Washington Post’s Dan Eggen reports tonight for Tuesday’s paper that “more than a dozen” Democrats in the U.S. House are now calling on “Republican leaders” to open an investigation into the U.S. Chamber of Commerce plot which had been set to target the Rightwing lobbying firms’ perceived political enemies (which turned out to include me and my family at the top of their list, as reported in detail previously) with a proposed $12 million smear, forgery, fraud, and disinformation campaign.
While the Democrats letter calling for a Congressional probe will not be released until Tuesday [Update: The full text of the letter is now posted at the end of this article below], Eggen’s reportage makes it clear that their concerns focus on the same disturbing point which we highlighted in one of our first detailed reports on this matter. Namely, that the Chamber’s law firm Hunton & Williams was organizing the plot with three government-contracted cyber-security/intelligence firms that had planned to turn tools developed for the “War on Terror” against U.S. citizens, journalists, and progressive organizations [emphasis added]…
In a letter to be released Tuesday, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and more than a dozen other lawmakers wrote that the e-mails appear “to reveal a conspiracy to use subversive techniques to target Chamber critics,” including “possible illegal actions against citizens engaged in free speech.”
The lawmakers say it is “deeply troubling” that “tactics developed for use against terrorists may have been unleashed against American citizens.”
As we also noted some weeks ago, Eggen reports, “The companies proposed forming a ‘corporate information reconnaissance cell’ and discussed tactics such as creating online personas to infiltrate activist Web sites; planting false information to embarrass U.S. Chamber Watch and other groups; and trolling for personal information using powerful computer software.”
Those “other groups” would include the non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization VelvetRevolution.us, as co-founded by The BRAD BLOG, in response to VR’s StopTheChamber.com campaign launched in late 2009 to help expose the U.S. Chamber’s perfidy and mafia-like tactics in their extremist Rightwing corporate “advocacy”. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the nation’s largest corporate lobbying firm and has spent millions in disinformation campaigns fighting against clean energy legislation and health care insurance reform, just to name two of their recent projects.
While a Congressional investigation would normally be a no-brainer in a plot as pernicious as the one exposed here — revealed by the release of tens of thousands of emails detailing highly dubious, and most likely illegal, schemes of this sort — the fact that the U.S. Chamber and its member corporations also spent millions as the top funders of Republican Congressional campaigns in 2010 makes the likelihood of such hearings questionable in the now-GOP-controlled House.
A letter to Attorney General Eric Holder at the Department of Justice, demanding a special prosecutor be assigned to this case would be equally, if not more appropriate. Unfortunately, the DoJ is also compromised in this affair, having been the ones, incredibly enough, to refer the Chamber’s law firm Hunton & Williams to the Bank of America for a parallel plot with the same three private security firms, in order to target WikiLeaks with a focus on discrediting their perceived supporters such as Salon journalist Glenn Greenwald. Given the DoJ’s dubious involvement here, it seems similarly unlikely that they would take up such an investigation themselves either, but a letter calling for same from Congressional members might help.
In more new developments in this story tonight…
Aaron Barr, the CEO of HBGary Federal, one of the three cyber-security firms whose emails were originally stolen and released by the “hacktivist” collective Anonymous, exposing the insidious plot three weeks ago, has finally resigned from the company. What took ya so long, Aaron?
Barr had been a key driver of the scheme being developed for the Chamber, and the reason that Anonymous originally decided to hack the company’s website and data servers after he’d bragged about a plan to expose the names of some of the supposed leaders of the group.
Barr and HBGary were subsequently used as convenient scapegoats by the other two firms involved, Palantir Technologies and Berico Technologies (together calling themselves “Team Themis”), though it later became clear via the released emails that top officials at both of those firms, as well as at least three lawyers at the powerful law firm Hunton & Williams, were very much a part of the plot’s development.
The three attorneys at H&W, John W. Woods, Richard L. Wyatt Jr., and Robert T. Quackenboss participated in the development of the scheme, according to the emails, and appear to have failed to issue any objections despite the plans to plant false documents, create “fake personas” to infiltrate the progressive organizations opposing the Chamber, and to target leaders of the groups and their families in hopes of discrediting them by exploiting “pressure points” in hopes of intimidating them.
Last week, VelvetRevolution/StopTheChamber filed a notice of complaint against the three attorneys with the D.C. Bar Counsel’s Board of Professional Responsibility. The 14-page complaint [PDF] details “an extended pattern of unethical behavior that included likely criminal conduct,” involving an apparent conspiracy “to engage in domestic spying, fraud, forgery, extortion, cyber stalking, defamation, harassment, destruction of property, spear phishing, identity theft, computer scraping, cyber attacks, interference with business, civil rights violations, harassment, and theft.”
The complaint filing was covered last week by Legal Times and on Monday by the Washington Post. I am on the road for the next week or so, so have been having trouble keeping up. But as time allows, I hope to cover the VR complaint in a bit more detail, as it offers some important, previously unreported points.
Other targets of the scheme are similarly considering bar complaints as well as possible civil action against the parties involved.
