This month’s News To Make You Furious comes from unwilling Russian tourist Edward Snowden. Facile politicians are trying to wave away his accusations as simple exaggerations from an excitable press, but Snowden didn’t just find one program gone awry. He uncovered a massive trove of interconnected abuse and malfeasance that continues to grow like a cancer. As these revelations continue to drip out it’s harder to keep them all straight so we’ll shine the spotlight on just one… Parallel Construction. What’s that? It means “lie”.
Parallel Construction is a technique brought to us by the fine folks at SOD (Special Operations Division), an agency founded in 1994 to fight Latin American drug cartels. Housed in a secret location in Virginia, it’s made up of two dozen agencies including the NSA, FBI, CIA, IRS, and DOH. SOD shares information with its partner agencies as well as state and local law enforcement, and Parallel Construction is its primary technique to cover up its existence.
Here’s how it works. Let’s say there’s a drug dealer (we’ll call him Bob). Bob’s an American citizen, and the NSA has been watching him for a while despite the government’s assurances that they do no such thing. NSA thinks Bob will be moving some drugs at a particular time, so they call SOD who calls the FBI and tips them off. The FBI calls the state police and tells them to be at a certain truck stop at a certain time with a drug dog and 
to find an excuse to talk to Bob. The cop pulls Bob over for making an illegal left turn and surprise… the drug dog smells something. Bob is carted off to jail.
Now here’s where you’ll get Furious. The existence of SOD must obviously be kept secret or our country will crumble. A training document for agents says “Remember that the utilization of SOD cannot be revealed or discussed in any investigative function”, in fact, the exact location of SOD in Virginia is not even known. But if the law enforcement agencies tell where they got the tip to arrest Bob then the SOD cat would be out of the bag. The solution? Lie about it. “It’s just like laundering money – you work it backwards to make it clean,” said Finn Selander, a ex-DEA agent. (Good example, Finn, money laundering is illegal too!) Police are told to “recreate” the investigative trail leaving out the SOD information. In Bob’s trial the cop’s story would start with his illegal left turn instead of the tip that really mattered.
Let’s see, what does this violate? Constitutionally, it trashes the 4th amendment on warrantless search, 5th amendment on self-incrimination and due process, and the 6th amendment on informed accusation, right to confront witnesses, and compulsory process for obtaining witnesses. Some state constitutions have stronger protections than the US constitution, so violations there vary by district. It suborns perjury from every police officer, prosecutor, and judge who is aware of it. It deprives Bob of his right to a fair trial, to review exculpatory evidence, and even the right to a defense (because his counsel cannot function effectively without accurate information). Then there are the intangibles… the concept of a fair trial, basic justice, the idea that the police and justice system are on “our” side. Finally, now that the truth is out, it endangers all the convictions touched by the policy. This “spoliation” of evidence is affirmative grounds for appeal, and anyone convicted with Parallel-Constructed evidence will go free on appeal.
Furious? Here are three articles to dig even deeper…
Parallel Construction Get-Out-of-Jail-Free-Card, Chriss Street, Chriss Street and Company
U.S. directs agents to cover up program used to investigate Americans, John Shiffman and Kristina Cooke, Reuters
DEA and NSA Team Up to Share Intelligence, Leading to Secret Use of Surveillance in Ordinary Investigations, Hanni Fakhoury, Electronic Frontier Foundation
