Steve Peacock's U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor

FBI Becomes the 'Watchers-in-Chief'

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.

WND: FBI Plans to Spend $100 Million on Ammo

Though seemingly off-topic for U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor, the FBI's voluminous ammo purchase is worth sharing via this venue, particularly as the bullets could get distributed to "other approved federal government locations" beyond simply FBI facilities.

WND recently reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has purchased well over a billion rounds of ammunition over the past year...

But the full impact may not yet have developed, as WND has uncovered plans by the FBI to spend up to $100 million over five years on millions of rounds for its machine guns and pistols.

Read more at WND.com.

Obama Hands Out Free Health Care to Pakistanis

The Obama administration is preparing to give free health care to Pakistanis even as Americans who cannot get health insurance because of pre-existing conditions soon will be rejected by domestic programs due to a lack of funds.

Pakistani nationals working at several U.S. embassies soon could get a boost in health care benefits as the U.S. State Department has begun shopping for top-tier services.

Their paychecks will not see so much as one Pakistani rupee deducted as they receive a broad variety of medical services, according to a solicitation U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located via routine database research.

The document also made clear that the selected vendor “shall insure that health care under this contract does not exclude HIV/AIDS care, or preexisting conditions.”

The State Department will subsidize an estimated 1,222 family plans and 190 single-employee plans. The family plans cover children of Pakistani employees to age 18, or age 23 if a full-time student and unmarried.

Coverage could apply to a variety to individuals and their families for local employees of the:

• U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, its consulates in Karachi, Lahore, and Peshawar, and its “presence” in Quetta.
• Department of State.
• Defense Attaché Office .
• Drug Enforcement Administration.
• Legal Attaché Office.
• Foreign Agricultural Service.
• Foreign Broadcast Information Service.
• Office of Defense Representative in Pakistan.
• Public Affairs Section.
• Refugee Office.
• Library of Congress.
• Foreign Commercial Service.
• Kabul Support Unit.
• Department of Homeland Security.
• Voice of America.
• Narcotics Affairs Section/International Narcotics and Law Enforcement – Pakistan.
• Office of Overseas Building Operation.
• US Agency for International Development.
• Department of Treasury.
• Department of Energy.
• Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

Although it is standard practice for State to offer health-care benefits to locally employed staff worldwide, the Pakistani package is noticeably more generous than coverage offered in other nations, such as Venezuela.

Citing prevailing practices in and around the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, State will foot the bill for just 90 percent of the monthly premium for those workers. Similarly, the U.S. Embassy in Caracas also prevents providers from excluding HIV/AIDS care and preexisting conditions, unless excluded by the human resources department.

On the other hand, Venezuelan staff can elect to include coverage for the employees’ parents up to 80 years old, though they must full cover the premium. Furthermore, while children of Pakistani staff only are potentially eligible for coverage until they are 23, unmarried college-bound Venezuelan dependents can stay on the plan until they turn 25.

Additionally, Venezuelan family-plan members each may receive funeral-coverage costs of 6,000 Bolivars, about U. S. $1,000.

Meanwhile, Obama administration officials said, according to the Washington Post, that the state-based “high risk pools” set up under Obamacare will be closed to new applicants over the next few days because funding is running low.

And the Washington Times reported Obamacare will push 7 million Americans out of their job-based insurance coverage due to limited funding. The report said the incentives for businesses to provide health care are being minimized, so more employers are expected to choose to pay a penalty to the government and not provide health care.

At the same time, there are reports the lowest cost health plan for a family soon will cost $20,000, and the Obamacare mandate fine for Americans is hitting $695 soon.

A similar version of this article was published via WND on Feb. 19, 2013. Under agreement with WND, rights have reverted back to the author, Steve Peacock.

Obama's Plan to Make Illegals Comfy

Inmates must have 'abundant natural light,' 'ample recreation,' 'aerobics'

As the U.S. Department of Homeland Security expands its outsourcing of detention  across the nation, potential contractors are being forewarned to abide by the Obama administration’s kinder, gentler approach to detaining illegal aliens.

DHS Immigration & Customs Enforcement most recently embarked upon the outsourcing plan in Georgia, where it will continue to push the administration’s reform agenda to create a civil, rather than penal, processing system.

According to contracting documents that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor located through routine database research, the Georgia outsourcing endeavor requires providers to offer detainees, among other perks, “abundant natural light throughout the facility [and] ample indoor and outdoor recreation that allows for vigorous aerobic exercise with extended hours of availability.”

ICE recently issued a Request for Information from potential contractors in which the agency intends to assign detention responsibilities to private sector entities that will build new facilities, renovate existing structures or leverage a combination of the two.

The agency acknowledged that some detainees may have a criminal history or suffer from mental illness. In those cases, it would require the contractor to separate such persons into a medium- or maximum-security area.