UPDATE: Rep. Hank Johnson’s announcement about the letter is here, the PDF version is here, a text version follows in full below…
Honorable Darrell Issa Chairman, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Honorable Lamar Smith, Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary
Honorable Mike Rogers, Chairman, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Honorable Howard McKeon, Chairman, Armed Services Committee
Dear Chairman Issa, Chairman Smith, Chairman Rogers and Chairman McKeon,
We ask that your Committee immediately begin an investigation with hearings into the issues raised by recent reports alleging that three federal defense and intelligence agency data security contractors, and a leading law firm, planned a “dirty-tricks” campaign that included possible illegal actions against citizens engaged in free speech.
A series of email messages recently published on the Internet indicates that defense data security contractors HB Gary Federal, Palantir Technologies and Berico Technologies (collectively calling themselves “Team Themis”) and the law firm of Hunton & Williams planned a campaign to sabotage and discredit critics of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, including U.S. Chamber Watch, the union federation Change to Win, the Center for American Progress, the Service Employees International Union and other organizations.
The published correspondence appears to reveal a conspiracy to use subversive techniques to target Chamber critics. The techniques may have been developed at U.S. government expense to target terrorists and other security threats. The emails indicate that these defense contractors planned to mine social network sites for information on Chamber critics; planned to plant “false documents” and “fake insider personas” that would be used to discredit the groups; and discussed the use of malicious and intrusive software (“malware”) to steal private information from the groups and disrupt their internal electronic communications.
Given evidence of their proposal to infiltrate computer systems, discredit and disrupt the operations of U.S. advocacy groups, Team Themis and Hunton and Williams may have conspired to carry out or previously carried out actions in violation of federal law, including:
· Forgery under 10 USC §923
· Mail and Wire Fraud under 18 USC §1341 and 18 USC §1343
· Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with Computers 18 USC §1030
The possibility that any one of these crimes was committed warrants investigation. It is deeply troubling to think that tactics developed for use against terrorists may have been unleashed against American citizens. The central questions at issue here are:
· Did the government contractors violate any federal laws?
· Are there adequate laws in place to protect American citizens from intrusive and/or unethical electronic surveillance tactics?
· Were government resources inappropriately used to target American citizens?
Possible proof the defense and security contractors may have traded on their government work is inferred by a November 3, 2010, sales proposal from Team Themis to Hunton & Williams: “Who better to develop a corporate information reconnaissance capability than companies that have been market leaders within the [Defense Department] and Intelligence Community?”
We are prepared to assist the Committee in gathering the necessary and relevant information to conduct appropriate hearings. At a minimum, we submit that the Committee may wish to obtain any correspondence and documents from the parties concerning the planned campaign and any other similar activities, including the government contracts under which the contractors in question have been paid millions of dollars.
Particularly as events continue to develop around the world, we can all agree that free and open debate, discussion and criticism as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution are absolutely necessary to a healthy and vibrant democracy. We must guarantee not just free spoken, print and broadcast media but unfettered Internet and electronic communication as well. Citizens who exercise their rights should not be the victims of illegal and insidious electronic attack any more than peaceful protesters should be the victims of intimidation or physical violence.
Enclosed you will find a packet of summary information describing the parties and recently revealed events in more detail.
The emails and documents that have come to light thus far provide a window into a deeply concerning set of circumstances, but not all of the facts are known. We believe it is therefore incumbent upon the Committee to investigate this matter thoroughly and with the utmost urgency. We appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to working with you.
Sincerely,
Hank Johnson, Keith Ellison, Luis Gutiérrez, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Sheila Jackson Lee, Chris Murphy, Edolphus Towns, Betty Sutton, Peter Welch, Raàºl Grijalva, Bruce Braley, Mike Honda, Barbara Lee, Jim McDermott, Tim Ryan, Pete Stark, Maxine Waters, Bob Filner, Barney Frank, Donna Edwards
CC: Rep. Elijah Cummings
CC: Rep. Jonn Conyers
CC: Rep. C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger
CC: Rep. Christopher Smith
CC: Sen. Patrick Leahy
CC: Sen Diane Feinstein
CC: Sen. Carl Levin
For much more the U.S. Chamber Plot, please see the links below for The BRAD BLOG’s previous coverage of this disturbing story…
2/20/11: VIDEO: ‘Hacker News Network’ and ‘GRITtv’ Cover U.S. Chamber Disinfo/Smear Plot
2/15/11:
Special Green News Report on the U.S. Chamber Plot
2/14/11: Late Updates on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Plot to Target, Discredit, Defraud Political Enemies
I won’t hold my breath waiting for the House members/employees of GOP, Inc. to investigate their own.
Unless this goes more mainstream, they will just say it doesn’t deserve being investigated. This is a can of worms they don’t want to open.
“A letter to Attorney General Eric Holder at the Department of Justice, demanding a special prosecutor be assigned to this case would be equally, if not more appropriate. Unfortunately, the DoJ is also compromised in this affair, having been the ones, incredibly enough, to refer the Chamber’s law firm Hunton & Williams to the Bank of America for a parallel plot with the same three private security firms, in order to target WikiLeaks with a focus on discrediting their perceived supporters such as Salon journalist Glenn Greenwald.”
