The number of people identified by the Obama administration as potential terrorists surged in the past two years, and the FBI now is preparing for another spike as it plans to intensify its scrutiny of foreign visitors and U.S. citizens, U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor has discovered.
The federal government will hire up to 116 full-time private-contractor personnel to help amass and screen data on persons whose movements or activities are brought to the attention of the Terrorist Screening Center, an FBI-administered interagency unit.
The federal government, starting from the time Obama took office, in various ways has described returning veterans, conservatives, pro-lifers and those who support a constitutional government as potential terrorists.
And in just recent months, through the revelations of document-leaker Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency has been shown to be spying on virtually every telephone call made in America.
So TSC’s expansion comes at a time of rising skepticism about President Obama’s public pledge to reform the government’s surveillance and information-collection apparatus.
Such plans are specific to communications-intercept and data-gathering activities at the embattled NSA, still under fire in the wake of operational leaks by former contractor Snowden.
TSC lacks authority to independently collect personal data or communications. As a national repository, however, it receives personal information that local, state, federal and international entities submit about “known or suspected terrorists,” or KSTs.
The centralized Terrorist Watchlist – officially known as the Terrorist Screening Database – uses data from the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
According to a project Statement of Work discovered via routine database research, the screen center is staffed by “officials from multiple agencies, including the FBI, DHS, DOS, Transportation and Security Administration, and the United States Customs and Border Protection.”
The FBI is recruiting contractors capable of working with those federal representatives, filling operations-support slots at the center’s Vienna, Va., facility.
Contractors likewise will fill positions at an unidentified “alternate site.”
Analysts and other personnel hired for this endeavor will assess the validity of data submitted or stored on people “associated with terrorism or terrorist activity,” federal documents show.
Part of the screening process includes removing persons from the list.
Indeed, the center “regularly conducts comprehensive and case-specific” data reviews, an FBI Safeguarding Civil Liberties web page states. Such reviews help ensure terrorist identity data is “thorough, accurate, and current,” and meets the federal government’s strict criteria for watch listing, it says.
The center also ensures that “complaints and misidentifications are addressed and any errors are corrected.”
The center’s Operations Branch, which manages center functions around the clock, comprises eight specific work units needing contractor services.
Recent and projected escalations of “encounter” activity necessitate the services, the government says.
The Terrorist Screening Operations Center is one such unit experiencing growth in KST “encounters.”
The unit serves as the “focal point for all domestic and international encounters” with potential terrorists. It provides 24-hour availability to partner screening-agencies, according to the contracting document.
“TSOC currently averages approximately 275 requests for service per day, which represents a 27 percent increase over FY2012 and a 70 percent increase over FY2011 levels,” documents show.
“TSOC anticipates encounter volume will continue to increase at a steady pace.”
Unit personnel assist other agencies via the TSDB, the U.S. government’s “sole consolidated watchlist for information used in terrorism screening.”
Following an operations center “positive encounter” with a person suspected of terrorist affiliation, the Terrorist Screening Operations Unit gets involved.
“When appropriate, TSOU creates and transfers operational assessments to FBI Field Offices for action,” the document says.
TSOU contributes to the database’s accuracy “by conducting research in several databases when a positive encounter is received.”
The Domestic Engagement unit is tasked with alerting the U.S. Intelligence Community and the U.S Law Enforcement Community to the availability of watch-list services.
Part of DE’s mission is to help intelligence and police agencies “utilize watchlist data and manage encounters with watchlisted persons.”
The Intelligence Unit “serves as the information sharing focal point for the TSC.”
IU analyzes and disseminates intelligence data that the Center collects. It assists both domestic and “foreign partners.”
Annually the unit disseminates “over 1,500 raw and finished intelligence products per year to support executive decision making and the USIC/LEC.”
The Terrorist Review & Examination Unit, or TREX, is tasked with “all watchlisting related matters for the FBI.” TREX also is responsible for the timely sharing of information on “FBI international and domestic terrorism investigations” among watch-listing partner agencies.
The Nominations and Data Integrity Unit, or NDIU, which adds and deletes data, averages about 8,700 record reviews weekly, with each initial review taking about seven minutes.
“NDIU anticipates an annual increase in workload volume averaging 10-15 percent per year,” according to the document.
The unit makes “thorough, accurate, and current additions, modifications, and deletions” to the TSDB.
