Archiv: Executive Order 12333 (Ronald Reagan 04-12-1981)


12.07.2023 - 04:41 [ Netzpolitik.org ]

Transatlantische Massenüberwachung: Nimm das doch endlich ernst, Ursula!

Der „Transatlantische Datenschutzrahmen“ garantiert US-Konzernen wie Facebook, dass sie weiterhin Nutzer:innendaten aus Europa ungehindert in die USA übertragen können. Dass sie dort kaum rechtlichen Schutz vor dem anlasslosen wie massenhaften Zugriff der amerikanischen Behörden haben, daran ändert der neue Datenschutzrahmen ebenso wenig wie seine beiden gescheiterten Vorgänger Safe Harbor und Privacy Shield. Schon 2015 und 2020 erklärte der Europäische Gerichtshof diese Beschlüsse der EU-Kommission für ungültig, die eine Blankoerlaubnis für den Datentransfer in die USA geben. Doch allen Bedenken zum Trotz hat die EU-Kommission nun ein drittes Mal einen Blankoscheck ausgestellt – aus der Zusicherung Von der Leyens im Vorjahr wurde nun eine rechtsgültiger Beschluss.

16.06.2023 - 15:45 [ Jabberwocking.com ]

The FBI abused its surveillance of Americans 278,000 times in 18 months

Section 702 of the FISA Act allows agencies like the NSA to eavesdrop on foreign nationals overseas. It prohibits spying on US citizens or anyone who‘s within the United States. (…)

In practice, then, NSA maintains a huge database of information about the communications of US citizens. Agencies like the FBI are allowed to query this database, but only under strict rules. The primary rule is that queries can only be done if they are related to foreign intelligence or are likely to show evidence of a crime.

14.06.2023 - 10:26 [ Daniel Ellsberg / Nitter ]

To @POTUS and @TheJusticeDept: Stop the extradition of Assange. I am as indictable as he is on the exact same charges. I will plead „not guilty“ on grounds of your blatantly unconstitutional use of the Espionage Act. Let‘s take this to the Supreme Court.

(06.12.2022)

26.05.2022 - 09:17 [ theHill.com ]

We can ‘neither confirm nor deny’ we’re spying on Congress

(16.05.2022)

Government attorneys assert it is legal for their agencies to simply open the government purse and buy our data scraped from apps and social media, no warrant needed. When further challenged, the government’s ultimate fallback is a claim that a Reagan-era executive order, known as E.O. 12333, means that it needs no statutory authority to look at whatever it wants.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Congress created the Freedom of Information Act in 1967 at a time when lawless surveillance of Americans by the FBI and CIA was rampant.

26.05.2022 - 09:10 [ New York Times ]

C.I.A. Is Collecting in Bulk Certain Data Affecting Americans, Senators Warn

(Feb. 10, 2022)

The C.I.A. kept censored the nature of the data when it declassified the letter.

26.05.2022 - 08:58 [ Heise.de ]

US-Aufsicht: CIA betreibt eigenes Programm zur Massenüberwachung

(12.02.2022)

Das nun zum Teil publik gemacht Big-Data-Programm stützt sich auf die seit Jahren umstrittene Anordnung 12333, die der frühere US-Präsident Ronald Reagan ursprünglich 1981 erlassen hatte. Sie lässt unter anderem zu, dass Unternehmen und andere Einrichtungen überwacht werden, solange diese eine „irgendwie geartete Beziehung zu ausländischen Organisationen oder Mitarbeitern haben“. Dies kann im Fall einer US-Firma schon gelten, wenn dort ein Ausländer angestellt ist.

16.10.2021 - 05:57 [ Westpoint.edu ]

Assassination in the Law of War

In 1977, following revelations of U.S. lethal targeting operations and ensuing Church (Senate) and the Pike (House) Committee hearings, President Gerald Ford issued Executive Order 11,905. The order prohibited Executive Branch personnel from engaging in, or conspiring to engage in, political assassination. Subsequent administrations continued the ban. Four years later, President Regan issued Executive Order 12,333, which, as amended, remains in effect today. It contains the same prohibition, although it limits application to individuals “acting on behalf of” the U.S. government.

05.06.2021 - 12:38 [ Radio Utopie ]

DER 11. SEPTEMBER: Langer Marsch eines Molochs

(10. September 2014)

Entgegen der heutigen Wahrnehmung rauschte die Regierung der USA Anfang des 21. Jahrhunderts keineswegs unvorbereitet in die Attentate des 11. Septembers. Im Gegenteil waren über Jahrzehnte umfangreichste, weit verzweigte „Sicherheits“-Strukturen aufgebaut worden, bereits damals in enger Symbiose mit dem „privaten“, also internationalen kommerziellen Sektor. Sie dienten primär der Informationsgewinnung, innerstaatlich wie international. Legitimation und teils geheime, durch abermals geheime Interpretationen bzw „Rechtsmeinungen“ („legal opinions“) zusätzlich ausgelegte „Executive Orders“ der Präsidenten, bildeten die Rechtfertigung für den Aufbau eines Molochs, eines „lebenden, atmenden Organismus“, der, „jeder Kontrolle entwachsen“, von genau denjenigen finanziert wurde, gegen die er einmal marschieren sollte.

