Cited under fair use for non-profit educational use.
Published in Washington, D.C.. . . . . . . . Vol. 13, No. 35 --
Sept 15, 1997 . . . . . . . . www.insightmag.com
Did Clinton Bug Conclave for Cash?
___________________________________________________________________
By Timothy W. Maier
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A presidential conference with Asian leaders was bugged by U.S.
intelligence agencies, say high-level sources, and information was
passed from the White House to big Democratic corporate donors.
I magine sitting in your room, shoes kicked off and your necktie
loosened. It's been a long, hard day and now, sipping coffee,
you're talking to a colleague who is fixing a drink at the
mini-bar. At the same time, you're on the phone sharing information
about the conference you've just attended. Sounds pretty typical,
doesn't it? Okay, now continue to imagine that just a few floors
below your hotel room there's a secret command center filled with
federal law-enforcement officers, intelligence agents and military
personnel watching and listening to your every move and
conversation.
. . . . Such a scenario might make sense if you were a mobster or a
spy or a terrorist on whom the government needs to conduct such
surveillance to protect the country from crime, espionage, or acts
of terror. But what if this scene -- extended to hundreds of hotel
suites and meeting rooms in a major coastal city -- occurred during
an international conference of world leaders hosted by the
president of the United States of America?
. . . . Insight has been told that this is exactly what happened in
1993 in Seattle during a five-day Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation, or APEC, conference, in which leaders of about 15
nations gathered to discuss the future of trade and security issues
involving the United States and our Pacific partners. "There were
bugs placed in over 300 locations," says a high-level source with
detailed knowledge about the extraordinary top-secret operation run
by the FBI in conjunction with intelligence personnel from the
National Security Agency, or NSA, and the Office of Naval
Intelligence, among many others.
. . . . "Just about every single room was bugged," according to the
high-level source who spoke to Insight on condition of anonymity.
"Vehicles were bugged," as were telephones and conference centers.
Even a charter-boat trip arranged by the president to Blake Island,
a 475-acre state park in the Puget Sound, was monitored by agents
with electronic-listening devices.
. . . . The top-secret bugging operation was massive and
well-coordinated. And the only reason it has come to light is
because of concerns raised by high-level sources within federal
law-enforcement and intelligence circles that the operation was
compromised by politicians -- including mid- and senior-level White
House aides -- either on behalf of or in support of President
Clinton and major donor-friends who helped him and the Democratic
National Committee, or DNC, raise money. A quid pro quo?
. . . . If the allegations of a massive, secret eavesdropping
operation and leaks of information from that project by
presidential aides prove true, then the White House will have a lot
of explaining to do. So will the DNC and people involved in the
reported clandestine plot who subsequently gained knowledge of
suspected White House leaks but chose not to launch a
national-security inquiry.
. . . . The FBI was not happy with many aspects of the operation,
according to the sources -- especially so when agents discovered
the leaks. Complaints were brought within the bureau but,
apparently, got nowhere. That is, until now.
. . . . The White House and the DNC deny the charges, let alone
admit that such a secret intelligence operation was conducted
against the heads of government gathered for the trade conference.
The NSA and the National Security Council, or NSC, won't respond to
questions about such an operation or any similar operation, Insight
sources in and out of government have confirmed. Neither will the
FBI nor the Defense Department comment. The CIA and other
intelligence agencies are mum, too.
. . . . Besides the revelation of the Seattle operation, Insight's
sources say that information collected by the project's "monitors"
was shared with people outside of national-security circles and
involved proprietary data on oil and hydroelectric deals in Asia,
including Vietnam. "I was told that information was passed to
attorneys working for the DNC" who were involved directly and
indirectly with large business ventures overseas, says one of the
sources, who adds that one of the couriers was alleged to be a
mid-level White House aide.
. . . . Such startling revelations about domestic
intelligence-gathering and allegations of leaks for political
purposes certainly will become a cause célèbre for investigators
now probing campaign fund-raising abuses by the DNC and the White
House. "You get me the name of a person who will talk about this to
us," says one senior congressional investigator contacted by
Insight, and Congress will get to the bottom of it.
. . . . Insight's sources say that besides worry about the damage
caused by one of the largest eavesdropping operations mounted on
American soil in U.S. history -- it allegedly included video, audio
and telecommunications equipment -- U.S. intelligence experts also
worry about the effects potential leaks of private conversations by
heads of state and top ministers may have had on business and
political deals around the globe.
. . . . Beyond the tawdry politicizing of this alleged operation,
the very nature of such an intelligence undertaking on American
soil comes as no great surprise. The surprise is in the detailed
information about the clandestine operation that reached Insight.
"No reputable government official would discuss it" with you, an
astonished senior intelligence official said privately when asked
to comment.
. . . . But clandestine snooping on a grand scale is familiar stuff
in the Washington area. It is a widely known secret that the NSA
has a system known as ECHELON by which the government can -- and
routinely does -- intercept E-mail, fax, telex and telephone
communications. Designed primarily for nonmilitary targets --
including governments, businesses and individuals -- the system
steals communications internationally, says John Pike, the director
of cyberstrategy projects at the Washington-based Federation of
American Scientists.
. . . . "I assume that it is all being monitored with keyword
scanning," Pike says. "They throw away almost all of the stuff they
collect. But they have that watch list for names and they are
working on voice-recognition software and that's going to be the
big thing in the future." Such technology is used jointly by NSA
and its allies as a "creative" means to avoid court orders, Pike
claims.
. . . . In 1992, a year before the alleged bugging of the Seattle
conference, a group of agents for GCHQ, the British counterpart of
the NSA, blasted ECHELON. "We feel we can no longer remain silent
regarding that which we regard to be gross malpractice and
negligence within the establishment in which we operate," the
intelligence agents told the London Observer. The British agents
claimed the NSA even helped intercept communications from Amnesty
International and Christian Aid. Asked about ECHELON, the NSA says,
"We have no information to provide."
. . . . Given all this snooping, there is little wonder that a
worldwide market has developed for impenetrable encryption, which
also could curb identity theft -- stealing Social Security numbers
and credit cards. "It's the reason I can't make any money on my
World Wide Web site," Pike says. "People, for better or worse,
don't trust the Internet. What we need is strong encryption
available to everybody. Yes, it's going to cramp the style of the
folks at the Puzzle Palace [NSA], but a life more difficult at NSA
means life is easier for the rest of the planet. The benefits of
promoting global Internet commerce outweigh the harm to the NSA."
. . . . But, of course, exporting sophisticated encryption
technology is prohibited, and everything bureaucratically possible
is being done to restrict its widespread dissemination in the
United States and overseas.
. . . . Mike Godwin, an attorney with the California-based
Electronic Frontier Foundation, says the government is afraid.
"Encryption is frightening to the government because it makes
transactions hard to trace. We have the technology to shift the
balance back to the 19th century, where you could be certain
someone was not listening outside of your house. But you can't be
certain today."
. . . . Indeed you can't. Apparently not even at an international
conference of world leaders hosted on American soil by the
president of the United States. Worse still, under this
administration it may even be that the electronic pockets of
America's top security agencies are not safe from gumshoe
counterspies who, for reasons of politics or money, deliver vital
information gained from snooping and otherwise to political
operatives eager to trade it for contributions from international
corporate operators or whomever is paying the most today.
. . . . It is because of such concerns that bipartisan members of
Congress -- including nervous Democrats -- publicly and privately
are stepping up their demands for an independent-council
appointment to probe campaign abuses. It seems likely that more
calls for probes soon will be heard. And questions about what the
FBI knows, as well as the Secret Service, may lead to yet more
astonishing answers.
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