Your June 12 article, 'GSA fleshes out intrusion net plan,' states that the Federal Information Detection Network (FIDNet) 'first caught the attention of the nonvendor community last July when a newspaper erroneously reported that the program would monitor both federal and privatesector networks.'
Your June 12 article, "GSA fleshes out intrusion net plan," states that the Federal Information Detection Network (FIDNet) "first caught the attention of the non-vendor community last July when a newspaper erroneously reported that the program would monitor both federal and private-sector networks."
Based on information I had at the time and details I have learned since this story was first reported last year, I am confident that the original intent of FIDNet, as described in a leaked copy of the draft National Infrastructure Assurance plan, was to collect information from both the government and the private sector, with the latter providing information via private-sector information sharing and analysis centers.
Internet surveillance information from both sources would have been collected and fused by a central repository at the General Services Administration and forwarded as required to the FBI. This much was admitted to by a senior White House source.
I believe I was the first person to report on the wide surveillance aspects of FIDNet for the Paris-based Intelligence newsletter. This was subsequently reported by The New York Times. I continue to stand by my original story.
Wayne Madsen
Senior Fellow
Electronic Privacy Information Center
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