FC: James Bamford's Independent Institute talk airing on CSPAN

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

---

Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 16:31:37 -0700
To: declan () well com
From: David Theroux <DTheroux () independent org>
Subject: Re: FC: I've left Wired News and have a new job

Dear Declan,

Congratulations on your new post!

Please also forward me your snail mail addresses in DC and SF.

Also, could you please post a notice for the C-SPAN2 airings of our recent 
Independent Policy Forum with JAMES BAMFORD on the NSA?  For your review, I 
am adding below the info.

Best regards,

David
--
David J. Theroux
Founder and President
The Independent Institute
100 Swan Way
Oakland, CA 94621-1428
510-632-1366 Phone
510-568-6040 Fax
DTheroux () independent org
http://www.independent.org
----------------

Dear Friend,

With the recent revelations about U.S. intelligence failures regarding the 
tragedy of 9/11, we are pleased to announce that starting this Sunday, 
C-SPAN2/Book TV will begin showing our very timely Independent Policy Forum 
event, "Big Brother is Watching," 
<http://www.independent.org/tii/forums/020606ipf2.html> held before a 
capacity crowd at The Independent Institute with investigative journalist 
JAMES BAMFORD (author of BODY OF SECRETS: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret 
National Security Agency 
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385499086/theindepeende-20>):

* Sunday, June 16, at 6:35 a.m. Pacific Time (9:35 a.m. Eastern)
* Sunday, June 16, at 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time (6:30 p.m. Eastern)
* Monday, June 17, at 3:35 a.m. Pacific Time (6:35 a.m. Eastern)

Changes in the schedule may be posted at: <http://www.booktv.org/>.

Among the many highlights of Bamford's talk:

* An overview of the little-known National Security Agency, which monitors 
communications around the globe, and -- with more than 30,000 employees and 
an annual budget exceeding $5 billion -- is by far the world's largest 
intelligence agency.

* For more than three decades prior to 1975, but without a search warrant, 
the NSA monitored every telegram sent to or from the United States through 
Western Union.

* During Bamford's research for his book, BODY OF SECRETS, he obtained 
documents related to "Operation Northwoods," a plan drawn up and approved 
by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in the early 1960s to commit covert 
terrorist assaults upon Americans to generate popular support for a war 
against Cuba.

* The creation of a new Department of Homeland Security will accelerate the 
threat to civil liberties posed by the government's "security-industrial 
complex."

* Despite its size and budget, the volume of electronic communications 
worldwide routinely overwhelms the bureaucratic NSA's ability to process 
the information it gathers in enough time to protect Americans.

Indeed, the day following Bamford's talk at The Independent Institute, a 
news report claimed that the NSA monitored a pre-Sept. 11th telephone 
conversation between hijackers Khalid Shaikh Mohammad and Mohamed Atta, and 
this information was never passed along.

See "Another U.S. agency had clues before Sept. 11, some officials say," 
(MERCURY NEWS, 6/7/02) at 
<http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/3419903.htm>.

If you don't have television access to C-SPAN2/Book TV, you can watch the 
program on-line at the scheduled time at: 
<http://www.booktv.org/watch/>.  In addition, transcripts, audio tapes, and 
videos of this program can be ordered directly from The Independent 
Institute by visiting the following web page: 
<http://www.independent.org/tii/forums/020606ipf2.html>.

We hope that you will find this important and very timely program of 
particular interest and value.

Best regards,

David J. Theroux
Founder and President
The Independent Institute
100 Swan Way
Oakland, CA 95621-1428
510-632-1366 Phone
510-568-6040 Fax
Dtheroux () independent org
http://www.independent.org




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