Court: Feds Can Hide Alleged Spying on Gitmo Lawyers

A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the government’s refusal to admit or deny it has documents related to warrantless eavesdropping on Guantanamo Bay detainees and their lawyers.

In doing so, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals accepted a little-known defense called the Glomar doctrine. The doctrine, the court ruled, allows the National Security Agency to refuse to acknowledge to the lawyers suing under the Freedom of Information Act that there are any documents responsive to allegations their clients had been or are being targeted under the Terrorist Surveillance Program adopted following the 2001 terror attacks.

“Confirming or denying the mere existence of specific records in a general surveillance program would logically be both confirming or denying that the NSA was targeting a specific individual and confirming or denying that the NSA is conducting a general surveillance program,” (.pdf) the New York-based appellate court wrote Wednesday.

Typically, under Freedom of Information Act requests unrelated to national security, the government announces that it has documentation related to a request, and releases or withholds some or all of it for a variety of reasons.

In the national-security Glomar context, the government usually prevails when invoking the doctrine — but not always.

In a case the American Civil Liberties Union brought against the Department of Defense, a federal judge in 2005 ordered the release of documents and photos of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison despite the Glomar doctrine.

The Guantanamo Bay lawyers said the purpose of their Freedom of Information Act request was to gain information to determine whether they are being monitored in their interactions with their clients. If so, they would seek to alter the way in which they represent and interact with them.

The Glomar doctrine draws its name from a 1970s case, when The Los Angeles Times sought information on whether the Central Intelligence Agency was attempting to salvage a sunken Soviet nuclear submarine about 360 miles northwest of Honolulu. It was eventually revealed that the project was code-named “Jennifer” and was undertaken on the Glomar Explorer, a salvage vessel formerly owned by Howard Hughes’ Summa Corp.

The circuit court’s decision Wednesday did not address the legality of the Terror Surveillance Program that President Bush secretly adopted following the 2001 terror attacks. The New York Times revealed the program’s existence in 2005, but the government has never acknowledged the complete nature of the warrantless, electronic eavesdropping program.

An unsuccessful lawsuit challenging that program is on appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Among other things, the case accuses the nation’s telecoms of secretly funneling electronic communications to the NSA without warrants.

See Also:

• Sensitive Guantanamo Bay Manual Leaked Through Wiki Site
• Guantanamo Defense Lawyers Being Investigated Over CIA Photos …
• Wiki Reviews Guantanamo Docs
• British Hacker Gary McKinnon Cries Guantánamo Too Much
• Bin Laden Driver Faces Life Behind Bars Even if Acquitted
• Another Sensitive Guantanamo Manual Leaked Online
• WikiLeaks Posts More Prison Docs — This One from Iraq Prison …

U.S. airport security irks, but passengers cope

CHICAGO (Reuters) – First it was pocket knives and nail clippers. Then it was shoes. Then liquids. Now the government may want a closer look at your underwear after a botched attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day.

While air travelers generally accept such scrutiny checks as necessary to ensure safe flights, many transportation experts wonder if some of the steps are as effective at stopping terrorists as they are at annoying passengers.

Tewodros Habte-Gabr, 41, a development consultant in Los Angeles, said he was selected for additional screening before a flight from Detroit on Tuesday. He said the scrutiny was unpleasant, “but you have to be cautious.”

Airline consultant Doug Abbey said many flyers are confused by the frequently-changing security requirements since the 9/11 hijack attacks.

“This is just an incremental insult to the entire travel experience but one that I think people are used to,” Abbey said of the foiled plot by a passenger to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane over Detroit.

The accused attacker, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Islamic militant from Nigeria, is charged with trying to ignite explosives sewn into his underwear.

Passengers and crew subdued Abdulmutallab, who claims to have been trained by al Qaeda in Yemen. On Tuesday, President Barack Obama blamed “human and systemic failures” for allowing the botched attack.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has ordered additional security measures on international flights to the United States. Steps may include increased gate screening, pat-downs and bag searches. Additionally, pilots may require passengers to remain seated for portions of the flight and to stow personal items.

Habte-Gabr said the additional screening was the most thorough he has experienced. “That’s the closest pat-down I’ve gone through.”

The incident has generated new interest in full-body scanners that airport security officers can use to see what travelers may have hidden in their clothes.

