Mueller, Memo, and the FISA Court

In one class there is a discussion of FISA and the NSA.  I'm going to assume some of you have at least read headlines about the latest back-and-forth political ping pong on the Mueller investigation, the GOP House roar over an FBI memo that suggests the the bureau and the Justice Department abused their authority to obtain a warrant to spy on a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page

In case you live in a cave, or only care about the latest point spread on the Superbowl game, here's a recap:

On Wednesday,  the FBI was given a day to read the memo and then Christopher A. Wray, the bureau’s director, clashed publicly with President Trump for the first time on Wednesday, condemning a push by House Republicans to release a secret memo that purports to show how the bureau and the Justice Department abused their authority to obtain a warrant to spy on a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page. 

Mr. Trump wants to see the memo released, telling people close to him that he believes it makes the case that F.B.I. and Justice Department officials acted inappropriately when they sought the highly classified warrant in October 2016 on Carter Page. 

The warrant centers on a classified wiretap application the government submitted to a judge in the fall of 2016 that targeted Carter Page, a onetime Trump campaign official who had traveled to Russia in July 2016 and was preparing to return there that December, along with renewal applications. 

The memo has come to the forefront in a string of attempts by Mr. Trump’s allies to shift attention from the special counsel investigation into Russian election meddling and toward the actions of the investigators themselves. Republicans in Congress and in conservative news media have asserted that the memo will show political bias in the early stages of the Russia inquiry.

What does a wiretap have to do with FISA? 
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, signed into law in 1978, requires the government, when eavesdropping on communications on domestic soil for national security purposes, to obtain permission from a judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The judge must agree that the target is probably an agent of a foreign power and will probably use the specific email accounts or phone numbers that the Justice Department wants to wiretap.

What standard must be met to get a FISA wiretap?

To issue a FISA order authorizing investigators to eavesdrop on an American, a judge must agree that there is reason to believe the target was knowingly engaging in clandestine intelligence activities for a foreign power that violate American criminal laws — or is knowingly aiding or conspiring with someone else who is doing that. The article goes on to say that judges rarely deny FISA applications; that the FISA Court is a rubber stamp. Defenders point to the layers of high-level review in the Justice Department

What is in a FISA application?
A typical application ranges from 30 to 100 pages and centers on a factual affidavit by a senior F.B.I. agent working on the investigation at headquarters, which in turn compiles information submitted by other agents in the field. This document primarily explains what evidence the bureau has gathered to establish that a target is probably a foreign agent.

A typical application would also include a legal memorandum by a career Justice Department intelligence lawyer; a certification explaining the purpose and necessity of the requested surveillance and signed by the F.B.I. director; and approval for the broader package signed by a senior, Senate-confirmed Justice Department official — the attorney general, the deputy attorney general or the head of the National Security Division.

Occasionally the package may be supplemented with other materials. For example, it may include a news article to show that an investigation has become public knowledge, which could make it more likely that a target is taking steps to conceal his activities.

If you want to know more about what the Republican memo says, and the political reasons for revealing it, as well as reasons for not revealing government secrets for fear that it undermines national security, then read "How to get a wiretap to spy on Americans, and why that matters now" in the NY Times.  Also read the related articles surrounding this one.  For example, 

• About 25% of Trump’s Re-election Spending Continues to Go to Lawyers FEB 1

• Mueller Zeros In on Story Put Together About Trump Tower Meeting JAN 31

• F.B.I. Condemns Push to Release Secret Republican Memo JAN 31

• The Real Aim of the Nunes Memo Is the Mueller Investigation JAN 30

If you have any questions about this case, or just want to add your opinion, including if you think the NY Times is "fake news," feel free to comment below.

The Essence of Agile

According to Martin Fowler,

It's been over a decade since the developers of agile methods first started to talk about their approaches. In this time agile thinking has changed from a niche activity to an approach that is widely used. However, like any popular technique, agile software development has suffered from semantic diffusion, so much of what we see under the name of agile doesn't bear much resemblance to what the early pioneers were doing. So I think it's important to revisit the essential elements of agile thinking

I've always seen the essence of agile thinking resting on two contrasts with traditional plan-driven software engineering.

Plan-driven engineering expects us to come up with a predictive plan that precedes development. The plan lays out the people, resources and timelines for the overall project. Software design is also done up-front, with implementation expected to conform with this design. Success is measured according to how well development follows this plan. 

Agile plans are a baseline that we use to help us control change. Agile teams plan just as carefully as traditional teams, but the plans are constantly changing to reflect the things we learn during a project. Success is based on value delivered by the software.

Watch the 20-minute video of Martin Fowler explaining the history of software projects with the beginnings of plan-driven engineering (i.e., Waterfall) with agile plans.

Hawaii Missile Mess

This was the message people in Hawaii read and then panic ensued.  Not until 38 minutes after the warning went out did the state issue a correction. Various officials and news organizations beat the state to the “false alarm” message using Twitter and other social media.

Meanwhile, thousands of residents of Hawaii and tourists freaked out.

As the Washington Post reported,  an errant employee actually was working with a drop-down menu on a computer program, from which the official chose the wrong item.   On Monday, state officials released an image of that menu, provided to The Post by Hawaii News Now, and it shed some light on why it might be confusing.

The menu, which triggers alerts, contains a jumble of options, ranging from Amber alerts to Tsunami warnings to road closures. Some of them, such as “High Surf Warning North Shores,” are in plain English.  Others, including the one for a missile attack, “PACOM (CDW)-STATE ONLY,” use shorthand initials. (PACOM refers to the United States Pacific Command based in Hawaii.)
And the menu contained no ballistic missile defense false alarm option — which has now been added at the top of the image, marked up by officials for explanatory purposes.

What's the moral of this story?  Do any of you have any examples of poor interface design (hopefully less catastrophic) that created problems in knowing which button to push, or pushed the wrong one? 

My blog for MIS 441

The purpose of this blog is to:

• Offer links and articles that may benefit some of you in your search for resources (based on your proposal),

• Add more detailed information posted by students' blogs

• Offer posts that I want to blog about, but do not want to clutter your  tech briefing posts on the class blog, 

In short, this blog is tech-related news I found interesting.  You can add your comments here, too.