Pakistan: US OSAC Spy agency works under cover

Finally, the last thing the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan need is another spy agency operating within their borders.

Pakistan: US OSAC Spy agency works under cover of

1.USAID,

2.Church of JESUS Christ of The Latter Day Saints (Call Themselves Mormons)

3.ConocoPhilips Petroleum,

4.Human Right.ORG, NGOs. Report,CARE

Illegal OSAC Spy Group Operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

STATE DEPARTMENT PROGRAM VIOLATES U.S. LAW

https://www.osac.gov/Pages/Home.aspx

May 11 2014, by Matthew J. Nasuti



A rogue U.S. intelligence agency operates in more than 140 countries including Afghanistan.[HI] It is deceptively called “OSAC,” which stands for the “Overseas Security Advisory Council.” The Director of OSAC is Scott P. Bultrowicz, who is also the director of the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service. OSAC was established in 1985. It is a partnership between U.S. intelligence and security agencies, and U.S. corporations, NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and faith-based organizations. Its Board of Directors (called the “Alumni Committee”) includes representatives from such diverse groups as ConocoPhilips Petroleum, USAID, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Save the Children, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Its “advisors” include representatives from the FBI, U.S. Customs and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
[/HI]The structure of OSAC is somewhat murky.[HI] It operates as part of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security,[/HI] with an unknown number of operatives in Washington, D.C. Within each of the 140 countries overseas, OSAC has a “Steering Committee” based within the U.S. embassy, which is overseen by the RSO (Regional Security Officer). Executive management of OSAC within each country is managed by the OSAC “Coordinator” and [HI]OSAC has more than 4,000 organizations, companies and groups as members[/HI]. The official total and the list of members appear to be classified. The budget for OSAC is buried within the multi-billion budget for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
OSAC was illegally formed and operates illegally because its very existence is contrary to American law. Officially, OSAC is simply one of numerous advisory councils established pursuant to the Federal Advisory Council Act of 1972 (FACA). In fact, with more than 4,000 members, it might be the largest council ever formed. Congress enacted FACA so that private citizens would be able to provide direct input into Federal decision-making. The goal was to establish committees on key legislative and executive issues in order to bring together private and public expertise to solve problems. Section 2 of FACA (Public Law 92-463) sets out the intent of Congress that these committees would provide “useful and beneficial” advice to Executive Branch officials. Congress, when it enacted FACA, did not authorize the creation of a 140-country government/business/NGO security network.
Section 10 of FACA mandates that all of the records of each committee shall be open to public inspection and subject to the Sunshine Act. Instead, most OSAC daily reports, country reports and records are only available to OSAC members who are approved by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Not only are the records classified, but even the membership of OSAC is apparently classified. This is yet another instance where the U.S. Government is blatantly violating the law, and it is doing so with the tacit approval of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. None of these parties seem to understand that once they affirm the propriety of breaking the law, then the door is pushed open to breaking the law in other situations. They also do not seem to understand that each of their officials took an oath to protect the Constitution and obey the law.
[HI]The U.S. Government spends billions of dollars each year on international governance,
democracy [/HI]. Much of that is wasted because of [HI]Obama Administration hipocracy[/HI]. Every year it awards billions of dollars in foreign aid contracts to politically-connected consultants and NGOs. [HI]Up to one third of U.S. Ambassador posts are for sale and can be purchased by making large campaign contributions to the President[/HI]. The U.S. operates illegal and secret prisons with names like “the Kabul Pit”. It conducts illegal bombing raids daily into Pakistan. It rejects the authority of the International Criminal Court over U.S. citizens, but endorses the ICC’s authority over everyone else. It operates illegal intelligence councils. The list goes on and on. Within U.S. foreign policy, there is inconsistent adherence to the rule of law and to basic concepts of accountability.
The moral drift within the Obama Administration is reflected in the June 2012 Pew Global Attitudes Project poll. It revealed a dramatic decline in world opinion about the United States. Pew reports that the drop is due to a loss in confidence in President Obama due to missteps, unpopular policies and indefensible practices around the world. This moral drift ultimately harms the war on terror and increases international support for anti-American groups.
There certainly is a legitimate need for the U.S. Government to provide threat information to American groups and companies that may be targeted by terrorists or criminals, but it cannot use OSAC as a cover for that task, nor should there be a formal Government/NGO intelligence organization.
Another crucial problem with OSAC is that American NGOs need to function separately from the U.S. Government, otherwise they will be seen as simply an extension of that government and a legitimate target of anti-American group. OSAC is therefore counterproductive. One of the issues unanswered with OSAC is whether the briefings are a two-way street. Are American NGOs and faith-based organizations providing intelligence to the U.S. Government in each of these 140 countries, or are they simply receiving threat information from the U.S. Government? The placement of non-government security officers on OSAC’s Board and on its in-country steering committees suggests the former. This would be a dangerous development. It also raises the question, “Are NGOs an increasing target of terrorists because they are American in origin or because they are increasingly seen as being partnered with the U.S. Government?” If the latter, then OSAC is doing more harm than good.
Finally, there are many unanswered questions about OSAC. There apparently is an OSAC committee on Iran, even thought there is no U.S. diplomatic presence in the country. What is the mission of that committee? If the U.S. Department of State, through its Bureau of Diplomatic Security, wants to compete with the CIA by establishing its own intelligence service around the world, partnered with over 4,000 U.S. businesses and NGOs, it should return to Congress and seek authorization for such a massive and duplicative effort.
In conclusion, OSAC is unlawful, it is counter-productive in its current form, and the contempt that the State Department shows for the laws of Congress should disturb members of Congress who routinely rubber-stamp the [HI]State Department’s annual $50 billion budget. Finally, the last thing the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan need is another spy agency operating within their borders.

Document: US increases spying operation on Pakistan

The United States has increased its spying operation on Pakistan, a US regional ally, according to top-secret budget documents.

In a series of revelations that have put the US intelligence community under a spotlight, The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the CIA has expanded its effort to gather intelligence on Pakistan in a bid to address US concerns about “biological and chemical sites” in the Asian country. 

The operation was also seeking “to assess the loyalties of counterterrorism sources recruited by the CIA,” the newspaper said citing the 178-page summary of the US intelligence community’s “black budget.” 

“Pakistan appears at the top of charts listing critical US intelligence gaps. It is named as a target of newly formed analytic cells. And fears about the security of its nuclear program are so pervasive that a budget section on containing the spread of illicit weapons divides the world into two categories: Pakistan and everybody else,” the Post said. 

The disclosures are based on documents provided to the American paper by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who first leaked US surveillance programs in June and subsequently fled to Hong Kong and then Russia, where he remains after being granted temporary asylum. 

Washington has given Islamabad $26 billion in aid over the past 12 years, seeking the Pakistani support in its war against the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. 

The CIA spying operation exposes broad new levels of distrust between the two allies. 

“If the Americans are expanding their surveillance capabilities, it can only mean one thing,” the Post quoted Husain Haqqani, who until 2011 served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, as saying. “The mistrust now exceeds the trust.” 

US spy services also carried out 231 “offensive cyber-operations” in 2011 alone, targeting Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, according to the documents. 

The United States has built an “intelligence-gathering colossus” with a whopping “black budget” of $52.6 billion for the current fiscal year. 

 

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US-Pakistan spy wars hit flood relief as aid workers get caught in dragnet

Nearly one million Pakistanis are still homeless, but charities hampered by fallout from Osama bin Laden killing

Flood victims in Pakistan

One million Pakistanis are still homeless and in need of aid after last summer’s floods. Photograph: David Berehulak/Reuters
Last summer aid workers in Pakistan battled with epic floods that affected 20 million people, destroyed crops and inundated one-fifth of the country. A year later they find themselves in a very different imbroglio: the escalating spy war between the US and Pakistan.
With millions of flood victims still in urgent need of aid, western charities say their efforts are being hit by the fallout from Osama bin Laden‘s death as the government hunts for CIA spies. Stringent visa regulations and restrictions on movement by the military are causing long delays, increasing costs and affecting the delivery of aid to areas hit by floods and the conflict with the Taliban.

Last month a young American aid worker with Catholic Relief Services was brought to court for visa irregularities, imprisoned for nine days, then deported. British agencies say their staff have fallen under the microscope of Pakistan’s spy service, the ISI, with officials visiting field offices and introducing restrictions on travel.

“We’ve seen gradual restrictions on movement and longer processing time for visas,” said a spokesman for the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum, which represents 40 aid groups.

The crackdown started after CIA agent Raymond Davis shot and killed two Pakistanis in Lahore last January, and intensified after the killing of Bin Laden in Abbottabad on 2 May.

