One word of advice to all the protesters there: Do not believe that your cellphones or your computers are clean and uncompromised. I guarantee you that they’re using the entire suite of surveillance devices. I know that people have been complaining that their cellphones have been down, their internet has been down. That can be caused by surveillance weaponry targeting their devices. It could be because there are so many people using them. But my guess would be that they are using people’s devices, meaning law enforcement and private security, as geo-tracking devices. And people should be very aware that the full CIA/NSA-developed suite of tools that now have made it into the hands of local law enforcement in this country are most certainly trained on those activists and their supporters.
Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of The Intercept, on surveillance at Standing Rock. Private security firm TigerSwan, which has links to the now-defunct mercenary firm Blackwater, is in charge of coordinating intelligence for the Dakota Access pipeline company. Read more →
