{"id":537,"date":"2008-02-11T18:23:26","date_gmt":"2008-02-11T23:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/11\/the-fbi-deputizes-business\/"},"modified":"2008-02-11T18:23:26","modified_gmt":"2008-02-11T23:23:26","slug":"the-fbi-deputizes-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/11\/the-fbi-deputizes-business\/","title":{"rendered":"The FBI deputizes business"},"content":{"rendered":"

InfraGard. Coming to a SC neighborhood near you, and keeping an eye on you. To join SC InfraGard go here<\/a>. Be advised, it is a bit of a secret society composed of CEOs – one of whom has to recommend you for membership.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Matthew Rothschild<\/strong>
\nThe Progressive<\/a><\/p>\n

Today, more than 23,000 representatives of private industry are working quietly with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The members of this rapidly growing group, called InfraGard, receive secret warnings of terrorist threats before the public does- and, at least on one occasion, before elected officials. In return, they provide information to the government, which alarms the ACLU. But there may be more to it than that. One business executive, who showed me his InfraGard card, told me they have permission to \u201cshoot to kill\u201d in the event of martial law. InfraGard is \u201ca child of the FBI,\u201d says Michael Hershman, the chairman of the advisory board of the InfraGard National Members Alliance and CEO of the Fairfax Group, an international consulting firm.<\/p>\n

InfraGard started in Cleveland back in 1996, when the private sector there cooperated with the FBI to investigate cyber threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen the FBI cloned it,\u201d says Phyllis Schneck, chairman of the board of directors of the InfraGard National Members Alliance, and the prime mover behind the growth of InfraGard over the last several years.<\/p>\n

InfraGard itself is still an FBI operation, with FBI agents in each state overseeing the local InfraGard chapters. (There are now 86 of them.) The alliance is a nonprofit organization of private sector InfraGard members.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the owners, operators, and experts of our critical infrastructure, from the CEO of a large company in agriculture or high finance to the guy who turns the valve at the water utility,\u201d says Schneck, who by day is the vice president of research integration at Secure Computing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt its most basic level, InfraGard is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the private sector,\u201d the InfraGard website states. \u201cInfraGard chapters are geographically linked with FBI Field Office territories.\u201d<\/p>\n

In November 2001, InfraGard had around 1,700 members. As of late January, InfraGard had 23,682 members, according to its web site<\/a>, which adds that \u201c350 of our nation\u2019s Fortune 500 have a representative in InfraGard.\u201d<\/p>\n

To join, each person must be sponsored by \u201can existing InfraGard member, chapter, or partner organization.\u201d The FBI then vets the applicant. On the application form, prospective members are asked which aspect of the critical infrastructure their organization deals with. These include: agriculture, banking and finance, the chemical industry, defense, energy, food, information and telecommunications, law enforcement, public health, and transportation.<\/p>\n

FBI Director Robert Mueller addressed an InfraGard convention on August 9, 2005. At that time, the group had less than half as many members as it does today. \u201cTo date, there are more than 11,000 members of InfraGard,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom our perspective that amounts to 11,000 contacts . . . and 11,000 partners in our mission to protect America.\u201d He added a little later, \u201cThose of you in the private sector are the first line of defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

He urged InfraGard members to contact the FBI if they \u201cnote suspicious activity or an unusual event.\u201d And he said they could sic the FBI on \u201cdisgruntled employees who will use knowledge gained on the job against their employers.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview with InfraGard after the conference, which is featured prominently on the InfraGard members\u2019 website, Mueller says: \u201cIt\u2019s a great program.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ACLU is not so sanguine.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is evidence that InfraGard may be closer to a corporate TIPS program, turning private-sector corporations-some of which may be in a position to observe the activities of millions of individual customers-into surrogate eyes and ears for the FBI,\u201d the ACLU warned in its August 2004 report The Surveillance- Industrial Complex: How the American Government Is Conscripting Businesses and Individuals in the Construction of a Surveillance Society.<\/p>\n

