Whistleblower: NSA even collected credit card records

David Edwards and Stephen C. Webster
Published: Thursday January 22, 2009

Ex-analyst believes program actually the remnants of 'Total Information Awareness,' shut down by Congress in 2003

On Wednesday night, when former NSA analyst Russell Tice told MSNBC's Keith Olbermann that the Bush administration's National Security Agency spied on everyonein the United States, specifically targeting journalists, the Countdown host was so flabbergasted that Tice was invited back for a second interview. 

On Thursday, he returned to the airwaves with expanded allegations against the NSA, claiming the agency collected Americans' credit card records, and adding that he believes the massive, warrantless data vacuum to be the remnants of the Total Information Awareness program, shut down by Congress in 2003.

Asked for comment by Olbermann's staff, the agency responded, "NSA considers the constitutional rights of US citizens to be sacrosanct. The intelligence community faces immense challenges in protecting our nation. No matter the challenges, NSA remains dedicated to performing its mission under the rule of law."

Olbermann ran the quote under a banner which read, "Non-denial denial."

"As far as the wiretap information that made it though NSA, there was also data-mining that was involved," Tice told Olbermann during the pair's second interview. "At some point, information from credit card records and financial transactions was married in with that information."

At this point on the audio track, Olbermann can be heard taking a deep breath.

"So, lucky American citizens, tens of thousands of whom are now on digital databases at NSA, who have no idea of this, also have that information included in those digital files that have been warehoused," said Tice.

"... Do you have any idea what all this stuff was used for?" asked the stunned host.

"The obvious explanation would be, if you did have a potential terrorist, you'd want to know where they're spending money, whether they purchased an airline ticket, that sort of thing," said Tice. "But, once again, we're talking about tens of thousands of innocent US citizens that have been caught up into this trap. They have no clue.

"This thing could sit there for 10 years, then all the sudden it marries up with something else and 10 years from now and they get put on a no-fly list and they of course won't have a clue why."

Tice added that "in most cases," spied-upon Americans didn't have to do anything suspicious in order to trigger the surveillance. 

"This is garnered from algorithms that have been put together to try to just dream up scenarios that might be information that is associated with how a terrorist could operate," he said.

Ultimately, the technical explanation boils down to this: "If someone just talked about the daily news and mentioned something about the Middle East, they could easily be brought to the forefront of having that little flag put by their name that says potential terrorist," said Tice.

"Do you know, or do you have an educated guess, as to who authorized this? Who developed this?" asked Olbermann. 

"I have a guess, where it was developed," he replied. "I think it was probably developed out of the Department of Defense, and this is probably the remnants of Total Information Awareness, that came out of DARPA. That's my guess, I don't know that for sure."

Olbermann then asked if Tice knows who had access to the data.

"I started looking into this, and that's when ultimately they came after me to fire me," said Tice. "They must have realized that I'd stumbled onto something, and after that point I of course had no ability to find anything else out."

Tice concluded that he does not know if the program, as he understands it, continues to this day, and he refused to specifically state which media organizations the Bush administration's NSA had targeted for surveillance.

This video is from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast Jan. 22, 2009.




Download video via RawReplay.com


Further reading:

Sen. Rockefeller 'ready to believe' he was spied on

Whistleblower: NSA spied on everyone, targeted journalists 

Whistleblowers’ evidence of NASA UFO fraud might kill UK hacker case

January 15, 12:26 PM

by Jeff Peckman

Evidence that U.S. space agency NASA has defrauded U.S. taxpayers for billions of dollars could scrap NASA’s case against UK hacker Gary McKinnon. Credible witnesses have claimed that NASA has altered or destroyed its photos containing images of UFOs. This could become a legal and public relations nightmare for NASA.

The space agency is attempting to prosecute McKinnon for hacking into NASA computer files. McKinnon has stated that he saw UFO-related files in NASA’s computers. But NASA has denied any “cover-up”.

NASA’s claim of innocence faces a serious challenge. Some of the whistleblowers are former NASA employees and contractors with inside knowledge of NASA’s operation. If NASA’s destruction of public property is confirmed, the alleged cost of McKinnon’s hacking would be insignificant compared to NASA’s annual funding of more than $17 billion. Even worse, NASA’s year 2000 mission statement boasted that it is “ethical and honest” in all that they do.