Such scanners have raised health and privacy concerns, and some experts believe large-scale use of the machines and other scanning gear would not necessarily bolster airport security.

“Instead of looking for bad things — nail clippers and rogue bottles of shampoo –, security systems need to focus on finding bad people. Adding new hardware to an old system will not deliver the results we need,” said Giovanni Bisignani, chief executive of the International Air Transport Association, a trade group that represents 230 airlines.

“IATA is recommending a smaller percentage of intensive pat downs accompanied by technologies or proportionate screening procedures as a means to achieve near-term security requirements with reduced delays,” Bisignani said in a statement.

ECHOS OF THE PAST

The Christmas Day incident and the subsequent security measures echo past botched attacks that led to aggressive shoe screening and restrictions on the amount of liquids passengers may take on a flight.

Some travelers and experts question the effectiveness of such rules, especially when security breaches continue to happen either intentionally or unintentionally.

One Reuters reporter flying from Austin, Texas, to Washington D.C. on a US Airways flight on Sunday inadvertently got through airport security with a bag containing a Swiss army knife, a package of razors, matches and a lighter. Security oversights like these spotlight flaws in airport screening.

Christine Battista, a civil engineer from Carlisle, Massachusetts, flew to Washington D.C. on Monday with her husband and two children and said the security lines flowed quickly.

“I think the precautions they take normally are enough,” anything more on domestic routes would be “overkill,” Battista said.

David Castelveter, spokesman for the Air Transport Association trade group, said travelers seem most tolerant of inconvenient security measures immediately after a headline-grabbing security breach.

“When the memory of the event is no longer fresh, then the measures become an inconvenience and not a necessity,” Castelveter said. “It’s incumbent on us to continue to reinforce to customers that this is being done for the safety of the passengers and our crews.”

He noted that the TSA has relaxed some of the more tedious restrictions on carry-on items imposed in the days after 9/11 and that steps are ongoing to ease the hassle for travelers.

“If you remember what it was like post 9/11, then take a look at it now. You generally get through that process pretty quick,” Castelveter said.

(Reporting by Kyle Peterson; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

Nashville Airport To Get Full-Body Scanners

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Full-body scanners that show airport security what metal detectors can’t detect should be coming to Nashville’s airport as soon as this summer, according to the airport’s federal security director.

The Transportation Security Administration demonstrated the scanners Wednesday in Virginia.

The TSA plans to install about 450 of the devices nationwide next year.

The scanners use what’s called “millimeter wave” technology. Although this technology has been available for several years, concerns about cost and privacy have limited its use.

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Airport Security Cos Rise Again As Dutch To Use Body Scanners

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Shares of makers of airport security screeners rose for a third straight day Wednesday on hopes they’ll receive orders for security products following a failed bombing attempt and as the Dutch government outlined plans to use full-body screeners within three weeks.

Shares of the various companies have climbed since the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit. A Nigerian man on the flight tried to blow up the plane an hour before landing Friday, but he was foiled by other passengers.

The components of the man’s device made it past airport security metal detectors, spurring speculation that companies that make devices that can see through clothes and hidden items could experience an increase in orders.

In the latest development, all passengers boarding flights to the U.S. from Amsterdam will be screened using full-body scanners within three weeks, the Dutch government said Wednesday. The government said 15 of the scanners will be installed to help detect explosives that can’t be found by metal detectors.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, where the alleged bomber boarded, has 17 whole-body scanners produced by L-3 Communications Corp. (LLL). The machines have been used only on a voluntary, pilot basis because the European Union hasn’t established rules for their use that would address privacy concerns.

A representative from L-3 wasn’t immediately available to comment Wednesday.

In recent trading, L-3 rose 1.5% to $88.50 after earlier hitting a 52-week high of $89.23. OSI Systems Inc. (OSIS) jumped 12% to $29.10 after setting a two-and-a-half year high of $28.49. It shares have soared nearly 40% this month. American Science & Engineering Inc. (ASEI) grew 65 cents to $79.72.

Another stock getting a boost from hopes for more orders is ICx Technologies Inc. (ICXT), up 25% to $7.90 Wednesday, adding to the 7.5% gain from Tuesday and the 18% jump from Monday.

