In a blog post today, the Center for Investigate Reporting discloses documents relating to three more domestic spying programs conducted by the Department of Homeland Security in the wake of 9/11.
According to the blog post, three programs stand out: Pantheon, Pathfinder and Organizational Shared Space. They add to a growing list of domestic intelligence and surveillance efforts, including information-sharing programs, “dozens of intelligence “fusion” centers formed by local, state and federal officials, and data-mining projects that involve probing mountains of telecommunications and commercial records for leads.” Though much of the information in the released documents is redacted, the Center for Investigate Reporting is able to read some details of the three noted programs.
Pathfinder, for example, is described as an “integrated text search, retrieval, display and analytic tool suite used to analyze intelligence community message traffic,” while Pantheon is described as a “system for the Department of Homeland Security to share intelligence with other federal, state and local governments when requested, which again includes information about U.S. citizens and permanent residents.”
Organizational Shared Space is described as “an umbrella portal for systems like Pantheon and allows agencies within DHS, from the Coast Guard to the Transportation Security Administration, to access classified intelligence internally.” The blog posts makes note that it is housed on the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System, which defense and state departments use to exchange classified information. The implication is that those departments also have access to information from the Organizational Shared Space.
The complete documents are also posted to the Center for Investigative Reporting blog using Scribd.
