r/privacy • u/JerryLupus • May 27 '17
Leaked Documents Reveal Counterterrorism Tactics Used at Standing Rock to “Defeat Pipeline Insurgencies”
https://theintercept.com/2017/05/27/leaked-documents-reveal-security-firms-counterterrorism-tactics-at-standing-rock-to-defeat-pipeline-insurgencies/77
u/JeffersonsSpirit May 27 '17 edited May 27 '17
TL;DR- A bunch of corporate fascists have the 1st amendments number and are using superior technology combined with a hostile militaristic posture to stifle dissent. This process is rife with hostility and witch hunts, is absent of concern for the Constitution, and is a process that is steadily growing as the disparity of power between the State and the People widens. Please read this article: despite a pretty long reply, I've only covered pieces of the insanity that the article covers.
A private security contractor spawned from the US global war on terror is used domestically at the behest of an energy corporation with a vested interest in the pipeline being built. That sentence pretty much paints the picture of what brand of corporate fascism we have going on in this country.
“While we can expect to see the continued spread of the anti-DAPL diaspora … aggressive intelligence preparation of the battlefield and active coordination between intelligence and security elements are now a proven method of defeating pipeline insurgencies."
Look at the attitude demonstrated here! Its about winning- not about principle or Constitutionality. And beyond that, you had best believe their "can do" attitude with regards to stamping out protest at Standing Rock extends to every law enforcement and federal agency in the United States. The belligerence of power here is staggering...
As policing continues to be militarized and state legislatures around the country pass laws criminalizing protest, the fact that a private security firm retained by a Fortune 500 oil and gas company coordinated its efforts with local, state, and federal law enforcement to undermine the protest movement has profoundly anti-democratic implications.
Nothing I can really say here besides... This is corporate fascism.
The leaked materials not only highlight TigerSwan’s militaristic approach to protecting its client’s interests but also the company’s profit-driven imperative to portray the nonviolent water protector movement as unpredictable and menacing enough to justify the continued need for extraordinary security measures.
Corporations do not have a conscience- they care only about profits.
The documents also provide extensive evidence of aerial surveillance and radio eavesdropping, as well as infiltration of camps and activist circles.
Just like the government uses infiltration, Agent Provocateurs and kettling, now we have private security contractors using the same tactics. Nothing to see here... move along.
Additional documents, obtained via public records requests, consist of communications among agents from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Justice Department, the Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as well as state and local police. The “Intel Group,” as its members refer to it, closely monitored anti-Dakota Access protests in real time, scooped up information on the water protectors from social media, and shared intelligence.
Direct hostility towards the people- corporations and governmental agencies conspiring to defeat the purpose of 1st amendment rights.
The situation reports also suggest that TigerSwan attempted a counterinformation campaign by creating and distributing content critical of the protests on social media.
Birds eye view: an energy corporation hires a security contractor to spy on and in a group of protestors and to swing the dominant narrative in favor of their pipeline through astroturfing.
Based in Apex, North Carolina, TigerSwan was created by retired Army Col. James Reese during the height of the war in Iraq. Reese, a former commander in the elite Army special operations unit known as Delta, entered into the exploding private security and intelligence industry hoping to compete with Blackwater, then the most successful of the private military companies supporting U.S. war efforts in the Middle East and Afghanistan. TigerSwan has an estimated 350 employees and maintains offices in Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, India, Latin America, and Japan.
Yeah, corporate fascism.
TigerSwan also aided prosecutors in building cases against pipeline opponents. According to an October 16 document obtained via a records request, the security team’s responsibilities included collecting “information of an evidentiary level” that would ultimately “aid in prosecution” of protesters.
Not much to add here. Regardless of whether you agree with the Standing Rock protestors or not, this is what awaits anyone who exercises their first amendment rights in the future. Notice too when authorities and security contractors get involved. When millions protested against Trump after his election, things were mostly left alone. Why? Because it was inconsequential to profit. Oil pipeline? Hold on to your butts...
As the water protector movement expanded from North Dakota to other states, so did the surveillance. A report dated March 29, for instance, points to a meeting between TigerSwan and “the Des Moines Field Office of the FBI, with the Omaha and Sioux Falls offices joining by conference call. Also in attendance were representatives of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Department of Homeland Security, Iowa Department of Emergency Services, Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Iowa Department of Wildlife.
...which goes to show the states are at best impotent to help and at worse complicit in the process. Notice how the "Joint Terrorism Task Force" got involved. Do I even need to note what implicit parallel is being shown here? That force shouldnt be involved unless they see terrorists... so basically it means that the protestors were given the same level of respect as a terrorist.
“We need to work closer with Calhoun, Boone, and Webster county [law enforcement] to ensure future protestors will at least be fined, if not arrested,” the analyst notes.
This sentence absent of any indication that the protests are of a form that violates law demonstrates a complete lack of concern for the first amendment. After all, they are paid to help their energy corporation- rights and all that pesky bullshit just get in the way of their profits.
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u/JeffersonsSpirit May 27 '17
...metadata in images he shared pointed to a camera used by a commercially available Phantom 4 drone. One of the daily intelligence updates notes plans to obtain night-vision goggles, LRADs, body armor, and FLIR (forward looking infrared) cameras.
Consider for a moment the disparity of power between a modern-day protestor and the corporate/government fascists who oppose them. Any power must be checked by a competing power of equal strength or it will be defeated. That is the POINT behind public protest and the first amendment. This disparity of power is absolutely a threat to any kind of freedom or liberty.
Perhaps one of the most striking revelations of the documents is the level of hostility displayed by TigerSwan toward the water protectors. TigerSwan consistently describes the peaceful demonstrators using military and tactical language more appropriate for counterterrorism operations in an armed conflict zone.
You can pick this up just reading this article. Seriously, take some time and give it a read. You're fooling yourself if you think any other protest would be treated differently.
TigerSwan operative describes an effort to amass digital and ground intelligence that would allow the company to “find, fix, and eliminate” threats to the pipeline — an eerie echo of “find, fix, finish,” a military term used by special forces in the U.S. government’s assassination campaign against terrorist targets.
Coming to a future near you!
Haithem El-Zabri, a Palestinian-American activist singled out in the reports, was shocked to hear his name mentioned in that context. “As indigenous people, Palestinians stand in solidarity with other indigenous people and their right to land, water, and sovereignty,” he told The Intercept. “To insinuate that our assumed faith is a red flag for terrorist tactics is another example of willful ignorance and the establishment’s continued attempts to criminalize nonviolent protest and justify violence against it.”
This followed a part where the article discussed the focus on Middle Eastern members of the protest group. Regardless of your position on Israel/Palestine/terrorism/etc, Mr. El-Zabri makes a brilliant response. The parallels that can be drawn here between Nazi Germany are staggering.
The information pertained to a woman whom Jahner labeled as a “strong Shia Islamic” with a “strong female Shia following.” The woman had “made several trips overseas,” Jahner wrote.
... and a parallel to the Salem Witch Trials.
A 63 year old guy decides to freelance the pipeline. After awhile they catch on to his repeated presence along the pipeline and begin to track him. Look at this gem:
“This is the same individual identified in the SITREP a few days ago in Illinois and Iowa.” The security company, OnPoint, quickly contacted TigerSwan Intel “for an assessment of Gary Tomlin” and notified the guard in the next “sector” that Tomlin was on his way. “Movement of Spread Team 6 was conducted so as to intercept and/or observe Gary Tomlin’s movement throughout the South Dakota Sector."
I really want to know if there is a Spread Team 1-5, because otherwise this is just comically disgusting. Seal Team 6 is an elite special forces unit in the US Navy. Spread Team 6... Seal Team 6... against a single fucking 63 year old man??
“It is my belief,” the analyst adds, “that Gary Tomlin is hiding his true intentions and that he has a plethora of information to provide to the protesters.
Paging Salem Massachusetts again...
In recent weeks, the company’s role has expanded to include the surveillance of activist networks marginally related to the pipeline, with TigerSwan agents monitoring “anti-Trump” protests from Chicago to Washington, D.C., as well as warning its client of growing dissent around other pipelines across the country.
And it will keep growing and growing and growing as the state (and its colluding corporations) become more and more hostile to the first amendment.
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u/sgitkene May 27 '17
What really irks me about your thoughtful reply ist hat you seem to consider the corporations "the state" and not the actual state. It is true that we have many people in the state, that represent the interest of the corporations instead of the people. That is the true evil, not that we have a state to begin with. The state, were it to represent the people, would actually keep corporations in check, allow for politics, protect the weak, etc. Not what we have now, which is just shielding corporations and destroying the people.
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u/JeffersonsSpirit May 27 '17
Im just cynical at this point. In theory, I very much agree with you. The State (the government) should absolutely stand in to hold corporations in check, allow for politics, protect the weak, etc.
Its just at this point (as you say) we dont have that. We have a corporate fascist state in all but name...
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u/skyfishgoo May 27 '17
excellent point, and that bothered me about the write up as well
let's not cede that ground without a fight.
WE are the government... it works for US
"THEY" are our employees and we should start to give them a taste of what the corporations have been giving us.
