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TrapWire: “See Something, Say Something”…To The CIA?
New Stratfor emails released by WikiLeaks indicate that TrapWire, a defense contractor owned and operated by ex-CIA operatives, sits at the heart of American intelligence. Everything from incidents on military base to calls to NYC’s “See Something, Say Something” are routed through TrapWire.
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I. The Bottom Line
II. Introduction
III. What Does TrapWire Do?
IV. Who Uses TrapWire?
V. Who/What Is TrapWire?
VI. Stratfor and TrapWire’s Troubling Revolving Doors
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UPDATE: Some WikiLeaks documents offline as of 8:30am, reportedly as a result of ongoing denial of service attacks.
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I. The Bottom Line
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According to new Stratfor emails released by WikiLeaks:
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Reports submitted to “See Something, Say Something” in NYC and Las Vegas and “iWatch” in DC and LA are collected and processed by a private company (TrapWire) run by ex-CIA operatives.
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TrapWire collects and cross-references surveillance reports from around the world, including: from the LAPD, DC Police, US Marine Corps, Las Vegas Police Department, and Scotland Yard.
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TrapWire threat detection software is integrated with surveillance cameras at locations around the world, including 500 deployments in the NYC subway system and at the London Stock Exchange.
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II. Introduction
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According to internal emails from global intelligence firm Stratfor obtained and newly released by WikiLeaks, TrapWire’s surveillance analysis system seems to be near the center of the intelligence world. “Designed to provide a simple yet powerful means of collecting and recording suspicious activity reports,” it collects information from and shares information with local police departments, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and in some cases private businesses such as Las Vegas casinos.
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TrapWire, run by ex-CIA operatives, is a software program that seeks to prevent terrorist attacks by recognizing patterns in activity. The hope, according to Stratfor Vice President of Intelligence Fred Burton, is that, “a suspect conducting surveillance of the NYC subway can also be spotted by TrapWire conducting similar activity at the DC subway.” There are at least 500 TrapWire-connected surveillance cameras in the New York subway system, according to this blog post by Mr. Burton.
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It’s in place at the White House and the London Stock Exchange. If you “see something, say something” in a New York subway, your “suspicious activity report” (SAR) goes through TrapWire. TrapWire is used by the DC Police, the LAPD, and the Las Vegas Police Department. It’s in place at Fort Meade, and at over 60 Las Vegas casinos.
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Suspicious activity reports (SAR’s) generated by TrapWire systems are distributed to local law enforcement agencies, local partner corporations (in some circumstances), and to the local Department of Homeland Security (DHS) fusion center, as well as to a national database used by DHS fusion centers nationwide as well as the FBI.
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According to a leaked email from TrapWire’s Director of Business Development, all of the information provided by its corporate, national, and international clients “feed a centralized database”, and TrapWire attempts to make connections between events in different locations. This means that while TrapWire’s clients only have access to relevant and nearby reports, the company has access to everything submitted by its partner law enforcement entities and reported by citizens.
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TrapWire’s goal: when a casino camera spots something suspicious, or a Las Vegas resident ‘sees something’ and ‘says something’, that information is quickly in the hands of nearby resorts, the Las Vegas Police Department, DHS, and the FBI. The TrapWire company itself also has access to all suspicious activity reports, whether they come from a New York City citizen’s phone call or directly from the White House.
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In a 2007 white paper, TrapWire says, “it does not capture, store, or share any sensitive or personally identifiable information.” It is unclear how TrapWire defines sensitive information, as the company is unquestionably in control of an enormous amount of valuable intelligence data from around the world.Given the extraordinarily close ties between the company, its employees, and the CIA, concerns about civil liberties implications of TrapWire’s system and access seem well warranted.
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