After reading the Salon article you mentioned, I filed FOIA requests regarding "
Main Core" with NSA, FBI, DHS, DSS, NORTHCOM, STRATCOM, CYBERCOM, and DODIIS. Al
l I got was responses saying that there were no responsive records. Of course, t
his is what happens when almost any information about classified programs is req
uested via FOIA, so I wasn't surprised (FOIA is really just a smokescreen to mak
e people waste their time begging for records they're never going to get, and to
 promote the illusion that citizens have some sort of oversight over "their" gov
ernment).

I sent a letter to the editorial staff at Salon and Democracy Now, which both ra
n stories on this based on "anonymous sources", and pointed out to them that pre
tty much every intelligence agency is responding to FOIA requests saying the top
ic of one of their stories doesn't actually exist. Neither of them responded.

--Jesse


   odinn wrote:

     1) Who might have access to a list known as Main Core? This is such
     an old story that it would seem that some kind of list would now be
     available, but I haven't found it. Has it ever been leaked, FOIA'd,
     successfully released in partially redacted form in some other
     mechanism, or made searchable somewhere?
     [[ Main Core notes / background: Salon reported on Main Core in July
     of 2008 with an article by Tim Shorrock. Apparently, William
     Hamilton, a former NSA intelligence officer who left the agency in
     the 1970s, had heard of Main Core at some point in 1992, according
     to the Salon article. Hamilton, who (was then, and still is)
     president of Inslaw Inc., a computer services firm that includes
     clients in government, indicated that the Bush administration’s
     domestic surveillance operations used Main Core - it is not known if
     it is still used today in 2014. Main Core was first widely reported
     on in May 2008 by Christopher Ketcham and in July 2008 by Tim
     Shorrock, which included in July of 2008 an interview by Amy Goodman
     of Tim Shorrock. However, I am unaware of any release of names,
     e-mails, etc. which might be on this list, and it seemed kind of
     obvious that those who were reporting on it probably had never seen
     the Main Core list. This may involve use of PROMIS software, and
     according to Adm. Dan Murphy (a former military advisor to Elliot
     Richardson who later served under President George H.W. Bush as
     deputy director of the CIA, who 'died' shortly after his meeting in
     2001 with William Hamilton), did not specifically mention Main Core.
     But he informed Hamilton that the NSA’s use of PROMIS involved
     something “so seriously wrong that money alone cannot cure the
     problem.” ]]