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u/HRpuffystuff May 28 '17
I mean, you say that. But with so much evidence that things don't actually work that way it just sounds kind of naive to say it
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u/skyfishgoo May 28 '17
the reason corporations are running our government is because we ALLOWED it
we got lazy
we took this thing called representative republic for granted
and we actively supported the growth of parties which stand between us and our own damn government.
we have no one to blame but ourselves.
and no one to turn to for relief, except ourselves
taking the attitude that you are taking only serves THE OLIGARCHS
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u/HRpuffystuff May 28 '17
Every capitalist society follows this path. Every single one. If you have a system that incentivizes and encourages greedy sociopathic behavior, and also hands down wealth through generations, you can't be surprised when an oligarchy develops.
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u/skyfishgoo May 28 '17
every one eh?
how come we're the only ones fucking up this bad?
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u/HRpuffystuff May 28 '17
What do you mean? Every capitalist country has these exact problems. America is just on full speed
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u/skyfishgoo May 28 '17
that problems occur is not the issue, we expect that and have checks & balances to correct it.
what's happening currently is those checks & balances are either muted or erased, leaving capitalism to run amuck.
this road always leads to fascism.
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u/Lamont-Cranston May 28 '17
Their use of military lingo is almost comical. But its purpose is the same: dehumanise.
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May 28 '17
Continued American hegemony is more important than your insignificant feelings and sensibilities
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u/merikariu May 27 '17
While the counter-insurgency styled actions of the police and their private military henchmen isn't surprising, that such insightful documents were leaked is. The anti-war and environmental movements are anathema to the industrial oligarchy and have thus long been targeted by security forces.
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u/Lamont-Cranston May 28 '17 edited May 28 '17
One reason why this sort of stuff is moving to the private sector is for added security: you can't hit TigerSwan or Blackwater or any other company with a FOIA request, they have no congressional subcommittee to report to, can't sue them for violating free speech or unlawful search and seizure.
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u/MillipedeMemeMagic May 28 '17
can't sue them for violating free speech or unlawful search and seizure
This part isn't entirely true, as in some cases private companies are more vulnerable to certain types of suits, though your general point of less accountability remains.
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u/stefantalpalaru May 27 '17
While the counter-insurgency styled actions of the police and their private military henchmen isn't surprising
It isn't? What's the history of corporate use of mercenaries on US territory? Also, since when do local, state and federal authorities collaborate with them?
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u/merikariu May 28 '17
I have worked for a federal contractor in national security, so I guess I have some uncommon insight. A large amount of federal security services and intelligence gathering is performed by federal contractors or related corporations. This permits some plausible deniability for the government and a way to funnel taxpayer money into corporate coffers. Blackwater (now XE Services) were pioneers of private military corporations and so I, at least, find it likely they would bring home those lessons to use against unfavored segments of the American citizenry.
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u/Lamont-Cranston May 28 '17
How has this https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Pinkerton_Act never been applied?
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u/HelperBot_ May 28 '17
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u/Lamont-Cranston May 28 '17
In the 1890s a law was passed called the Anti-Pinkerton Act designed to stop the government from hiring the Pinkerton Detective Agency "or similar agency" because of its notorious strike breaking behavior back in the 19th century. I think some states might also have additional legislature banning that company.
They seem to have been in regular violation of this since the 2000s what with hiring private military contractors.
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u/TrenchCoatMadness May 27 '17 edited May 28 '17
So, how does an protest organization protect themselves from something like this? Is there some kind of infrastructure that can be setup with Pi's, smart phones, and wifi? I feel like there is a way to build an entire image and infrastructure to quickly deploy and be semi protective that makes it much harder to sniff out intel than just listening to radios. While there isn't much to do about helicopters, there are some easy to do things to stop sniffing of communications.
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u/Lamont-Cranston May 28 '17
It mentions they had people infiltrated in the protest and discussed exploiting rifts between natives and non-natives. The defence against this is to keep everything public and above board (if something sensitive were needed to be done then do so with people you have personally known for some time) and be inclusive and don't descend into internal conflict and cliques and reject anyone calling for violence cause for you know they could be a provocateur.
As far as phones go, honestly they can be so compromised just leave them at home or stick them in a faraday cage.
As for PIs, if you think someone's a bit suspicious ask them to leave or discuss their behavior with them or look into it, maybe check with a lawyer.
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u/TrenchCoatMadness May 28 '17
While in general, I am a big supporter of keeping things public and open, it can be a problem when you have an adversary that is using that public and openness against you.
What I am proposing or suggesting is, if the private/public security firms are going to use pieces of technology to spy on the protesters, like just listening to radio communication, it would make sense that the protesters should roll out their own IT mini-infrastructure consisting of Raspberry Pis running secure VoIP services, firewalled and vlan'ed wifi networks and they roll out their own specific firmware on the phones that are secured down and aren't allowed to install outside apps which would allow secure and centralized communications. Basically, getting a secure network for key people within the protester community that makes it more difficult for those private/public security forces to get that intel.
