Staff Blog
The mysterious institute that spied on Pa. anti-drilling activists
Last night, Governor Rendell called reports prepared for the state by the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response (ITRR) — which covertly monitored the activities of anti-drilling activists (along with such terroristic events as a gay rights parade) — "ludicrous."
He also said the state would not renew its $125,000 contract with the company.
But who and what is the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response? The answer isn't obvious.
The company is based in Philadelphia, and appears to have had some interaction with Philadelphia University; its website says it will host a "Hometown Crisis Management" seminar at the university this October.
Co-directors are listed as Aaron Richman, a former Israeli police captain, and Michael Perelman, a former York police commander.
Although the group claims nonprofit status on its website and is listed as a nonprofit corporation by the Pennsylvania Department of State, a search on websites Guidestar.org and IRS.gov yielded no indication that the organization enjoys tax-exempt status. An email seeking clarification of the group's nonprofit status was not returned.
Co-Director Perelman, when questioned directly about the company's nonprofit status, told CP over the phone only that "We're releasing a statement, and that's all you're going to hear from us."
ITRR's website calls the company "the preeminent Israeli/American security firm providing training, intelligence and education to clients across the globe." It describes its "Targeted Action Monitoring Center" as "no clipping service, but a powerful fusion center of battle-tested operatives, analysts, and researchers who have real-life experience fighting both terrorists and criminal entities [...] distinguished among other agencies by its access to a vast network of on-the-ground key-sources in virtually every region of the world."
Yet records of the exact nature of its work — outside of the recent scandal, that is — are scant.
A LexisNexis news search for the group's name yields little, and there exists virtually no mention of the group anywhere in the mainstream media. What few hits do appear correspond mostly to a small number of reports in trade publications on "lessons learned" from international incidents of terrorism and one report, by an intern, on the use of Twitter by "religious, anarchists, anti-government, and anti-globalization," extremists.
Beyond that, the group appears to have appeared at a 2008 Philadelphia "Emergency Preparedness and Prevention and Hazmat Spills Conference," sponsored by the EPA, which included among its speakers ITRR directors Richman on "counter-terrorism techniques" and Perelman on "unlawful tactics used by eco-terrorists and anarchists."
The only other publicized activity of ITRR appears to be a series of educational trips to Israel the group seems to have put together. An article by an Arizona State University teacher, published in the Journal of Counter-terrorism and Homeland Security International, describes a trip by ASU students to Israel in partnership with ITRR.
"Among the many subjects ITRR introduced to the students was the importance of public-private partnerships. The underlying message was that government alone cannot protect the country; private industry must also play a large role in national security."
Another document — the only document, in fact, under the heading "client feedback" on the ITRR website — appears to be a "student report," apparently by a Philadelphia University student, describing a trip by PU students to Israel with ITRR for a "Mass Casualty and Terrorism Workshop."
Philadelphia University public relations director Deborah Goldberg told CP in a statement that Richman is an assistant professor in the school's Disaster Medicine and Management Program, and that the program:
"... has co-sponsored two educational seminars with ITRR aimed at security professionals. The second meeting, scheduled for Oct. 22, also is co-sponsored by the International Association for Counterterrorism & Security Professionals, a leading international association for security professionals."
Stay tuned to the Clog for updates.
Look deeper. The company that did the surveillance for Pennsylvania is part of Blackwater.
TRC = Terrorism Research Center = Owned by Erik Prince and Blackwater
In other words, blackwater is now being paid by the gov’t to spy on regular citizens.
Steve
‘Terrorism Research Center’ is not the ‘Institute of Terrorism Response and Research’. Unless you can somehow prove it is, there’s no point in saying such a thing. The issue of private companies acting in an intelligence capacity for governments and corporations is very important, so try to be accurate and thoughtful about it.
FOCUS, people. Stop imagining conspiracy theories so that you can actually see what’s going on when it happens.
[...] The mysterious institute that spied on Pa. anti-drilling activistsPhiladelphia Citypaper (blog)… Pennsylvania Department of State, a search on websites Guidestar.org and IRS.gov yielded no indication that the organization enjoys tax-exempt status. …and more » [...]
Solid article – I pulled the stuff off ITRR’s site and posted it here for ease of skimmin around – http://www.scribd.com/my_document_collections/2624874
Take note for example of talking about how good they are at collecting grant programs in one document… quite a hustle!
When an Israeli thing is telling us, in this country, about the use of Twitter by “religious, anarchists, anti-government, and anti-globalization,” extremists—don’t you see what that is? Israel killed dozens on the Liberty in 1967—they knew it was US sailors, and Israel sells US secrets to China while Israel saps us for billions every year so they can ignore US presidents and try to colonize Palestinians, apartheid style. Of course they’re trying to foul the nest here.
