NEWS,03.10.2012

Costly US intelligence effort 'inaccurate'

A multibillion-dollar information-sharing programme created in the aftermath of 9/11 has improperly collected information about innocent Americans and produced little valuable intelligence on terrorism, a US Senate report concludes. It portrays an effort that ballooned far beyond anyone's ability to control.What began as an attempt to put local, state and federal officials in the same room analysing the same intelligence has instead cost huge amounts of money for data-mining software, flat screen televisions and, in Arizona, two fully equipped Chevrolet Tahoes that are used for commuting, investigators found.The lengthy, bipartisan report is a scathing evaluation of what the Department of Homeland Security has held up as a crown jewel of its security efforts. The report underscores a reality of post-9/11 Washington: National security programmes tend to grow, never shrink, even when their money and manpower far surpass the actual subject of terrorism. Much of this money went for ordinary local crime-fighting.Disagreeing with the critical conclusions of the report, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says it is outdated, inaccurate and too focused on information produced by the programme, ignoring benefits to local governments from their involvement with federal intelligence officials.Because of a convoluted grants process set up by Congress, Homeland Security officials don't know how much they have spent in their decade-long effort to set up so-called fusion centres in every state. Politically important money Government estimates range from less than $300m to $1.4bn in federal money, plus much more invested by state and local governments. Federal funding is pegged at about 20% to 30%.Despite that, Congress is unlikely to pull the plug. That's because, whether or not it stops terrorists, the programme means politically important money for state and local governments.A Senate Homeland Security subcommittee reviewed more than 600 unclassified reports over a one-year period and concluded that most had nothing to do with terrorism. The panel's chairperson is Democrat Carl Levin of Michigan, the ranking Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma."The subcommittee investigation could identify no reporting which uncovered a terrorist threat, nor could it identify a contribution such fusion centre reporting made to disrupt an active terrorist plot," the report said.When fusion centres did address terrorism, they sometimes did so in ways that infringed on civil liberties. The centres have made headlines for circulating information about Ron Paul supporters, the ACLU, activists on both sides of the abortion debate, war protesters and advocates of gun rights.One fusion centre cited in the Senate investigation wrote a report about a Muslim community group's list of book recommendations. Others discussed American citizens speaking at mosques or talking to Muslim groups about parenting.'Out of date'No evidence of criminal activity was contained in those reports. The government did not circulate them, but it kept them on government computers. The federal government is prohibited from storing information about First Amendment activities not related to crimes."It was not clear why, if DHS had determined that the reports were improper to disseminate, the reports were proper to store indefinitely," the report said.Homeland Security Department spokesperson Matthew Chandler called the report "out of date, inaccurate and misleading". He said that it focused entirely on information being produced by fusion centres and did not consider the benefit the involved officials got receiving intelligence from the federal government.The report is as much an indictment of Congress as it is the Homeland Security Department. In setting up the department, lawmakers wanted their states to decide what to spend the money on.Time and again, that set-up has meant the federal government has no way to know how its security money is being spent.Collaboration urgedInside Homeland Security, officials have long known there were problems with the reports coming out of fusion centres, the report shows."You would have some guys, the information you'd see from them, you'd scratch your head and say, 'What planet are you from?'" an unidentified Homeland Security official told Congress.Until this year, the federal reports officers received five days of training and were never tested or graded afterward, the report said.States have had criminal analysis centres for years. But the story of fusion centres began in the frenzied aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks.The 9/11 Commission urged better collaboration among government agencies. As officials realised that a terrorism tip was as likely to come from a local police officer as the CIA, fusion centres became a hot topic.But putting people together to share intelligence proved complicated. Special phone and computer lines had to be installed. The people reading the reports needed background checks. Some information could only be read in secure areas, which meant construction projects.All of that cost money.Independent operationMeanwhile, federal intelligence agencies were under orders from Congress to hire more analysts. That meant state and local agencies had to compete for smart counterterrorism thinkers. And federal training for local analysts wasn't an early priority.Though fusion centres receive money from the federal government, they are operated independently. Counterterrorism money started flowing to states in 2003. But it wasn't until late 2007 that the Bush administration told states how to run the centres.State officials soon realised there simply wasn't that much local terrorism-related intelligence. Terrorist attacks didn't happen often, but police faced drugs, guns and violent crime every day. Normal criminal information started moving through fusion centres.Under federal law, that was fine. When lawmakers enacted recommendations of the 9/11 Commission in 2007, they allowed fusion centres to study "criminal or terrorist activity". The law was co-sponsored by Senators Susan Collins and Joe Lieberman, the driving forces behind the creation of Homeland Security.Five years later, Senate investigators found, terrorism is often a secondary focus."Many fusion centres lacked either the capability or stated objective of contributing meaningfully to the federal counterterrorism mission," the Senate report said. Continued support"Many centres didn't consider counterterrorism an explicit part of their mission, and federal officials said some were simply not concerned with doing counterterrorism work."When Janet Napolitano became Homeland Security secretary in 2009, the former Arizona governor embraced the idea that fusion centres should look beyond terrorism. Testifying before Congress that year, she distinguished fusion centres from the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) that are the leading investigative and analytical arms of the domestic counterterrorism effort."A JTTF is really focused on terrorism and terrorism-related investigations," she said. "Fusion centres are almost everything else."Congress, including the committee that authored the report, supports that notion. And though the report recommends the Senate reconsider the amount of money it spends on fusion centres, that seems unlikely."Congress and two administrations have urged DHS to continue or even expand its support of fusion centres, without providing sufficient oversight to ensure the intelligence from fusion centres is commensurate with the level of federal investment," the report said.And following the release of the report, Homeland Security officials indicated their continued strong support for the programme.