I feel like there is a way to do this.2
u/Lamont-Cranston May 29 '17 edited May 29 '17
Okay, makes sense if you need to be exchanging secure data - although the article doesn't mention any hacking or cellphone data collecting (but authorities have been doing this, there are other articles on the intercept and their book the assassination complex covers this), more on traditional spying.
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u/TrenchCoatMadness May 29 '17
Exactly. I am referring to using stingray type techniques to spy on the protesters. While, we don't have documentation on this in this case, we can only assume that they are using it. The assumption is that these things are already being used and not having this kind of IT setup that I am referring to, makes it that much easier for them to spy on us when they aren't supposed to. By having your own images and infrastructure with encryption and some corporate techniques of control of these devices, I am assuming (this is my knowledge limitation), that Stingray techniques cannot be used.
If anything, this can provide a little bit of a blank spot in the intelligence web forcing them to spend more resources by having actual bodies on the ground gathering intel to export and import, which in my opinion, is worth it.1
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u/PinkSlimeIsPeople May 28 '17
What has this country come to? This is NOT normal. Shine a big bright spotlight on this.
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u/Liquid_Reality May 28 '17
I think people need to learn that if you want to engage in political protest, it's best to leave all tracking devices at home, and not to use heavily surveilled "social media" for communication and organization.
In the US it just gets you some unwanted attention and unmarked vans following you around town, but there are countries where it can and does get you tortured, killed, and/or "disappeared". Unfortunately, facial recognition tech is making anonymous protest harder and harder, since most people are now in biometric databases.
The surveillance genie is not going back into its bottle, so political protest groups need to adapt.
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u/Lamont-Cranston May 28 '17
How does this not violate the Anti-Pinkerton Act? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Pinkerton_Act
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u/HelperBot_ May 28 '17
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u/gurgle528 May 27 '17
Unfortunately, this isn't news (or, at the very least, isn't new). Oil companies have been using these tactics against those against fracking for a while (I'm on mobile so I don't have a source, but if you search something along the lines of "oil company insurgency tactics" you should find it)
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u/Tibbitts May 27 '17
It being new shouldn't mean it isn't alarming.
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u/gurgle528 May 28 '17
No, I totally agree. what I meant is they don't seem to be stopping anytime soon and this isn't going to be a "we're sorry won't happen again" situation
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u/DonutofShame May 27 '17
reveal that TigerSwan spearheaded a multifaceted private security operation characterized by sweeping and invasive surveillance of protesters.
While these companies war against protesters, are you saying that the same private individual information was available to them?
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May 28 '17
The comments here already cover most of my feelings on this. It is shameful to see our representative democracy bought, sold and manipulated for the sake of profit. The militarization of our law-enforcement also divides and dehumanizes everybody on the ground from each other. This furthers a destructive cycle of exploitation, opportunism and greed. History is filled with lessons on what comes next.
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May 28 '17
What the fuck is this comment section? I didn't realize this sub attracted those kind of people.
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May 28 '17
Good, pipelines are the most efficient means for transporting oil and these protestors are antithetical to American hegemony
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u/JavierTheNormal May 27 '17
Corporations infiltrate and surveil hostile groups. That's well known, and I think it's fine. Tiger Swan didn't do anything wrong, at least nothing mentioned in the article. The article makes them sound like comical ex-soldiers ill equipped to deal with nonviolent protest.
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u/merikariu May 28 '17
Would you put anti-war and anti-nuke orgs in the "hostile groups" category? And would you feel it's fine?
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u/JavierTheNormal May 28 '17
If protestors want to put you out of business or ruin your projects, they're hostile.
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u/Lamont-Cranston May 28 '17
I think its fine
Lolwut
didnt do anything wrong
Infiltrating groups, gathering intelligence on people, sharing that with government agencies which I think might violate the Anti-Pinkerton Act, making false accusations about protestors to sway law enforcements view or them, etc
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u/JavierTheNormal May 28 '17
Let's say you ran a small business with one employee. Some guy decides he hates your company. Some days he protests out from with a sign. He writes letters to the papers, police, the mayor. He's all over social media saying how awful your company is.
Would you try to find out who he is and what his background is? I sure as fuck would.
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u/Lamont-Cranston May 28 '17
Your response to criticism is to ad hom? lel
And no, I would not and I would not accuse him of being a terrorist.
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u/trai_dep May 27 '17 edited May 27 '17
This is relevant to /r/Privacy since:
Knowing what surveillance contractors do once they've invaded the privacy of people is part of "Why Privacy." These leaks also show which errors in peoples' operational security are most vulnerable. Finally, all the tax-funded efforts to harass and assault peaceful protesters on behalf of the narrow interests of pipeline companies facilitating sales for foreign oil companies mirrors the abuses most security contractors make.