FOIA? Information Access - Public Doors Being Closed

One of the things that has been mentioned in several threads recently by myself and others is the fact that when we attempt to provide evidence to back our claims by linking to an official site, the information is moved, removed or the page closed...

One such page was lyle.org...... this site had a collection of Mars Rover images in full color...

Several documents from LANL archives, OSTI (Office of Scientific & Technical Information, DOE) and others were removed and no longer available after posting the links here at ATS... these papers included material on Warp Drives, Gravity Shielding and Fusion work to name a few....

It is difficult enough to prove certain wild theories with what little you can find in the public domain... How do you prove top secret stuff if you cannot legally possess unclassified documents?

All you can do is search through reams of documents and spend hours trying to look for clues in the public access areas of the Military and Government sites...

Before I post what happened at one of my sources... here is a clipping from a Department of Defense press release...

Internet Presents Web of Security Issues
By Paul Stone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 1998 – In a briefing room deep in the Pentagon earlier this year, Air Force Lt. Col. Buzz Walsh and Maj. Brad Ashley presented a series of briefings to top DoD leaders that raised more than just a few eyebrows.

Selected leaders were shown how it was possible to obtain their individual social security numbers, unlisted home phone numbers, and a host of other personal information about themselves and their families simply by cruising the Internet.

Walsh and Ashley, members of the Pentagon's Joint Staff, were not playing a joke on the leaders. Nor were they trying to be clever. Rather they were dramatically, and effectively demonstrating the ease of accessing and gathering personal and military data on the information highway information which, in the wrong hands, could translate into a vulnerability.

"You don't need a Ph.D. to do this," Walsh said about the ability to gather the information. "There's no rocket science in this capability. What's amazing is the ease and speed and the minimal know-how needed. The tools (of the Net) are designed for you to do this."

The concern over personal information on key DoD leaders began with a simple inquiry from one particular flag officer who said he was receiving a large number of unsolicited calls at home. In addition to having the general's unlisted number, the callers knew specifically who he was.

Beginning with that one inquiry, the Joint Staff set out to discover just how easy it is to collect data not only on military personnel, but the military in general. They used personal computers at home, used no privileged information not even a DoD phone book and did not use any on-line services that perform investigative searches for a fee.

In less than five minutes on the Net Ashley, starting with only the general's name, was able to extract his complete address, unlisted phone number, and using a map search engine, build a map and driving directions to his house.

Using the same techniques and Internet search engines, they visited various military and military-related Web sites to see how much and the types of data they could gather. What they discovered was too much about too much, and seemingly too little concern about the free flow of information vs. what the public needs to know.

www.defenselink.mil...

Now it is obvious they have been working on this issue for some time...

Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre issued a memorandum on 24 September 1998, which directs DoD and the individual services to take both immediate and long-term steps to protect the flow of information on the world wide web. During the next 60 days, the Assistant Secretary of Defense (C3I) will develop policy and procedural guidelines that address the operational, public affairs, acquisition, technology, privacy, legal and security issues associated with the use of DoD web sites. In the meantime, effective immediately, Hamre has ordered the following information removed from all publicly accessible DoD web sites:

Plans or lessons learned which would reveal sensitive military operations, exercises or vulnerabilities.

Any information that would reveal movements of military assets or the location of units, installations or personnel where uncertainty regarding location is an element of the security of a military plan or program.

All personal information in the following categories about U.S. citizens, DoD employees and military personnel: 1) Social Security Numbers: 2) Dates of Birth; 3) Home Addresses; and 4) telephone numbers other than numbers of duty offices which are appropriately made available to the general public. Additionally, names, locations and any other identifying information about family members of DoD employees and military personnel must be removed.

www.defenselink.mil...