22.07.2020 - 02:38 [ The Hill ]

Senators demand answers on expired surveillance programs

Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Mike Lee (R-Ut.) on Thursday pressed the Trump administration on whether and how mass surveillance programs authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act have been halted since the act‘s expiration.

The letter to Attorney General William Barr and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe raises concerns that the administration may be be continuing to conduct surveillance operations by relying on Executive Order 12333.

12.09.2017 - 14:24 [ Washington Post ]

Meet Executive Order 12333: The Reagan rule that lets the NSA spy on Americans

(18.7.2014) Public debate about the bulk collection of U.S. citizens’ data by the NSA has focused largely on Section 215 of the Patriot Act, through which the government obtains court orders to compel American telecommunications companies to turn over phone data. But Section 215 is a small part of the picture and does not include the universe of collection and storage of communications by U.S. persons authorized under Executive Order 12333.

25.07.2017 - 16:50 [ Techdirt ]

Senator Wyden Wants To Know How Many Times Americans Have Been Targeted By Executive Order 12333

Ever persistent, Wyden has returned with another set of questions [PDF] regarding NSA surveillance. This one pertains to the least-discussed surveillance authorization and the one almost everyone — including members of oversight committees — knows nearly nothing about: Executive Order 12333.

Like Section 702, there‘s a good probability intelligence gathered under this authority is being used by domestic agencies. Backdoor searches of NSA intel have been unofficial common knowledge for years now, so there‘s very little reason to believe the NSA‘s most mysterious authority doesn‘t have its own built-in peepholes for the FBI and other federal agencies.

18.03.2017 - 18:00 [ Oye! Times ]

Executive Order 12333 The Root of Today’s Surveillance State

Way back on December 4, 1981 before the internet, smart phones and smart televisions were even thought of and when computers took up entire rooms and telephones were attached to walls with cords, then President Ronald Reagan signed an Executive Order that would change the face of spying by the United States and its massive intelligence network. The Executive Order, entitled “United States Intelligence Activities“, also known as Executive Order 12333, laid out the goals, directions, duties and responsibilities of the American global intelligence effort. While the U.S. intelligence community had the right to conduct surveillance prior to EO 12333, the community’s original mandate was considerably extended and detailed under EO 12333.

16.03.2017 - 16:33 [ SC Magazine ]

Feds may have listened in on candidate Trump via „backdoor searches“

(13.3.2017) Another less common legal proceeding, known as 12333, or “twelve triple-three,” manages U.S. intelligence-gathering offshore. It authorizes the attorney general to permit searches „of communications to or from an American for the purposes of targeting that American – again, as long as the attorney general determines that person is an agent of a foreign power,“ according to The Hill.

Further, the National Security Agency can upload that intercepted intelligence to an online repository through which other intel agencies can search.

11.03.2017 - 21:25 [ Radio Utopie ]

Chronologie zum “Patriot Act” (II): „Jedwede greifbaren Dinge“

(Juni 2015) Der “Patriot Act” verändert in seiner (derzeit bis zur Unterschrift des U.S.-Präsidenten stillgelegten) Section 215 den “Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978″ (F.I.S.A. Act) und ermächtigt so zunächst einmal die Bundespolizei F.B.I., zwecks einer „Untersuchung“ zur Abwehr von „internationalem Terrorismus“ und Spionage „jedwede greifbaren Dinge“ („any tangible things“) an sich zu bringen bzw zu „produzieren“, also zu rauben oder zu kopieren (wie Daten zum Beispiel) – ohne Gerichtsbeschluss.

Die entsprechende Rechtsformulierung

„may make an application for an order requiring the production of any tangible things (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items) for an investigation“

ist nicht an Individuen gebunden, kann also durch entsprechende Interpretation als Vollmacht über das gesamte (In-)Land ausgelegt werden.

Des Weiteren ermächtigt Section 215 den Justizminister, der auch oberster Staatsanwalt (“Attorney General”) der U.S.A. ist, für diese “Untersuchung“ des F.B.I. “Handlungsanweisungen” (“guidelines”) nach dem Präsidentenbefehl (“Executive Order”) 12333 von Ronald Reagan vom 4. Dezember 1981 zu erlassen.

Damit kann nicht nur die „National Security Agency“ (N.S.A.), sondern auch die Bundespolizei „Federal Bureau of Investigation“ (F.B.I.) ihre unter Berufung auf Section 215 betriebene Inlands-Spionage ( deren tatsächlicher Umfang geheim ist) wieder aufnehmen.

11.03.2017 - 21:21 [ the Hill ]

Trump camp could have fallen into ‚backdoor‘ surveillance

Another, less well-understood surveillance authority comes from a Reagan-era executive order known as 12333, or “twelve triple-three.”

EO 12333 — much of which is redacted — governs U.S. intelligence gathering overseas. It has come under fire from civil liberties advocates, who say it gives the intelligence community a blank check to regulate its own spying.