InfraGard is not readily accessible to the general public. Its communications with the FBI and Homeland Security are beyond the reach of the Freedom of Information Act under the \u201ctrade secrets\u201d exemption, its website says. And any conversation with the public or the media is supposed to be carefully rehearsed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe interests of InfraGard must be protected whenever presented to non-InfraGard members,\u201d the website states. \u201cDuring interviews with members of the press, controlling the image of InfraGard being presented can be difficult. Proper preparation for the interview will minimize the risk of embarrassment. . . . The InfraGard leadership and the local FBI representative should review the submitted questions, agree on the predilection of the answers, and identify the appropriate interviewee. . . . Tailor answers to the expected audience. . . . Questions concerning sensitive information should be avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the advantages of InfraGard, according to its leading members, is that the FBI gives them a heads-up on a secure portal about any threatening information related to infrastructure disruption or terrorism.<\/p>\n

The InfraGard website advertises this. In its list of benefits of joining InfraGard, it states: \u201cGain access to an FBI secure communication network complete with VPN encrypted website, webmail, listservs, message boards, and much more.\u201d<\/p>\n

InfraGard members receive \u201calmost daily updates\u201d on threats \u201cemanating from both domestic sources and overseas,\u201d Hershman says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get very easy access to secure information that only goes to InfraGard members,\u201d Schneck says. \u201cPeople are happy to be in the know.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Nov. 1, 2001, the FBI had information about a potential threat to the bridges of California. The alert went out to the InfraGard membership. Enron was notified, and so, too, was Barry Davis, who worked for Morgan Stanley. He notified his brother Gray, the governor of California.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said his brother talked to him before the FBI,\u201d recalls Steve Maviglio, who was Davis\u2019s press secretary at the time. \u201cAnd the governor got a lot of grief for releasing the information. In his defense, he said, `I was on the phone with my brother, who is an investment banker. And if he knows, why shouldn\u2019t the public know?\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n

Maviglio still sounds perturbed about this: \u201cYou\u2019d think an elected official would be the first to know, not the last.\u201d<\/p>\n

In return for being in the know, InfraGard members cooperate with the FBI and Homeland Security. \u201cInfraGard members have contributed to about 100 FBI cases,\u201d Schneck says. \u201cWhat InfraGard brings you is reach into the regional and local communities. We are a 22,000-member vetted body of subject-matter experts that reaches across seventeen matrixes. All the different stovepipes can connect with InfraGard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schneck is proud of the relationships the InfraGard Members Alliance has built with the FBI. \u201cIf you had to call 1-800-FBI, you probably wouldn\u2019t bother,\u201d she says. \u201cBut if you knew Joe from a local meeting you had with him over a donut, you might call them. Either to give or to get. We want everyone to have a little black book.\u201d<\/p>\n

This black book may come in handy in times of an emergency. \u201cOn the back of each membership card,\u201d Schneck says, \u201cwe have all the numbers you\u2019d need: for Homeland Security, for the FBI, for the cyber center. And by calling up as an InfraGard member, you will be listened to.\u201d She also says that members would have an easier time obtaining a \u201cspecial telecommunications card that will enable your call to go through when others will not.\u201d<\/p>\n

This special status concerns the ACLU.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FBI should not be creating a privileged class of Americans who get special treatment,\u201d says Jay Stanley, public education director of the ACLU\u2019s technology and liberty program. \u201cThere\u2019s no `business class\u2019 in law enforcement. If there\u2019s information the FBI can share with 22,000 corporate bigwigs, why don\u2019t they just share it with the public? That\u2019s who their real `special relationship\u2019 is supposed to be with. Secrecy is not a party favor to be given out to friends. . . . This bears a disturbing resemblance to the FBI\u2019s handing out `goodies\u2019 to corporations in return for folding them into its domestic surveillance machinery.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the government raises its alert levels, InfraGard is in the loop. For instance, in a press release on February 7, 2003, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General announced that the national alert level was being raised from yellow to orange. They then listed \u201cadditional steps\u201d that agencies were taking to \u201cincrease their protective measures.\u201d One of those steps was to \u201cprovide alert information to InfraGard program.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re very much looped into our readiness capability,\u201d says Amy Kudwa, spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security. \u201cWe provide speakers, as well as do joint presentations [with the FBI]. We also train alongside them, and they have participated in readiness exercises.\u201d<\/p>\n

On May 9, 2007, George Bush issued National Security Presidential Directive 51 entitled \u201cNational Continuity Policy.\u201d In it, he instructed the Secretary of Homeland Security to coordinate with \u201cprivate sector owners and operators of critical infrastructure, as appropriate, in order to provide for the delivery of essential services during an emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if the InfraGard National Members Alliance was involved with these plans, Schneck said it was \u201cnot directly participating at this point.\u201d Hershman, chairman of the group\u2019s advisory board, however, said that it was.<\/p>\n