DoD Web Policies And Guidelines
Updated: 13-Oct-2006
Department of Defense

Security

* AFIS Web Story: Internet Presents Web of Security Issues
* Information Assurance Support Environment (IASE) - The DoD IA Portal
* Information Security Program, DoD Directive 5200.1
* Information Vulnerability and the WWW; Deputy Secretary of Defense Hamre (09/24/1998) - "All DoD Components that establish publicly accessible web sites are responsible for ensuring that the information published on those sites does not compromise national security or place DoD personnel at risk."
* Security and Policy Review of DoD Information for Public Release - DoD Instruction 5230.29
* Unauthorized Disclosure of Classified Information to the Public (DoD Directive 5210.50) - policy and responsibilities for reporting and investigating known or suspected incidents of unauthorized public disclosure of classified information and reporting corrective and disciplinary action taken
* Website OPSEC Discrepancies (SecDef MSG R 141553Z JAN 03) - THE FACT THAT FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY (FOUO) AND OTHER SENSITIVE UNCLASSIFIED INFORMATION (E.G., CONOPS, OPLANS, SOP) CONTINUES TO BE FOUND ON PUBLIC WEB SITES INDICATES THAT TOO OFTEN DATA POSTED ARE INSUFFICIENTLY REVIEWED FOR SENSITIVITY AND/OR INADEQUATELY PROTECTED. ... THIS CONTINUING TREND MUST BE REVERSED.

www.defenselink.mil...

Continued next post.....

One of my favorite sources for information has been the USAF Air University out of Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base Montgomery, Alabama

Recently I posted some information about the NAVY Space Officers Cadre in one of the threads I was working in... well I went back looking and found this..


Forbidden Links

According to the latest AFI 33-129, para. 6.9.1

6.9.1. Hyperlink Restrictions. You can use hyperlinks from a public Web site to other .mil/.gov public Web sites. Do not use hyperlinks from public Web sites to private Web sites, even if password- protected, for any reason.

Therefore we can no longer link to the sites below. However, the info below will hopefully help you to find the sites using public means. We are sorry for this inconvenience.

Here are a few of the previous portals that now link to this message...

Navy Portal - Navy Knowledge Online

* We can no longer link to that site.
* According to AFI 33-129, para. 6.9.1
Do not use hyperlinks from public Web sites to private Web sites, even if password-protected, for any reason.
* We have been told there are no exceptions and no waivers.

------------------------------------------------------
FBIS

* We can no longer link to that site.
* FBIS is the daily compilation of world security related news from diverse sources.
* According to AFI 33-129, para. 6.9.1
Do not use hyperlinks from public Web sites to private Web sites, even if password-protected, for any reason.
* We have been told there are no exceptions and no waivers.

------------------------------------------------------

Defense Manpower Data Center - Verification of Military Experience (VMET)

* We can no longer link to that site.
* According to AFI 33-129, para. 6.9.1
Do not use hyperlinks from public Web sites to private Web sites, even if password-protected, for any reason.
* We have been told there are no exceptions and no waivers.

---------------------------------------------------------
Army Portal - Army Knowledge OnlineBack to Top

* We can no longer link to that site.
* According to AFI 33-129, para. 6.9.1
Do not use hyperlinks from public Web sites to private Web sites, even if password-protected, for any reason.
* We have been told there are no exceptions and no waivers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

These are just a few....

www.au.af.mil...

No sorry no 'hot link' available....

DTIC (Defense Technical Information Center) and other sites It is no longer easy to hot link directly to a document... still works on some but not all... not sure why... may be the nature of the document


So the bottom line is that despite "Freedom of Information Act" releases, they are going to tighten things up drastically and info will be harder to come by....

I can imagine a certain group of skeptics here jumping for glee... but this is not looking good....


Continued Next Post....


One think on that page from the Air University ...

They have this line at the top...

"It’s an island that cannot be found except by those who already know where it is."
--- from Pirates of the Caribbean: the Curse of the Black Pearl

Seems someone at least has sympathy with our cause... because they do say this...

"However, search engines can take you there...."

[edit on 21-12-2007 by zorgon]

Add to that the NSA surveliance...

Internet Service Provider (ISP) The NSA may be
forcing ISPs to provide it with information in the form of
a computer tap (similar to a controversial FBI device
dubbed “Carnivore”) that scans all the communications
that reach that ISP.

You will all want to read this file....
www.nsawatch.org...

Former AT&T technician Mark Klein is the key witness in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's class-action lawsuit against the company, which alleges that AT&T illegally cooperated in an illegal National Security Agency domestic-surveillance program.

In this recently surfaced statement, Klein details his discovery of an alleged surveillance operation in an AT&T office in San Francisco, and offers his interpretation of company documents that he believes support his case.

www.wired.com...


A couple of other scary issues that I have not had time to follow up on and thought it best to toss in to the mix here...

Did NSA Put a Secret Backdoor in New Encryption Standard?
www.schneier.com...

NSA Controls SSL Email Hosting Services
cryptome.org...

