to go out on it is irrelevant. JLENS is small fries compared to the Hover Hammer, and there are likely other such aircraft that we know nothing of yet.

While Americans have known about much of what the three-letter-agencies of the surveillance state have been up to, the truth, it turns out, is even darker than many may have imagined. The surveillance hawks have built their Panopticon; they just built it in the sky. The all-seeing eye giving them a persistent unblinking stare means that when the surveillance hawks in both the intelligence community and Congress have complained about the problem of terrorists and other criminals going dark, they were lying.

This does of course underscore the importance of encrypting as much of your data and communications as possible. Encryption truly is the great equalizer in the battle for digital privacy. As this writer has said time and again: encrypt everything. If the surveillance hawks are going to take to the skies to harvest your data, make them waste their time (and your money) harvesting unintelligible gibberish that does them no good (and you no harm) without the decryption keys.

Image: Screenshot of YouTube video of Raytheon JLENS airship

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The NSA's Eye in the Sky: Blimp Spies on Americans - The New American

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Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes is the only Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence other than Rep. Adam Schiff, the panels ranking minority member, to review intelligence files showing former White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice unmasked aides to President Donald Trump during his transition to the Oval Office, The Daily Caller News Foundations Investigative Group has learned.

The apparent lack of interest among the remaining seven Democrats on the intelligence panel is in striking contrast to their earlier vocal demands that they see the documents after committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes disclosed he had read them at the White House complex.

According to a source with knowledge of congressional visits to the National Security Agency, the classified documents have been available to committee members for three weeks, but Himes and Schiff are the lone Democrats to review them.

Unmasking refers to what happens when somebody reveals a previously redacted name of an American citizen who was incidentally overheard by U.S. intelligence assets while talking to a foreigner.

Rice, who worked for President Barack Obama, was authorized to request such redacted names, but it is a criminal offense to make the name public or to ask another person to do so. Penalties include up to $10,000 and as many as five years in prison.

Im scheduled to go to one of our agencies tomorrow to view those documents, Himes toldCNNs Wolf Blitzer April 5.The lawmaker did not disclose where he would review the documents, but the source confirmed toTheDCNF that Himes did so at the NSAs Ft. Meade, Maryland, facility.

Schiff, who is fromCalifornia, especially slammed Trump administration officials for allowing Nunes to review the documents before other committee members were allowed to do so.

Were still trying to get those documents for the full committee, Schiff saidin an April 6 CNN interview.We would like the White Houses help if they are sincere about wanting to share this information. But as yet we have not been able to make those documents available to the full committee.

The absence of Democrats from the NSA reading room extends to their committee staffs. Both Democratic and Republican House intelligence committee staff were cleared to view the intelligence at Ft. Meade.

A large contingent of Republican staff have camped out at the NSA Headquarters reviewing the documents.

The Republican side staff is heavily engaged for weeks, the source told TheDCNF. Republican staffers have been spending all day at NSA, three days a week. The minority (Democratic) staff have been there a fraction of that time.

Two Republican members of the committee other than Nunes have since reviewed the documents, but the source declined to reveal their names. Nunes has since recused himself on the Russia meddling issue but is still the lead on the Rice issue. Texas Rep. Mike Conaway is fulfilling the chairmans duties on the Russian probe.

Ron Hosko, a 30-year FBI veteran and its former assistant director, condemned Democrats for not reviewing the documents, telling TheDCNF that it may be a reflection of hypocrisy that we see coming out of this committee.

Hosko also suggested, This could be information they do not want to possess. They dont want the facts to get in the way of what theyre saying publicly. So now theyre avoiding it.

White House counsel Donald F. McGahn II invitedSchiff March 30 to examine the documents at the NSC. The next day the congressman traveled to examine the files at the NSC offices on the White House grounds.

Since then, Schiff has been uncharacteristically mum about what he has seen. He has said nothing about what he saw in the files.

In deciding to share the NSA intelligence with all House intelligence committee members, the Trump administration broke tradition set in 1947 and upheld by every president since then.

The 1947 National Security Act limited intelligence sharing with Congress to only eight leaders of the House and Senate: the Speaker of the House, the House minority leader, the Senate majority and minority leaders, along with the chairmen of the House and Senate intelligence committees.

Previous chief executives have since fully informed Congress of intelligence matters by limiting the classified material to the group, which is informally known as the Gang of Eight.

It was McGahns March 30 invitation to Schiff that broke the precedent. Then the Trump administrations opened the door to unprecedented heights, allowing all members of the House intelligence committee to view the NSA intelligence.

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EXCLUSIVE: Only 2 House Dems Have Examined Those Susan Rice 'Unmasking' Docs - Daily Caller