Clipmarks | Kelika's 'fbi' clips

Facebook for Spies

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 20:07:50 GMT

clipped by: Kelika
clipper's remarks: Wanna bet how long before the site is hacked?

While that scenario is bit far-fetched, agents for the CIA, FBI, and National Security Agency are testing a social-networking site designed for use by analysts within the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, according to a report on CNN's Web site. Instead of posting thoughts on music and movies, the agents use the site--called A-Space--to share information on terrorist activities and troop movements around the world.

The social networking site has been undergoing testing for months and is expected to officially launch to the nation's entire intelligence community on September 22, CNN reported.

"It's a place where not only spies can meet but share data they've never been able to share before. This is going to give them for the first time a chance to think out loud, think in public amongst their peers, under the protection of an A-Space umbrella."

Access will be limited to intelligence personnel with the proper security clearance

Tags: social networking

FBI seizes local Md. library computers

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:47:20 GMT

clipped by: Kelika

Clip Source: wtopnews.com

The FBI removed computer records from the C. Burr Artz Library this week, a library official confirmed Saturday.

The agents removed two public computers from the library's second floor. They told him they were taking the units back to their office in Washington, D.C., Batson said.

Batson expected the computers would be returned early this week, he said.

This was the third time in his 10 years with FCPL that the FBI has come to the library seeking records, Batson said. It was the first time they came without a court order.

The library's procedure for such requests usually requires a court order, however after the agent described the case and the situation, he was persuaded to give them access, Batson said.

Batson said the agents made no mention of Bruce Ivins, anthrax or Fort Detrick.

"Obviously it coincided with the events everyone is talking about," he said.

How reliable is DNA in identifying suspects?

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:35:34 GMT

clipped by: Kelika
clipper's remarks: The article also covers the extreme efforts the FBI used to halt further database searches.

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

State crime lab analyst Kathryn Troyer was running tests on Arizona's DNA database when she stumbled across two felons with remarkably similar genetic profiles.

The men matched at nine of the 13 locations on chromosomes, or loci, commonly used to distinguish people.

The FBI estimated the odds of unrelated people sharing those genetic markers to be as remote as 1 in 113 billion. But the mug shots of the two felons suggested that they were not related: One was black, the other white.

No one knows precisely how rare DNA profiles are. The odds presented in court are the FBI's best estimates.

The Arizona search was, in effect, the first test of those estimates in a large state database, and the results were surprising, even to some experts.

Now, lawyers around the country are asking for searches of their own state databases.

U.S. Arms Dealer Tests Legal Bounds in Middle East Arms Bazaar

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:16:34 GMT

clipped by: Kelika

Clip Source: www.wired.com

Former congressman Curt Weldon is helping broker deals between Russian and Ukranian weapons suppliers and the Iraqi and Libyan governments as part of his new job with a private American defense consulting firm, Wired.com has learned.

Weldon, who is currently being investigated by the FBI over alleged corruption during his time in office, visited Libya in March to discuss a possible military deal, according to a letter describing the trip from Weldon to Defense Solutions CEO Timothy Ringgold. In May, Weldon, together with Ringgold and another company representative, traveled to Moscow to discuss working with Russia's weapons-export agency on arms sales to the Middle East.

Helping the firm make key connections is Curt Weldon, a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania at the center of an FBI investigation into alleged conflicts of interest during his time in office. Weldon, now a key executive at Defense Solutions, is working with the company to set up these weapons deals.

FBI and the Eye in the Sky

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:50:36 GMT

clipped by: Kelika

Clip Source: news.zdnet.com

FBI takes biometrics database proposal to U.K.

Police in the U.K. are in talks with the FBI about establishing an international biometric database for tracking down the world's most wanted criminals and terrorists.

The so-called "server in the sky" database would share criminals' biometric data, such as fingerprints and iris scans, internationally. The Washington Post reported last month that the FBI is spending $1 billion to develop the world's largest centralized biometrics database, a system the agency calls Next Generation Identification.

The U.K.'s National Policing Improvement Agency said it was aware of the proposal and that any such system could be linked into existing law enforcement databases such as Ident1, the U.K. repository of more than 7 million pieces of biometric data from crime scenes, although there are no formal plans for such an initiative at the moment.

The FBI was unavailable to comment at publication time.

Tags: fbi

Clipmarks | Kelika's 'fbi' clips

Facebook for Spies

FBI seizes local Md. library computers

How reliable is DNA in identifying suspects?

What is the chance of finding a match?

From DNA to a DNA profile

DNA matches aren't always a lock

DNA: A Slam Dunk?

U.S. Arms Dealer Tests Legal Bounds in Middle East Arms Bazaar

FBI and the Eye in the Sky

FBI takes biometrics database proposal to U.K.