NSA's Lucky Break: How the U.S. Became Switchboard to the World
www.wired.com...


Now the above links I ran across while looking for THIS...
I am sure it has already been discussed here at ATS, (Though I must have missed it)
but it is very relevant to this whole thread...

Reminder: Monday is Wiretap the Internet Day
May 11, 2007

May 14th is the official deadline for cable modem companies, DSL providers, broadband over powerline, satellite internet companies and some universities to finish wiring up their networks with FBI-friendly surveillance gear, to comply with the FCC's expanded interpretation of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.

Congress passed CALEA in 1994 to help FBI eavesdroppers deal with digital telecom technology. The law required phone companies to make their networks easier to wiretap. The results: on mobile phone networks, where CALEA tech has 100% penetration, it's credited with boosting the number of court-approved wiretaps a carrier can handle simultaneously, and greatly shortening the time it takes to get a wiretap going. Cops can now start listening in less than a day.

Now that speed and efficiency is coming to internet surveillance. While CALEA is all about phones, the Justice Department began lobbying the FCC in 2002 to reinterpret the law as applying to the internet as well. The commission obliged, and last June a divided federal appeals court upheld the expansion 2-1. (The dissenting judge called the FCC's position "gobbledygook." But he was outnumbered.)

So, if you're a broadband provider (separately, some VOIP companies are covered too) … Hurry! The deadline has already passed to file an FCC form 445 (.pdf), certifying that you're on schedule, or explaining why you're not. You can also find the 68-page official industry spec for internet surveillance here. It'll cost you $164.00 to download, but then you'll know exactly what format to use when delivering customer packets to federal or local law enforcement, including "e-mail, instant messaging records, web-browsing information and other information sent or received through a user's broadband connection, including on-line banking activity."

blog.wired.com...

mod edit, fixed quote tag

[edit on 24-12-2007 by DontTreadOnMe]

That's why anyone should save important pages to PDF

Links disappear too often. On a mac ... print, save as PDF.
This way you control the articles. Not the hoster.
There must be a way for firefox on windows to save pages as PDF right?

PDF all the way.

Originally posted by abovetech
That's why anyone should save important pages to PDF

Links disappear too often. On a mac ... print, save as PDF.
This way you control the articles. Not the hoster.
There must be a way for firefox on windows to save pages as PDF right?

PDF all the way.

And we have been doing that I have several thousands... I will no longer link directly to a pdf on government sites because posting such a link here probably gives thousands of hits in a few days from around the world onto documents that may have seen little traffic from other than internal requests.

Hey Zorgon !!!!!!!!

You rock man !!!!!!

I have always wondered about Google and the advanced search feature that is often overlooked by most people.

Have you had any luck in finding out information using these features?

I am sure that if you know what key words and file formats some of the departments use, you might find access to things that are buried at the end of most normal searches, that the Departments are not even aware are accessible.

Just a thought.

Originally posted by zorgon
One of the things that has been mentioned in several threads recently by myself and others is the fact that when we attempt to provide evidence to back our claims by linking to an official site, the information is moved, removed or the page closed...

One possible reason could be that the sever that's hosting the site/images can't handle the traffic coming from ats. With over 115,000 members and who knows how many lurkers. Posting a link to a site that can't handle a lot of bandwidth will more than likely cause it to shut down.

One such page was lyle.org...... this site had a collection of Mars Rover images in full color...

And it still does. mars.lyle.org...

Dear Santa Zorgon,

All I want for Christmas, is to locate an alien species on the planet of Mars, proof that we have a working mining operation on the moon, and that one day we will all be obliterated by a comet. For what reason I don't know.

But if that's not possible, for christsake, can't you provide a website that will remain accessible for years to come?

Santa Zorgon: The only one I know of is ATS.

Thank You Santa, here is a cookie.


All in good fun Z. Merry Christmas.

Originally posted by jra
One possible reason could be that the sever that's hosting the site/images can't handle the traffic coming from ats.

Even in the event you are correct that is not necessarily the main reason. One must examine the intent, the root cause. That intent is to hide information, which is the same as book burning. There is no cardinal rule declaring such policies out of date.

In a secret corporate military state ignorance is strength as much as it is in any police state, dictatorship, or banana republic.

I have spoken. I will not be denied.

Originally posted by Cyber_Wasp
Have you had any luck in finding out information using these features?

