Spying on the U.S. Submarine That Spies For the NSA and CIA

Spying on the U.S. Submarine That Spies For the NSA and CIA: "Annapolis's parent unit, Submarine Development Squadron 12, brokers all of this special equipment for the Navy's submarines, setting up relations with the CIA and NSA, as well as the National Reconnaissance Office, which operates the spy satellites and stealthy communications links. And there are a set of silent partners in industry and academia who also ply their trade in this secret submarine world.

 One such player is the Applied Research Laboratory of Pennsylvania State University. As a Pentagon-designated university-affiliated research center, Penn State's ARL "maintains a special long-term strategic relationship with DoD," the lab brags in an online presentation. That relationship accounts for nearly half the university's research budget—and it includes work on Annapolis's RADIANT GEMSTONE, the only public mention of this highly secretive program:

 How excited is the Navy about this new mission? Imagine being the only kid on the block with a shiny new red wagon. The service's admiral in charge of cryptology says the Navy is anxiously crafting "an ordered, sustainable maritime means of realizing military power in cyberspace."

 Still: What does that mean? When you can spy on anyone, anywhere, anytime—not just heads of state, but anyone on a cell or a WiFi connection—what do you actually do? More to the point: Who was the Annapolis spying on last year?

We know roughly where it traveled through the "European and Central Command areas of responsibility"—near Iran, Israel, perhaps even Yemen.

We know that its crew briefed those NSA and CIA officials. We know that Parks, his mission accomplished, recently stepped aside and handed command of Annapolis to a "tactical analysis" expert from Submarine Development Squadron 12." 'via Blog this'