Warrantless surveillance "Stellar Wind" data took down Eliot Spitzer.

[kpete]

Warrantless surveillance "Stellar Wind" data took down Eliot Spitzer. And very nicely timed that was, too...

Mon, 12/15/2008 - 10:51am — lambert

(Nobody seems to have noticed this, so I'll sticky it. I think the "Stellar Wind" story is interesting for many reasons, one of which is that it merges two stories we've followed for some time: warrantless surveillance and The Big Shit Storm. -- lambert)
http://www.correntewire.com/bush_warrantless_domestic_surveillance
http://www.correntewire.com/great_meltdown

...............

A throwaway paragraph in Spiky's scoop:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/174601/page/3

(Under the secret and illegal "Stellar Wind" program of domestic warrantless surveillance,) NSA was also able to access, for the first time, massive volumes of personal financial records—such as credit-card transactions, wire transfers and bank withdrawals—that were being reported to the Treasury Department by financial institutions. These included millions of "suspicious-activity reports," or SARS, according to two former Treasury officials who declined to be identified talking about sensitive programs. (It was one such report that tipped FBI agents to former New York governor Eliot Spitzer's use of prostitutes.) These records were fed into NSA supercomputers for the purpose of "data mining"—looking for links or patterns that might (or might not) suggest terrorist activity.

Now, that's very, very interesting, isn't it?

more at:
http://www.correntewire.com/warrantless_surveillance_stellar_wind_data_took_down_elliott_spitzer_and_very_nicely_timed_was_too

[jaksavage]

1. He was about to

bust open the banking scandal.

Blagojavich was also threatening B of A with a huge loss of IL state biz.

hmmm

threaten the status quo and you are gone.

[formercia]

2. That's how they keep people in line.

They make a public example of someone.

This can happen to you, is the message.

[TheWraith]

8. Or maybe, Spitzer did exactly what he confessed to doing.

And maybe Blago was a corrupt, incompetant asshole who they've been investigating for THREE YEARS.

[glitch]

3. I wonder if Spitzer can sue? nt

[snot]

4. k&r'd.

[anigbrowl]

5. Maybe, maybe not

It's illegal for NSA to access that data. It doesn't automatically follow that the data was illegally acquired by the FBI, or that the FBI did so without a warrant.

This is a tricky technical point, I know it's not obvious. As an example...

a) I deposit $25,000 in cash with my bank. The bank is required by law to file a report of cash deposits over $10,000 with the Treasury (under the Patriot act, which sucks but it is established law).

b) Treasury has never heard of me and asks FBI to investigate. Still legal.

c) FBI investigates me, turns out I got it legally by throwing a rock concert or something. Case closed, everything's cool.

d) NSA starts reading my treasury reports and tapping my phone - totally not legal.

Here's information about suspicious activity reports, which are meant to help the feds track money-laundering. http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=154555,00.html

The illegality stems from the fact that the NSA had no jurisdiction in this case. The FBI might well have had jurisdiction; can't tell from the article.

[file83]

6. We're all just dust in the Stellar Wind....

[leveymg]

7. Stellar Wind = The Program. Looks like it was NOT shut down after Comey went to Ashcroft

Stellar Wind is identified as the code-name for what insiders at the White House, NSA and DOJ were calling "The Program", according to this article about FBI whistleblower Tamm: See, http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081216-behind-the-legal-fight-over-nsas-stellar-wind-surveillance.html

Spitzer is accused of paying for his playmates in bank transfers dating from July-2007, after North Fork Bank first reported that Spitzer had structured withdrawals from his bank totaling some $80,000 in such a way that they triggered red flags. See, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/nyregion/13legal.html

This seems to be the best evidence yet that The Program was not halted in 2003, as claimed, is still very much in operation as a tool of domestic political spying.