The company’s sensors – which have been used in Iraq, Afghanistan and airports – can detect explosives and other chemicals.

“It’s potentially effective for the type of explosive that was used in the [Northwest] airliner,” Needham & Co. analyst James Ricchiuti said, adding the company’s hand-held instrument is used in about 40 U.S. airports to check carry-on luggage for dangerous materials.

Melissa Woods, ICx director of public relations, said some of its products are currently used by the Transportation Security Administration, while others are being evaluated. She expects the process to go through normal channels despite Friday’s failed bombing attempt.

“We don’t expect an influx in orders, but expect more attention to be paid to security operations as a whole,” Woods said. “I think that’s a common, though, in the industry right now. It’s a natural reaction to an event such as what occurred.”

Peter Kant, executive vice president of global government affairs at OSI unit Rapiscan Systems, said Wednesday that Schiphol plans to use the scanners it already has, none of which are produced by Rapiscan. The company has been developing whole-body imaging systems – including the Rapiscan Secure 1000 Single Pose – for a decade.

Kant said the company has its full-body scanners at the Heathrow and Manchester airports in the U.K., as well as in U.S. airports, and that another announcement will be coming soon.

The TSA had bought about 150 body-scanning machines from Rapiscan using stimulus funding earlier this year, with deployment originally planned for January. And Kant said Monday he believes more machines will likely be ordered following Friday’s failed attack.

Meanwhile, Joe Reiss, AS&E vice president of marketing said Tuesday that the European parliament had put consideration of personnel scanners on hold a little over a year ago, but he believes that will be reevaluated due to the attempted bombing.

“Unfortunately, that’s the world we live in, and these events generate a lot of activity,” Reiss said, adding AS&E doesn’t currently have any of its whole-body scanners, known as SmartCheck, in airports.

-By Shara Tibken, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2189; shara.tibken@dowjones.com

New call for faster, more thorough airport body scans

WASHINGTON — Days after a Nigerian man allegedly tried to ignite plastic explosives on an airplane over Detroit, security companies say they have new body-scanning machines capable of screening passengers for such material in seconds that could replace the metal detectors used for decades at airports around the world.

The machines could be a central part of a security review President Obama ordered Monday. The review will cover “all screening policies, technologies and procedures related to air travel,” Obama said in Hawaii.

“This was a serious reminder of the dangers that we face,” Obama said.

Before Obama spoke, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsulaclaimed responsibility for Friday’s attempted attack in an Internet posting that said it was retaliation for U.S. airstrikes against the group in Yemen. The group said it gave explosives to accused attacker Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Associated Press reported.

Experts urged the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to accelerate the installation of the body scanners that can spot hidden plastic explosives such as those Abdulmutallab apparently got past security atAmsterdam’s Schiphol Airport as he boarded a flight to Detroit.

“This is the only type of machine that is capable of detecting the kind of device that was part of the attempted Christmas bombing,” former Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff said.

Manufacturers say they are close to removing a major obstacle by building machines that can scan under passengers’ clothing in a few seconds. Machines now used at 19 U.S. airports take up to 30 seconds because passengers must stand inside a glass portal with arms raised as a scanner rotates around them.

A machine being tested at a federal lab is “as quick as going through a metal detector,” said Peter Kant, a vice president of Rapiscan Systems, the manufacturer. “You don’t even stop walking.”

A scanner built by Smiths Detection is being tested at a TSA lab and could be in airports next year, said Hasbrouck Miller, a vice president at Smiths.

The TSA plans to install 150 scanners at airports in 2010 and buy another 300 scanners during the year, spokeswoman Kristin Lee said. The machines are considered an alternative to pat-downs.

Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and some members of Congress call the scanners overly invasive. Chertoff said opposition slowed the installation of the technology. He predicted “a renewed call to deploy it.”

European airports also are likely to use the machines more, said Schiphol spokeswoman Marianne De Bie. The airport has 17 scanners scattered among 90 gates, but “they are not used for U.S. flights,” De Bie said without explaining why.

Obama also announced a review of federal watch lists. Abdulmutallab was in a database with names of 550,000 people with suspected terrorist ties, but not on a “no-fly list” of people barred from boarding U.S.-bound airplanes. Chertoff said last year that 2,500 people were on the no-fly list.

By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY