February 02, 2005
What is Counterintelligence Field Activity?
Printable Version | [eMail this article!] |I sometimes learn the most interesting things about the US government by keeping track of what sites visit Uncommon Thought. One of the more interesting to date has been the US Space Command (USSPACECOM). Who would have thunk that we have such a thing? But today I got a hit from yet another government office I didn't know existed - the Department of Defense Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA).
CIFA apparently has no publicly accessible website, but that doesn't mean there is no information. While I can't find a direct link, I suspect that CIFA operates out of the Defense Security Service under its Counterintelligence Unit - but I could be wrong. According to a September 2003Report to Congress on The Role of the Department of Defense in Supporting Homeland Security, one of the restructurings of the Department of Defense was to add an Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. According to the report:
Key to the mission of DoD's Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) is identification and tracking of terrorists and production of CI threat assessments and advisories and risk assessments in support of DoD force protection and critical infrastructure protection efforts, and tailored analytical and data-mining support to DoD CI field elements and agencies and the Service secretaries. These "knowledge products" provide a foundation for actions that can be taken to mitigate risks and enhance the security of U.S. persons, and critical operations, resources, and technologies. Central to CIFA operations is close collaboration and partnering with other organizations in the national intelligence and investigative community. CIFA is now furnishing a counterintelligence support team to assist the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)-led Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force and is orchestrating the permanent assignment of DoD law enforcement and counterintelligence agents and analysts to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces throughout the United States. These personnel will collect and analyze terrorist threat and criminal information and participate in the investigation of international terrorist incidents having a DoD link.
The report goes on to state: "CIFA has a significant role to play, given its unique tools, technology, data exploitation capabilities, and experience in identifying previously unknown or suspected terrorists." Further, that there will be twenty CIFA detachments located around the world.
This scope if the mission of CIFA seems to indicate a budgetary need in excess of the 2003 reporting of $470,000. It is suspicious that there is no budget for 2004 and 2005. Has CIFA gone "dark?" It seems likely to me. According to this this defense budget link which lists the 2002 budget at $654,000; 2003 at $470,000 and nothing for 2004 and 2005 (DEFENSE SECURITY SERVICE Fiscal Year (FY) 2004/2005 Biennial Budget Estimates Exhibit R-1, RDT&E Programs).
As is noted from the Defense Security Polygraph Page:
Counterintelligence to the EdgeThe Defense Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) is a transformation initiative created to lead the development of a “to-the-edge” counterintelligence system for the Department of Defense. Its mission is to produce a common Defense Department counterintelligence operational picture, and deliver unique and actionable information to key decision makers in federal, state and local governments.
This common counterintelligence system will serve the Defense Department's senior leaders; the Joint Staff; the war fighters; the research, development and acquisition community; agents in the field; and various federal agencies responsible for intelligence gathering, counterintelligence, counterespionage, anti-terrorism, law enforcement and security.
Worldwide, more than 400 civilian and military employees work for CIFA with the ultimate goal of detecting and neutralizing the many different forms of espionage regularly conducted against the United States by terrorists, foreign intelligence services and other covert and clandestine groups.
The threats posed by these adversaries include actions to kill or harm U.S. citizens; to steal critical information or assets (military or civilian); or destroy critical infrastructures.
As part of its comprehensive counterintelligence system, CIFA also holds advanced training and education for counterintelligence, counterespionage and anti-terrorism professionals throughout the federal government.
As has been noted by others writing about CIFA (Wall Street Journal 3/9/04 Is Military Creeping Into Domestic Law Enforcement?; Secrecy News - "DRASTIC" CHANGES SEEN IN DOMESTIC MILITARY OPERATIONS; LA Times 9/23/03 Mission Creep Hits Home) this move into domestic areas is not only questionable, but alarming. It does however fit with more recent moves by Rumsfeld to steal intelligence functions from the FBI and CIA. Maybe the creation of CIFA was among the first moves in that longer term plan.
As was noted at American Street in a July 2004 article Monitoring Dissent may be a key component of CIFA operations. Since I firmly believe that dissent is not only patriotic, but critical to the existence of a free democracy, it troubles me greatly to have dissenting voices lumped with "terrorists" and "threats to the country." I'm sorry, but there is something very un-American in all of this - not to mention who knows how many violations of laws and rights.
One might wonder why I would bring all of this to your attention. Well, this is not the first time that "fingerprints" from odd places have ended up on this site. I personally see it as an intimidation tactic - an effort to silence dissenting voices. A simple message that says "We are watching you." I made a decision to use such events as a "teachable moment." I get to learn and share information about interesting government agencies and activities.
It is somewhat troubling to be visited by various intelligence, counterintelligence, homeland security, military, and justice organizations (to name a few areas). It seems to indicate that I may be under suspicion for something. However, if I am an "adversary" of anything, it is of fascism, totalitarianism, and silencing of critical thinking and critical information. I welcome and attempt to foster an informed dialogue. If that is "subversive," then it shows exactly how far the United States has drifted from its moorings, and just how perilous the current course is.
"I personally see it as an intimidation tactic - an effort to silence dissenting voices. A simple message that says "We are watching you.""
You are really taking yourself far too seriously. Really. This is just self flattery. Yes, YOU ROWAN are so important and making such an impact that the government is trying to silence you. If you are allowed to continue, the powers that be are going to collapse.
