A more concise version of this essay was published in today's Albany Times Union as A Huge Gap in Our Security
Returning from a visit
to Texas last month, I was called aside for some further attention at the
Austin-Bergstrom airport. Perhaps the scanner revealed some anomaly of which I
was unaware or maybe a mysterious algorithm randomly selects those to be
singled out for more intensive scrutiny. Whatever the reason, I was patted down
and my hands were tested for explosive residue.
I am not complaining. I
was in Manhattan on 9/11 and have no problem with TSA agents looking at every
airline passenger, no matter how innocent he or she appears, as a possible
terrorist. But the experience got me
thinking. If I were actually a terrorist, wouldn’t I know enough not to smuggle
a weapon onto a plane at this point in history? Would I really be walking into
a security checkpoint laden down with guns and bombs?
I certainly wouldn’t think I could show up at
an airport with four friends carrying boxcutters and buy first class tickets
with cash. And I wouldn’t think I could
conceal a bomb in my shoe like Richard Reid did on a Paris-Miami flight in 2001
nor in my underwear like Umar Abdulmutallab did on Christmas Day, 2009.
I would want to talk
and text with people I can really trust, either here in the US or overseas, who could help me to
come up with a plot so horrific that the FBI hasn’t even imagined it. I’d need
to talk with experts in this field, people whom I could completely trust. These
might be relatives or friends I grew up with. I wouldn’t be stupid enough to contact
such people with the Sprint phone for which I just signed a new two year
contract. Nor would I use my own laptop to exchange friendly emails with well-known
terrorist supporters like Anwar Al-Awlaki, as Major Nidal Hasan did before
massacring 13 of his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood.
Thanks to Edward
Snowden’s revelations, I would now know with absolute certainty that any electronic
communication will be visible to my enemies at the NSA and CIA. But of course, I was already 99% certain of
this.
Jax and Clay rely on their prepaids
So there would be only one
safe way for me and my America-hating friends to plan our next attack. We’d go
to any one of several stores and check out the selection of prepaid cell phones.
We’ve seen Law & Order and The Wire so we know that prepaids are
ideal for any criminal enterprise. To be extra safe, we’ll buy a batch and
throw them away after a single use. That way, even if the NSA picks up our
terrorist chatter, they won’t be able to pin us down.
The only problem is
deciding which phones to buy. The $59 Verizon
at Walmart looks good and has the best network. We also like the AT&T
GoPhone at Best Buy. That
one offers a $10 International Feature package which gives each of us 250
minutes of international calling for 30 days. That should cover any last minute
coordination with allies dodging drones over in Yemen or Pakistan.
No need to attract attention with multiple purchases. The smart
move would be to buy a variety of brands in several stores: a BoostMobile and a
TracPhone in a nearby mall, a couple of T-mobiles at a 7-11, a Verizon 4G LTE Mobile
Hotpsot and a few more Netphones at a Walmart Supercenter on the other side of
town.
By now I’ve convinced myself that real terrorists will have
no trouble evading the multi-billion dollar US surveillance industry. But if
that’s true, why haven’t our elected leaders done something about it?
The Times Square bomber used a prepaid
Well, it turns out that Senator Schumer and Texas Republican
John Cornyn did do something right after the 2010 arrest of Times Square bomber
Faisal Shazad. I was not surprised that
it was Schumer who first took such action. He is my senator and I have long
been impressed by his unflagging energy and attention to in-state needs, even
if I have differed with him on other issues. And the fact that he partnered
with one of the Senate’s most conservative members is also in keeping with his
very pragmatic style.
Senator Schumer had the right idea in 2010
On May 26, 2010 the two senators proposed the first-ever
federal law requiring that buyers’ identities be recorded for all prepaid
phones and SIM cards. In their press release Schumer and Cornyn pointed out
that drug dealers, financial criminals and the 9-11 hijackers had all used
prepaids, and that countries ranging from Germany to Indonesia already required
registration for such phones.
The linking of Shazad to a prepaid was a lucky break. He
used a prepaid to buy the vehicle he tried to blow up in Times Square and
evidently used the same phone to call family in Pakistan. If he had thrown away
the phone after a single use, as Jax and Clay do on Sons of Anarchy, this link could not have been made. Even so, the
bill addressed a real weakness in the fight against terrorism.
But Schumer and Cornyn’s Senate Bill 3427 died quietly in
the
obscure Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee and never came to a vote. And three years later,
prepaids are selling better than ever.
Why that happened I leave to your imagination. An
unwillingness to inconvenience innocent people who rely on prepaid phones? A
respect for journalists who use such phones to communicate with sources? A
sympathy with secret lovers who want to avoid discovery?
A more likely reason for the quiet death of Senate Bill 3427
can be found in the corporate logos found on the array of prepaids at Walmart
and other outlets. Prepaid cellphones and internet devices are a major growth
sector for Verizon, AT&T and other companies as people’s income and credit
ratings fall, and as pay phones vanish from our public places. And as a helpful
clerk at Walmart told me, they are a real bargain and do away with the nuisance
of signing up for long term contracts. She told me she was going to switch to a
prepaid as soon as her Verizon contract expired.
If such phones are a major growth sector, does this mean
that Verizon or AT&T lobbyists would oppose such a bill? Did they, in fact,
make sure that SB 3427 never even came to a vote in committee? Would such
minimal record-keeping be a significant enough expense for the corporations to
block the bill? Well, I have made inquiries to Senator Schumer’s
office trying to find out why the bill died and look forward to their response.
If SB3427 were ever meant to be taken seriously, it is odd
that no companion bill was introduced in the House. Rep. Peter King, for one,
would probably be happy to do a similar bipartisan sponsorship with any number
of Democrats, and he’s on good terms with Senator Schumer. Our local congressmen Republican Chris Gibson and Democrat Paul Tonko are also very good on bipartisan initiatives.But I can find no
evidence that Schumer and Cornyn ever tried to promote such a House bill on
prepaids.
And why, after the fanfare of an announcement and joint
press release by Schumer and Cornyn on May 10, 2010 was 3427 sent to such an
obscure committee as Commerce, Science and Transportation? Both Cornyn and
Schumer are on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security
where they could have argued for their bill and neither are on the committee where
it was sent.
As to Faisal Shazad, the would-be Times Square bomber whose
arrest prompted Schumer’s and Cornyn’s call to arms – He is still referenced on
Schumer’s site but only as the motivation for other initiatives by the senator
which I support, such as a more reasonable allotment of Homeland Security funds
to NYC and additional funding for port security. His only action on phones
since 3427 died, however, was a May 2012 bill making it a federal crime to
tamper with the registry of stolen phones. Admirable, but why is this more
critical than depriving terrorists of an essential communications tool?
Senator Cornyn has also done good work along similar lines:
more funding for port security in Texas, better training for first responders.
Nothing on prepaid cellphones, though, or other easy ways to avoid attention
from the NSA.
And after three years, the sale of prepaids may be on the
verge of overtaking traditional contract-based phones. Prices are dropping and
services increasing. Verizon’s 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot is selling well and offers
an excellent option for making connections with foreign terrorists far from
prying eyes and ears. And if you can afford to throw away the $99 device after
a single use, so much the better.
As I said earlier, I am quite willing to accept a loss of
privacy, as at airports, when it has a real chance of keeping us safer. What I
fail to understand is why our elected leaders do not close this obvious gap in
our national security. And, in fact, seem to be running as fast as possible
away from any attempt to deal with the problem.