SJAC Weekly Update: Friday, 31 January 2014
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Snowden’s Leaked Documents Shows Canada Spying On Airport Travelers
By: Brandon R. Cottrell
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
OTTAWA, Canada – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported today that leaked documents by Edward Snowden show Canada’s electronic spying agency collected data from “ordinary airline passengers” travelling through Canadian airports over a two week period.
Though Canadian law prohibits the Communications Security Establishment Canada (“CSEC”) from targeting any individual in Canada without a warrant, the CSEC has defended its action by citing its mission, which is to collect foreign intelligence by intercepting phone and internet traffic in order to protect Canadians. CSEC has also said that no Canadians were spied on, yet most find no merit to that claim, as it is mostly Canadians that frequent Canadian airports.
Ronald Deibert, one of Canada’s foremost authorities on cyber-security, said, however, that he “can’t see any circumstance in which this would not be unlawful, under current Canadian law, under our Charter, under CSEC’s mandates.”
The CSEC further defends its action by saying that it only collected metadata, which it is legally authorized to collect and analyze. Metadata, the information about a communication, such as the date and location of the communication but not the details of what was said or written, is however, still valuable information and considered by most to be an invasion of privacy.
Deibert, in regards to metadata, said that it is “way more powerful than the content of communications . . . you can tell a lot more about people, their habits, their relationships, their friendships, even their political preferences, based on that type of metadata.”
The report also indicates that the metadata was collected using a new powerful software program that was being developed by the United States’ National Security Agency (“NSA”), and is now fully operational. Experts say that the program, after initially capturing information, “would have enabled the agency to track them for a week or more as they showed up in other wi-fi ‘hot spots’ around Canada, such as other airports, hotels or restaurants.” The new program is also considered to be “game-changing,” as it could be used for tracking “any target that makes occasional forays into other cities/regions.”
A spokeswoman for the Canadian agency was critical of the leak, and defended the document as a “technical presentation between specialists exploring mathematical models built on everyday scenarios to identify and locate foreign terrorist threats [and that] the unauthorized disclosure of tradecraft puts our techniques at risk of being less effective when addressing threats to Canada and Canadians.”
Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, is currently living in Russia after fleeing the US in May 2013 after he leaked thousands of documents that revealed extensive internet and phone surveillance by US intelligence services.
For further information, please see:
BBC – Snowden Leaks: Canada ‘Spied On Airport Travellers’ – 31 Jan. 2014
Bloomberg – Spy Agency Tracked Canadians At An Airport – 31 Jan. 2014
CBC News – CSEC Used Airport Wi-Fi To Track Canadian Travellers: Edward Snowden Documents – 31 Jan. 2014
RT – Attention Fliers: Canada’s Electronic Spy Agency Is Following You – New Snowden Leaks – 31 Jan. 2014
Vital Supplies Enter Besieged Syrian Camp
By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
DAMASCUS, Syria-On Thursday, a food convoy entered the besieged Syrian Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp. Dozens have died within the camp due to food and medicine shortages, declared the United Nations.
“1,028 food rations had been delivered to the camp south of Damascus, in a modest launch of the rescue operation. Each ration is enough to keep a family of eight going for 10 days,” stated UN Palestinian refugee agency spokesman Chris Gunness.
“We hope to continue and increase substantially the amount of aid being delivered because the numbers of those needing assistance is in the tens of thousands, including 18,000 Palestinians, among them women and children,” stated Gunness.
Initial deliveries into the camp have been reported as “chaotic scenes” while the food was being distributed. The last delivery of food occurred on January 21, when the UN Palestinian refugee agency sent in 138 food parcels.
SANA, the Syrian state news agency, also reported on the aid distribution. “New food aid has entered Yarmuk camp, with the application of a peaceful, popular initiative supported by the Syrian government to alleviate the suffering of the residents surrounded in the camp, taken hostage by armed terrorist groups,” it said.
Hostilities have been steadily growing in the Yarmuk camp as at least 86 people have died in recent months due to starvation or lack of medical care.
The camp is principally controlled by rebel forces and surrounded by a siege since June, making it nearly impossible to get food and medicine into the camp or for residents to leave. Many residents have reported eating grass, cats, and dogs in order to survive.
At the outset, the camp began as a place for Palestinian refugees, but has since developed into an active district, housing nearly 150,000 Palestinians, as well as numerous Syrians. However, now only an estimated 18,000 Palestinians remain in the camp, which has been destroyed by fighting.
With the present of the aid, many are hoping that conditions will improve. “We are encouraged by the delivery of this aid and the cooperation of the parties on the ground,” stated Gunness.