I really dig your work Brad and I understand your desire to see this through. Maybe you could eventually get lucky and have your case heard in front of a sympathetic judge who buck the system and then rush to a judgment before their team of lawyer were to wear you down with a burden of legal fees you couldn’t possibly afford.
Unfortunately, it’s called the “Just Us” Department for good reason. These people don’t investigate themselves and if they did, it would be like the 9-11 Commission or the Kennedy Investigation. The ruling power does what it wants. You can weigh your options but have plan B and C ready. Fck these bastards!
Incredibly enough, H&W was recommended to BofA by the U.S. Dept. of Justice.
—
NORFOLK
Cassandra M. Chandler, once the highest-ranking black woman at the FBI, announced Thursday that she will retire from the bureau after serving two years as the special agent in charge of the Norfolk office.
Chandler has held a range of investigative and management positions at the FBI since becoming an agent in 1985. Before taking over the Norfolk office, she served as assistant director of the FBI’s national public affairs office in Washington.
It feels like I just got here,” Chandler said Thursday. “This has just been one of the best moves I’ve made. I feel like I am a very big part of the community.”
Her last day will be Dec. 31. Following that, she will begin a new career as an investigative services executive with Bank of America in Charlotte, N.C. Her job will involve developing strategies to detect, mitigate and investigate both internal and external fraud, according to Bank of America. In other words, she will develop plans to ferret out cheats, particularly those involved in identity theft.
http://bcove.me/xh82za7f
Maybe an independent investigator should be called in for the US Justice Dept. Matt Taibbi has a great article in this months Rolling Stone re. the collusion between the Justice Dept. and banking. I was going to give a quote by a senator from the article until I remembered Brad doesn’t allow foul language.
The article Molly refers to is:
From Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone: Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail?
Taibbi argues that the symbiotic relationship between the Justice Department and Wall Street has “evolved into a highly effective mechanism for protecting financial criminals. “¦the shocking pattern of nonenforcement with regard to Wall Street is so deeply ingrained in Washington that it raises a profound and difficult question about the very nature of our society: whether we have created a class of people whose misdeeds are no longer perceived as crimes, almost no matter what those misdeeds are.”
It is the same concept of impunity referenced in my recent article relating to Koch Industries.
Molly @ 5:
Actually, I quoted that Taibbi article a week or so ago here: https://bradblog.com/?p=8358
Beyond that, we have no language restrictions at all. Have at it. 🙂
Good Luck in getting the Congressional Oversight & Gov Reform Committee to do anything about the US Chamber. They wouldn’t even do it when Waxman controlled the committee. 2008 Video of an author of a fraudulent medico-legal policy paper for the US Chamber, Bruce Kelman, literally laughing at the thought that Waxman, when Chair of the Congressional Oversight & Gov Reform would investigate, even when unions and non-profits representing thousands requested he do so and being fully aware of how many US citizens are being harmed by this fraud. http://www.blip.tv/file/1179464/#
As far as the Chamber using dirty tricks to stop those who speak of their deceit. Good luck on stopping that one, too. I have been living it for six years. In 2005, I was the first to publicly write how the Chamber got their unclean hands into US health policy over the mold issue. Kelman sued me for malice claiming my phrase, “altered his under oath statements” was a malicious accusation of perjury. He then proceeded to use perjury to establish needed reason for malice. The CA courts are dirty. They ALL turned a blind eye to irrefutable evidence of Kelman’s perjury. Now, Kelman is seeking to have me gagged for words of which I was not even sued. I am highly anticipated it will be granted to cover up what the courts did to aid and abet the US Chamber and its author of fraudulent policy by aiding and abetting with a strategic litigation carried out by criminal means on behalf of the interests of the US Chamber and the insurance industy. BTW, this is taking place in Vista, CA, which is Darrel Issa’s district. Video of Kelman and me discussing his perjury in depositions, the damage it has done to me (with the courts ignoring the irrefutable evidence, including the Ca Supreme Court – twice) and that they tried to use this case to force me to endorse the fraud in science of the US Chamber. http://www.blip.tv/file/2063366/#
In Oct of 2006, I was able to get the late Sen.Kennedy to order a federal GAO audit of the issue, which has helped to set the science straight, but not completely rid the deceit.
Unfortunately, in Feb of 2007, Kennedy specifically deleted from the audit of looking into who had the conflicts of interest. The answer was known that it was the US Chamber because the Wall Street Journal ran an article on the matter in Jan of 2007. http://www.moldwarriors.com/SK/...neJan92007.pdf
Its a game in DC when the Chamber is involved. I can assure you that HGBary is just one of many who does this type of bidding for the Chamber. Democracy IS in SERIOUS trouble. I know. I have been living with the loss of it for six years.
It has cost me everything not to shut up while the courts play politics and reward criminal perjury by a US Chamber author – and are now trying to shut me up about that, too. Most of it is here, in this evidenced posting about Justice McConnell, Chair of the CA Comm. on Judicial Performance and what she and her underling judges have done to aid the US Chamber:
http://katysexposure.wordpress....-an-author-of/