InfraGard members, sometimes hundreds at a time, have been used in \u201cnational emergency preparation drills,\u201d Schneck acknowledges.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn case something happens, everybody is ready,\u201d says Norm Arendt, the head of the Madison, Wisconsin, chapter of InfraGard, and the safety director for the consulting firm Short Elliott Hendrickson, Inc. \u201cThere\u2019s been lots of discussions about what happens under an emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n

One business owner in the United States tells me that InfraGard members are being advised on how to prepare for a martial law situation-and what their role might be. He showed me his InfraGard card, with his name and e-mail address on the front, along with the InfraGard logo and its slogan, \u201cPartnership for Protection.\u201d On the back of the card were the emergency numbers that Schneck mentioned.<\/p>\n

This business owner says he attended a small InfraGard meeting where agents of the FBI and Homeland Security discussed in astonishing detail what InfraGard members may be called upon to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe meeting started off innocuously enough, with the speakers talking about corporate espionage,\u201d he says. \u201cFrom there, it just progressed. All of a sudden we were knee deep in what was expected of us when martial law is declared. We were expected to share all our resources, but in return we\u2019d be given specific benefits.\u201d These included, he says, the ability to travel in restricted areas and to get people out. But that\u2019s not all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen they said when-not if-martial law is declared, it was our responsibility to protect our portion of the infrastructure, and if we had to use deadly force to protect it, we couldn\u2019t be prosecuted,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

I was able to confirm that the meeting took place where he said it had, and that the FBI and Homeland Security did make presentations there. One InfraGard member who attended that meeting denies that the subject of lethal force came up. But the whistleblower is 100 percent certain of it. \u201cI have nothing to gain by telling you this, and everything to lose,\u201d he adds. \u201cI\u2019m so nervous about this, and I\u2019m not someone who gets nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Schneck says that FBI and Homeland Security agents do make presentations to InfraGard, she denies that InfraGard members would have any civil patrol or law enforcement functions. \u201cI have never heard of InfraGard members being told to use lethal force anywhere,\u201d Schneck says.<\/p>\n

The FBI adamantly denies it, also. \u201cThat\u2019s ridiculous,\u201d says Catherine Milhoan, an FBI spokesperson. \u201cIf you want to quote a businessperson saying that, knock yourself out. If that\u2019s what you want to print, fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

But one other InfraGard member corroborated the whistleblower\u2019s account, and another would not deny it.<\/p>\n

Christine Moerke is a business continuity consultant for Alliant Energy in Madison, Wisconsin. She says she\u2019s an InfraGard member, and she confirms that she has attended InfraGard meetings that went into the details about what kind of civil patrol function-including engaging in lethal force-that InfraGard members may be called upon to perform.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been discussions like that, that I\u2019ve heard of and participated in,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Curt Haugen is CEO of S\u2019Curo Group, a company that does \u201cstrategic planning, business continuity planning and disaster recovery, physical and IT security, policy development, internal control, personnel selection, and travel safety,\u201d according to its website. Haugen tells me he is a former FBI agent and that he has been an InfraGard member for many years. He is a huge booster. \u201cIt\u2019s the only true organization where there is the public-private partnership,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s all who knows who. You know a face, you trust a face. That\u2019s what makes it work.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says InfraGard \u201cabsolutely\u201d does emergency preparedness exercises. When I ask about discussions the FBI and Homeland Security have had with InfraGard members about their use of lethal force, he says: \u201cThat much I cannot comment on. But as a private citizen, you have the right to use force if you feel threatened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were assured that if we were forced to kill someone to protect our infrastructure, there would be no repercussions,\u201d the whistleblower says. \u201cIt gave me goose bumps. It chilled me to the bone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew Rothschild is the editor of <\/em>The Progressive magazine and the author of <\/em>You Have No Rights: Stories of America in an Age of Repression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

InfraGard. Coming to a SC neighborhood near you, and keeping an eye on you. To join SC InfraGard go here. Be advised, it is a bit of a secret society composed of CEOs – one of whom has to recommend … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-newscommentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}