'How Israeli Backdoor Technology Penetrated the U.S. Government's Telecom System and Compromised National Security An Israeli Trojan HorseBy CHRISTOPHER KETCHAM
Since the late 1990s, federal agents have reported systemic communications security breaches at the Department of Justice, FBI, DEA, the State Department, and the White House. Several of the alleged breaches, these agents say, can be traced to two hi-tech communications companies, Verint Inc. (formerly Comverse Infosys), and Amdocs Ltd., that respectively provide major wiretap and phone billing/record-keeping software contracts
for the U.S. government. Together, Verint and Amdocs form part of the
backbone of the government’s domestic intelligence surveillance
technology. Both companies are based in Israel – having arisen to
prominence from that country’s cornering of the information technology market – and are heavily funded by the Israeli government, with connections to the Israeli military and Israeli intelligence (both companies have a long history of board memberships dominated by current and
former Israeli military and intelligence officers). Verint is considered
the world leader in "electronic interception" and hence an ideal private sector candidate for wiretap outsourcing. Amdocs is the world’s largest billing service for telecommunications, with some $2.8 billion in revenues in 2007, offices worldwide, and clients that include the top 25 phone companies in the United States that together handle 90 percent of all call traffic among U.S. residents. The companies’ operations, sources suggest, have been infiltrated by freelance spies exploiting encrypted trapdoors in Verint/Amdocs technology and gathering data on Americans for transfer to Israeli intelligence and other willing customers (particularly organized crime). "The fact of the vulnerability of our telecom backbone is indisputable," says a high level U.S. intelligence officer who has monitored the fears among federal agents. "How it came to pass, why nothing has been done, who has done what – these are the incendiary questions." If the allegations are true, the electronic communications gathered up by the NSA and other U.S. intelligence agencies might be
falling into the hands of a foreign government. Reviewing the available
evidence, Robert David Steele, a former CIA case officer and today one of the foremost international proponents for "public intelligence in the public interest," tells me that "Israeli penetration of the entire US telecommunications system means that NSA's warrantless wiretapping actually means Israeli warrantless wiretapping."
As early as 1999, the National Security Agency issued a warning that records of U.S. government telephone calls were ending up in foreign hands
– Israel’s, in particular. In 2002, assistant U.S. Attorney General
Robert F. Diegelman issued an eyes only memo on the matter to the chief information technology (IT) officers at the Department of Justice. IT officers oversee everything from the kind of cell phones agents carry to the wiretap equipment they use in the field; their defining purpose is secure communications. Diegelman’s memo was a reiteration, with overtones of reprimand, of a new IT policy instituted a year earlier, in July 2001, in an internal Justice order titled "2640.2D Information Technology Security." Order 2640.2D stated that "Foreign Nationals shall not be authorized to access or assist in the development, operation, management or maintenance of Department IT systems." This might not seem much to blink at in the post-9/11 intel and security overhaul. Yet 2640.2D
was issued a full two months before the Sept. 11 attacks. What group or
groups of foreign nationals had close access to IT systems at the
Department of Justice? Israelis, according to officials in law
enforcement. One former Justice Department computer crimes prosecutor tells me, speaking on background, "I’ve heard that the Israelis can listen in to our calls."
Retired CIA counterterrorism and counterintelligence officer Philip Giraldi says this is par for the course in the history of Israeli penetrations in
the U.S. He notes that Israel always features prominently in the annual
FBI report called "Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage" – Israel is second only to China in stealing U.S. business secrets.'
for the U.S. government. Together, Verint and Amdocs form part of the
backbone of the government’s domestic intelligence surveillance
technology. Both companies are based in Israel – having arisen to
prominence from that country’s cornering of the information technology market – and are heavily funded by the Israeli government, with connections to the Israeli military and Israeli intelligence (both companies have a long history of board memberships dominated by current and
former Israeli military and intelligence officers). Verint is considered
the world leader in "electronic interception" and hence an ideal private sector candidate for wiretap outsourcing. Amdocs is the world’s largest billing service for telecommunications, with some $2.8 billion in revenues in 2007, offices worldwide, and clients that include the top 25 phone companies in the United States that together handle 90 percent of all call traffic among U.S. residents. The companies’ operations, sources suggest, have been infiltrated by freelance spies exploiting encrypted trapdoors in Verint/Amdocs technology and gathering data on Americans for transfer to Israeli intelligence and other willing customers (particularly organized crime). "The fact of the vulnerability of our telecom backbone is indisputable," says a high level U.S. intelligence officer who has monitored the fears among federal agents. "How it came to pass, why nothing has been done, who has done what – these are the incendiary questions." If the allegations are true, the electronic communications gathered up by the NSA and other U.S. intelligence agencies might be
falling into the hands of a foreign government. Reviewing the available
evidence, Robert David Steele, a former CIA case officer and today one of the foremost international proponents for "public intelligence in the public interest," tells me that "Israeli penetration of the entire US telecommunications system means that NSA's warrantless wiretapping actually means Israeli warrantless wiretapping."
As early as 1999, the National Security Agency issued a warning that records of U.S. government telephone calls were ending up in foreign hands
– Israel’s, in particular. In 2002, assistant U.S. Attorney General
Robert F. Diegelman issued an eyes only memo on the matter to the chief information technology (IT) officers at the Department of Justice. IT officers oversee everything from the kind of cell phones agents carry to the wiretap equipment they use in the field; their defining purpose is secure communications. Diegelman’s memo was a reiteration, with overtones of reprimand, of a new IT policy instituted a year earlier, in July 2001, in an internal Justice order titled "2640.2D Information Technology Security." Order 2640.2D stated that "Foreign Nationals shall not be authorized to access or assist in the development, operation, management or maintenance of Department IT systems." This might not seem much to blink at in the post-9/11 intel and security overhaul. Yet 2640.2D
was issued a full two months before the Sept. 11 attacks. What group or
groups of foreign nationals had close access to IT systems at the
Department of Justice? Israelis, according to officials in law
enforcement. One former Justice Department computer crimes prosecutor tells me, speaking on background, "I’ve heard that the Israelis can listen in to our calls."
Retired CIA counterterrorism and counterintelligence officer Philip Giraldi says this is par for the course in the history of Israeli penetrations in
the U.S. He notes that Israel always features prominently in the annual
FBI report called "Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage" – Israel is second only to China in stealing U.S. business secrets.'
Lees verder: http://www.counterpunch.org/ketcham09272008.html
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten