From: Date: Fri Dec 26, 2003 1:22pm Subject: Check out Taylor Group Click here: Taylor Group FYI RE: TAYLOR GROUP From: "Craig Meldrum" Date: Thu Jul 31, 2003 5:12:13 PM America/New_York To: "TSCM" Subject: [TSCM-L] Warning It is with great reluctance that I feel the necessity to post the following information as a possible warning to other members of this forum. I recently, through this site, advertised some excess TSCM equipment I had for sale and it was purchased by Dan Grissom trading as Taylor Group of Downers Grove Il 60515. He gave me a Fedex account on which to ship the equipment which turned out (after shipping) to be a false or non existent account. I have therefore been landed with the, not inconsiderable, international freight costs. All subsequent attempts to contact Dan Grissom have been ignored. This is an industry where integrity is not only essential but should be expected without question and I certainly did not expect to find such a recalcitrant on this list. Having given Dan Grissom several opportunities to fix this problem without result, I resorted to this naming as a last resort and on the advice of a prominent member of the list. If as a consequence he comes to his senses and does the right thing I will be more than happy to publicize that and withdraw this warning. Thank you all for your tolerance. Craig Meldrum =============================== Craig Meldrum, Managing Director Communications Security Ltd PO Box 8314, Symonds St Auckland, New Zealand Ph: 64-9-3093386 Fax: 64-9-3021148 =============================== On the bugsweeps.us website (Taylor Group) is an address in KY. Google the phone number (270-210-0860). The Google phone book listing shows... Taylor Hardwood.com, (270) 210-0860, 3859 Douglas Rd, Paducah, KY 42001 Now... Plug www.hardwood.com into your browser's URL, logical investigative progression. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] 8105 From: Date: Fri Dec 26, 2003 1:25pm Subject: Corrected with URL Taylor group Click here: Taylor Group http://www.bugsweeps.us/ FYI RE: TAYLOR GROUP From: "Craig Meldrum" Date: Thu Jul 31, 2003 5:12:13 PM America/New_York To: "TSCM" Subject: [TSCM-L] Warning It is with great reluctance that I feel the necessity to post the following information as a possible warning to other members of this forum. I recently, through this site, advertised some excess TSCM equipment I had for sale and it was purchased by Dan Grissom trading as Taylor Group of Downers Grove Il 60515. He gave me a Fedex account on which to ship the equipment which turned out (after shipping) to be a false or non existent account. I have therefore been landed with the, not inconsiderable, international freight costs. All subsequent attempts to contact Dan Grissom have been ignored. This is an industry where integrity is not only essential but should be expected without question and I certainly did not expect to find such a recalcitrant on this list. Having given Dan Grissom several opportunities to fix this problem without result, I resorted to this naming as a last resort and on the advice of a prominent member of the list. If as a consequence he comes to his senses and does the right thing I will be more than happy to publicize that and withdraw this warning. Thank you all for your tolerance. Craig Meldrum =============================== Craig Meldrum, Managing Director Communications Security Ltd PO Box 8314, Symonds St Auckland, New Zealand Ph: 64-9-3093386 Fax: 64-9-3021148 =============================== On the bugsweeps.us website (Taylor Group) is an address in KY. Google the phone number (270-210-0860). The Google phone book listing shows... Taylor Hardwood.com, (270) 210-0860, 3859 Douglas Rd, Paducah, KY 42001 Now... Plug www.hardwood.com into your browser's URL, logical investigative progression. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ======================================================== TSCM-L Technical Security Mailing List "In a multitude of counselors there is strength" To subscribe to the TSCM-L mailing list visit: http://www.yahoogroups.com/community/TSCM-L It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Star Bucks that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking is a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. =================================================== TSKS Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TSCM-L/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: TSCM-L-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] 8106 From: mpaulsen6 Date: Sun Dec 28, 2003 11:36am Subject: Portable MP3 Players I was recently asked about MP3 players capabilities to export confidential information from secure sites. Recommendation - do not allow personal MP3 players in sensitive locations, just as you would not allow pagers, cell phones, and the like. MP3 players can not only record conversations, but they can export information from file systems in sensative locations via USB interfaces in many cases. File formats can be easily changed and stored in digital storage systems - simply rename that word doc to mp3 and you're off. Do not allow USB connectivity. In one case, we stopped a USB activity by simply using a NON-USB capable operating system. In another, we disabled USB in the BIOS, in another we disabled the USB controller in the OS. 8107 From: mpaulsen6 Date: Sun Dec 28, 2003 0:14pm Subject: http://www.spymuseum.org/siteintro.asp http://www.spymuseum.org/siteintro.asp 8108 From: Ocean Group Date: Mon Dec 29, 2003 4:05am Subject: France Intell Well at least they're open about it, as opposed to the state dept commerce unit! ************************ Message : 5 Date : Sun, 28 Dec 2003 22:23:01 +0800 (CST) Objet : [anglais] French Spymaster (Alain Juillet) Expected To Head Econ Intelligence Unit French Spymaster Expected To Head Econ Intelligence Unit PARIS -(Dow Jones)- A senior French intelligence official is expected to be named to head a new economic intelligence unit aimed at bringing France into line with its peers, a government official said Monday. The official said it's "probable" that Alain Juillet, current head of intelligence at France's external information-gathering agency DGSE, will be appointed to the post later this week. Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin presented a decree creating the job to cabinet ministers Monday morning. If Juillet is confirmed when the decree is officially published later this week, he will report directly to the national defense secretariat. His task will be to collect, synthesize and disseminate economic intelligence of value to French corporations, while protecting their business information from prying eyes and ears. The post is one of several proposals made in a parliamentary report. Juillet joined the DGSE a year ago after a stint in business as a corporate restructuring specialist - his last "operation" being to oversee the shut-down of Marks & Spencer Group PLC's French stores. Juillet studied at the University of Stanford and the French institute of advanced defense studies, and worked for several food companies including drinks group Pernod-Ricard SA ; Union Laitiere Normande, a leading French dairy products company; and Jacobs Suchard (NYSE:KFT - News) France, a chocolate-making affiliate company of Kraft Foods International , which itself is a part of Philip Morris Companies Inc. -By David Pearson, Dow Jones Newswires; +33140171740, david.pearson@d... 8109 From: James M. Atkinson Date: Mon Dec 29, 2003 6:50am Subject: New Weapons (Clever and Original) http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/122703_ap_ns_drugbust.html Police to use wires to bust gangs December 28, 2003 (Chicago) - Chicago police say they're going to use a new weapon to fight gangs in the new year -- hidden microphones and wires. Police Superintendent Phil Cline says they'll put hidden microphones on cooperating gang members to help capture others. Police spokesman David Bayless says they'll use the new tactic for murder and aggravated battery cases. Cline says using a defendant's recorded words will be persuasive at trial. The superintendent's new Gang Intelligence Unit has already been successful in using an informant's wire to land murder charges. Chicago's homicide total was 589 on Friday -- putting the city on track to have the lowest total since 1967. 8110 From: Mitch D Date: Mon Dec 29, 2003 7:20am Subject: OnStar hack Courtesy of ISN By Sandeep Junnarkar New York Times Dec. 25, 2003 Ray and Elna Kawal hit the open road in the fall on an 8,000-mile trip in their 2002 Chevy Tahoe with General Motors' OnStar navigation system serving as their North Star. From their home in Sequim, Wash., across to Denver and Chicago, down to Mexico and then homeward through Arizona and California, the Kawals followed directions to tourist destinations, hotels and their friends' homes using OnStar's Global Positioning System navigation -- just the kind of business GM covets for its subscription service. But in this case, the automaker didn't make a penny from the six-week excursion. That's because Ray Kawal, a 57-year-old retired engineer, had pried the OnStar unit from behind the glove compartment and customized it to work with his laptop and commercially available mapping software. His wife read him directions right off the laptop that sat between them. The modified unit was no longer connected to the OnStar network, over which representatives could have provided the same service for a fee. ``My wife was basically doing a lot of what the OnStar service person would do,'' Kawal said. ``Many of the things OnStar wants you to pay for, you can take the unit out and do it yourself.'' Web instructions Other road warriors are quickly discovering this as Web sites and message boards spring up with step-by-step instructions on removing and personalizing OnStar's navigational and communications components. While there are no estimates on how many people have customized the device in their cars, those who are proficient at adapting the system are helping friends and family members do so, and some are beginning to parlay their skills into a weekend business. The hobbyists have OnStar peering around an unforeseen curve. Bruce Radloff, OnStar's chief technology officer, pointed out that owners who tamper with the system risk voiding the warranty on the OnStar unit -- and more critically, the warranty on the entire car. Yet he acknowledges the temptation. ``From my own perspective -- and GM may feel differently -- once someone buys the car, I guess their desire to modify it and make changes to it is up to them,'' Radloff said. ``But why would you take that kind of risk of invalidating your vehicle warranty when you can go out and buy a GPS receiver for a couple of hundred bucks these days?'' `Freedom to tinker' The question goes to the heart of a principle long embraced by technologists. Edward W. Felten, a professor of computer science at Princeton University and a leading voice for this philosophy, defines it on his Web log as the ``freedom to tinker'' ethic. This calls for the ``freedom to understand, discuss, repair and modify the technological devices you own.'' Tinkerers seek little justification to deconstruct any technology. A common reason given for fiddling with a device is simply that it's there. These technologists believe that a bit of tweaking will inevitably unearth some innovative uses. It was this curiosity that led Pete Carter, a 28-year-old computer engineer at an online brokerage in Omaha, to plug a GPS unit he had bought for his father into his own laptop just to see how it would react. To his surprise, the laptop picked up the device without requiring any additional software. He figured that the components used by OnStar's GPS unit were probably the same and resolved to put his theory to the test. After the challenge of prying the unit loose from behind the dashboard, Carter faced a more daunting task. He had to switch the unit's programming language to one accepted by commercial mapping software and then solder a connection compatible with his laptop. Once he succeeding at harnessing the GPS capabilities of his OnStar system, he created a Tap Into OnStar Web site (mem bers.cox.net/onstar) to help others modify their units. Fee for service When a driver requests directions from an OnStar representative, his GPS data is routed over an analog cellular network to OnStar computers. The agent then reads back the directions over the same cellular network. The price for this service, which also includes emergency services and hotel and restaurant recommendations and reservations, is about $420 annually, or $400 if paid upfront. For some, the success such hobbyists have had in tapping into their personal OnStar units evokes the hacker who seeks to break into a networked system simply out of curiosity. Security researchers have even raised the specter that as more cars come equipped with OnStar navigation systems, hackers will be tempted to try to exploit the technology to locate OnStar users. ===== Mitch Davis TSCM/Special Operations Group Inc. Nashville,TN.USA MitchD@t... site:www.tscmusa.com. Tel (615)837-9933 FAX (615) 523-0300 Cell(615) 364-6776 __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing. http://photos.yahoo.com/ 8111 From: Date: Mon Dec 29, 2003 6:42am Subject: Speaking Of Cars December 29, 2003 This Car Can Talk. What It Says May Cause Concern. By JOHN SCHWARTZ ast year, Curt Dunnam bought a Chevrolet Blazer with one of the most popular new features in high-end cars: the OnStar personal security system. The heavily advertised communications and tracking feature is used nationwide by more than two million drivers, who simply push a button to connect, via a built-in cellphone, to a member of the OnStar staff. A Global Positioning System, or G.P.S., helps the employee give verbal directions to the driver or locate the car after an accident. The company can even send a signal to unlock car doors for locked-out owners, or blink the car's lights and honk the horn to help people find their cars in an endless plain of parking spaces. A big selling point for the system is its use in thwarting car thieves. Once an owner reports to the police that a car has been stolen, the company, which was started by General Motors, can track it to help intercept the thieves, a service it performs about 400 times each month. But for Mr. Dunnam, the more he learned about his car's security features, the less secure he felt. A research support specialist at Cornell University, he is concerned about privacy. He has enough technical knowledge to worry that someone else - say, law enforcement officers, or even hackers - could listen in on his phone calls, or gain control over his automotive systems without his knowledge or consent. Any gadget that can track a carjacker, he reasons, can just as readily be used to track him. "While I don't believe G.M. intentionally designed this system to facilitate Orwellian activities, they sure have made it easy," he said. OnStar is one of a growing number of automated eyes and ears that enhance driving safety and convenience but that also increase the potential for surveillance. Privacy advocates say that the rise of the automotive technologies, including electronic toll areas, location-tracking devices, "black box" data recorders like those found on airplanes and even tiny radio ID tags in tires, are changing the nature of Americans' relationship with their cars. Beth Givens, founder of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, said the car had long been a symbol of Kerouac-flavored freedom, and a haven. "You can talk to yourself in your car, you can scream at yourself in your car, you can go there to be alone, you can ponder the heavens, you can think deep thoughts all alone, you can sing," she said. With the growing number of monitoring systems, she said, "Now, the car is Big Brother." James E. Hall, a transportation lawyer and former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the monitoring systems presented a subtle blend of benefit and risk. "We are moving toward a kind of automobile that nobody's ever known," he said. "It's mostly good news, but there are negative things that we will have to work through." Mr. Dunnam said he had become even more concerned because of a federal appeals court case involving a criminal investigation in Nevada, in which federal authorities had demanded that a company attach a wiretap to tracking services like those installed in his car. The suit did not reveal which company was involved. A three-judge panel in San Francisco rejected the request, but not on privacy grounds; the panel said the wiretap would interfere with the operation of the safety services. OnStar has said that its equipment was not involved in that case. An OnStar spokeswoman, Geri Lama, suggested that Mr. Dunnam's worries were overblown. The signals that the company sends to unlock car doors or track location-based information can be triggered only with a secure exchange of specific identifying data, which ought to deter all but the most determined hackers, she said. As for law enforcement, the company said it released location data about customers only under a court order. "We have no choice but to be responsive to court orders," Ms. Lama said. Other information systems being added to cars can be used for tracking as well. Electronic toll systems are convenient for commuters, but the information is increasingly being used to track movements. When police were trying to track the car of Jonathan P. Luna, an assistant United States attorney who was killed earlier this month, they pulled the records of his charges on his E-ZPass account, which led them to Pennsylvania, where his body was found. Such records have also been used in civil cases like child custody disputes. Of all of the new automotive technologies, none presents a more complex set of benefits and risks than the "black box" sensors that have already been placed in millions of cars nationwide. The latest models capture the last few seconds of data - like vehicle speed, seatbelt use and whether the driver applied the brakes - before a collision. Such detailed reporting of accidents raises privacy concerns, said experts at Consumers Union, which has filed comments with the federal government warning about possible violations of privacy. Sally Greenberg, senior product safety counsel at Consumers Union, said her group recognized the potential safety benefits of the reporting but wanted the government to "proceed with caution." People's cars have already started turning their owners in. Scott E. Knight, a California man, was convicted last year for the killing of a Merced, Calif., resident in a March 2001 hit-and-run accident; police tracked him down because the OnStar system in his Chevy Tahoe alerted OnStar when the airbag was set off. Transportation experts say that if these sensor systems can provide crucial information for emergency aid workers and for vehicle research, lives will be saved. The federal government is considering rules that would standardize the information that black boxes provide, along with ways to gather the information. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association is working to develop a worldwide standard for black boxes. Tom Kowalick, who is co-chairman of the effort, calls the program "quite simply a matter of life and death for millions of motor vehicle crash victims." Mr. Hall, the former federal official, is the other co-chairman of the effort, and he agreed that the technology should be used to detect dangerous car models. The privacy concerns can be minimized, he said, by applying the technology to commercial vehicles and fleets. "There are enough vehicles out there," he said, "to amass evidence, to provide you with the type of information you need without having to even address the subject of the privately owned vehicles right now." Surveillance technologies are easy to buy and even easier to abuse, privacy experts say. Paul A. Seidler was arrested last year in Kenosha, Wis., after he installed a tracking device in an ex-girlfriend's car. According to the police report, the ex-girlfriend, Connie Adams, complained that "she could not understand how the defendant always knew where she was in her vehicle at all times." Police inspected her 1999 Chevrolet Cavalier and found a small black box near the radiator that beamed the car's position to Mr. Seidler's computer. In June, Mr. Seidler was sentenced to nine months in jail for stalking Ms. Adams. The use of location tracking is growing. Law enforcement agents have used similar devices to chart suspects' travels, and a California company now offers a similar device so that parents can monitor their teenagers' driving. Last year a small rental car company in New Haven, Acme Rent-a-Car, angered customers by using global positioning to fine them $150 for speeding. The state's department of consumer protection declared the fines illegal - but not the tracking. The company appealed the consumer agency's action, but in July a state judge rejected the appeal. Ian Ayres of Yale University, a law professor who has examined the issue, predicted that regardless of what happened with Acme, "within a decade all our car insurance companies will be offering us discounts if we will commit to Acme-like contracts - if we agree not to speed." and the use of tracking technology will grow "even if they don't give us a discount," he said, because "all the parents will want these boxes in their cars to know whether their kids are speeding." In fact, one of the largest insurance companies in the United States, Progressive Auto Insurance, has already tested policies in Texas that tied insurance rates to car usage as monitored by global positioning. Tires, too, can tell on drivers. This year, Michelin began implanting match-head-sized chips in tires that can be read remotely. The company started using the chips to provide manufacturing information that could help spot failure trends and to comply with a federal law requiring close tracking of tires for recalls. But privacy activists fear that the chips, which can be loaded with a car's vehicle identification number, would allow yet another form of automated vehicle tracking. "You basically have Web browser 'cookies' in your tires," said Richard M. Smith, an independent privacy researcher. Aviel D. Rubin, the technical director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University, said that every new technology with the potential to invade privacy was introduced with pledges that it would be used responsibly. But over time, he said, the desire of law enforcement and business to use the data overtook the early promises. "The only way to get real privacy," he said, "is not to collect the information in the first place." Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company | Home | Privacy Policy | Search | Corrections | Help | Back to Top [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] 8112 From: Date: Mon Dec 29, 2003 6:46am Subject: Wired for snooping and cheating Monday, December, 29, 2003 Wired for snooping and cheating Gen X'ers are more savvy than boomers at cellular deception, a poll indicates. By JIM FINKLE The Orange County Register Wireless technologies have fostered distrust, lying and cheating - especially among the post-baby-boom crowd. Just ask Jessica Dobson, a reformed cell-phone snooper from Orange who ended up breaking up with a boyfriend whose calls and voice mails from other women made her doubt his sincerity. "I would hear a message from a girl that started with something like 'Hi, cutie,' and I would just assume he was cheating," she said. "But I couldn't accuse him of anything 'cause I didn't want him to know that I was snooping." A recent poll found that about one-third of women under age 40 say they've secretly checked wireless phones to monitor the activities of loved ones. And about one-third of men in the same age group admitted to pretending to be on a mobile phone call to avoid a face-to-face conversation. The results of the poll of 802 Americans conducted by Kelton Research of Los Angeles resonate with Dobson, a 21-year-old office administrator. Her snooping career began several years ago when her then-boyfriend refused to let her answer his cell phone. She suspected that he was fooling around, confronted him with her concerns, and he shrugged them off. Things still didn't feel right, so she checked the call log on his handset to see who he was chatting with and for how long. Eventually, she figured out his voice-mail password so she could monitor his messages. The lack of trust led to fights and the relationship eventually collapsed. Long after the breakup, he confessed to having cheated, according to Dobson. Still, she wasn't completely jaded by the experience. Dobson swears she hasn't felt the need to snoop on her current boyfriend, Randy. The reason: She trusts him. Ruben Casas, 24, a creative writing major at Chapman University, admits to using his cell phone to lie about his whereabouts. He got his first wireless phone when he was a high school senior. The handset made it possible for him to convince his parents that he was at a friend's home when he was really at a party. It seemed relatively harmless. But he recently changed his view on the gravity of cell-phone deception. One of his friends ended up getting divorced after a check of her husband's cell-phone log. "It was a validation of her suspicions that he was cheating," Casas said. The new technologies have also made it more convenient to cheat on exams. Susan Guth, a freshman business major at California State University, Fullerton, says that even though cell phones are banned by all her professors, there are still plenty of scofflaws who use them, discreetly sending instant messages to friends. One professor warned that there would be serious consequences for anybody caught with a cell phone during exams after one student used a handset equipped with a tiny camera to photograph answers on a math test, then e-mail them to classmates in the same room. "Cell-phone technology adds one more layer of interesting possibilities for deception," said Carroll Straus, a Mission Viejo attorney. But wireless technologies have also given new tools to law-enforcement officials, private investigators who follow unfaithful spouses, companies monitoring employee performance, and parents trying to keep track of their kids. Thomas Investigative Publications sells a $700 GPS tracking device called the ProScout, which can be hidden under a car. With batteries that last about 18 days, it provides data on the auto's route, which investigators can access through the Internet and display on maps that show the car's comings and goings. The ProScout and other devices also can be used to let companies monitor the activities of truckers, salespeople and other workers who frequently travel to make sure they're not sloughing off. There also are new tools designed to monitor the whereabouts of children and others who are prone to wander off, or who forget to tell their parents where they're going: A $200 wristwatch called Wherify can be locked onto a child's wrist so that parents can track him down if he's lost. It has an emergency button that children can press to call police if they're in trouble. It's available at many electronics retailers. SIDSA of Spain has developed a $600 device that tracks people with Alzheimer's disease who are prone to wander off and get lost. It can be sewed into clothing so that it's tough to remove. More information is available from info.us@s.... A company called ULocate (www.ulocate.com) makes it easy to track the location of people using Motorola and Benefon GPS-enabled phones on the networks of AT&T Wireless, Cingular, Nextel and T-Mobile. The service costs $13 a month for one phone and $10 for a second handset. So, for $43 a month you could track the movements of four children by hooking up to the Internet and watching their movements on a single map. The only catch is that these devices won't work if the person being tracked doesn't cooperate or figures out that he or she is being followed. So if your kids leave their cell phones at school, there's no way to figure out that they've skipped class. And a cheating spouse who checks underneath the car can disable a tracking device by removing the batteries. CONTACT US: (714) 796-6927 or jfinkle@o... [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] 8113 From: Date: Mon Dec 29, 2003 1:07pm Subject: CIA Science and Technology Directorate Museum Opens CIA Gadget Museum Includes Robot Fish, Pigeon Camera Associated Press McLEAN, Va. -- When the CIA's secret gadget-makers invented a listening device for the Asian jungles, they disguised it so the enemy wouldn't be tempted to pick it up and examine it: The device looked like tiger droppings. The guise worked. Who would touch such a thing? The fist-sized, brown transmitter detected troop movements along the trails during fighting in Vietnam, a quiet success for a little-known group of researchers inside the world's premier intelligence agency. The Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Science and Technology is celebrating its 40th anniversary by revealing a few dozen of its secrets for a new museum inside its headquarters near Washington. Keith Melton, a leading historian of intelligence, calls it "the finest spy museum you'll never see." It is accessible only to CIA employees and guests admitted to those closed quarters. Besides the jungle transmitter, the exhibits include a robotic catfish, a remote-controlled dragonfly and a camera strapped to the chests of pigeons and released over enemy targets in the 1970s. The secret gadgets currently used by CIA are left to the imagination of visitors. The pigeons' missions remain classified, made possible only after the CIA secretly developed a camera weighing only as much as a few coins. An earlier test with a heavier camera in the skies over Washington failed after two days when the overburdened pigeon was forced to walk home. "People don't think of a pigeon as being anything more than a rodent on top of a building," said Pat Avery of Newalla, Okla., who runs the National Pigeon Association and loves to recount decades-old exploits by famous military pigeons such as "Spike" and "Big Tom." But as surveillance technology improved, the need for CIA pigeons diminished. "They're pretty passe now," she said. Agency lore holds that a pistol on display was so quiet that William "Wild Bill" Donovan, founder of the agency that became the CIA, pulled the trigger inside the White House to demonstrate for Franklin D. Roosevelt, who never heard a shot. For years, the .22-caliber was standard issue among CIA employees. "The president was on the phone at the time, so Donovan proceeded to fire the entire magazine, 10 rounds, into the bag of sand in the Oval Office, then placed the smoking-hot weapon on the desk and told him what he had done," said Toni Hiley, the curator for the CIA museum. In 2000, the CIA built a catfish it calls "Charlie," a remarkably realistic swimming robot. The spy agency still won't disclose much about its mission, but experts speculated it collects water samples near suspected chemical or nuclear plants. One outside scientist consulted by the Associated Press said the catfish robot was so realistic -- except for pectoral fins made slightly too large -- that it might be eaten by predators while on its cloak-and-dagger missions. The AP obtained a videotape from CIA of the catfish swimming during one test. "A lot of things in the wild like to eat those," said Jimmy Avery, an aquaculture professor at Mississippi State University who watched the video at AP's request. He said Charlie was apparently made to resemble a channel catfish commonly found in rivers worldwide. "When you look at it from above, it would be difficult to pick that out from any kind of real catfish." The CIA isn't showing off just its successes. It invented a remote-controlled dragonfly for delivering tiny listening devices outside windows: a bug carrying a bug. But the so-called "insectothopter," with a miniature engine, built by a watchmaker, couldn't fly straight in winds and didn't work out. The agency's D-21 "Tagboard" unmanned jet was kept secret until the late 1970s. Designed to fly off the back of CIA's version of the superfast SR-71 "Blackbird" surveillance jet, Tagboard cruised more than 17 miles high, taking photographs over Cold War lands at nearly 2,200 miles per hour. But over four missions, the CIA once failed to recover the drone's film canister before it dropped into the ocean. Another drone crashed in Siberia. CIA crewman Ray Torrick died in one launch attempt. "It wasn't a hugely successful program," Hiley said. The Science and Technology Directorate is among the CIA's largest units. It was held in highest esteem for more than a dozen years until 1976, but experts say its internal influence with the CIA director has declined since. "They've been very clever; they have not stuck to simply what would be the traditional and obvious means of intelligence collection," said Jeffrey T. Richelson, who wrote a book about the directorate in 2001. "If they're being successful, they'll probably have devices more clever and harder to detect than in the past." Copyright © 2003 Associated Press URL for this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB107265041422318300,00.html Hyperlinks in this Article: (1) http://www.cia.gov/cia/dst/index.html (2) http://www.cia.gov/cia/information/artifacts/index.htm Updated December 28, 2003 5:58 p.m. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] 8114 From: Does it matter Date: Sun Dec 28, 2003 0:08pm Subject: Re: Portable MP3 Players The newer mp3 players pride themselves on allowing data storage no matter what the extension. I worry about 1gb or 2gb thumb drives but we do the best we can to direct clients how to make their workstations more secure. Good point though Matt. --- In TSCM-L@yahoogroups.com, "mpaulsen6" wrote: > I was recently asked about MP3 players capabilities to export > confidential information from secure sites. Recommendation - do not > allow personal MP3 players in sensitive locations, just as you would > not allow pagers, cell phones, and the like. MP3 players can not > only record conversations, but they can export information from file > systems in sensative locations via USB interfaces in many cases. > File formats can be easily changed and stored in digital storage > systems - simply rename that word doc to mp3 and you're off. Do not > allow USB connectivity. In one case, we stopped a USB activity by > simply using a NON-USB capable operating system. In another, we > disabled USB in the BIOS, in another we disabled the USB controller > in the OS. 8115 From: Date: Tue Dec 30, 2003 6:16am Subject: Story with a moral. Hudson Oaks suspect arrested in Alabama By Gale M. Bradford Special to the Star-Telegram The Texas fugitive accused of dragging a Hudson Oaks police officer about 40 feet on Interstate 20 on Saturday was apprehended after a high-speed chase in Montgomery, Ala., Parker County officials said Monday. Soloavid Danyl Aba, 19, was located by electronic surveillance through cell phone usage, said Larry Fowler, who heads the Parker County district attorney's major case unit. Fowler said Texas Rangers, U.S. marshals and the Parker County Sheriff's Department assisted his unit. Aba was charged with aggravated assault of a peace officer after he sped away from a traffic stop as Hudson Oaks officer Van Delay clung to the steering wheel of the 1999 Toyota that Aba was driving. Delay was treated at a Fort Worth hospital and released. Aba also is wanted in Dallas County on a theft warrant, in Haltom City on suspicion of obstructing police, in Tarrant County for probation violation, in Dalworthington Gardens on suspcion of obstructing police/evading arrest with a vehicle, in Hudson Oaks on theft of more than $20,000 but less than $100,000 and on suspicion of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle in Parker County. Aba was located at 11:40 p.m. Sunday in Montgomery, Ala. The Montgomery County Sheriff's Department was notified that Aba was in their jurisdiction and that assistance was needed. Deputies located Aba in the Toyota on Highway 231 south out of Montgomery and began a pursuit, Fowler said. After a 20-minute chase at speeds up to 115 mph, Aba wrecked out and was apprehended. "We got a court order authorizing the tracking of his cell phone calls," Fowler said. "I contacted Kirk King with the U.S. Marshal's Service in Dallas and working with the cellular provider, we were able to track this man across the country. "Aba suffered minor injuries in the wreck and is in custody in Montgomery County Jail awaiting extradition. © 2003 DFW.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.dfw.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] 8116 From: Steven Donnell WA1YKL Date: Tue Dec 30, 2003 0:39am Subject: Re: CIA Science and Technology Directorate Museum Opens MACCFound@a... wrote: > CIA Gadget Museum Includes Robot Fish, Pigeon Camera > > Associated Press > > McLEAN, Va. -- When the CIA's secret gadget-makers invented a listening > device for the Asian jungles, they disguised it so the enemy wouldn't be > tempted to pick it up and examine it: The device looked like tiger droppings. > > The guise worked. Who would touch such a thing? The fist-sized, brown > transmitter detected troop movements along the trails during fighting in > Vietnam, a quiet success for a little-known group of researchers inside the > world's premier intelligence agency. Hi, CIA secret huh?? Back around 1975 as young tinkerer and budding Ham I remember picking up a few of these from a local electronics surplus store(John Meshna's old place, JMA). Anyways, some were brown, some were black. They had a nipple on one end that when you pulled it off, removed a small pin that "armed" the tx. I set one in a jar of gasoline for a cple days which permited its tough rubber skin to be easily pealed off. The first layer underneath revealed a tin foil antenna. To get in further required some more digging, but I guess thats where I get my love of reverse engineering things,,. The tx was a simple L/C tuned deal that operated near the FM Brdcast band. The batteries were 3 or 4 mercury button cells(dead). The motion sensor was this tiny brass cylinder(HG sw?) about the size of a pencil eraser, which cw keyed the tx. With the sensor bypassed, the tx would emit a continuous carrier. I dont recall if I ever botherd to try and FM modulate the thing. A few yrs later I remember reading some additional info about how this whole system worked. There was even a picture of the "repeater/up link tx" that was made to look like a small palm tree. Come to think of it, I seem to recall seeing this on display at the AF museum at Wright Patterson. I gather that these "Poo Txs" were dropped by the hundreds along the Ho Chi Min trail. Steve 8117 From: cismic Date: Tue Dec 30, 2003 1:46am Subject: RE: Re: Portable MP3 Players In a windows 2000 or 2003 environment I'm not sure if you can setup a security policy to cancel out Usb functions via domain level policies. But with this article from MSDN you can Gain some pointers on this and maybe disable these files via policy http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q823732 Thank you, Joseph -----Original Message----- From: Does it matter [mailto:u12armresl@y...] Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2003 10:09 AM To: TSCM-L@yahoogroups.com Subject: [TSCM-L] Re: Portable MP3 Players The newer mp3 players pride themselves on allowing data storage no matter what the extension. I worry about 1gb or 2gb thumb drives but we do the best we can to direct clients how to make their workstations more secure. Good point though Matt. --- In TSCM-L@yahoogroups.com, "mpaulsen6" wrote: > I was recently asked about MP3 players capabilities to export > confidential information from secure sites. Recommendation - do not > allow personal MP3 players in sensitive locations, just as you would > not allow pagers, cell phones, and the like. MP3 players can not > only record conversations, but they can export information from file > systems in sensative locations via USB interfaces in many cases. > File formats can be easily changed and stored in digital storage > systems - simply rename that word doc to mp3 and you're off. Do not > allow USB connectivity. In one case, we stopped a USB activity by > simply using a NON-USB capable operating system. In another, we > disabled USB in the BIOS, in another we disabled the USB controller > in the OS. ======================================================== TSCM-L Technical Security Mailing List "In a multitude of counselors there is strength" To subscribe to the TSCM-L mailing list visit: http://www.yahoogroups.com/community/TSCM-L It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Star Bucks that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking is a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. =================================================== TSKS Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TSCM-L/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: TSCM-L-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 8118 From: Date: Tue Dec 30, 2003 6:46am Subject: DVD Recorder advice Can anybody recommend a good quality portable DVD Recorder/Player 12v DC small enough to fit into a briefcase. I have a client that needs to covertly record his staff interviewing prospective clients and then review the results on a separate screen a little later. The requirement is for the recording to be made directly onto a CD [4.7gb] rather than a recorder using a hard drive. Each interview takes approx. 2 hours the disc is then physically stored without the need to record to CD via a PC DVD recorder. Thanks Regards Dave DEMTEC David McGauley TSCM [Technical Surveillance and Countermeasures] Electronic Surveillance and Countermeasures Specialist Electrical Electronics Engineer ex Police Demtec House Ormskirk Lancs L390HF UK 01695 558544 07866206112 demtec@a... www.demtec.co.uk The manufacture and installation of custom made covert electronic audio and video devices Professional physical and electronic countermeasures [sweep] services. note: any fellow Private Investigator e-mail groups member welcome to call in or phone to discuss applications, projects or just seeking advice. Workshop located alongside the M58 junction 3 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] 8119 From: Date: Wed Dec 31, 2003 1:18am Subject: CITY AVIATION AIDE ADDED TO FEDS' BUG LIST Posted on Wed, Dec. 31, 2003 CITY AVIATION AIDE ADDED TO FEDS' BUG LIST By JIM SMITH & DAVE DAVIES smithj@p... THE SAME DAY the feds got court authorization to bug the mayor's office as part of a wide-ranging corruption probe, they also got the green light to tap a cell phone used by a city airport executive. The tapped phone was used by deputy aviation director Jim Tyrrell. The new disclosure added Tyrrell's name to a list of those who were bugged over the past year as part of a long-running FBI-IRS probe into bond deals, vendor contracts and other matters. As usual, authorities gave no reason why Tyrrell was a subject of interest to investigators. Tyrrell is a deputy director of aviation for planning and development, making $114,000 a year. His area of responsibility includes airport concessions managed by Marketplace Redwood Inc., which has come under scrutiny in the federal probe. Marketplace Redwood's records have been subpoenaed and its president, Ricardo Dunstan, has been called to testify before a grand jury. Records show that shares of several airport concessions went to relatives and friends of attorney Ron White, whose office was raided in October as part of the investigation. Tyrrell declined to speak to a reporter at his home last night and did not answer phone messages left at his office or the cell phone that was tapped, which is still answered by his voice mail. A source said he did not believe Tyrrell had a lawyer because he had not yet been "identified as having [criminal] exposure." Tyrrell has worked for the airport since 1987 and rose through management ranks to become property manager, responsible for leasing gates to airlines as well as space for concessionaires. Tyrrell's big break came in February 2001, when current aviation director Charles Isdell made him a deputy director and gave him a 65 percent raise. Airport spokesman Mark Pesce last night referred questions to Deputy City Solicitor Milton Velez, who declined comment. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joan L. Markman, a federal prosecutor who is involved in the investigation, also refused to comment. In addition to Tyrrell and the mayor's office, others on the bugging list include lawyer and political fund-raiser White, who is a friend of the mayor; and ex-city treasurer Corey Kemp. Phones used by Shamsud-din Ali, a top Muslim cleric and friend of Mayor Street, also were bugged and his office videotaped, sources have said. And letters sent by federal authorities to parties whose conversations were overheard confirm that a phone assigned to John Christmas, an aide to the mayor, also was tapped. A federal judge in Philadelphia authorized both the tap on the cell phone used by Tyrrell and the bug in Street's executive office, Room 215 City Hall, last Sept. 18, according to federal prosecutors. The judge, who was not named, is overseeing the electronic surveillance aspects of the investigation. The bug in the mayor's office, characterized by prosecutors as a "Target Premises," was discovered in what has been described as a routine police security check 19 days later. In a letter sent by Markman earlier this month to those whose conversations were secretly intercepted in other places, the prosecutors confirmed that the bug in the mayor's office produced no evidence of wrongdoing. This official disclosure came as glad tidings to Street. "I can repeat what the mayor said very early on, which is that we have done nothing and he certainly wouldn't want anyone to think that this mayor has been involved in anything that might be investigated," said the mayor's spokeswoman, Barbara Grant. Conversations overheard on the White, Kemp and Tyrrell bugs were recorded as "relevant" and "material" to the investigation, a source said, meaning such chats could wind up as evidence at a trial or grand jury proceeding. So far, no one has been charged with any wrongdoing. The prosecution letter, dated Dec. 19, disclosed that White was the first to be bugged by the FBI. A federal judge authorized taps on White's office and home phones on Jan. 29, and later approved a bug in his law office. About every 30 days, agents got court approval to continue the electronic surveillance. The eavesdropping on White continued for about eight months, into mid-October, the prosecutors disclosed. In the past eight years, White's firm has made more than $1.6 million in city legal fees and an additional $920,000 for work on city bond issues, while funneling at least $183,500 in campaign contributions to Street, mostly from two political-action committees he controls. Also, the feds are looking into his reputed power to choose concessionaires at Philadelphia International Airport, where his wife has an ownership interest in several bars and lounges. White's lawyer, Creed C. Black Jr., yesterday declined to comment on the investigation. Authorization to tap then-city treasurer Kemp's office phone came in mid-June and continued for about two months with court permission. Kemp resigned last month. Kemp's attorney, Michael J. McGovern, declined to discuss the case. The prosecutor's letter did not mention the taps on Ali's phones. One source suggested that this might be because Ali is the subject of a separate but related investigation. A separate disclosure letter has been sent to those intercepted on Ali's phones. Federal law requires prosecutors to notify everyone who was intercepted on court-authorized electronic surveillance. The notification letters are called "inventories." Such letters disclose few facts, other than the date when the eavesdropping was authorized by a judge and whether or not conversations were recorded by agents for possible use as evidence. "These things are as general as possible," said one defense attorney, whose client received the Dec. 19 letter. The letters do not disclose the substance of conversations that were recorded. "The big unknown is, frankly, what is on" the tapes, said another defense attorney who is familiar with the disclosure letter. Staff writers Paul Davies, Erin Einhorn, Mark McDonald and Chris Brennan contributed to this report. © 2003 Philadelphia Daily News and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.philly.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] 8120 From: Date: Thu Jan 1, 2004 4:48am Subject: Wiretap revealed on mobile phone of airport official Posted on Thu, Jan. 01, 2004 Wiretap revealed on mobile phone of airport official By Emilie Lounsberry and Joseph Tanfani Inquirer Staff Writers Two hidden FBI bugs. At least nine phone wiretaps. And there may be more. With the disclosure yesterday of yet another wiretap - this one on the phone of a top airport official - it has become clear that the continuing federal investigation of municipal corruption in Philadelphia has relied on perhaps the most widespread use of electronic surveillance in a local corruption inquiry since Abscam. Nearly three months since the investigation broke into public view with the discovery of an FBI bug in Mayor Street's City Hall office, white-collar legal experts say they are surprised at the number of taps and the duration of the surveillance, some of which dates to 2001. "It's very extraordinary," said Center City defense lawyer Nicholas J. Nastasi, who has represented clients in federal corruption investigations dating to the 1970s. "There's no case that compares to this even slightly." The most recently disclosed wiretap was on the mobile telephone of James Tyrrell, 48, the deputy director of aviation at Philadelphia International Airport, according to officials of the company that leases phone equipment to the airport. Tyrrell works daily with airport concessions, which have become a focus of the federal investigation. In October, federal authorities subpoenaed documents relating to airport-concession contracts involving attorney Ronald A. White. White's wife, Aruby Odom-White, is a part owner in two lucrative airport-concession operations, and two other White family members also received concession contracts. Tyrrell could not be reached for comment yesterday. The tap on Tyrrell's phone was approved by a federal judge on Sept. 18 - the same day a judge approved the placement of a bug in a "target premise" identified as the executive office of the mayor. On Oct. 7, city police found that bug hidden in the ceiling of Street's office. Since then, at least eight other telephone wiretaps have come to light, including several for phones connected to Imam Shamsud-din Ali, a longtime supporter of the mayor, and two for phones connected to White, a top Street fund-raiser. White's lawyer, Creed Black Jr., declined to comment yesterday on the electronic surveillance in the case. Ali's attorney, Tariq El-Shabazz, has not returned telephone calls. The inquiry has touched on many areas of city government as investigators seek to follow the money that drives the city's business - from the pension board to the Minority Business Enterprise Council to the Housing Authority and the airport. The investigation is expected to pick up steam in 2004 with more subpoenas, grand jury testimony, and efforts to persuade people to become witnesses for the government. No one has been charged, and authorities, citing strict grand jury secrecy rules, have refused to discuss the investigation. According to documents sent by federal prosecutors to people whose conversations were recorded, authorities received a federal judge's permission last January to place wiretaps on two of White's telephones, and by July, they were permitted to install a more invasive listening device - a "bug" - at his law office. Under the 1968 law authorizing electronic "bugging" surveillance, known as Title III, federal authorities must provide probable cause that evidence of a federal crime will be discussed, and that all other investigative options have been exhausted or that those options are too dangerous. The FBI had received court permission a year earlier to intercept Ali's phone conversations, and that surveillance went on for at least a year. Agents also were permitted to place a wiretap on the office phone of city Treasurer Corey Kemp, who resigned in November, and the cellular phone of Steven A. Vaughn, chief of staff of City Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller. "It's very unusual," said New Jersey lawyer Edwin H. Stier, a former federal and state prosecutor, who said he would not be surprised if the Philadelphia inquiry marked the most widespread use of electronic surveillance in a corruption investigation - ever. Unlike mob or drug cases, which frequently involve long-term use of electronic surveillance, Stier said that in a corruption inquiry, investigators are usually seeking more "fleeting" conversations. "People just don't sit around for eight hours a day for six months carrying on corruption conversations, in my experience. Now, it may have been different in Philadelphia... ." Stier said that under federal laws and practices, prosecutors are not permitted to embark on electronic fishing expeditions. "You've got to produce evidence that shows there's a very, very strong likelihood that conversations about a crime are going to take place," he said. Court orders generally allow 30 days of monitoring, and prosecutors must then reapply to the judge for permission to continue the surreptitious monitoring. A number of extensions were approved in the ongoing probe. "It's like a monster that feeds itself," said Nastasi, noting that prosecutors must continually show that more evidence is likely to be obtained. Electronic surveillance proved essential in the investigation of Roofers Union Local 30-30B, in which union leaders were captured on tape stuffing envelopes filled with cash as Christmas gifts for Philadelphia judges. The extensive use of electronic surveillance also marked the Abscam political-corruption investigation two decades ago. In the Abscam "sting" investigation, FBI agents, posing as representatives of a wealthy Arab sheik, paid bribes to officials, capturing the payments on hidden video cameras. That 1980 inquiry eventually resulted in convictions of 11 politicians. Contact staff writer Emilie Lounsberry at 215-854-4828 or elounsberry@p.... Contributing to this article were Inquirer staff writers Cynthia Burton, Mark Fazlollah and Craig R. McCoy. © 2004 Philadelphia Inquirer and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.philly.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] 8121 From: James M. Atkinson Date: Thu Jan 1, 2004 11:36pm Subject: Resistance to CIA Coup Stiffens; Rumsfeld Says No New Troops Needed http://www.deadbrain.com/news/article_2004_01_01_4047.php Resistance to CIA Coup Stiffens; Rumsfeld Says No New Troops Needed Jan 1 2004 by Ross Bender Canadian resistance to last month's CIA-sponsored coup in Ottawa continues to grow, although US Secretary of Defense Donald "Napoleon" Rumsfeld insisted today that no additional US troops were needed. American troop levels in occupied Canada are estimated at only about 5,000, the bulk of them residual forces left over from the successful invasion of Canada in the War of 1812. Rumsfeld indicated that troop morale is high and promised that most units, some of whom have not seen their families in 200 years, would be rotated home "in the spring." Army officials reported only sporadic incidents, with about 900 attacks on US forces daily. "It's mostly disorganized and uncoordinated stuff -- these Canadian wimps don't really know how to fight," stated Lt. Colonel Weezer Ramsbottom of the 13th Infantry Division. Shortly after speaking to reporters, Ramsbottom was struck in the teeth by a high velocity hockey puck and taken to an Army hospital. Assessments of the strength of the Canadian resistance are sketchy at this point, due to its decentralized nature. Al Canuck, the largest of several guerilla organizations, may be headquartered somewhere in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec. Its leader, Osama bin Leveque, uses no cell phones or radio communication devices, to avoid electronic surveillance. Messages are hand delivered and written only in French. On Wednesday, a donkey cart assembly plant and secret training barn operated by the Amish Druid Liberation Front in St. Jacobs, Ontario, was successfully raided by US-trained Ontario Provincial Police. In another spectacular success, three Newfie Jihad fishing boats full of mackerel and heroin were seized in the Bay of Fundy. In the Canadian Rockies, US Special Forces are hunting down renegade elements of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police believed to have driven herds of cattle infected with mad cow disease over the Alberta border into Montana. However, CIA analysts admit that their greatest concern is a large, shadowy fifth column of former Canadians now residing in the USA. "We're watching Peter Jennings very closely," said an unnamed source. "Next time he says 'eh' on national TV we're gonna nail his ass to his elbow." 8122 From: Date: Sat Jan 3, 2004 10:14am Subject: Three FBI agents on trying to prevent another 9/11 from the December 29, 2003 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1229/p01s02-usfp.html Three FBI agents on trying to prevent another 9/11 By Faye Bowers | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor WASHINGTON - One of the country's top counterterrorism officials still remembers vividly the moment he lost it. It wasn't in the first few anxiety-fraught hours after the 9/11 attacks, while he and his colleagues focused incessantly on who was behind the heinous acts and whether more were in the works. It was when he finally made his way home, almost two days later, as the sun peeped over the horizon. Before falling into bed, he checked his e-mail. What popped up was a short line from a former co-worker that said simply: "IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT." Tears spilled down his cheeks. He still tears up recalling it today. The personal sense of responsibility for those attacks was - and remains - overwhelming. His response offers a rare look into the emotional world of the FBI's counterterrorism clique - a group of largely faceless bureaucrats charged with helping to protect the US in the most intense shadow war on terrorism the nation has ever known. It is a world that combines public policy and human burden to an unusual degree. While it is true that no one agency or group is entirely responsible for safeguarding a nation from attack, the 70 or so analysts who now make up the FBI's counterterrorism unit lie as close to the brainstem of the terror war as any. They are the ones, for instance, who recommended that the US raise the threat level from yellow (elevated) to orange (high) just before Christmas. They are the ones responsible for making the call to cancel the Air France flights from Paris to Los Angeles over the holidays because of safety concerns. They know that an overlooked piece of information here, or the failure to recommend some precautionary measure there, can result in thousands of deaths - as some now suggest happened in the case of the 9/11 attacks. "My biggest fear is that we will have another attack, and I will come in afterward and find something on my desk that I didn't look at," says one member of the unit. "That responsibility gnaws at you." Recently, three analysts representing different facets of the FBI's operations sat down to discuss their roles - their challenges, fears, successes, and failures. They requested anonymity because they are routinely sent on undercover assignments. The counterterrorism unit itself, of which only one of the three is a member, has grown from a small group of 18 analysts before 9/11 to 70 today, and the bureau intends to add 30 more. Yet for all the expanding cubicles and secret cables, the pressures of the job can be intensely personal and lonely: The agents can't discuss cases with anyone on the outside - including their spouses. Strong sense of mission From the interviews, it is clear that the job a ttracts people with a strong sense of mission and idealism. Agent No. 1, as we'll call him, came to the bureau about a year ago because of the 9/11 attacks. Young and hip, with slicked-back hair and a traditional dark suit, he had worked for six years as a legal aid attorney on the West Coast. But he never felt what he did made much of a difference. Now, he says, rarely a day goes by that he doesn't feel he's done "something worthwhile." The agent is responsible for assessing terror threats emanating from Europe. His job is to gauge the credibility of each tip and try to corroborate it. He's also always on the lookout for links between terror suspects in Europe and ones in the US. For instance, Agent No. 1 would have been scanning the manifests for the Air France flights from Paris to Los Angeles that were cancelled over Christmas. He would be trying to determine if anyone was on those flights who shouldn't be, or who was "suspicious," and whether they had connections to people here. As much as anything, he and his colleagues wrestle with finding that right balance between prudence and panic. They don't want to harangue the public about a possible attack, but they are steadfast in their determination to prevent another 9/11. The work is demanding. The agents put in long hours, wear pagers 24/7, and aren't able to discuss what they do with anyone outside their own clique. In addition, they are often sent on assignments on short notice. Agent No. 1, for example, recently felt a "buzz on his hip." When he checked in with headquarters, he was told to report to Baghdad within three days. His assignment: to determine if any of the terror groups attacking US soldiers and allies had connections with cells in the US. Agent No. 2, a small blonde who looks like a high school teacher, runs counterintelligence operations. In addition to trying to insert moles in other country's governments, she is responsible for ferreting out double agents. For example, she helped bust Robert Hanssen - one of the FBI's own who was arrested nearly three years ago for providing classified information, as well as the identities of American spies, to Russia for 15 years. It was "heartbreaking, heartwrenching," she says. "I was clearly distressed, but I couldn't discuss it with my husband and son." Agent No. 2 says you learn to lean on your colleagues, because they're the only ones you can speak to about cases. "I've done a complete 180," concurs Agent No. 1. "I could talk about what I did at legal aid freely, and nobody wanted to listen. Now, everybody wants to hear about what I do, and I can't talk." Agent No. 2 was also deeply affected by the 9/11 attacks. Besides the anxiety over the event itself, her assignment changed drastically. Some 80 percent of her department was reassigned to work on counterterrorism. "My entire program was closed down," she says. The bureau began to ramp up quickly. Agents No. 1 and No. 3 were brought in as a result of the new hiring campaign. Agent No. 3, a genial man in a pullover sweater and corduroys, works in the criminal division. He, too, joined the FBI because of 9/11. "I was on my way to the Pentagon when the plane struck," he says. "Seven from my former agency, including a close friend of mine, were killed.... I didn't make a difference as a military-capabilities analyst - that's the reason I am here. I wanted the challenge and to make a difference." Agent No. 3 is also an example of the FBI's closer coordination with other US agencies. He had worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency for 17 years. Before that, he worked in Air Force intelligence for seven years. Now he's helping cement links between the bureau, DIA, and other government agencies that work on counterterrorism. They do have their successes, their "eureka moments," as Agent No. 2 calls them. Some are known publicly, such as the successful spy prosecutions - the Hanssen and Aldrich Aimes (a CIA spy who went to work for the other side) cases, as well as the post-9/11 prosecutions of the terrorist cell members in Portland, Ore., and Lackawanna, N.Y. The perils of secrecy But most successes, they say, can't be discussed openly. That bothers the agents, especially given the level of public criticism they have received since 9/11. Few government agencies are now under such scrutiny. At least 16 congressional committees are asking the agents to look back, assess their mistakes, and fix them. In addition, the independent 9/11 commission will be holding additional hearings in January. Its leader, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, says he expects information presented at the hearings will show 9/11 could have been prevented. For these analysts, however, the "greatest" challenge is the caseload level. While working the 9/11 investigation, they were also probing the anthrax attacks, the shoebomber, the Danny Pearl case, and the winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Moreover, there's been an explosion in the amount of information they need to monitor - from open sources, academics, jihadists on websites, and some 100,000 names on a watchlist. "It's difficult to read it all and winnow the chaff from the wheat," the section chief says. www.csmonitor.com | Copyright © 2003 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] 8123 From: William Knowles Date: Sun Jan 4, 2004 4:42am Subject: Chinese caught trying to bug Israeli embassy http://216.26.163.62/2004/ea_china_01_04.html Special to World Tribune.com EAST-ASIA-INTEL.COM Sunday, January 4, 2004 A security officer in the Israeli Embassy in Beijing caught a group of Chinese technicians last month attempting to plant electronic eavesdropping devices in the embassy's telephone lines. The officer spotted the technicians near a telephone switch box on the street near the embassy, according to the Ma'ariv newspaper. The Chinese told the Israeli guard that they were from the Chinese Foreign Ministry information security department. The officer then asked the technicians to undo the work and leave. The Chinese are known to conduct aggressive electronic eavesdropping operations on all foreign facilities in China. This was not the first time the Chinese had tried to plant eavesdropping devices on telephone lines, which are used for encrypted communications as well as for open telephone calls. *==============================================================* "Communications without intelligence is noise; Intelligence without communications is irrelevant." Gen Alfred. M. Gray, USMC ---------------------------------------------------------------- C4I.org - Computer Security, & Intelligence - http://www.c4i.org ================================================================ Help C4I.org with a donation: http://www.c4i.org/contribute.html *==============================================================* 8124 From: James M. Atkinson Date: Sun Jan 4, 2004 11:17am Subject: U.S. Flight To Mars Cancelled On "Specific Intelligence" http://theeschalot.com/us-cancels-flight-to-mars.html U.S. Flight To Mars Cancelled On "Specific Intelligence" WASHINGTON - NASA has been ordered to cancel its Spirit and Opportunity rover missions amid "specific intelligence" suggesting a terrorist attack is likely against the mission. "We have specific and credible intelligence suggesting that one or both of the rovers are considered targets by al-Qaida," said a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. "Since the threat is currently millions of miles away, we do not consider it sufficient cause to raise the National Terror Threat Level which remains at the High or Orange level." NASA officials were quick to object to the order. "This mission is going to run somewhere upwards of 600 million dollars. It would be cost prohibitive for al-Qaida to launch an attack against the rovers, and that's ignoring the technical impossibility of a group with no space experience launching an interplanetary mission," said NASA spokesman Jonathon Spears. "Even if they were able to launch an attack, the very worst they could do would be to destroy the rovers. The rovers may well be destroyed anyway. We know that, that's why we sent two. So why should the mission be aborted? It's just nuts." Tom Ridge, Secretary of Homeland Security, thinks NASA is missing the point. "In the first place, you don't have to be able fly a helicopter in order to shoot one down. So al-Qaida's lack of space experience in no way suggests they are incapable of launching an attack. Secondly, they have access to millions of dollars in drug money and other ill-gotten gain and they are very willing to spend their war chest on highly visible missions. We consider it to be much better for us to decide to abort this mission ourselves rather than give al-Qaida an opportunity to destroy it." NASA lawyers vow to get a stay on implementation of the order. Since the first rover, Spirit, is expected to touch down on the red planet within hours, the legal wrangling should allow time for at least one rover to complete its mission. 8125 From: Date: Sun Jan 4, 2004 6:54am Subject: Net phone calling is gaining traction Posted on Sun, Jan. 04, 2004 Net phone calling is gaining traction By Jon Van CHICAGO TRIBUNE To a growing number of computer users, a phone call is simply a verbal e-mail. But to traditional phone companies, it sounds more like a threat. The technology to make calls over the Internet has been available for several years. Sometimes known as Internet telephony--or Voice over Internet Protocol--it is poised to take off, and traditional phone companies and government regulators are turning up the scrutiny. Voice calls carried over computer networks can do things not possible on the networks operated by phone companies. Arranging a call-in conference among half a dozen people, for example, can be as easy as dragging the names of each person into a virtual conference room on a computer screen and pushing a button to connect everyone. Voice mail messages can be identified and ranked on the screen and even answered by e-mail. And video can be added by attaching a small camera to the mix and activating some software. While providing more features, VoIP technology usually costs less than traditional phone service because it rides on data networks and doesn't require the costly switches and other equipment necessary for a circuit-based voice network. Internet telephony also is free of the numerous regulations, fees and charges applied to regular phone calls. While traditional phone companies like SBC Communications Inc. and AT&T Corp. carry data on their networks, they make most of their money from voice traffic, said Paul Butcher, president of Mitel Networks, a company that provides integrated computer/phone systems. VoIP undermines that revenue stream, he said. "Phone companies would like to kill it, but they can't. It's like the music industry and Napster. Pirating music on the Internet is illegal, but even so the industry can't stop it," he said. "VoIP is legal, so it's even harder to stop." Several state utility boards have looked at imposing charges and fees on VoIP, and earlier this year regulators in Minnesota tried doing it. The move was blocked by a federal judge who cited federal laws that exempted Internet technology from fees and regulation. But it remains a gray area. Meanwhile, a survey released recently by CompTIA, an information technology trade association based in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., found that about half of small- to medium-sized businesses are looking at buying integrated computer/phone systems when they replace current equipment in the next two years. Companies with multiple locations and a mobile work force are especially open to the new technology, said Edward Migut, a CompTIA executive. "It's a matter of evolution," said Migut. "Everything in information technology is moving toward the IP platform. The Internet is much more stable now than it was just a few years ago. Smaller businesses are getting more comfortable with it." Chicago attorney Thomas Stilp has embraced VoIP. Stilp, who has a law office, a real estate business and a manufacturing company, was looking to simplify his communication needs. The integrated computer/phone system he got from Mitel Networks, based in Ottawa, Ontario, enables Stilp to get calls from his 312-area phone number whether he's in his Chicago Loop office, his Evanston factory, or his North Shore home. It also gives him the same computer screen regardless of location. "I can work on a legal brief in my office, turn off the computer and go home," he said. "After dinner, I can go to my home computer and find the brief exactly as I left it at the office. People call my office phone number, and I pick up no matter where I am. "It's great because clients think I'm always working in my office." A more striking example of Internet telephony's versatility unfolded earlier this year in the Arctic Circle. Stephen Braham, of Vancouver, Canada's Simon Fraser University, was the chief field engineer on a NASA-supported project that tests equipment bound for Mars. This is done in a giant arctic crater that provides as close an approximation of Mars as can be found on Earth. In past arctic trips, Braham and his colleagues used a satellite phone to talk to the outside world, but at toll rates topping $1 a minute, it wasn't ideal for an academic program with limited funds. "Also, with a satellite phone, you have to be outside and stay in position to catch your signal," he said. This year, the researchers added Internet telephony to a high-speed broadband satellite Internet connection. "We got a dial tone that let us call anywhere," he said. "If we called others on our network, the call was free. Even if we dialed others outside our netwo rk, the calls were billed as if they originated from Southern Canada, which is way cheaper than sat-phone rates." For more mundane pursuits, VoIP is catching on as well. Mitel's Butcher said that at his firm VoIP units constituted 40 percent of his shipments in the last quarter. In the coming quarter, he expects they will comprise a majority of his sales. Legal and other issues, however, remain to be determined. One concern is how 911 emergency calls will be handled on VoIP, while another is the ability of police authorities to wiretap Internet conversations. Those sticking points, among others, assure that the Federal Communications Commission will revisit its hands-off approach to the technology. Still, the new technology won't really take off until major carriers use it to replace existing networks, said Blaik Kirby, a vice president with Adventis, a Boston consultancy. "Sprint has been an early-adopter in using VoIP in its local service networks," said Kirby, "and it's had fair success with it." Qwest Communications Inc., the dominant local carrier in the nation's Western states, said recently that it would introduce VoIP service in Minnesota. And in Illinois, while Verizon is looking to protect its traditional voice phone business, the firm is also promoting VoIP. Verizon supplies it to business customers in Chicago in competition with SBC. Dave Sherman, Verizon group marketing manager who oversees its Chicago Internet telephony business, said the firm is using Chicago and other markets to learn more about VoIP and how to market it. Because the new technology competes with traditional phone service, the company cannot ignore VoIP. "It is analogous to wireless service," Sherman said. "When wireless started, people said that it would take business away from the wireline network. Our company had to decide, 'Did we want to be in wireline or wireless?' "We decided we had to be in both." © 2004 Contra Costa Times and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.contracostatimes.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] 8126 From: David Alexander Date: Mon Jan 5, 2004 4:48am Subject: FW: U.S. Flight To Mars Cancelled On "Specific Intelligence" I feel sorry for the poor b*stards sent as the 'Air Marshals' on those things, mind you, the overtime should be pretty good. David Alexander Dbi Consulting Ltd Stoneleigh Park Mews Stoneleigh Abbey Kenilworth Warwickshire CV8 2DB Office : 01926 515515 Mobile: 07836 332576 Email : David.Alexander@d... Have you visited our website? http://www.dbiconsulting.co.uk -----Original Message----- From: James M. Atkinson [mailto:jmatk@tscm.com] Sent:04 January 2004 17:18 To:TSCM-L Subject:[TSCM-L] U.S. Flight To Mars Cancelled On "Specific Intelligence" http://theeschalot.com/us-cancels-flight-to-mars.html U.S. Flight To Mars Cancelled On "Specific Intelligence" WASHINGTON - NASA has been ordered to cancel its Spirit and Opportunity rover missions amid "specific intelligence" suggesting a terrorist attack is likely against the mission. "We have specific and credible intelligence suggesting that one or both of the rovers are considered targets by al-Qaida," said a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. "Since the threat is currently millions of miles away, we do not consider it sufficient cause to raise the National Terror Threat Level which remains at the High or Orange level." NASA officials were quick to object to the order. "This mission is going to run somewhere upwards of 600 million dollars. It would be cost prohibitive for al-Qaida to launch an attack against the rovers, and that's ignoring the technical impossibility of a group with no space experience launching an interplanetary mission," said NASA spokesman Jonathon Spears. "Even if they were able to launch an attack, the very worst they could do would be to destroy the rovers. The rovers may well be destroyed anyway. We know that, that's why we sent two. So why should the mission be aborted? It's just nuts." Tom Ridge, Secretary of Homeland Security, thinks NASA is missing the point. "In the first place, you don't have to be able fly a helicopter in order to shoot one down. So al-Qaida's lack of space experience in no way suggests they are incapable of launching an attack. Secondly, they have access to millions of dollars in drug money and other ill-gotten gain and they are very willing to spend their war chest on highly visible missions. We consider it to be much better for us to decide to abort this mission ourselves rather than give al-Qaida an opportunity to destroy it." NASA lawyers vow to get a stay on implementation of the order. Since the first rover, Spirit, is expected to touch down on the red planet within hours, the legal wrangling should allow time for at least one rover to complete its mission. ======================================================== TSCM-L Technical Security Mailing List "In a multitude of counselors there is strength" To subscribe to the TSCM-L mailing list visit: http://www.yahoogroups.com/community/TSCM-L It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Star Bucks that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking is a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. =================================================== TSKS Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TSCM-L/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: TSCM-L-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 8127 From: Mitch D Date: Mon Jan 5, 2004 11:33am Subject: Gen Hawleys politically incorrect mssg Forwarded from a friend,accuracy subject to verification,enjoy: General Hawley's Politically Incorrect Message This Air Force General should have been a Marine. What a magnificent and insightful view of what this war on terrorism is actually about. Please read and pass on as you see fit. General Hawley, is a newly retired USAF 4 star general. He commanded the Air Combat Command [our front-line fighters and bombers] at Langley AFB, VA. He is now retired and no longer required to be politically correct. A true patriot! "Since the attack [9-11], I have seen, heard, and read thoughts of such surpassing stupidity that they must be addressed. You've heard them too. Here they are: 1) "We're not good, they're not evil, everything is relative." Listen carefully: We're good, they're evil, nothing is relative. Say it with me now and free yourselves. You see, folks, saying "We're good" doesn't mean, "We're perfect." Okay? The only perfect being is the bearded guy on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The plain fact is that our country has, with all our mistakes and blunders, always been and always will be the greatest beacon of freedom, charity, opportunity, and affection in history. If you need proof, open all the borders on Earth and see what happens. 2) "Violence only leads to more violence." This one is so stupid you usually have to be the president of an Ivy League university to say it. Here's the truth, which you know in your heads and hearts already: Ineffective, unfocused violence leads to more violence. Limp, panicky, half measures lead to more violence. However, complete, fully thought through, professional, well executed violence never leads to more violence because, you see, afterwards, the other guys are all dead. That's right, dead. Not "on trial," not "reeducated," not "nurtured back into the bosom of love." Dead. 3) "The CIA and the rest of our intelligence community have failed us." For 25 years we have chained our spies like dogs to a stake in the ground, and now that the house has been robbed, we yell at them for not protecting us. Starting in the late seventies, under Carter appointee Stansfield Turner, the giant brains who get these giant ideas decided that the best way to gather international intelligence was to use spy satellites. "After all, (they reasoned,) you can see a license plate from 200 miles away." This is very helpful if you've been attacked by a license plate. Unfortunately, we were attacked by humans. Finding humans is not possible with satellites. You have to use other humans. When we bought all our satellites, we fired all our humans, and here's the really stupid part. It takes years, decades to infiltrate new humans into the worst places of the world. You can't just have a guy who looks like Gary Busey in a Spring Break '93 sweatshirt plop himself down in a coffee shop in Kabul and say "Hiya, boys. Gee, I sure would like to meet that bin Laden fella. "Well, you can, but all you'd be doing is giving the bad guys a story they'll be telling for years. 4) "These people are poor and helpless, and that's why they're angry at us." Uh-huh, and Jeffrey Dahmer's frozen head collection was just a desperate cry for help. The terrorists and their backers are richer than Elton John and, ironically, a good deal less annoying. The poor helpless people, you see, are the villagers they tortured and murdered to stay in power. Mohammed Atta, one of the evil scumbags who steered those planes into the killing grounds is the son of a Cairo surgeon. But you knew this, too. In the sixties and seventies, all the pinheads marching against the war were upper-middle-class college kids who grabbed any cause they could think of to get out of their final papers and spend more time drinking.. It's the same today. 5) "Any profiling is racial profiling." Who's killing us here, the Norwegians? Just days after the attack, the New York Times had an article saying dozens of extended members of the gazillionaire bin Laden family living in America were afraid of reprisals and left in a huff, never to return to studying at Harvard and using too much Drakkar. I'm crushed. Please come back. Let's all stop singing "We Are the World" for a minute and think practically. I don't want to be sitting on the floor in the back of a plane four seconds away from hitting Mt.Rushmore and turn, grinning, to the guy next to me to say, "Well, at least we didn't offend them." SO HERE'S what I resolve for the New Year: Never to forget our murdered brothers and sisters. Never to let the relativists get away with their immoral thinking. After all, no matter what your daughter's political science professor says, we didn't start this. Have you seen that bumper sticker that says, "No More Hiroshimas"? I wish I had one that says, "No More Pearl Harbors." THIS NEEDS TO STAY IN CIRCULATION FOR THOSE WHO HAVE OR WILL FALL FOR THE STUPIDITY GOING AROUND. PLEASE PASS IT ON __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Find out what made the Top Yahoo! Searches of 2003 http://search.yahoo.com/top2003 8128 From: Date: Mon Jan 5, 2004 5:54pm Subject: File - mission.txt TSCM-L Technical Security Mailing List Dedicated to TSCM specialists engaging in expert technical and analytical research for the detection, nullification, and isolation of eavesdropping devices, wiretaps, bugging devices, technical surveillance penetrations, technical surveillance hazards, and physical security weaknesses. This also includes bug detection, bug sweep, and wiretap detection services. Special emphasis is given to detecting and countering espionage and other threats and activities directed by foreign intelligence services against the United States Government, United States corporations, establishments, and citizens. The list includes technical discussion regarding the design and construction of SCIF facilities, Black Chambers, and Screen Rooms. This list is also for discussing DIAM 50-3, NSA-65, and DCID 1/21, 1/22 compliance. The primary goal and mission of this list is to "raise the bar" and increase the level of professionalism present within the TSCM business. The secondary goal of this list is to increase the quality and effectiveness of our efforts so that we give spies and eavesdroppers no quarter, and to neutralize all of their espionage efforts. This mailing list is moderated by James M. Atkinson and sponsored by Granite Island Group as a public service to the TSCM, Counter Intelligence, and technical security community. 8129 From: Date: Mon Jan 5, 2004 5:54pm Subject: File - Gold List The current version of this list may be found at: http://www.tscm.com/goldlist.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Recommended U.S. TSCM Firms The following is a list of private TSCM firms who specialize in "bug sweeps" and wiretap detection and all of whom have legitimate TSCM training, credentials, and equipment (all are very well respected within the industry). While most TSCM specialists are available for travel outside of a specific geographic area they tend to avoid such engagements, or will limited the services to vulnerability analysis, pre-construction assistance, non-instrumented inspections, simple RF checks, in-place monitoring, or limited TSCM services involving only a briefcase sized in-place monitoring system (such as a single spectrum analyzer, MSS, Eagle, ScanLock, OSCOR, SPECTRE, ROSE, or similar system). These private TSCM firms tend to operate in a specific geographic area limited to a few hundred miles (usually within a four to six hour automobile drive). However, all of the TSCM firms listed here are available for travel anywhere in the United States or the World on short notice, but only provide limited services when operating outside of their normal coverage area. This limited coverage area is due to the logistics involved in transporting hundreds and often thousands of pounds of sophisticated, highly sensitive electronic instruments, equipment and tools. Bug sweeps and wiretap detection involves the use of ladders, pole climbing equipment, LAN analyzers, X-ray systems, large antennas and other equipment which is not easily transported by airplane. TSCM firms also tend to restrict their operations to a specific geographic area to facilitate an expert level of knowledge regarding the RF environment, construction methods used, community zoning, population demographics, civil engineering, aeronautic or maritime facilities, local military bases, and related areas. Knowledge of such regional information is critical for a successful TSCM project. The TSCM specialist must also have an intimate knowledge of the telephone systems, engineering methods, fiber optics, major cable locations, central office switches, test numbers, and related communications infrastructure present or being used in an area (which tends to be very regional). An understanding of what types of eavesdropping devices, methods, and frequencies are being used in an area is also important, as is a knowledge of what type of surveillance equipment is being sold within that region (and other areas). The TSCM Procedural and Protocols Guides used by a specialist also tend to be based on specific issues and variables present in that specific geographic area. On a more interesting note, many of these firms are located in, or near major maritime port cities. The heaviest concentrations are around major cities on the East and West coasts with a very limited presence in the Mid-West, Great Plains, and Rockies. If you are in the Mid-West, Great Plains, or Rockies area you would need to engage a TSCM firm from one of the major port cities. For example customers in Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis, Denver, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, Billings, etc. would need to fly a TSCM specialist in from Boston, New York, Washington DC, Los Angles, Lexington, or Seattle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please be patient when contacting these firms, as if they are out serving a client they may not be able to return your call for several hours. Rates generally are non-negotiable and reflect the cost of the sweep practitioner's time, investment in equipment acquisition and maintenance, several weeks of in-service training a year, travel, administrative and communications time and expense to coordinate the sweep and written report, and a fair profit for their services. It is very unwise to shop for sweeps by using price as a criteria as it only invites getting ripped off. Legitimate TSCM professionals are not interested in, nor will then engage in negotiating for a lower price. When you contact persons on this list, you are talking with someone in the same league as an attorney or surgeon, not a salesman. In fact most of the people listed on this page have more time in their specialized training than do most attorneys or medical professionals. Anything beyond an initial phone call usually will be billable time. Attorneys and doctors don't consult for free, and neither do legitimate TSCM specialists. If a potential client calls with a long list of questions not pertaining directly to hiring the practitioner, or wants to know how to do his own sweep, or wants to know how to use the sweep kit he purchased on his own, expect to pay an hourly rate in advance for consulting services. If you are considering engaging (or have already engaged) a TSCM firm and they are not listed in the following directory you would do well to immediately ask some awkward questions. It is also important you understand that legitimate services by a competent TSCM firm rarely start at less then several thousand dollars for even a basic sweep. Keep in mind that there only a small number of legitimate and competent TSCM counterintelligence specialists or "Bug Sweepers" in the U.S. private sector. Legitimate TSCM firms are in very high demand, hard to find, and expensive; so be patient when trying to find one to help you. Also, the firms listed on this page are not attorneys and cannot tell you whether it is legal or illegal for you to monitor your own phones. Always call a competent licensed attorney for legal advice. Without exception, no one listed here performs eavesdropping services or sells surveillance equipment to any other than government agencies AND WILL NOT REFER YOU TO ANYONE WHO DOES. When you contact any of the following firms please mention that you saw them listed on this web site. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ All of New England, Upstate New York, and the Boston Metropolitan Area (MA, RI, CT, VT, NH, ME, New York State including Long Island, and some of New Jersey) Available on a limited basis to cover any location within 1000 miles of Boston. James M. Atkinson Granite Island Group 127 Eastern Avenue #291 Gloucester, MA 01931-8008 (978) 381-9111 Telephone URL: http://www.tscm.com/ E-mail: jmatk@tscm.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stamford, Connecticut Metropolitan Area (also, Manhattan, Long Island, and New Jersey) Sam Daskam Information Security Associates, Inc. 38 Settlers Trail Stamford, CT 06903 (203) 329-8387 Telephone URL: http://www.isa-tscm.com/ E-mail:sales@i... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Norwalk, and Lower Fairfield Country Area (also, Manhattan, Long Island, Philadelphia, and New Jersey) Rob Muessel TSCM Technical Services 11 Bayberry Lane Norwalk, CT 06851 (203) 354-9040 Telephone URL: http://www.tscmtech.com/ E-mail:rmuessel@t... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Greater Philadelphia and Harrisburg Metropolitan Area (also, serving South-Eastern and Central Pennsylvania) Bob Motzer RCM and Associates 609 Sandra Lane Phoenixville, PA 19460 (888) 990-6265 Telephone E-mail: 1RCM@M... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Washington DC and Baltimore Metropolitan Area (also, Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania) Steve Uhrig SWS Security 1300 Boyd Road Street, MD 21154-1836 (410) 879-4035 Telephone URL: http://www.swssec.com/ E-mail: steve@s... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Houston, Dallas, Austin, and Galveston (also, Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana) Rick Udovich Communication Security, Inc. 2 Shadow Lane Bay City, TX 77414 (979) 244-4920 Telephone URL: http://www.bugsweep.com/ E-mail: rjudo@s... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Atlanta Metropolitan Area, Southeastern US (also, AL, FL, GA, NC, SC, TN) Buzz Benson Executive World Services, Inc. P.O. Box 33 Braselton, Georgia 30517-0033 (678) 316-7002 Telephone URL: http://www.executiveworldservices.com/ E-mail: sales@e... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lexington KY Metropolitan Area (also, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Central Midwest) Bill G. Rhoads Intelcom, Inc. 121 Prosperous Place, Suite 4B Lexington, KY 40509 (859) 263-9425 Telephone E-mail: bgr101@a... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Michigan and Surrounding Area (also, Indiana, Ohio, and Northern Midwest Region) Chad Margita Off Duty Security 18301 Eight Mile Rd, Suite 214 Eastpointe, MI 48021 (586) 774-1675 Telephone E-mail: offdutysecurity@c... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Washington State and Seattle WA Metropolitan Area (also, Oregon, and the Pacific North West) Gordon Mitchell Future Focus, Inc. P.O. Box 2547 Woodinville, WA 98072 (888) BUG-KILR Telephone URL: http://www.bug-killer.com/ E-mail: enquiries@b... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ San Francisco and all of Northern California (also, Silicon Valley Area) William Bennett Walsingham Associates, Inc. P.O. Box 4264 San Rafael, CA 94913 (415) 492-1594 Telephone E-mail: walsingham@c... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8130 From: David Alexander Date: Tue Jan 6, 2004 6:20am Subject: Re: General Hawley speech The following text is from www.snopes.com and is the truth about the 'General Hawley' speech; Yes, Gen. Richard E. Hawley is a real person, a United States Air Force general who served as commander of the USAF's Air Combat Command until his retirement in 1999, but no, he didn't write or deliver the speech quoted above. This "speech" is actually a column by humorist Larry Miller which appeared in The Daily Standard on 14 January 2002; the version circulating on the Internet omits the opening and closing paragraphs. David Alexander Dbi Consulting Ltd Stoneleigh Park Mews Stoneleigh Abbey Kenilworth Warwickshire CV8 2DB Office : 01926 515515 Mobile: 07836 332576 Email : David.Alexander@d... Have you visited our website? http://www.dbiconsulting.co.uk 8131 From: David Alexander Date: Thu Jan 1, 2004 1:49am Subject: Re: CIA Science and Technology Directorate Museum Opens At 05:34 01/01/2004, you wrote: > Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 01:39:49 -0500 > From: Steven Donnell WA1YKL >Subject: Re: CIA Science and Technology Directorate Museum Opens > > > >MACCFound@a... wrote: > > > CIA Gadget Museum Includes Robot Fish, Pigeon Camera > > > > Associated Press > > > > McLEAN, Va. -- When the CIA's secret gadget-makers invented a listening > > device for the Asian jungles, they disguised it so the enemy wouldn't be > > tempted to pick it up and examine it: The device looked like tiger > droppings. > > > > The guise worked. Who would touch such a thing? The fist-sized, brown > > transmitter detected troop movements along the trails during fighting in > > Vietnam, a quiet success for a little-known group of researchers inside the > > world's premier intelligence agency. > >Hi, CIA secret huh?? Back around 1975 as young tinkerer and budding Ham >I >remember picking up a few of these from a local electronics surplus >store(John >Meshna's old place, JMA). Anyways, some were brown, some were black. >They had a >nipple on one end that when you pulled it off, removed a small pin that >"armed" >the tx. I set one in a jar of gasoline for a cple days which permited >its tough >rubber skin to be easily pealed off. The first layer underneath revealed >a tin >foil antenna. To get in further required some more digging, but I guess >thats >where I get my love of reverse engineering things,,. The tx was a simple >L/C >tuned deal that operated near the FM Brdcast band. The batteries were 3 >or 4 >mercury button cells(dead). The motion sensor was this tiny brass >cylinder(HG >sw?) about the size of a pencil eraser, which cw keyed the tx. With the >sensor >bypassed, the tx would emit a continuous carrier. I dont recall if I >ever botherd >to try and FM modulate the thing. A few yrs later I remember reading >some >additional info about how this whole system worked. There was even a >picture of >the "repeater/up link tx" that was made to look like a small palm tree. >Come to >think of it, I seem to recall seeing this on display at the AF museum at >Wright >Patterson. I gather that these "Poo Txs" were dropped by the hundreds >along the >Ho Chi Min trail. >Steve I remember a bit about this from back in my RAF days. I actually did a bit of research on their use - not into how the sensors worked, but what they were used for. The 'poo' and 'palm trees' were dropped as part of Operation igloo white, which was designed to interdict supply traffic down the HCM trail. When I trained as a pilot one of my instructors was a USAF major on an exchange tour who had flown the ELINT DC3s that stooged around listening to the sensors and vectoring the C130 Gunships to the right places. The C130s had a detector that could, at short ranges, pick up the RF generated by a vehicle's electrics and then take them out. David Alexander Dbi Consulting Ltd Stoneleigh Park Mews Stoneleigh Abbey Kenilworth Warwickshire CV8 2DB mobile 07836 332576 http://www.dbiconsulting.co.uk 8132 From: Brian Varine Date: Thu Jan 1, 2004 7:17am Subject: Re: Portable MP3 Players There is a way to lock out the USB ports on 2000/2003/XP. We did this at my last company and DoD does it as well. I'm not sure which setting you need to tweak but it can be done. I can look it up if someone is really interested. One other interesting feature is that every device that gets connected to the machine leaves a registry entry. When performing a forensic analysis you can see what they've attached. Unfortunately it doesn't tell you what they've transferred. Brian 8133 From: Brian Varine Date: Thu Jan 1, 2004 3:34pm Subject: Disabling USB Storage Devices In Windows XP Below is a link to Microsoft's support site that details how to disable the use of USB storage devices in XP. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;823732