 

IMF: Crisis to last 10 years

The world economic crisis could take 10 years to run its course, the IMF's chief economist Olivier Blanchard told Hungarian business news site Portfolio.hu in an interview published on Wednesday."It's not yet a lost decade," Blanchard said, "but it will surely take at least a decade from the beginning of the crisis for the world economy to get back to decent shape."Urging greater solidarity between member countries of the eurozone and more integration in fiscal and economic policy, he said Europe "has to go forward" with integration to make the common currency zone a success."It cannot stay where it is. I think nobody really wants to go back," he said."When a country is doing poorly the others have to be willing to help in various ways, not only out of solidarity, but because trouble in one country may well spill over to theirs."This is why the fiscal union and the banking union proposals being worked on as we speak are so important," he explained.Blanchard also said the United States has a fiscal problem which it hasn't dealt with yet."Most analysts are confident that when it needs to be done it will be done. I hope they are right," he said.Elsewhere, Blanchard said Japan faced a difficult fiscal adjustment and could take decades to solve its debt problems, but that the IMF did not forecast any hard landing for China."China has probably taken care of its asset boom although it has slower growth than before," he said.

Iran presses on despite currency woes

Iran will press on with its nuclear programme despite the problems caused by Western sanctions, including a dramatic slide in the value of its currency, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday."We are not a people to retreat on the nuclear issue," he told a news conference in Tehran."If somebody thinks they can pressure Iran, they are certainly wrong and they must correct their behaviour," he said.Ahmadinejad's comments came amid an accelerated slide in Iran's currency, which has now lost more than 80% of its value compared with a year ago - with 17% of its value shed on Monday alone.The rial slipped another 4% on Tuesday to close at 36 100 to the dollar, according to exchange tracking websites.Ahmadinejad said the plunge was part of an economic "war" waged by the West on the Islamic republic and "a psychological war on the exchange market".Under 'enormous pressure'Iran, he said, had sufficient foreign currency reserves.Those reserves were estimated at around $100bn at the end of last year, thanks to surging oil exports.The White House said on Tuesday that Iranians blamed their leaders for the rising deprivation caused by US and international sanctions over Tehran's nuclear programme.White House spokesperson Jay Carney said the fast-deteriorating economic situation in Iran, which has also sparked price hikes in basic foods, was a sign the government in Tehran was under "enormous pressure"."The Iranian people are aware of who is responsible for the circumstances that have befallen the Iranian economy as a result of the regime's intransigence in its refusal to abide by its obligations."The US Treasury estimates Iran's foreign earnings have been cut by $5bn a month under the Western economic measures.Criticism over talksIn his media conference, Ahmadinejad backtracked on hints he had made during a visit to New York at the UN General Assembly that Iran could consider direct negotiations with the United States on the nuclear issue."Direct negotiation is possible, but needs conditions, and I do not think the conditions are there for talks. Dialogue should be based on fairness and mutual respect," he said.But he also said: "I think that this situation cannot last in the relations between Iran and the United States."Hardliners in Iran criticised Ahmadinejad on his return for opening the door to the possibility of talks with the United States. That also fuelled criticism that his government has mismanaged the economy.The chairperson of Tehran's chamber of commerce, Yahya Ale-Eshagh, was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency that "part of this [currency] tumult is due to sanctions".No vote of confidenceBut he also said "the person who is not able to manage in a time of crisis should not continue working in his post".Mohammad Bayatian, a member of parliament on an industry and mines commission, said, according to the parliamentary website icana.ir, that "a petition has been prepared to question the president".He said the petition was "due to the government not paying attention to the parliament's remarks over its management of the forex market".The parliament's presiding board was to decide whether to admit the petition. If it goes ahead, it would only be to hear Ahmadinejad speak on the issue, and it would not involve a confidence vote or other serious procedure.Mehdi Mohammadi, a figure close to Iran's Supreme National Security Council, wrote in a piece for the Vatan Emrouz newspaper on Tuesday: "Is the currency situation in the market due to sanctions? No... The problem is not a lack of [foreign] currency."Israel 'not a concern'He blamed the government, and unidentified "mafias" he said were profiting from the currency volatility.Mohammadi also said holding talks with the United States was not an option."Past experience shows that speaking of negotiations in these conditions only sends a signal of weakness. The enemy only makes concessions and takes you seriously when you're strong," he wrote.On the prospect of a military conflict breaking out over the nuclear issue, Ahmadinejad reaffirmed that he was "not very concerned" about persistent threats from Israel."Iran is not a country to be shaken by, let's say, a few firecrackers," he said.