Internet blows CIA agents' cover

[Arawn-ap-Hywel]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4799174.stm

The Chicago Tribune says it has compiled a list of 2,653 CIA employees, just by searching the internet. The newspaper said it gathered the information from online services that compile public data, that any fee-paying subscriber can access. It did not publish the names, at the CIA's request. Many of the agents are believed to be covert. The paper also located two dozen "secret" facilities. A CIA spokeswoman admitted the internet had scuppered some of its methods. "Cover is a complex issue that is more complex in the internet age," said Jennifer Dyck. "There are things that worked previously that no longer work. [CIA Director Porter] Goss is committed to modernising the way the agency does cover in order to protect our officers who are doing dangerous work." Ms Dyck declined to detail the remedies "since we don't want the bad guys to know what we're fixing". Terror targets? The Chicago Tribune article was headlined: "Internet blows CIA cover." It began: "She is 52 years old, married, grew up in the Kansas City suburbs and now lives in Virginia, in a new three-bedroom house." It went on to explain that the online service describes the woman in question as a CIA employee who has been assigned to several American embassies in Europe.

Well it looks as if the Chicago Tribune has done some great research

but kept it secret ! So far :)

[RickSp]

It all sounds like a poorly written farce.

It is as if the CIA doesn't know about the internet. The FBI still doesn't have its own computers sorted out either. And these are the guys who are supposed to be defending us against terror. Like hiring Dick Cheney as a marksman.

Glitches bedevil FBI's new computer system

[Osborn F Enready]

Rick said: It is as if the CIA doesn't know about the internet. The FBI still doesn't have its own computers sorted out either. And these are the guys who are supposed to be defending us against terror. Like hiring Dick Cheney as a marksman.

I say:
I swear. I was shocked to get on Google Earth and find out that military bases, nuclear facillities, refineries and just about any good target you could think of for an enemy of the states is easily viewable with full Lat & Longitude, distances, and easy street maps for reference.

I don't think this should be necessarily all kept secret, but to make it THIS easy to view (by non-citizens) may be a little stupid. However, the same seems to be true for everyone. I can view Red Square quite well, as well as some phenomenal resolution in certain areas of Iraq and Afghanistan. Milton and I have both noticed several strange things in the Iraq, Afghanistan regions, and by strange I mean abnormally isolated, and large areas of storage. Could be part of the war effort I suppose. A really interesting trip is getting to about 1000ft and cruising along the north and south borders of the U.S. A new perspective on analyzing border security for most people.

Google Earth is an interesting tool, and I can imagine like any tool, it can be misused.

[Capitalist Pig]

Yeah, but the data may not be that accurate. Road maps, especially those printed on the Internet when the date of the information may be unknown, can be inaccurate -- especially when compared with satellite images that are compiled from different sources, also taken at different times and under varying circumstances. And there are plenty of inaccuracies to be found. A whole new subdivision may not be added until months after its completion, and sometimes road maps will print roads that have not yet been built (but have been filed with the planning office). I doubt anything publicly available will ever match the realtime surveillance capabilities of advanced Western militaries and governments for a very long time. Also, the resolution on many of these images isn't that great. All this makes Google Earth pretty impractical for any strategic planning purposes.

At any rate, this is all pretty speculative anyway. We're not even sure what methods the Chicago Tribune used to uncover this information. They certaintly didn't turn up "[female,] 52 years old, married, grew up in the Kansas City suburbs and now lives in Virginia, in a new three-bedroom house" by plugging in a few coordinates to Google Earth.

[Osborn F Enready]

I am not trying to allude that Pig, I am just saying that the resources for data collection on the internet are almost limitless to those who ACCESS the internet in any way.

I am not tyrading here, just saying I can verify all that information on Google Earth in my area, and from what I have seen, it is dead nuts.

[Capitalist Pig]

Oh yeah, it's nuts, but the only reason this sort of paranoia exists is because of government anyway. Other than yourself, they are the sole supplier of your security and protection. So when things like this occur, they are very scary, but only because of the monopoly on security that governments own.

Paradoxically, governments are also the #1 reason behind terrorism and war. Which is the whole purpose of entertaining the idea of an international spy and espionage organization, that can randomly sample whatever information it wishes -- unchecked -- and with the ability to act on all of it with near impunity. So when people consider the "scariness" of these predicaments, they should also give a thought or two as to what makes it so scary in the first place. In effect, the government creates the conditions for these sort of situations to arise, making the issue of our security much worse than it would potentially be otherwise. A free market for security ensures the service is never proprietary, and competition between security firms means that utter, consistent failures will be shown the door.

[Osborn F Enready]

Capitalist Pig said: Oh yeah, it's nuts, but the only reason this sort of paranoia exists is because of government anyway. Other than yourself, they are the sole supplier of your security and protection. So when things like this occur, they are very scary, but only because of the monopoly on security that governments own. Paradoxically, governments are also the #1 reason behind terrorism and war. Which is the whole purpose of entertaining the idea of an international spy and espionage organization, that can randomly sample whatever information it wishes -- unchecked -- and with the ability to act on all of it with near impunity. So when people consider the "scariness" of these predicaments, they should also give a thought or two as to what makes it so scary in the first place. In effect, the government creates the conditions for these sort of situations to arise, making the issue of our security much worse than it would potentially be otherwise. A free market for security ensures the service is never proprietary, and competition between security firms means that utter, consistent failures will be shown the door.

I say:
Preching to the choir like that, its hard for me to find any room to disagree.

[Rainbow]

It began: "She is 52 years old, married, grew up in the Kansas City suburbs and now lives in Virginia, in a new three-bedroom house." It went on to explain that the online service describes the woman in question as a CIA employee who has been assigned to several American embassies in Europe. The CIA confirmed that she was a covert operative.

She was, that means she is not.
Regardless of the outcomes, how stupid somebody must be, by submitting a data on his/her life and/or activity within mass-media sources.

Off Topic
Tattoos are yet another examples. No one needs to see a person's face. That person has stamped him/herself to the end of his/her life, for good. That is quite enough to memorize a particular tattoo.
That applies to piercing, as well.
Those guys just submit their own ID (on their own) to others, for free. Wise-guys :-)
I bet they have already applied for job, in Langley :-)))