Aid workers in Sukkur, a southern city at the heart of flood relief efforts, started to complain of regular visits from intelligence officers and police. In Jacobabad, location of a sensitive airbase, agencies were told that visiting certain areas now required a “no objection certificate” – an official letter of permission.

“The authorities have started paying more attention to who is in the country and what they are doing,” said Michael O’Brien of the Red Cross.

Pakistani embassies abroad have also started to restrict access. “It’s making things extremely difficult,” said Paul Healy of Trocaire, an Irish aid agency. “Before, we could get a visa for a technical expert in one week; now it takes 10.”

The greatest impact is in north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the source of last year’s floods, and where 850,000 civilians have been made homeless by fighting between the army and the Taliban. Aid workers now require permission to visit previously open areas, such as Kohistan and Shangla near the Swat valley. Applications are vetted by the army’s 11th Corps, which runs local military operations; the UN says 43 no-objection certificates are outstanding there.

One European aid manager said he had been unable to send staff to his rural project for more than a month because of the restrictions. “We’re being bundled in with diplomats and other foreign-service nationals. They need to be educated about who we are – and that is not CIA agents,” he said.

“Quite a lot of the population are affected by both floods and conflict,” said a British aid worker. “The irony is that they’re getting half the help, even though the needs may be twice as great.” The aid worker, like several others, spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing discrimination from the authorities.

The National Disaster Management Authority, which oversees disaster relief, said it was issuing travel permits on a priority basis. “We are committed to facilitate aid workers in their pursuit of assisting affected communities,” said spokesman Brigadier Sajid Naeem.

Tensions were exacerbated by news that the CIA ran a fake vaccination programme in Abbottabad to identify the occupants of Bin Laden’s house. “It’s adding fuel to the fire in terms of mistrust,” said a senior UN official. “Now the Pakistanis can say ‘We were right all along – these NGOs are only doing spy work.’ “

Médecins Sans Frontières said the CIA operation was “a dangerous abuse of medical care” that would compromise humanitarian work.

The bureaucracy and spy intrigues coincide with a serious crisis. Some 800,000 families still lack permanent shelter and more than 1 million people require food aid, according to Oxfam. In places the price of bricks has quadrupled, making it impossible for survivors to rebuild their homes. A UN appeal to help families get back on their feet has a $600m (£366m) shortfall.

Then there is the psychological toll. “People are still afraid of the sound of running water,” said Suzanna Akasha, a psycho-social expert from the Danish Red Cross. “They have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep.”

The monsoons started last week in northern Punjab and, although rainfall is normal so far, last year’s devastation left vast numbers vulnerable to hunger and illness. The US says 2 million people will be affected this year, though contingency plans are based on 7 million being affected should the weather deteriorate.

Tensions between US and Pakistani spies continue to bubble. Last week an American convoy entering Peshawar was sent back to Islamabad because, officials said, it lacked the correct paperwork. Peshawar has been largely open to foreigners but the ISI is keen to rein in the activities of a CIA station presumed to operate from the American consulate there.

In Washington, the FBI recently arrested the director of a lobby group focused on Kashmir that they allege is a ISI front; if convicted, he faces up to five years in prison. As the ISI scours Pakistan for undeclared CIA agents, aid workers worry about getting caught in the dragnet. Some accuse the United Nations of not doing enough to push their case with the government. “They’re asleep, as in Rip Van Winkle,” said one.

A UN official said that some aid workers were “over-reacting”. “Certainly the situation has resulted in mistrust,” she said. “But they come into the country for a short period, they don’t know the system, and they overreact.”

Under pressure

The gods have been cruel to Pakistan. The country had barely recovered from the 2005 earthquake which killed 73,000 people when the 2010 floods struck.

The Indus river swelled, wreaking havoc on a huge scale: causing 2,000 deaths and the destruction of 1.5m homes, enough farmland to cover the UK and the displacement of 11 million people.

The crisis continues today. Some districts suffer malnutrition rates on a par with sub-Saharan Africa. In others, child labour has risen by a third as parents struggle to earn a living.

Some children are turning to drugs to combat their traumas. “As always, it’s the weakest who suffer most,” said Marco Aviotti of the medical charity, Merlin.

Worryingly, the country is ill-prepared for another flood, with a rickety disaster management system. But money is scarce: the government owes $59bn to various agencies, tax collection remains disastrously low, and the economy is dependent on the IMF.

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