Category Archives: National Security

It's true that the “common law court” movement includes a lot of nutty people and probably some dangerous ones. And it's true that some of the things they do overlap with legal activities (although they often take it waaay too far). So I have a little sympathy for the bureaucrats who produced the boneheaded leaflet and training materials being mercilessly skewered by Homeland Stupidity at You are the homegrown terrorist threat. But only a little.

The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in Phoenix, Ariz., distributed a brochure (Images: 1, 2) to local law enforcement agencies a few years ago which defines terrorism as individuals or groups within the U.S. who engage in criminal activity to promote political or social changes. This is correct, as far as it goes, but the brochure then gives a listing of “suspicious” activities, telling law enforcement officers: “If you encounter any of the following, call the Joint Terrorism Task Force.”

Some of the things for which you should be reported as a suspected terrorist include the usual things, like weapons of mass destruction, and hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis, but also includes people who “Make numerous references to US Constitution,” “Claim driving is a right, not a privilege” and “Attempt to ‘police the police.’”

As regular readers know, I make frequent references to the US Constitution, and believe that there is constitutional right to travel — although its application to cars is a bit of a mess. And I'm all for policing the police although other than going to traffic court I've not done much of that myself.

Please don't report me.

You might recall this post, Is that a Loonie in Your Pocket or is Someone Else Glad to See Me?, back from January. Basically, US security types got all excited about “bugged” Canadian coins. Here's a reminder of what they were saying:

Canadian coins containing tiny transmitters have mysteriously turned up in the pockets of at least three American contractors who visited Canada, says a branch of the U.S. Department of Defence. …

“On at least three separate occasions between October 2005 and January 2006, cleared defence contractors' employees travelling through Canada have discovered radio frequency transmitters embedded in Canadian coins placed on their persons,” the report says. …

Well, several months later, we know the truth: they're nuts. 'Poppy Quarter' Behind Spy Coin Alert:

An odd-looking Canadian coin with a bright red flower was the culprit behind a U.S. Defense Department false espionage warning earlier this year about mysterious coin-like objects with radio frequency transmitters, The Associated Press has learned.

The harmless “poppy coin” was so unfamiliar to suspicious U.S. Army contractors traveling in Canada that they filed confidential espionage accounts about them. The worried contractors described the coins as “anomalous” and “filled with something man-made that looked like nano-technology,” according to once-classified U.S. government reports and e-mails obtained by the AP.

But, of course, they weren't anything of the kind.

And we wonder why they can't catch bin Laden?

I've always thought of the NSA as the best of our spooks, so “I Was Recruited by the NSA” made me sad.

Other people linking to this make a fuss about the NSA objecting to excessive file sharing are a bar to employment. I'm not sure I agree. If the file sharing was known to be illegal, it suggests you are not a by-the-book kind of straight arrow. And I'm OK with the NSA wanting only the most punctiliously honest employees.

No, what made me sad was the “no Peace Corps veterans” rule. I understand that clearing anyone who has lived for a substantial time abroad is a challenge, but I would have thought that the NSA would be better off with the occasional Peace Corps idealist. And I would also have thought that the missions of the two agencies were not inimical. The NSA, sadly, seems to see it differently.

As most people who have done anything involving a clearance know, recent Peace Corps service is a definite bar to a clearance. During the first hour, the female recruiter couches it in terms of the Peace Corps and the NSA have conflicting missions. But later, she points out that the travel and the problems in doing background checks were a factor.

I'd have thought that the idealism and knowledge about the world were worth the effort.

TheStar.com – News – U.S. retracts spy coins claim

It seems there’s no danger of your spare change spying on you after all.

A U.S. government defence agency has suddenly retracted its claim that Canadian coins containing tiny transmitters were planted on at least three American contractors who visited Canada.

It’s the latest twist in an intriguing cash caper.

…

In a statement posted late Friday on its website, the Defense Security Service said the coin claims were based on a report provided to the agency.

“The allegations, however, were found later to be unsubstantiated following an investigation into the matter,” the statement said, adding that “the 2006 annual report should not have contained this information.”

The service’s acting director has ordered an internal review of the circumstances leading up to publication of the information “to prevent incidents like this” from recurring.

A spokeswoman for the agency was unavailable Saturday.

As recently as Wednesday, the Defense Security Service insisted the risk was genuine.

“What’s in the report is true,” agency spokeswoman Martha Deutscher told The Associated Press. “This is indeed a sanitized version, which leaves a lot of questions.”

Earlier item, Is that a Loonie in Your Pocket or is Someone Else Glad to See Me?.