Part of NASA's mission is to look for signs of intelligent life in outer space. So asking for more money to 'look', after they've already destroyed evidence that they  'found', is a not going to be easy.

Among these whistleblowers are US Air Force Sergeant Karl Wolfe, former NASA employee Donna Hare, and former NASA engineer John Schuessler. Wolfe and Hare exposed some of NASA’s misdeeds at the May 9, 2001 Disclosure Project press conference in Washington, D.C. They both offered to give similar testimony before the U.S. Congress.

According to the Disclosure Project:

Donna Hare had a secret clearance while working for NASA contractor, Philco Ford. She testifies that she was shown a photo of a picture with a distinct UFO. Her colleague explained that it was his job to airbrush such evidence of UFOs out of photographs before they were released to the public. She also heard information from other Johnson Space Center employees that some astronauts had seen extraterrestrial craft and that when some of them wanted to speak out about this they were threatened.” [See Hare’s testimony at 100:10 minutes into the May 9, 2001 Disclosure Project press conference.

“Sergeant Karl Wolfe was in the Air Force for 4 and 1/2 years beginning in January 1964. He had a top-secret crypto clearance and worked with the tactical air command at Langley AFB in Virginia. While working at a NSA [National Security Agency] facility he was shown photographs taken by the Lunar Orbiter of the moon that showed detailed artificial structures. These photos were taken prior to the Apollo landing in 1969. [See Wolfe’s testimony at 57:50 minutes into the May 9, 2001 Disclosure Project press conference.

John Schuessler is a Denver area resident and retired aerospace engineer from Lockheed Martin. He worked at NASA on nearly every manned U.S. space flight since its inception. In a March 19, 2008 lecture in Lakewood, CO, Schuessler talked about seeing an unfamiliar photo from one of the Apollo moon landings. Schuessler said:

“I went to a conference in Canada, in Toronto. I think it was [19]82. A guy came up to me and said ‘I’ve got this NASA photo. Do you recognize this?’  And it was an Apollo shot. And it was an official lithograph that they release. I’ve got hundreds of these lithographs.

I didn’t have that one. And they are all numbered. They have a photograph number on them and on the back of them is printed the information about what it is. This photograph had a UFO in the background.

So as soon as I got back to Houston I went to the photo lab and told them I’d like to look at the Apollo photos. And we’re old friends you know, so they said ‘sure here’s the rack of them.’

So I went down through the rack of the Apollo photos and the numbers sequentially. And I got to a series of numbers, that this one was in the middle of, and there were no photos. They were all missing. And I said ‘well where are these photos?’  He said, ‘well it’s like all these others, the film was bad.’ And I had seen the thing first hand with the NASA printing on it so I know it came out. But it was withdrawn.” 
 
Schuessler was also the co-founder of MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) International and its past Director. It was Schuessler’s story of the missing NASA UFO photo that was largely responsible for inspiring the ballot initiative to create an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver.

NASA seems intent on making an example of UK hacker Gary McKinnon. In the end, the public might be intent on making an example of NASA. After all, how can NASA keep getting $17 billion a year during an economic crisis after taxpayers find out NASA has been lying to them for decades and squandering their hard-earned money? The legal experts should ask, “is it a crime for someone to hack into a government agency that is committing a much bigger crime?”

There's talk that McKinnon might serve up to 60-70 years in prison if found guilty. So what is the maximum sentence for NASA officials if found guilty of defrauding taxpayers? On Jan. 20, an UK judge is expected to make a final decision on McKinnon’s extradition to the U.S. That gives NASA less than one week to avoid a collision with reality.

“Earth to NASA, you have a problem!”

 

Related articles:

Did UK hacker Gary McKinnon find NASA UFO fraud?

CEO of NASA contractor Lockheed knew of extraterrestrial UFO visitors

Briefing Obama on UFOs and Extraterrestrial Life

Related books:

Connecting the Dots: Making Sense of the Ufo Phenomena by Paola Harris

"Disclosure” Book  by Steven M. Greer, M.D.

More related books