Other detainees, however, would be accommodated with various services and conditions, such as:

• Four hours per day of outdoor recreation and ideally a minimum of two hours recreation in a gymnasium during inclement weather.
• Private showers and restrooms (where practicable).
• Cafeteria-style meal service.
• Non-institutional detainee clothing.
• “Contact visitation,” including special arrangements for visiting families, with extended hours including nights and weekends.
• Private areas for attorney-client visits, with video teleconferencing capabilities.
• Noise control.
• Enhanced, but controlled, freedom of movement.
• Enhanced law library and legal resources.
• “Enhanced programming,” including religious services and social programs and dedicated space for religious services.

ICE tentatively is looking for space in Georgia to hold about 2,000 male detainees – up to 600 who would be categorized a low-security, 900 as medium-security and 400 designated as a high-security population. Capacity for an additional 100 detainees would be divided between administrative detention and mental health units.

DHS in recent months launched additional searches for contractors offering detention, transportation, and food services in cities such Chicago, Miami and Houston.

The projects come at a time when the push for immigration reform – in varying forms – is heating up both on Capitol Hill and at the White House.

Indeed, in the House Committee on the Judiciary’s first hearing of the 113th Congress, Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., emphasized that the American people and members of Congress “have a lot of questions about how our legal immigration system should work.”

“They have a lot of questions about why our immigration laws have not always been sufficiently enforced.”

Goodlatte pointed out that while reform could greatly affect U.S. citizens, legal residents, and illegal aliens alike, he affirmed the principle that “America is a nation of immigrants. … But we are also a nation of laws.”

In response to that hearing, the immigrant-advocacy group Detention Watch Network reiterated its call to repeal mandatory detention laws.

Emily Tucker, DWN director of policy and advocacy, said in a statement: “While we are excited about the momentum to finally create a path to citizenship for millions of people, immigration reform must include the reform of our wasteful and inhumane detention and deportation system.

“Neither the White House’s nor Senate’s plans respond to years of community outrage about border and interior enforcement programs that have separated families, violated due process rights, and led to serious human rights abuses,” she said.

The DWN statement indicated that the committee reportedly is due to introduced a draft immigration-reform bill this week.

The Heritage Foundation says, “So far there is no actual bill – just a set of “principles” for the promised legislation.”

Jessica Zuckerman, research associate at Heritage, said in an issue brief, “These principles, however, do not adequately address the tough issues that have to be tackled to provide lasting and beneficial fixes that strengthen the U.S. economy, security, and civil society.”

Similarly, she added that the White House recently announced its own set of immigration reform principles, while promising to introduce an “even more comprehensive bill if Congress does not move fast enough.”

Zuckerman warned, however, that “if both initiatives do nothing more than reintroduce confusing, complicated, and contentious bills similar to the failed ‘comprehensive’ bill of 2007, then our nation will be poorly served by these latest efforts.”

A similar version of this article was published via WND on Feb. 15, 2013. Under agreement with WND, rights have reverted back to the author, Steve Peacock.

WND: Obama's Plan to Make Illegals Comfy

My latest article via WND:

Obama's plan to make illegals comfy

Inmates must have 'abundant natural light,' 'ample recreation,' 'aerobics'

As the U.S. Department of Homeland Security expands its outsourcing of detention  across the nation, potential contractors are being forewarned to abide by the Obama administration’s kinder, gentler approach to detaining illegal aliens.

DHS Immigration & Customs Enforcement most recently embarked upon the outsourcing plan in Georgia, where it will continue to push the administration’s reform agenda to create a civil, rather than penal, processing system.

Continued at WND.com...

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

DHS Taking War on Weed to Morocco

The U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) is embarking upon a project to offer training in the Kingdom of Morocco in advanced intelligence-analysis techniques, and intends to outsource that training to a private contractor. The aim of this DHS initiative, which the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Office of International Affairs will oversee, is to reverse Morocco’s position as “the third largest producer of cannabis” and as “the major transit country for transnational criminal organizations moving South American cocaine through Northwest Africa to Europe.”

According to a updated solicitation released late today (April 19) that U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor (USTRAM) located via database research, DHS is calling companies who can deploy instructors with have law enforcement experience in major cities, preferably with an emphasis on organized crime investigation. Vendors also must have significant experience working in conjunction with federal law enforcement agencies as well as a demonstrable record conducting instruction in foreign settings. Ideally, the contractor will already have on hand suitable training materials “ready for CBP to translate into French.”

The selected contractor will travel to Morocco to train that nation’s customs agents in basic intelligence gathering, inferential and critical thinking strategies, and analysis of trends, patterns and relationships, and financial records. DHS will provide air travel, but the contractor “is required to purchase Emergency Evacuation Insurance coverage prior to departure for its instructors,” the solicitation document says.

DHS did not disclose the estimated cost of the endeavor.