RETSKE REPORT
Terrorism & prepaid
by Gene Retske
The shadowy figure moves quickly, but silently down the dimly lit
street. He glances left and then right, looking around to make sure
he has not been observed. Seeing and hearing no one else around,
he’s confident that he is alone and can continue with the
plan that is burning in his heart and soul. As the lithe figure
rounds the street corner, a small light shining out of the window
of a small coffee house is the only real illumination. The invisible
sky above is overcast, making it a black pall over the entire scene.
Perfect for the figure’s nefarious plan!
Passing the coffee house, the figure sees what he has previously
located, a working payphone. It is not being used, and as he approaches,
he sees that it still seems to be in working order. He reaches up
and gives the incandescent bulb a clockwise twist as he enters the
booth, leaving a small ray of light from the coffee house the only
light in the booth. Before lifting the handset, the figure takes
a small piece of paper with several numbers on it, out of the folds
of his dark cloak. He is relieved to hear the buzz of a dial tone
from the hand set. Using the ray of light from the coffee house
to see the small piece of paper, he dials the first number, toll
free number. Just as the mechanical voice on the the other end begins
saying, “Please enter your PIN number...” a noisy motorcycle
speeds down the otherwise deserted street, momentarily shaking the
dead silence, splashing him with unwanted light.
He fidgets and looks around carefully, confident that he has still
not been seen, he enters the second number from the paper.
“Please enter the telephone number you wish to call,”
says the voice. He dials the third number on the paper. A short
ring, and a voice answers with a single word, “Go!”
The figure is now beginning to feel nervous. He hangs up without
a word, redials the first number, and the PIN. This time, he dials
the last number on the piece of paper. As soon as he hears the ring
begin, he hangs the phone up quickly, wads up the piece of rice
paper, tosses it into his mouth and swallows it, tasting the slight
sweetness of the grape juice used to write the numbers. He speeds
from the telephone booth, and down the abandoned street, into the
concealing darkness of the city.
Across town, a cell phone begins to ring, triggering a relay, wired
to a carefully placed improvised explosive device, and all Hell
breaks loose as another terrorist plot unfurls.
Is this scenario a possibility worthy of the full attention of the
resources of the US government, or is it just a wild imagining,
a possible start to a new Tom Clancy thriller?
One thing is very clear, prepaid services, by virtue of their ease
of use, anonymity, universal availability and non-traceability,
have focused the attention of some law enforcement and anti-terrorism
agencies on prepaid services. Homeland Security, the FBI and others
have begun investigations into prepaid services.
“My contacts in the Department of Justice have unofficially
indicated to me that one of their wish list items would be a central
CDR database for prepaid, “says Howard Segermark, Executive
Director of IPCA. The difficulty of acquiring these records from
prepaid service providers has been mentioned by other state, federal
and local law enforcement officials. Segermark said that the IPCA
is anticipating that future anti-terrorism legislation might involve
some requirement for a central repository of these records, so it
has established a committee to begin looking at the issue.
This is no small task. There are literally untold hundreds, maybe
thousands, of prepaid service providers in operation at any point
in time. The number of different systems in use by these providers
likely number into the hundreds, including home brew systems. Layered
on top of this is the potential for “call hopping,”
where a prepaid card is used to call another platform, and so on.
VoIP, walkie-talkies and cordless telephones also provide valuable
tools for those that wish to conceal their calls. Forensically,
it could take weeks, or months to trace a single call. A real time
database for prepaid, given the convoluted and diverse nature of
today’s telecommunications networks, is a major undertaking,
that could take years, and millions of dollars to complete.
Just because it is a difficult and potentially expensive goal, does
not mean that it will not, or should not be pursued, especially
if it can truly make things more difficult for terrorists. The prepaid
industry does have an especially influential lobby, and its interests,
especially those of the mid to small sized players, are not always
taken into consideration before political decisions are made. The
bigger service providers may be in a better position to offer the
real time access to CDRs that law enforcement is seeking, that could
allow them to use calling patterns and details to uncover plots,
and stop them before real shadowy figures, skulking dark city streets
late at night, can unfold their nefarious deeds. | |
