Memory Hole exclusives

[exclusive] Justice Dept/IRS Money-Laundering Manual

The Memory hole has obtained and scanned “Investigation and Prosecution of Illegal Money Laundering: A Guide to the Bank Secrecy Act.” Originally written and published in 1983 by the Criminal Division of the Justice Department, this is the apparently identical version published by the IRS for its staff.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE DOCUMENT [PDF | 288 pp | 12 meg]

It was sent to Federal Depository Libraries 25 years ago, but the IRS and Justice have long since stopped voluntarily releasing publications that reveal their tactics and inner workings. This manual doesn’t appear to have been posted online until now.

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[exclusive] Over 400 forms used by the National Security Agency

Via a Freedom of Information Act request (which involved paying $700 and waiting almost 4 years), The Memory Hole has obtained blank copies of most forms used by the National Security Agency).

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FIRST FILE [PDF | 344 pp | 10.7 meg]

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SECOND FILE [PDF | 351 pp | 11.3 meg]

In response to a prior request, the NSA had sent a supposedly complete listing of forms that they use. (That list is located here.) I then requested a blank copy of each one. The NSA responded by sending a copy of more than 400 forms totaling 687 separate pages. (They also withheld 24 forms totaling 31 pages.)

I scanned the forms in the order (basically alphabetical) in which they appeared in the parcel. Some of them are standard Defense Department forms, but most originate within the NSA and have never been seen outside the agency. They range from the exotic to the pedestrian, but even the most prosaic form shines some light into the workings of No Such Agency.

Some samples:

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CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE

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UPDATE, 17 Aug 2008: NSA Form P5590A, “Incomplete Sentences” - which used to be here - has been removed by The Memory Hole under legal threat by Pearson. Although on its face it appears to be a National Security Agency document - and thus uncopyrightable - it is actually a privately published, copyrighted document that is used by the NSA and other entities.

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[exclusive] “Prisoner Boxes” in Iraq

First Published Photographs of Wooden Imprisonment Crates

>>> In Iraq, some prisoners/detainees are kept in wooden crates known as “prisoner boxes,” so I filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the US Central Command asking for the following:

“Vanity Fair (Feb 2005 issue) has reported the existence of wood “prisoner boxes” being used by the US military in facilities in and around Baghdad. They are used to hold individual prisoners and detainees.

“I hereby request all photographs of these boxes, including empty boxes as well as boxes holding prisoners and detainees.”

Around nine and a half months later, CentCom responded by sending the three photographs on this page.

You are seeing the photos exactly as they were sent to me - as black and white printouts on standard printer paper, with creases from being folded into thirds. Two of the photos are extremely blurry and pixelated.

Considering that the average summer temperature in Baghdad is 111 F, and that temps can easily go above 120 F [source], it’s hard to imagine what it’s like to be inside these boxes.

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Technical note: These photographs were released as black and white print-outs by the US Central Command on 10 Nov 2005 in fulfillment of FOIA request #2005-085, filed by Russ Kick on 27 Jan 2005.

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Zip file containing high-resolution scans of all three photo print-outs [12 meg]

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[exclusive] Final volume of Kerry hearings into narco-corruption

The Memory Hole has posted the fourth, final volume of the rare transcripts from 1987/8 Senate hearings into official nacro-corruption in Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and the United States.

This four-volume set of transcripts was available for a single week in 1989. The Government Printing Office then declared that it was unavailable and would never be reprinted.

The volumes are an indispensable resource for anyone interested in governmental connections to the illegal drug trade.

All four volumes - and background info - are posted on this page.

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[exclusive] National Bio and Agro Defense Facility: Feasibility Study

Through the Freedom of Information Act, The Memory Hole has obtained the official feasibility study for the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility (NBAF) from the Department of Homeland Security.

CLICK HERE FOR THE DOCUMENT [PDF | 18 meg | 366 pages]

The report explains the NBAF:

NBAF is envisioned to provide the nation with the first integrated agricultural and zoonotic disease, research, diagnostics, training and evaluation (RDT&E) facility with the capability to address threats from high-consequence zoonotic disease agents and foreign animal disease (FAD) agents. The facility will also provide the additional infrastructure required for threat and vulnerability assessments and for testing and evaluating promising FAD and zoonotic disease countermeasures. NBAF will support the complementary missions of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The NBAF will replace the Plum Island Animal Disease Center. Unlike Plum Island, it will contain a Biosafety Level 4 lab, the highest level, where the most virulent germs will be studied - those that have no cure or vaccine.

The DHS’s site says that the NBAF scientists will work with Foot and Mouth Disease, Classical Swine Fever, African Swine Fever, Rift Valley Fever, Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia, Japanese Encephalitis virus,  Nipah virus, and Hendra virus. The feasibility report adds Avian Influenza viruses, Vesicular Stomatitis viruses, and Newcastle disease viruses.

While the Plum Island facility is located on an island off the coast of Long Island, New York, thus providing a bit of a barrier between the diseases and the rest of the country, the NBAF will be located on the mainland. (Five locations are currently being considered.)

I requested the feasibility study for this nerve-racking facility and was surprised and delighted to receive the report quickly and in completely uncensored form. No withheld pages, no blacked-out passages. (Kudos to the DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate, which oversaw the release.)

Thus, a lot of detailed information is now available, regarding both the NBAF and Level 4 biolabs in general. Lots of floorplans, cutaway diagrams, photos, charts, etc. I’ve pulled out a few of the most interesting bits below and on some separate pages:

>> Test fits for four of the proposed NBAF sites (in Georgia, Kansas, Miss., N. Carolina)

>> Floor plans of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center

Further reading: Official NBAF site | Official Plum Island sites from DHS and USDA | Wikipedia articles on the NBAF and Plum Island | Stop the NBAF | CRS report: The National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility: Issues for Congress [PDF]

CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE

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NBAF’s Biolevel 4 Lab

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Biosafety Level 4 Flow Diagram

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NBAF’s Proposed Radial Floor Plan (Ground Floor)

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NBAF’s Proposed Radial Floor Plan (Floor 1)

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NBAF’s Proposed Linear Floor Plan (Ground Floor)

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NBAF’s Proposed Linear Floor Plan (Floor 1)

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CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE

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Holding Room Utilization

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Viral Production (BSL-3)

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[exclusive] Test fits for the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility

The National Bio and Agro Defense Facility, which will study the most virulent animal diseases, including incurable ones, will be functional by 2013. At this point, five sites - all on the US mainland - are being considered for the NBAF.

The Memory Hole obtained the official feasibility study for the NBAF, and it contains - among many other revealing things - “test fits” in which the NBAF has been put into four of the proposed locations. These images show in detail just how the germ factory would be placed into each site. They are presented below.

For more about the feasibility study, click here.

CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE

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[exclusive] Floor Plans for the Plum Island Animal Disease Center

At the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, located off Long Island, New York, government scientists handle Foot and Mouth Disease and other virulent animal and animal-human diseases. The facility is being decommissioned and will be replaced by the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility (NBAF) by 2013.

The Memory Hole has obtained the official feasibility study for the NBAF. One of the surprises it contains is the complete floor plans for the hush-hush Plum Island facility. These are presented below.

For more on the feasibility study, click here.

Further reading: Official DHS website for Plum Island | Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government’s Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory

CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE

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Plum Island Basement

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Plum Island First Floor

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Plum Island Second Floor

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