(WMR)—Stung by criticism over his administration’s Nixonian-level surveillance of journalists, President Obama, in a May 23 policy speech at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, DC, said he ordered Attorney General Eric Holder to review current law enforcement investigations of journalists and to set up a meeting with representatives of the media. Obama also reiterated his support for a media shield law.
It is clear that Holder’s meeting with media representatives will discuss the definition of a “journalist” covered by any media shield law. In the past, certain members of Congress have tried to establish the government as the final arbiter of defining a journalist, with largely Republican members pushing the notion that journalists recognized by a federal shield law must work for “recognized media organizations.” There has been a clear implication that journalists defined by the government would work for media corporations, with a corporate organization that could be leaned upon by the government to dissuade reporters from going after certain stories. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) was one of those who tried to define a journalist. Cornyn is on record stating that he does not believe bloggers are journalists and should not be recognized as such in a federal media shield law.
Obama’s speech, which also included policy statements on the Guantanamo detention center and use of drones, came after Holder admitted that he signed off on subpoenas for the phone and email records of Fox News reporter James Rosen. Earlier, Holder testified before the House that he recused himself from the subpoena of phone records of over 100 reporters and editors for the Associated Press.
Obama said that reporters will not be held accountable for their investigation of the types of national security matters that landed Rosen, the AP, New York Times reporter James Risen, The Smoking Gun website, and others in hot water with the feds. Obama said that his administration would only go after leakers and not those who receive leaked classified information.
Taking Obama at his word, WMR is soliciting information on the following sensitive classified programs:
The Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC)/CIA rendition and interrogation program bearing the unclassified cover name COPPER GREEN and a classified name called MATCHBOX. In addition, the special access program to this program, code named GREYSTONE.
Joint NSA/CIA programs bearing the Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) category of Extremely Classified Information (ECI).
NSA programs covered by the SCI compartment of VRK (Very Restricted Knowledge).
Targets for the Human Intelligence (HUMINT) Control System (HCS) special access program.
Targets for the KLONDIKE geo-spatial intelligence special access program.
U.S. targets of the NSA’s RAGTIME-P program, which replaced the STELLAR WIND intercepts of U.S. citizens.
What is the new cover name for the joint CIA-NSA journalist surveillance program once called FIRSTFRUITS?
The migration of the NSA’s MARINA metadata operation from Fort Meade to NSA Utah and the future interfaces between MARINA in Utah and the MAUI database of analyzed metadata, including phone calls, emails, text messages, and faxes, at Fort Meade and Regional Security Operations Centers (RSOCs) in Texas, Georgia, and Hawaii.
The presence of non-minimized intercept data on U.S. persons in the NSA’s PINWALE and ANCHORY databases of signals and communication intercepts.
The extended capacity for storing voice intercept recordings at NSA Utah and the inclusion of the AGILITY and NUCLEON databases into the DAYTONA meta-database in Utah.
The improvements from the old ECHELON UK-USA Signals Intelligence “dictionary” sharing system between Second and Third Parties to the UK-USA Agreement now found in OCEANARIUM.
The current handling of SIGINT Exchange Designators (SEDs) with Third and Fourth Parties including the SEDs ARCA, FRONTO, NECTAR, SARDINE, KAMPUS, PROTEIN, SEABOOT, DIVERSITY, KEYRUT, PYLON, MUSKET, RORIPA, and THESPIS.
The very sensitive and new surveillance platform that collects data under the SCI compartment known as AZURE BLUE (AB).
President Obama claims that journalists who make such inquiries are perfectly free to do so under his administration. Now let’s see how long it takes for the FBI to execute another National Security Letter subpoena on my phone records and to search my residence.
Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.
Copyright © 2013 WayneMadenReport.com
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).