It accomplishes the tasks through what it calls “biographical information validation,” “derogatory information assessment” and “biometric information identification linkage verification.” The document did not define the terms.
Another unit known as the Visa Review and International Liaison screens and identifies visa applicants against the watchlist. The office daily averages 400 service requests, “with an annual workload increase of 10 percent anticipated.”
Other than acknowledging its location “within the continental United States but outside the Northern Virginia or any other major metropolitan area,” little is offered about the “Alternate Site,” a unit that provides center “with the ability to conduct certain mission functions at a more remote location.”
The document also makes clear that contractor employees hired for center operations are forbidden from representing themselves in the capacity of performing “Inherently Governmental Functions.”
If such employees get in situations “where it may be assumed that he or she is an FBI employee, then the contract employee shall identify himself or herself as a contractor.”
The FBI did not disclose the estimated cost of a contract award.
A similar version of this article originally was published Jan. 20, 2014 via WND.com. Under agreement with the publisher, rights have reverted back to the author, Steve Peacock.
The Monitor Celebrates 10,000 Page-Views
As the editor of U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor, I once again wish to thank all those readers from around the globe who continue to visit this site. It is with great delight to report that the Monitor this week exceeded the 10,000 page-view mark in its brief three-month existence. In terms of relative magnitude, to you that figure likely doesn't elicit a jaw-dropping response, yet the figure is significant for a one-man, part-time operation taking place at the Shore of New Jersey (and, yes, I intentionally avoided using the term “Jersey Shore” to avoid connecting with or riding upon the success of the popular but moronic TV show of that name—a show that is, unfortunately, filmed not far from my location).
Before I continue, please note that the Monitor never has, never does, nor will ever collect or distribute personally identifying information from visitors/readers. The information I am now sharing via this post primarily comes from Google Analytics, which assesses the general source of traffic to this site (i.e.: country of origin, referring web pages, Internet Service Providers, etc.) as well through the TypePad service that hosts the Monitor. In other words, unless you identify yourself when posting comments (which I encourage people to do), you remain anonymous to me.
Anyhow, having inserted that critical addendum, I first want to express continued thanks to John Young from Cryptome.org, who regularly posts links to Monitor articles. Cryptome, an excellent repository of national security and law enforcement-related information plus hard-to-find government documents, is responsible for driving significant Internet traffic my way.
That may or may not be the reason that a handful of visitors from the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, the U.S. State Dept., the U.S. Dept. of Justice, and a few other federal entities have made their way to the Monitor. It could be that I have annoyed a few bureaucrats along the way by uncovering projects or conflicts of interest that they would rather I keep quiet about.
Ironically, I have gotten quite a few visitors from two sides on opposite end of the political spectrum: FreeRepublic.com on the right, and BuzzFlash.com on the left. It just goes to show that wasteful government spending is a topic of concern for everyone, no matter whether you blame President Obama for the world’s problems or if you seek salvation through him!
Likewise, I welcome the many worldwide visitors whom have made their way to the Monitor. Though the bulk of traffic comes from the U.S., with a growing number of readers from other primarily English-speaking nations such as England, Canada, and Australia, other readers have come from places including Pakistan, Italy, Mexico, Germany, France, India, China, and Russia—with a smaller numbers of visitors coming from places (93 countries and territories in all) ranging from Iran to Sudan and from Argentina to Zimbabwe!
If you like this site, please let people know about it. Simply click the Facebook thumbs-up icon near the top right-hand corner of this page (located near the Amazon.com link to my memoir, Hotel Dick: Harlots, Starlets, Thieves & Sleaze) and let your friends know about the Monitor.
One final note: if you wish to redistribute Monitor articles, I urge you, for instance, only to post the title, an excerpt (i.e.: the first paragraph or two), and a direct link to the article of interest. I recently discovered that one blog actually took one of my articles, reworded it with a level of creativity emblematic of a lazy, plagiarizing 14-year-old the night before a term paper is due, and re-posted as its own work! The thief actually posted accompanying links to the source documents as if that person, and not I, had painstakingly researched and discovered those resources for the article.
Such copyright infringement will not be tolerated, folks.
So, ending on a more positive note, please feel free to share what the Monitor has to offer, but do so with respect for the copyright owner.
Come back soon, even you folks at DHS!
-- Steve Peacock