24.02.2017 - 18:40 [ Emptywheel.net ]

The Ironies of the EO 12333 Sharing Expansion for Obama and Trump

(30.1.2017) So it is ironic that, with one of his final acts as President, Obama completed the process of normalizing and expanding Stellar Wind with the expansion of EO 12333 information sharing.

As I laid out some weeks ago, on January 3, Loretta Lynch signed procedures that permit the NSA to share its data with any of America’s other 16 intelligence agencies. This gives CIA direct access to NSA data, including on Americans. It gives all agencies who jump through some hoops that ability to access US person metadata available overseas for the kind of analysis allegedly shut down under USA Freedom Act, with far fewer limits in place than existed under the old Section 215 dragnet exposed by Edward Snowden.

And it did so just as an obvious authoritarian took over the White House.

15.01.2017 - 02:27 [ Electronic Frontier Foundation ]

Obama Expands Surveillance Powers on His Way Out

New rules issued by the Obama administration under Executive Order 12333 will let the NSA—which collects information under that authority with little oversight, transparency, or concern for privacy—share the raw streams of communications it intercepts directly with agencies including the FBI, the DEA, and the Department of Homeland Security, according to a report today by the New York Times.

13.01.2017 - 14:37 [ Radio Utopie ]

DER 11. SEPTEMBER: Langer Marsch eines Molochs

(10.9.2014) Am 29. August 2014 veröffentlichten, angeführt von der „American Civil Liberties Union“ und der „Electronic Frontier Foundation“, über 40 Organisationen, 4 Kongressabgeordnete, sowie ehemalige Regierungsbeamte der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika über accessnow.org einen offenen Brief an ihren amtierenden Präsidenten Barack Obama:

„Wir rufen den Präsidenten dazu auf, alle gegenwärtigen und zukünftigen Rechtsmeinungen („legal opinion“) oder Interpretationen betreffend der Überwachung unter Executive Order 12333 und den darunter erlassenen überwachungsbezogenen Regulatorien zu deklassifizieren (Anm: die Geheimhaltung aufzuheben) und öffentlich zu machen. Geheimes Gesetz ist eine Bedrohung für die Demokratie.

Wir fordern sowohl den Präsidenten, als auch das Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board dazu auf, eine untersuchende Prüfung der Überwachung unter E.O. 12333 durchzuführen, auf der Deklassifizierung von Information zu bestehen die der Öffentlichkeit helfen würde das Wesen und das Ausmaß dieser Überwachung zu verstehen, und so schnell wie möglich Mechanismen und spezifische Schritte vorzuschlagen um oben gemachte Empfehlungen umzusetzen.“

Rund 32 Jahre nach ihrem Erlass am 4. Dezember 1981 war in den USA Executive Order 12333 als eine zentrale Ermächtigung der US-Regierung bei ihrer willkürlichen Massenspionage von Geheimdiensten und assoziierten Konsortien gegen die eigene Bevölkerung („Totalüberwachung“) begriffen worden.

13.01.2017 - 14:28 [ Lawfare ]

Obama Administration Releases Long Awaited New E.O. 12333 Rules on Sharing of Raw Signals Intelligence Information Within IC

The New York Times reported this morning that the Obama administration has put into place new rules allowing the NSA to disseminate “raw signals intelligence information.” According to a 23-page, mostly declassified copy of the procedures, released today, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper signed the rules on Dec. 15 and Attorney General Loretta Lynch signed them on Jan. 3.

The changes have been a long time coming. On February 25, 2016, Charlie Savage reported for the Times that the Obama administration would soon be implementing a new system, years in the making, to provide more intelligence agencies across the federal government direct access to raw information collected by the NSA.

18.08.2016 - 07:02 [ Pentagon ]

DoD Releases Update of Manual Governing Defense Intelligence Activities

The effort to update the 1982 DoD manual’s procedures was an interagency process, Mahar explained.

“We went line by line, procedure by procedure,” he said, working with senior representatives of all defense intelligence components as the updated guidelines were finalized.

DoD officials included representatives from the military services, the Joint Staff and several defense and combat support agencies, including the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, the National Security Agency, and the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Agency.

“We worked closely with the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence because EO 12333 requires approval by the attorney general after consultation with the DNI,” he said, noting that the process was a good example of interagency collaboration.

“We took a very complex set of procedures and effectively updated them to deal with current and near-future operating practices and capabilities,” he said

25.03.2016 - 03:56 [ Reuters ]

Lawmakers say NSA plan to expand sharing data ‘unconstitutional’

Our country has always drawn a line between our military and intelligence services, and domestic policing and spying,” the lawmakers wrote. “We do not — and should not — use U.S. Army Apache helicopters to quell domestic riots; Navy Seal teams to take down counterfeiting rings; or the NSA to conduct surveillance on domestic street gangs.”

The executive branch is able to change its rules for some surveillance programs without congressional approval. Without a law from Congress, the government relies on executive order 12333, which was signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and later modified by President George W. Bush.