More proof Mossad owns the US govt and did 911 for its own benefit.
Just when you thought COINTELPRO was a bad thing of the past,you ain’t seen nothing yet.Government and corporate entities now have the resources money and technology to out soviet the big bad EVIL EMPIRE.
[...] Via [...]
CIA/Mossad monitoring of any group showing awareness, so they can infiltrate, smear, or otherwise counter to prevent truths from becoming known…these people are nutjobs
to view a partial list of crimes committed by FBI agents over 1500 pages long see
forums.signonsandiego. com/showthread.php?t=59139
to view a partial list of FBI agents arrested for pedophilia see
campusactivism. org/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=29
also see
ctka.net/pr500-king.html
[...] mission to protect public infrastructure. Madsen, citing a story published on late Wednesday by the Philadelphia Citypaper, revealed that the “non-profit” operates not only out of Philadelphia, but Israel as [...]
[...] mission to protect public infrastructure. Madsen, citing a story published on late Wednesday by the Philadelphia Citypaper, revealed that the “non-profit” operates not only out of Philadelphia, but Israel as [...]
[...] The mysterious institute that spied on Pa. anti-drilling activists :: The Clog :: Blog Archive :: St… [...]
[...] mission to protect public infrastructure. Madsen, citing a story published on late Wednesday by the Philadelphia Citypaper, revealed that the “non-profit” operates not only out of Philadelphia, but Israel as [...]
[...] mission to protect public infrastructure. Madsen, citing a story published on late Wednesday by the Philadelphia Citypaper, revealed that the “non-profit” operates not only out of Philadelphia, but Israel as [...]
Awake from your slumber; Get ‘em with the numbers
[...] mission to protect public infrastructure. Madsen, citing a story published on late Wednesday by the Philadelphia Citypaper, revealed that the “non-profit” operates not only out of Philadelphia, but Israel as [...]
[...] mission to protect public infrastructure. Madsen, citing a story published on late Wednesday by the Philadelphia Citypaper, revealed that the “non-profit” operates not only out of Philadelphia, but Israel as [...]
[...] ludicrous? Even PA governor Fat Eddy thinks so. Libertarians think that nobody should be spying on people, even government agents. [...]
[...] | September 20, 2010 Thanks to the vigilance of the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, a fusion center hired without competitive bidding by the Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security, we now know that [...]
[...] to protect public infrastructure. Madsen, citing a story published on late Wednesday by the Philadelphia Citypaper, revealed that the “non-profit” operates not only out of Philadelphia, but Israel as [...]
[...] The mysterious institute that spied on Pa. anti-drilling activists http://citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2010/09/15/the-mysterious-agency-that-spied-on-pa-drilling-activists... [...]
[...] The mysterious institute that spied on Pa. anti-drilling activists [...]
[...] Thompson of the Philadelphia City Paper describes a similar trip conducted for students of Philadelphia University: Another document — the only document, in fact, [...]
[...] expand war of terror, raid antiwar activists* spying on its citizens: as american as apple pie* the mysterious institute that spied on pennsylvania anti-drilling activists* pennsylvania’s homeland security chief goes in hiding* counter-terror operation stops [...]
[...] expand war of terror, raid antiwar activists* spying on its citizens: as american as apple pie* the mysterious institute that spied on pennsylvania anti-drilling activists* pennsylvania’s homeland security chief goes in hiding* counter-terror operation stops [...]
[...] Ah sĂ, y el más reciente de varios escándalos que han marcado el trayectoria polĂtica de Ed Rendell se base en las actividades de espionaje contra grupos pacĂficos por su Departamento Estatal de Seguridad de la Patria. Con la demagogia de siempre Rendell golpeĂł el podio y gritĂł “¡QUÉ VERGĂśENZA! ¡YO NO SABĂŤA!” Claro que no. Por supuesto que no. ÂżCĂłmo hubiera posible sospechar que el israelĂ-americano Instituto para la InvestigaciĂłn y Respuesta al Terrorismo hubiera sido capaz de enviar boletines a las autoridades, los policĂas y los “contratistas” (es decir, mercenarios) diciendo cosas como “las protestas contra el uso de caballos para jalar carruajes podrĂan crear un espacio fĂ©rtil de reclutamiento para los activistas a favor de los derechos de animales” o que “los partidarios del asesino de policĂas Mumia Abu-Jamal podrĂan sentirse desesperados y atacar a las personas que ellos consideran enemigos despuĂ©s de que el nuevo fiscal de Filadelfia jurĂł lograr su ejecuciĂłn”. Al decir sĂłlo un poquito sobre el interĂ©s de Ed Rendell en lograr la muerte de Mumia Abu-Jamal, tambiĂ©n surgen dudas sobre la confiabilidad de los otros participantes en Barrel of a Gun. http://citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2010/09/15/the-mysterious-agency-that-spied-on-pa-drilling-activists... [...]
