Tag Archives: DHS

Homeland Security sued over data related to lending drones to local law enforcement agencies


By SB Anderson

In its lawsuit Wednesday over a FOIA request that has gone unanswered, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said “Americans deserve the full story” about how Customs and Border Protection is “expanding its surveillance work, flying Predator drone missions on behalf of a diverse group of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.”

EFF Staff Attorney Jennifer Lynch: “Drones are a powerful surveillance tool that can be used to gather extensive data about you and your activities. The public needs to know more about how and why these Predator drones are being used to watch U.S. citizens.”

EFF on Wednesday also sued the FAA, claiming it is “foot-dragging” is releasing data about public drone flights.

Full Story | The lawsuit (PDF) | Second suit filed against FAA over drones 


I strongly disagree with the report’s core assertion that fusion centers have been unable to meaningfully contribute to federal counterterrorism efforts.

U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, responding on Wednesday to a scathing report from a subcommittee of the committee he chairs — Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. (Via Washington Post).

Fusion centers have ‘wasted money and stepped on Americans’ civil liberties’


By SB Anderson

The Department of Homeland Security’s $1.4 billion network of 77 fusion centers has “not yielded significant useful information to support federal counterterrorism intelligence efforts,” and in the process has “too often wasted money and stepped on Americans’ civil liberties,” a congressional committee has declared. 

“Pools of ineptitude,” is the phrase turned in a Washington Post headline this week in regard to the investigative findings by from the U. S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

“But after nine years — and regular praise from officials at the Department of Homeland Security — the 77 fusion centers have become pools of ineptitude, waste and civil liberties intrusions, according to a scathing 141-page report… .”

Said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma: “It’s troubling that the very ‘fusion’ centers that were designed to share information in a post-9/11 world have become part of the problem.”

Intelligence from the centers is of “uneven quality – oftentimes shoddy, rarely timely, sometimes endangering citizens’ civil liberties and Privacy Act protections, occasionally taken from already-published public sources, and more often than not unrelated to terrorism,” the report states.

According to the Post, the Department of Homeland Security “condemned the report and defended the fusion centers, saying the Senate investigators relied on out-of-date data.”

Steve Aftergood of Secrecy News lauded the way the report and investigation were accomplished, call it “a rare example of congressional oversight in the classical mode.  It was performed by professional investigators over a two-year period.  It encountered and overcame agency resistance and non-cooperation.  And it uncovered — and published — significant new information that demands an executive branch response.  That’s the way the system is supposed to work.”

Is there a fusion center near your market? PublicIntelligence.net has locations and a map.

      

→ Download full report

→ Press release

→ Post story

Death watch for BioWatch upgrade?


By SB Anderson

The LA Times reports that the Department of Homeland Security has “quietly postponed” the rollout of the $3.1 billion upgrade of the BioWatch program meant to detect biological threats. 

“[I]n a three-sentence posting to a government website late last month, Homeland Security said it had shifted the time frame for soliciting final proposals to the final quarter of the year. The posting provided no explanation for the delay.

“Scientists familiar with the matter said the development reflects a lack of confidence in the new technology, known as Generation 3.

“A department spokesman, Peter Boogaard, declined to comment.

“The postponement comes as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and her aides are facing pointed questions about BioWatch from lawmakers of both parties in Congress. The program has cost taxpayers about $1 billion so far.”

Two House subcommittees are scheduled to discuss BioWatch this week. 

The Times has reported on a series of false alarms with BioWatch and said “due to insufficient sensitivity, BioWatch would be unlikely to detect an actual attack.” DHS calls those reports of false alarms “unsubstantiated.”  → Full Story

With growing collection and databasing of ‘biometrics’ by government come growing concerns about privacy


By SB Anderson

Could “biometrics” — the electronic collection of fingerprints, iris scans, blood samples and photographs in public places — replace the Social Security number as a primary identifier? That’s a possibility, a new report warns, and the privacy implications are significant. 

“The rapid expansion of programs that collect, store, and share biometric data has raised important concerns over privacy and data accuracy for citizens and non‐citizens alike,” the Immigration Policy Center says in a new report, “From Fingerprints to DNA: Biometric Data Collection in U.S. Immigrant Communities and Beyond.” (Full Report | Summary Report)

“If biometrics become standardized, they could replace social security numbers as the primary form of identification. The next time someone applies for insurance, sees her doctor, or fills out an apartment rental application, she could be asked for her thumbprint or iris scan. Data standardization also increases the ability of government or private companies to locate and track a given person throughout their lives. “

Privacy becomes a much more significant issue as government agencies begin sharing their biometric data, the report says.

“As a result of data sharing between agencies, biometric data collected for non‐criminal purposes, such as immigration‐related records, are combined with and used for criminal or national‐security purposes with little to no standards, oversight, or transparency.

“When some of this data comes from sources such as local fusion centers and private security guards in the form of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), it can perpetuate racially motivated targeting of immigrant communities. The addition of crowd and security camera photographs means that anyone could end up in the database—even if they’re not involved in a crime—by just happening to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

How much data is collected? According to the report:

  • DHS collects approximately 300,000 fingerprints per day from non‐U.S. citizens crossing U.S. borders
  • The FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint System (IAFIS) and DHS’s Automated biometric Identification System (IDENT) each hold 100+ million records. 
  • The federal government and all 50 states collect DNA, primarily through the criminal justice system. 
  • All 50 states, the federal government and the District of Columbia collect and share DNA records through the FBI’s . .  .large centrally‐managed database that links DNA profiles taken from federal, state, and territorial DNA collection programs. 
  • The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may also begin collecting DNA from others who interact with the agency. New rules . . require DHS to collect DNA from any non‐United States person it detains. DHS estimates this could affect up to 1 million people per year, including juveniles.

How many acronyms would a woodchuck chuck . . .


By SB Anderson

You know you’ve got yourself a doozy of a national security report when there is a three-page appendix that lists the acronyms used in it. All told, 132 of them in the first-ever FEMA National Preparedness report released this month —from AFRCC to WPS. 

The report showed the state and local officials surveyed for it most concerned about  cybersecurity, housing, natural and cultural resources, and the economy. (Chart below).

The New York Times did a nice wrap on the report findings. You can download the full report here (it’s a 4+MB PDF). 

ICE Targets Fewer Criminals in Deportation Proceedings


By SB Anderson

Tons of local data available on this one released this week from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Clearinghouse. 

In deportation proceedings initiated during July – September 2011 by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the nation’s 50 plus Immigration Courts, only 7,378 individuals — just 13.8 percent of the total — were charged with having engaged in criminal activities. Of those targeted, the proportion of alleged “criminals” is down significantly from the already low level of 16.5 percent during FY 2010.

Not only has ICE targeted relatively few criminals as the basis for seeking deportation in these court proceedings, but this proportion has been declining steadily throughout the past year: 15.8 percent were charged with engaging in criminal activity during the first quarter period (October – December 2010), 15.1 percent during the second quarter (January – March 2011), 14.9 percent during the third quarter (April – June 2011), and finally 13.8 percent during the fourth quarter (July – September 2011). The average rate across the four quarters for FY 2011 was 14.9 percent.

Drill down on local data with this data analysis tool | Denver Post story on Colorado data