Has it every occurred to you that people visit blogs on their breaks and lunch hour? I do. So do people in the government and military. But no, as long as there is a conspiracy theory to be spread, Rowan stands ready to do it, especially if it makes him look good in the process.
Posted by: Bushrod at February 2, 2005 12:13 PMAnd that IS the entire point. I DON"T take myself too seriously. I DON'T understand why such an array of military and governmental agencies would even bother with a no name, podunk professor with a weblog. And that is how i see myself. I am a threat to no one. I have no interests in fomenting violent revolution. I do not support or succor terrorists. I am frankly virtually NOBODY in the scheme of things.
Yes, I DO know that people surf the web during their lunch hour. Even those ties into the NIPR and SIPR backbones. Why they would consistently find their way to my backwater site escapes my imagination. That leaves me with a belief that there is a very wide monitoriing net being thrown. It is NOT that I am important, but the range of things that are considered questionable seems to include sites like Uncommon Thought. Afterall, this site does not have the readership of Atrios, or CalPundit, or 100,000 other sites. Hell, I am not even influential.
I have no visions of importance or grandious perceptions of myself or my site.
Posted by: rowan at February 2, 2005 12:40 PMShiney Black FBI Shoes:
Back when I was a Hippy, that term was used to denote what Rowan is talking about. I recall being at some kind of anti-war demonstration outside a military base and one of 'them' was actually going around taking pictures. When he asked if we could bunch up so he didn't have to be walking around so much, we complied and flashed the peace sign as he took some pictures. I had forgotten all about this until I read the posts here. I wonder what ever became of those pictures?
I suspect there is some truth to both what bushrod and rowan are saying. No doubt any official watching of a serious nature of a site like this would be done via private computer, though some general correlations would be done officially. It is probably more a statistical thing than anything else, hence the government sites have registered.
Will rowan develope some secret grips and signals for this forum? If the 8th word of the second sentence is wrongly spelled, that means coded emails should be used for serious discussion away from prying eyes. Is that how it's going down?? 'Ve 'haff 'Vays of making you talk, Frau Rowan (or is it Herr Rowan? - I never have known).
Let's face it, both sides love a good conspiracy, it keeps people on their toes and to a certain extent, keeps both sides honest, and predictable. 'Leftist' sites, whatever that really means, are trolled from time to time simply to find out who is viewing - it is one of many tracking mechanisms for 2cd and 3rd tier threats. The real players, tier 1 folks, use throw-aways and couriers.
Posted by: goesh at February 2, 2005 06:49 PMRowan,
I find the hits interesting and certainly noteworthy. I don't think it is a coincidence, and if it is, so what if you decide to point it out and do some research as to origin or potential watchdogging?
So many things are continually taken for granted about you. As someone who knows you, I find it amusing. It's no secret or "conspiracy theory" that the government and private industry (sometimes in conjunction), have a concerted program of gathering information and deriving perceived conclusions or probabilities from the residue of our activities. These conclusions are then processed as factual information, and therein lies the rub.
I find that creepy, an invasion of privacy and camplike. For those that feel privy to complying, fine. Personally, I find it an invasion and am glad to be aware of, at least to some degree, who is watching me.
Posted by: Pamela at February 2, 2005 10:45 PMRowan, I figured I'd let you know that you can see the DoD Directive 5105.67 which clearly establishes CIFA's responsibilities at
http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/text/d510567p.txt
In it you can clearly see it's defined role within the DoD...as a US citizen I find your assumption that "monitoring dissent may be a key component of CIFA operations" to be quite a leap as the US Gov't has gone a long way to ensure the protection of US Person rights from improper military activities in DoD 5240.1-R, "Procedures Governing the Activities of DoD Intelligence Components that Affect United States Persons".
It seems your paranoia seems to be the only thing lumping "dissenting voices" with "terrorists", CIFA's mission is quite clear albeit complex in 5105.67, and the DoD certainly has many more threats to worry about than your web postings. Gov't people surf the web at work, (heck, we all know they don't actually work!) and I would think especially regarding work related topics, so don't be so surprised when people from these agencies find your website and blogs that mention their agencies. I wouldn't misconstrue casual gov't readers as intimidation tactics, that's just crazy talk...how do they even know if you read your weblogs to know they were there?
And here is another thing to remember, if the US Gov't really wanted to covertly monitor your website for security reasons, do you think your logs would read "US Government Agency Such and Such" all over them???
Just a thought...
Thanks for the link Mike. And yes I do think that government agencies would come in under identifiable urls IF the purpose is to let one know that one is being watched. I am well aware that the government (and many private citizens) have the ability to visit anonymously.
Posted by: rowan at March 13, 2005 07:43 PMActually, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Rowan's being monitored. Maybe it's just a CIFA secretary browsing on her break. But maybe it IS black pointy FBI shoes.
One of the top CIFA shrinks is Dr. R. Scott Shumate. Back when he was in private practice, Fox News hired him to show up at my door to ostensibly conduct a "threat analysis" but in reality they were just trying to intimidate me. I was critical of Fox after one of their reporters asked me to break into a computer to help her on a news story. I started squawking on my web site about it. Next thing I know ... surprise visit! This was about three weeks before 9/11.
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