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Return to Article: Cable Cut Paranoia

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  I doubt anyone is even paying attention to this topic or article anymore, and perhaps that in my self interest; but for those of you who do care about our disappearing freedoms, I must respond: Frank, you got me! But then even 'round here, my nickname is "Paranoid Pete". Since you seem so knowledgeable, perhaps you could answer me a couple of questions?

  In reference to your (1): Why was the clause for immunity to the telecoms so important if the NSA wasn't already tapping into the major trunk lines? The Washington Post had an excellent article titled "Lawsuit may detail secrets of spy program" published 14 Aug 07, which laid out one eye opening incident of the US telecommunications trunk tapping by the NSA.

  "In 2003, Room 641A of a large telecommunications building in downtown San Francisco was filled with powerful data-mining equipment for a "special job" by the National Security Agency,"

  "The scale of these deployments is . . . vastly in excess of what would be needed for any likely application or any likely combination of applications, other than surveillance," says an affidavit filed by J. Scott Marcus, the senior Internet adviser at the Federal Communications Commission from 2001 to 2005. Marcus analyzed evidence for the plaintiffs in the case."

  In reference to your (1) & (2) is the tapping of fiber optic and communications trunk line even possible offshore? You might want to check Wikipedia among other sources: The "Jimmy Carter [Seawolf class attack sub] is roughly 100 feet (30 m) longer than the other two ships of her class due to the insertion of a section known as the Multi-Mission Platform (MMP), which allows launch and recovery of ROVs and Navy SEAL forces. The MMP may also be used as an underwater splicing chamber for tapping of undersea fiber optic cables. This role was formerly filled by the decommissioned USS Parche."

  Yes, these events concern me, but what concerns me most is the increasing sounds of silence; the lack of any comment or coverage from the news media and our good friends at GovExec. I'm starting to feel like Daniel crying out in the wilderness; or a more modern version (and less religious), Jerry Fletcher in the "Conspiracy Theory"...

  Yours sincerely, PPete

  Tip off Posted March 7, 2008 9:22 AM
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  I bet you didnt think Al Qaeda had pilots before 9/11 now did you?

  a Posted March 3, 2008 11:49 AM
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  we did it, so we could (1) install a fiber optic splitter so we can route the traffic directly to NSA for analyses, and (2) to see if we could cause all the IP traffic to follow a more predictable route through nodes we already have "tapped".

  yuk, yuk, yuk

  frank Posted February 20, 2008 11:08 PM
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  Bob, my first reaction to your scenario was incredulous disdain. "No, they aren't that smart or sneaky! Are they?" And then I remembered that the Senate just passed the Wire Tap Bonus Bill; with enough immunity for all concerned.

  I was amused to read Senator Christopher Bond of Missouri (R) on the Senate Intelligence Committee say "If we permit lawsuits to go ahead against carriers alleged to have participated in the program, there will be more disclosures in discovery and pleadings of the means of collecting information, disclosing our most vital methods of collecting information,"

  What's the big deal? The telecoms merely route the traffic through the NSA's bank of servers so they can record every thing, and later they can data mine with key word search programs at their leisure.

  And you're exactly right, now would be the perfect time to start putting in traps elsewhere! What amazed me even more is the ... "sound of silence" as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is enacted. In the past I was assured that GovExec would be on top of this story and bring me the latest scoop in a timely fashion; yet today I read nothing. As a matter of fact, the last article on this topic I found was from 17 December 2007 and other than a brief mention on talk radio, I had to search fairly vigorously for the whole poop from another source.

  You may be more on the ball than our intrepid reporters.

  Tip off Posted February 13, 2008 3:45 PM
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  Could the US be installing devices when the cables are "Repaired", devices that the US can use in a time of war, ie now and for ever.

  This is a lot like the few weeks before 9/11 when the twin towers had "Repairs"/explosives installed on them too.

  Bob Posted February 11, 2008 8:06 PM
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  As with most conspiracy theories, this one falls flat upon close examination. Having some intimate knowledge with the design and deployment of submarine cable systems, I can tell you that cable outages are a fairly common event, and multiple, nearly simultaneous failures like the one described in this article, do occur several times a year. And as one would imagine, the causes are relatively benign, in that 99% of the time, the cuts are due to ships unintentionally dragging an anchor across the cable in shallow waters. The remaining 1% are caused by equipment failures or marine life.

  J. E Posted February 11, 2008 1:50 PM
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  Paranoia accusation or none, this fiber optic cable outage has highlighted a real vulnerability. Now that we all know this vulnerability exists (I suppose terrorists already knew), what will be done about addresseing the very real threat to global communications? Further, how seriously has America's communications infrastructure been scrutinzed vis-a-vis a thorough and independent risk assessment?

  Don Posted February 11, 2008 11:26 AM