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Docs: Responding To Katrina, FBI Made Cell Phone Surveillance Its Priority
v3rgEz writes: There's a lot of lessons that the federal government should have learned in the aftermath of Katrina. Increased domestic surveillance, however, appears to be the one the FBI took to heart, using the natural disaster as a justification for ramping up its use of Stingray cell phone tracking throughout Louisiana after the storm, according to documents released under FOIA to MuckRock.
Federal Bureau of Investigation take away?
They are not FEMA, or any relief organization, they investigate crimes. Of course they found something that would make it easier for them to investigate, damn our rights in the process.
Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
If there's anything that starving, homeless people need in a disaster, it's someone to listen in on their phone calls...which they can't make because they have no way to charge phones and no working cell towers to connect to.
The FBI would be better off buying banks of phones with a built-in recording device connected to a wireless tower. At least that way they could help people while conducting their surveillance.
You know, being able to triangulate someone's location after a natural disaster might not be a bad thing, in cases of rescue. At least, that's how you justify it, at first. Of course, critical infrastructure for comms pretty much collapsed as soon as the batteries died, generators ran out of diesel, etc. Time is of the essence when deploying your stingrays!
I'm curious. Do you get free data usage if your phone is connected to a Stingray? I guess it wouldn't be so bad then.
The list of things that local, state, and federal governments did horribly wrong in Katrina's aftermath is virtually endless. There should be plenty of opportunities to learn from it but it looks like they just keep making the same mistakes over and over.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
Nice try.
Bush tried to send the National Guard. The governor of Louisiana (a democrat) said no. Only after the corpses started piling up did she consent.
Seriously. Think about what would have happened if Bush sent the military into a state, against the will of a woman democrat governor, into a city with a majority black population.
Not only a woman Democrat Governor. But a black Democrat mayor. Remember "Chocolate City" Ray Nagin. Who by the way is in PRISON right now.
http://www.nola.com/crime/inde...
Why would anyone be complaining about this?
Isn't the FBI supposed to be trying to track down the person responsible for causing Katrina?
Oh, wait. Nevermind.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
FEMA is mostly a fund provider and insurance for disasters.
And they're terrible at it.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
I am anonymous coward now right? OK, so the story isn't juicy without details sorry. But the take away is that a local tech person working for... a business in Louisiana... was dealing with some weird cell phone problems in an apartment. Details this, details that... and some guys in black stepped into the picture and said "please disregard the problem in room XYZ. We're here on business" indicated there was a bad guy in the area and indicated the tech person should hold off for a day till they could put the guy behind bars.
Apparently they got the guy... organized crime or something is the impression I was given when told the story. So... as much as I hate trampled on rights, I guess there is one case I can believe (because the tech guy told me himself) were surveillance was good and hurt only the criminals.
Sorry no details... don't want to help the bad guys around here. Matter of fact, I hope they all go out of business in my neck of the woods! But please law enforcement type guys... get the warrant if at all possible!!!! And don't spy on innocent people, seriously. It isn't right and you will get your ass in the wringer eventually.
Yeah, they do. They feel they are protecting us and doing their patriotic duty to their nation. Go talk to someone who has been indoctrinated in the military or lives inside the beltway and works inside the government, or even just talk to a regular cop.
I have military in laws in my family, one of whom did some kind of SIGINT work for the NSA during the cold war. He's a "God and Country" sort of person; he holds very paternalistic views of the role of government in society. Not only about protecting us against foreign enemies, but also about doing what's best for your country, including obedience to the law.
if the fbi wants to spy on everyones cellphones.
why not just start a cellphone company and offer unlimited free calls and data?
EVERYONE would sign up.
Except they didn't buy the Stingrays until a year later. Thank you for playing.
First, Stingray is now a 'generic' term for these sorts of devices. So I'd be careful about claiming they all have the same functionality, or lack of it.
Second, operating as a bridge is actually the primary usage mode when operating in 'active' mode - where it 'forces' phones to connect to it instead of the normal tower.
Third, from what I remember, at least the first ones were built off of standard mobile cell tower systems, just with extra intercepts and data recording equipment.
I don't read AC A human right
Implanting tracking/monitoring devices in all infants would also make managing large populations and solving crimes more expedient. Since, as you state, the means can be justified by the ends, we should start doing this immediately. Alternatively, you can be called a goose-stepping tool. Tool.
In reality, the governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, declined to nationalize the Louisiana National Guard so that they would retain policing powers that would have been lost under Federalization due to the Posse Comitatus Act.
The same action was taken by the Governor of Mississippi.
None of this would have prevented effective deployment of federal resources. But don't let being factual get in your way. Tell the story you want to tell without worrying about the truth.
Much like now Governor of Louisiana Boby Jindal cutting off Planned Parenthood in the state from Medicaid despite the fact that they don't actually perform abortions. Who cares? They saw some videos and have to act.
Sorry for the slip.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
You can't really reasonably blame that on Bush. The Scientific American had an article about New Orleans and subsidence that had basically left much of the city below sea level.
Now one *could* blame the Army Corps of Engineers for not doing a better job supporting the levees...but that's not the only place in the country that has decaying infrastructure. They've only got so much time and money. And local businesses (almost) always object to their construction projects.
For that matter, this is predicted to be a record El Nino year, and IIRC the levees on the Sacramento river need a LOT of work. Which they aren't getting. We're in the middle of a drought, so why shore up the levees?
All that said, the Corps of Engineers has made some rather striking mistakes, also, so they tend to be a bit careful about work when there isn't a real emergency.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
IIUC, cell phone communication was down during and after the emergency. So monitoring cell towers at such a time would be purely wasted effort.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
Some hams who were present to aid communication with families outside the area reported that their antennas were destroyed without reasonable explanation. So one may guess that aiding communication was not their priority. Also, IIRC, some doctors were shot at by law enforcement while attempting to provide medical assistance, so that probably wasn't their priority either.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
The Stingray needs an active tower to allow it to be a 'man in themiddle', so they could only monitor completed calls.
Do you think there might have been phone calls like "hey steve, we're heading over to the rich side of town to go 'shopping'" or "we're heading over to the hospital to steal OxyContin"...
After Katrina hit, New Orleans was essentially a lawless region for a handful of days - shouldn't federal law enforcement ramp up their efforts to enforce the law?
Ken
Following up on FEMA, it's common to hear about how money is distributed and how much, i.e. many never got fully reimbursed from damage by hurricane Sandy.
mfwright@batnet.com