For more information, please see the following:
Al Jazeera-Chaos as food aid enters Syria’s Yarmouk camp-30 January 2014
Daily Star-Food aid enters Syria’s besieged Yarmuk camp-30 January 2014
Haaretz-Food supplies enter Palestinian camp in Syria-30 January 2014
Naharnet-Food Aid Enters Syria’s Besieged Yarmouk Camp-30 January 2014
EU Authorities Arrest Kosovo Serb Politician on War Crimes Charges
by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
MITROVICA, Kosovo – A top Kosovo Serb politician has been detained by the European Union’s police and justice mission on suspicion that he committed war crimes.
EU officials state that Oliver Ivanovic has been identified as a suspect as a result of a war crimes investigation that examined the Kosovo conflict of the 1990’s. No details of the alleged crimes have been released to the public, but reports indicate that Ivanovic, 60, is suspected of having tortured and killed numerous Albanians. Ivanovic is also believed to have a main organizer of a since-disbanded Kosovo Serb vigilante group widely known as the “Bridgewatchers.” The Bridgewatchers are suspected of widespread violence against ethnic Albanians.
Ivanovic turned himself into EU authorities voluntarily on Monday while accompanied by his lawyer. He was ordered to be detained for a month while investigators look into crimes “which occurred in 1999 and 2000 against Albanian victims,” Ivanovic’s lawyer, Nebojsa Vlajic, stated. Ivanovic has been transferred to a prison in Pristina.
Ivanovic is considered to be a moderate politically. He lost a recent election to be mayor of the Serb area of the northern town of Mitrovica to Krstimir Pantic. Ivanovic’s supporters believe that the recent war crimes charges are politically motivated, and untrue.
Ivanovic is the first senior Kosovo Serb official to be arrested by the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) on suspicion of war crimes against ethnic Albanians. EULEX has authority to investigate and prosecute cases that the local judiciary and police are either unable or unwilling to handle.
The 1998-1999 conflict began in Kosovo after ethnic Albanians rebelled against NATO bombings in Belgrade, which prompted an extreme crackdown.
Roughly 120,000 ethnic Serbs currently live in Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and accounts for 1.8 million inhabitants, most of whom are ethnic Albanians. However, the approximately 40,000 Kosovo Serbs living in the northern part of the country do not recognize Kosovo’s independence. Serbia also rejects Kosovo’s secession. Despite this, Kosovo has been recognized by over 100 countries, including the United States and most EU states.
For more information, please see:
B92- Lawyer: Accusations Against Ivanovic “Politically Motivated” – 29 January 2014
BBC News – Kosovo Serb Politician Oliver Ivanovic Arrested Over War Crimes – 28 January 2014
InSerbia – Ivanovic Suspected of Crimes Committed in 1999, 2000 – 28 January 2014
Reuters – EU Arrests Moderate Kosovo Serb Leader in War Crimes Probe – 27 January 2014
70 Air Force Officers Implicated in Nuclear Test Cheating Scandal
by Michael Yoakum
Impunity Watch Reporter
WASHINGTON, D.C., United States – The number of Air Force nuclear missile launch officers implicated in a cheating scandal widened Tuesday from 34 to 70. The Air Force is now investigating this unprecedented exam cheating scandal involving officers of captain rank.
Air Force leaders indicated that they stumbled on to the cheating at the Global Strike Command at Malmstrom Air Force base in Montana while investigating a separate drug-abuse scandal that spanned six different Air Force bases. At least 34 of the nuclear launch officers implicated in this scandal have been stripped of their certification while three others were implicated in the drug-abuse scandal.
The Malmstrom base houses and maintains 150 Minutemen 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles or one third of the nation’s ICBM arsenal. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh indicated that the remaining personnel on staff at Malmstrom were sufficient to maintain the nuclear nation’s arsenal.
Considered the largest breach of integrity in the nuclear force, Air Force leadership determined that some staffers from the 341st Missile Wing texted answers to routine tests to others while others knew but failed to report the news. Ultimately, 16 officers were found to have actually cheated on the exams.
“This is absolutely unacceptable behavior and it is completely contrary to our core values in the Air Force and as everybody here knows, the No. 1 core value for us is integrity,” said Deborah Lee James, Secretary of the Air Force.
The exam questions were designed to test launch officers’ proficiencies in “emergency war orders,” including receiving orders through the chain of command to fire a missile.
This scandal is the latest in a line for the Air Force, stretching back to October of last year when the two star general in charge of the ICBM arsenal, Michael Carey, was fired for drinking binge and other embarrassing behavior during a trip to Moscow.
For more information, please see:
Al Jazeera – Air Force nuclear cheating scandal widens – 28 January 2014
BBC News – Number of US nuclear ‘cheats’ doubles – officials – 28 January 2014
Fox News – Air Force: 34 nuclear missile officers implicated in cheating scandal – 16 January 2014
CNN – Air Force nuke officers caught up in big cheating scandal – 15 January 2014
The Washington Post – Air Force investigates dozens accused of cheating on nuclear proficiency exams – 15 January 2014