Ummmm sure but finding them is not my problem... keeping them there long enough to post them is

I am sure that if you know what key words and file formats some of the departments use, you might find access to things that are buried at the end of most normal searches, that the Departments are not even aware are accessible.

Quite true but the problem is knowing WHAT to ask.... and fortunately there are many 'contacts' that provide me with 'search parameters'

Originally posted by jra
One possible reason could be that the sever that's hosting the site/images can't handle the traffic coming from ats. With over 115,000 members and who knows how many lurkers. Posting a link to a site that can't handle a lot of bandwidth will more than likely cause it to shut down.

Quite true and I said so a few posts above (and on other threads.... the Moon Pic thread for example... there are hundreds of thousand of viewers... so I can well imaging a few thousand hits after posting a link...

But I am not talking about pictures... 90% of the ones I post are on my server and so far there has been no transfer issues A couple of terabytes goes a long way..

I am talking about government sites... but I suppose they may not have enough 'juice" to keep up with ATS demand

And thanks for the new Lyle link. Now I will have to see if I can find the page with the full list... don't see it at the front door...

Edit
Oh yeah.... its there


[edit on 23-12-2007 by zorgon]

reply to post by zorgon


Hey, this kind of FOIA shenanigans is perfectly consistent with a gradual sift away from a Nation of Laws to an Imperialist State. More and more secrecy, withheld from the public (the people who, BTW, own this country).

The fire a few days ago at the Old EOB was, in my opinion, an indication that the Powers are getting nervous. Just to clarify, this fire 'started' very near the VEEP's Ceremonial Office, which just happens to be near some NSC offices. This, in a building that has been undergoing renovations since the Reagan Administration to make a 19th century building fire-safe. Wouldn't one think the most important areas of the building would be enhanced and improved first??

Perhaps now we, nor upcoming generations, will ever know what was destroyed in that fire. Information so damaging to Shrub's 'legacy' that it had to be disposed of? Can't shred it, leaves a record. Yup, let's torch it, call it an accident.

Let's hope that somewhere, somehow something was preserved by some true Patriot...

The intent of our national leadership is to not be too open. Openness brings scrutiny, and scrutiny exposes flaws. This is why the lawmakers are so agreeable.

If we really want to complain, we might ask why the Navy doesn't release information relating to the fruits of its deep water sub research. I understand that they want to hide some of it...but come on.

And it isn't just people like Pegasus that they are trying ti dissuade. There is growing concern over a real threat posed by China and its en masse research tactics. Like everything else they do, they are efficient at it. And with the increase of tech manufacturing outsourcing to China, it will only get worse.

But the docs that come up missing don't seem to be national secrets.

Hey!

The NSA "0wnz" popular firewalls and 'secure' email services, too!

CRYPTOME reports that the US National Security Agency (NSA) has remote administrative access to several of the most popular Windows PC firewalls, and that it has also taken control of a number of supposedly "secure " email services within the past few months.

Source | the Inquirer | The NSA 0wnz popular firewalls and 'secure' email services,

Talk about the fox guarding the henhouse!!

Credit where credit is due: I found the above link in a post by Choronzon on this thread:
23rd of the 12th 2007 - and all is well

This news warrants it's own thread, IMHO.

Zorgon,

This happened to a site I was using as a 'Intranet' tool when teaching at Clinton Community College BEFORE the college had web access for every student. The teachers and ROOMS had access...but NOT the individual student desktops...hence I built CommonSenseCentral initially as an "Intranet" site where the students could use Windows Explorer browse to the teacher's machine where I had the site located...find the CSC folder and click on the index.htm file and presto....the browser opened up and I had some some sites saved there and had got into the code and rerouted outside links to internat sub folder links so the students could have the "feel" of being on the www at least 3 links down a trail.

One of the MOST important sites I saved and have remained archived and available has been "The Secret history of the US" website. It went off-line before the college got webservice and I can't find now anywhere. Though Google will give you SOME sites with interesting data, Google will NOT point you to this part of my website where the ENTIRE website of that then site was with references to newspaper and wire articles. Think the CIA let ALL their bad deeds out with their recent mea-culpa?

Check out thess pages of my website. While the links to the SOURCE articles in the Times, Wash Post, etc. no longer work...there is enough information that if you printed or wrote down the information and went to a four year University or large city oublic library ALL these reports would be on microfiche or digitally archived there.

commonsensecentral.net...

Hope some folks find the information contain therin helpful.

Bob...