White House Chat Room Spy Program Disclosed
A senior White House official recently acknowledged the existence of a secret program of spying on domestic internet chat rooms and public forums. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. According to the spokesperson, the goal of the program was to “flush out” those people who would “do harm” to the nation.
The covert program, dubbed Operation Provocateur, employed hundreds of agents who monitored the postings on thousands of internet chat room sites and other public forums. The agents concentrated their surveillance primarily on political chat rooms and would frequently post staunchly conservative viewpoints and then monitor the replies to their comments. Another tactic employed by the agents was to post “radical leftist” viewpoints and then keep tabs on those who endorsed their extremist positions.
The program, headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area, is equipped with the latest government internet tracking software supercomputers. Agents often present themselves as “locals” on various regional chat rooms and forums. Extensive files were kept on regular posters to the chat rooms or forums, classifying each according to perceived “dangerousness”. Those believed to be the most dangerous would be identified by tracking their internet protocol (IP) address, then “aggressively targeted” through clandestine surveillance of their daily activities, e-mails, and associates.
When asked about the funding of Operation Provocateur, the White House official stated that he believed the money to support these activities came out of a previously unknown White House “Black-Ops” slush fund. The secret program was established in early 2004 and was the brain child of Dick Cheney, who argued vociferously for the program, stating, “There are many out there that would seek to do us grave harm and this program will help us to ‘flush them out of the woodwork’ before they can accomplish their goals of destroying the American way of life.
A spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said that its organization had just learned of the existence of Operation Provocateur and vowed that the organization would do everything in its powers to stop this unprecedented government invasion of the rights of American citizens.
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