[...] The mysterious institute that spied on Pa. anti-drilling activists http://citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2010/09/15/the-mysterious-agency-that-spied-on-pa-drilling-activists... [...]
[...] Another “procedural problem”: The bill would also narrow the citizenry’s ability to obtain records about government contractors — you know, like the kind the state recently contracted with the spy on activists. [...]
[...] The organization has been controversial,, and its non-profit status questioned. [...]
[...] The above article can be found here: http://citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2010/09/15/the-mysterious-agency-that-spied-on-pa-drilling-activists... [...]
If it were me and I wanted to get to the bottom of it..start listening to private citizens. You would be surprised who may be implicated and are not even aware of it. There are so many covert private investigators and security companies now that prey on the “cheating spouse type business” to gain access to those who they feel warrant being spied on . Most certain the reason is that those who are being spied on can bring down the heart of it if the information were to ever be taken seriously. The main tactic of the perps is that they instill and teach that the common reply to any accusations is assassination of character through mental instability. Then proceed to follow that up with little strange actions that blows any credible existence a person might employ. You basically get a husband or wife to suspect the cheating and you filter information that are random lies or exaggerated truths you have gained the confidence of that person and that person will become loyal to the security people as opposed to their spouse. By gaining their resources it allows any communications to be tampered with and placed instantly a fall guy to be written off as one being crazy and the other being jealous. All it would take is 5-10 security companies here or abroad to employ just a bad investigators and then network them all in on a bot net type mechanism. So to even complicate it more you have added at least four layers to your advance warning some one is on to you. Second, look to people who rent out their ceiling space for wi-fi …apparently its a lucrative business, flies below the radar on criminal surveillance and the middle man being the one who rents the space to the people has usually no idea what is transpiring among them.This is a new technique being used by pedophiles as well.It’s not going to be obvious in any means and will require a free mind to think out of the norm. Freshen up your information regarding encryption and read what you can about the Venona project and how the names, addresses, phone numbers, car tags, screen names all relate to some clandestine part that they play. Street names will become peoples last name, the last four of the street address often will be the last four of the telephone or postal code. It will be groups with certain roles and the only identifying aspect will be a guarded code that they recognize as a certain role to the organization.
The biggest problem with the law is that for protection they do not get to the bottom. They find their answer often at the top and never finish the job. As technology becomes so advanced….we really need new laws that protect victims AND the law enforcement personnel who will listen
[...] at what happened to the Peace activists in Pennsylvania Homeland Securitycontracted a private firm to spy on and look for terrorists, this [...]
[...] protecting infrastructure, the outsourcing of surveillance to American/Israeli security contractor ITRR, arguments between privacy advocates and the “if you have nothing to hide there’s [...]
There are activities which border on treason -
A foreign company spying on American citizens in the United States – undermining our constitutional rights… These creeps are out to intimidate Americans – what kind of ‘homeland security’ is this?
What about New Jersey Gov. MeGreevy – appointing his Israeli toyboy as Chief of New Jersey Homeland Security?
What about New York Gov Spitzer – buying ’services’ from an Israeli citizen-megapimp? – potentially compromising more than his ‘career’
[...] protecting infrastructure, the outsourcing of surveillance to American/Israeli security contractor ITRR, arguments between privacy advocates and the “if you have nothing to hide there’s nothing to [...]
[...] “oversee” and run them, as turned out to be the case in Pennsylvania when a private US-Israeli firm was caught profiling activists. This is a tyranny of the corporations, by the corporations, for the [...]
[...] will Kitat Kohenut be signing some State and Federal contracts to assist the Israeli-affiliated Institute of Terrorism Research and Response (ITRR) in the endangerment of the lives and Constitutional rights of every person in this [...]
[...] Pennsylvania natural gas protestors spied on by secretive Israeli surveillance firm: http://citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2010/09/15/the-mysterious-agency-that-spied-on-pa-drilling-activist... [...]
[...] “oversee” and run them, as turned out to be the case in Pennsylvania when a private US-Israeli firm was caught profiling activists. This is a tyranny of the corporations, by the corporations, for the [...]
[...] The mysterious institute that spied on Pa. anti-drilling activists [...]
[...] Pennsylvania natural gas protestors spied on by secretive Israeli surveillance firm: http://citypaper.net/blogs/clog/2010/09/15/the-mysterious-agency-that-spied-on-pa-drilling-activist... [...]