OIG Horowitz Outlines Notification of FBI for Contractor Database Abuse
A very interesting release from the Office of Inspector General (OIG), Michael Horowitz, [SEE HERE] outlines some very interesting information especially for those who have followed the arc of the NSA database exploitation for several years.
On its face the OIG release outlines a review and finding, actually a warning, by Horowitz’s office about FBI contractor access to “a certain national security database.” The release is titled: “Management Advisory: Notification of Concerns Identified in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Contract Administration of a Certain Classified National Security Program”, and the advisory part is particularly interesting when absorbed through the prism of prior information.
Notice the date of the first notification from the OIG to the FBI, January 22nd 2020, this is a detail within the report that will be missed by most. It was little discussed on January 19, 2019, when the OIG revealed “Misconduct by Two Current Senior FBI Officials and One Retired FBI Official While Providing Oversight on an FBI Contract” [LINK] Indeed we know the OIG was reviewing FBI contractor access to the NSA database as a result of both FISA judge Rosemary Collyer and FISA judge James Boasberg reports.
On the surface of the current release the OIG is noting concerns and a warning shared with the FBI about ongoing contractor access to the NSA database; thus, a “classified national security program” becomes defined. However, in the background of this current release it appears the OIG is using this public notification as a CYA of sorts. Meaning the OIG is saying publicly they have advised the FBI of “concerns” with this database being abused.
As specifically, and in my opinion intentionally, noted by the OIG the FBI used their intelligence authority to “classify” their response to IG Horowitz warning; and now Horowitz is informing the public of that opaque FBI approach.
Essentially, this can be looked at as Horowitz calling out the FBI for hiding information, yet the IG is using carefully worded public information to do so.
Read this next paragraph carefully…. EMPHASIS MINE:
[…] The classification marking of the working draft report, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions on official government travel, and the unavailability to the OIG of secure video conferencing capability have contributed to the delays in finalizing this review.
So that we can begin the process of resolving issues that we identified during the review in a timely manner, we have determined that it would be in the OIG’s and the FBI’s interests to conclude our review by treating the OIG’s working draft report and its 11 recommendations as a management advisory.
Further, based on the oral and written feedback previously provided by the FBI on the working draft report, we consider the 11 recommendations contained within the working draft report to be final and their status “resolved.”
Consistent with the ordinary recommendation resolution process, we ask that the FBI please provide us within 90 days your response concerning specific actions completed or alternative corrective actions proposed or taken to address the recommendations.
So the FBI hid their response to the IG warning behind the cloud of “classification”, leaving the IG with no alternative except to say the classified response has to be accepted as the final FBI response to the IG warning. The IG is then saying to the FBI you have 90 days to tell us what you did to address the contractor access abuses.
The OIG is covering his ass, and telling us why.
Keep in mind this contractor access to the bulk NSA metadata is a big deal. All of the FISA audits in the past six years have pointed out how FBI contractors abuse their access to the database and unlawfully extract information without minimization efforts required by fourth amendment protections. The scale of the abuse is actually stunning; and now the OIG has reviewed the same process and found the same issues uncorrected.
The FBI is attempting to retain an unlawful process. Former NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers said: the system itself is too easy to exploit and too difficult to manage, as he tried to shut down part of the search function (“about queries”) within the database itself.
Here’s the full IG “Management Advisory”:
To understand what specifically is being addressed within this IG review, it is worthwhile revisiting an interview by Flynn’s defense counsel Sidney Powell as she shares information that CTH readers are very knowledgeable about; as well as a reminder of the backstory.
Michael Flynn’s defense attorney Sidney Powell hits it out of the park as she connects the dots within the surveillance state and the use of FBI contractors to mine the NSA database.
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