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JAILED US CONTRACTOR WAS TRYING TO SET UP SATELLITE LINK FOR CUBA’S JEWS
REVIEW REVEALS ALAN GROSS WANTED TO ESTABLISH UNCENSORED INTERNET SERVICE FOR
JEWISH COMMUNITY
By Desmond Butler 13 February 2012, 8:07 am 0 Edit
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USAID worker Alan Gross arriving at a Havana courthouse for his trial in March
2011. (photo credit: AP Photo/Franklin Reyes, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Piece by piece, in backpacks and carry-on bags, American aid
contractor Alan Gross made sure laptops, smartphones, hard drives and networking
equipment were secreted into Cuba. The most sensitive item, according to
official trip reports, was the last one: a specialized mobile phone chip that
experts say is often used by the Pentagon and the CIA to make satellite signals
virtually impossible to track.
The purpose, according to an Associated Press review of Gross’ reports, was to
set up uncensored satellite Internet service for Cuba’s small Jewish community.
The operation was funded as democracy promotion for the U.S. Agency for
International Development, established in 1961 to provide economic, development
and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of U.S. foreign policy
goals. Gross, however, identified himself as a member of a Jewish humanitarian
group, not a representative of the U.S. government.
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Cuban President Raul Castro called him a spy, and Gross was sentenced last March
to 15 years in prison for seeking to “undermine the integrity and independence”
of Cuba. U.S. officials say he did nothing wrong and was just carrying out the
normal mission of USAID.
Gross said at his trial in Cuba that he was a “trusting fool” who was duped. But
his trip reports indicate that he knew his activities were illegal in Cuba and
that he worried about the danger, including possible expulsion.
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One report says a community leader “made it abundantly clear that we are all
‘playing with fire.'”
Another time Gross said: “This is very risky business in no uncertain terms.”
And finally: “Detection of satellite signals will be catastrophic.”
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The case has heightened frictions in the decades-long political struggle between
the United States and its communist neighbor to the south, and raises questions
about how far democracy-building programs have gone — and whether
cloak-and-dagger work is better left to intelligence operatives.
Gross’ company, JBDC Inc., which specializes in setting up Internet access in
remote locations like Iraq and Afghanistan, had been hired by Development
Alternatives Inc., or DAI, of Bethesda, Maryland, which had a
multimillion-dollar contract with USAID to break Cuba’s information blockade by
“technological outreach through phone banks, satellite Internet and cell
phones.”
Judy Gross and Peter J. Kahn, respectively wife of and lawyer for U.S.
government contractor Alan Gross, arrive at the courthouse in Havana in March.
(photo credit: AP/Javier Galeano)
USAID officials reviewed Gross’ trip reports and received regular briefings on
his progress, according to DAI spokesman Steven O’Connor. The reports were made
available to the AP by a person familiar with the case who insisted on anonymity
because of the documents’ sensitivity.
The reports cover four visits over a five-month period in 2009. Another report,
written by a representative of Gross’ company, covered his fifth and final trip,
the one that ended with his arrest on Dec. 3, 2009.
Together, the reports detail the lengths to which Gross went to escape Cuban
authorities’ detection.
To avoid airport scrutiny, Gross enlisted the help of other American Jews to
bring in electronic equipment a piece at a time. He instructed his helpers to
pack items, some of them banned in Cuba, in carry-on luggage, not checked bags.
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He once drove seven hours after clearing security and customs rather than risk
airport searches.
On his final trip, he brought in a “discreet” SIM card — or subscriber identity
module card — intended to keep satellite phone transmissions from being
pinpointed within 250 miles (400 kilometers), if they were detected at all.
The type of SIM card used by Gross is not available on the open market and is
distributed only to governments, according to an official at a satellite
telephone company familiar with the technology and a former U.S. intelligence
official who has used such a chip. The officials, who spoke on condition of
anonymity because of the sensitivity of the technology, said the chips are
provided most frequently to the Defense Department and the CIA, but also can be
obtained by the State Department, which oversees USAID.
Asked how Gross obtained the card, USAID spokesman Drew Bailey said only that
the agency played no role in helping Gross acquire equipment. “We are a
development agency, not an intelligence agency,” he said.
Cuba’s communist government considers all USAID democracy promotion activities
to be illegal and a national security threat. USAID denies that any of its work
is covert.
Gross’ American lawyer, Peter J. Kahn, declined comment but has said in the past
that Gross’ actions were not aimed at subverting the Cuban government.
Cuban authorities consider Internet access to be a matter of national security
and block some sites that are critical of the government, as well as pages with
content that they deem as counterrevolutionary. Most Cubans have access only to
a severely restricted island-wide Intranet service.
Proponents of providing Internet access say it can undermine authoritarian
governments that control the flow of information to their people. Critics say
the practice not only endangers contractors like Gross, but all American aid
workers, even those not involved in secret activities.
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“All too often, the outside perception is that these USAID people are
intelligence officers,” said Philip Giraldi, an ex-CIA officer. “That makes it
bad for USAID, it makes it bad for the CIA and for any other intelligence agency
who like to fly underneath the radar.”
Even before he delivered the special SIM card, Gross noted in a trip report that
use of Internet satellite phones would be “problematic if exposed.” He was aware
that authorities were using sophisticated detection equipment and said he saw
workers for the government-owned telecommunications service provider conduct a
radio frequency “sniff” the day before he was to set up a community’s Wi-Fi
operation.
USAID: NO COVERT WORK
U.S. diplomats say they believe Gross was arrested to pressure the Obama
administration to roll back its democracy-promotion programs. The Cuban
government has alleged without citing any evidence that the programs, funded
under a 1996 law calling for regime change in Cuba, are run by the CIA as part
of an intelligence plan to topple the government in Havana.
While the U.S. government broadly outlines the goals of its aid programs in
publicly available documents, the work in Cuba could not exist without secrecy
because it is illegal there. Citing security concerns, U.S. agencies have
refused to provide operational details even to congressional committees
overseeing the programs.
“The reason there is less disclosure on these programs in totalitarian countries
is because the people are already risking their lives to exercise their
fundamental rights,” said Mauricio Claver-Carone, who runs the Washington-based
Cuba Democracy Advocates.
USAID rejected the notion that its contractors perform covert work.
“Nothing about USAID’s Cuba programs is covert or classified in any way,” says
Mark Lopes, a deputy assistant administrator. “We simply carry out activities in
a discreet manner to ensure the greatest possible safety of all those involved.”
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The U.S. National Security Act defines “covert” as government activities aimed
at influencing conditions abroad “where it is intended that the role of the
United States Government will not be apparent or acknowledged publicly.”
USAID’s democracy promotion work in Cuba was spurred by a large boost in funding
under the Bush administration and a new focus on providing communications
technology to Cubans. U.S. funding for Cuban aid multiplied from $3.5 million in
2000 to $45 million in 2008. It’s now $20 million.
Gross was paid a half-million dollars as a USAID subcontractor, according to
U.S. officials familiar with the contract. They spoke only on condition of
anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.
USAID head Raj Shah said democracy promotion is “absolutely central” to his
agency’s work. The Obama administration says its Cuba programs aim to help
politically repressed citizens enjoy fundamental rights by providing
humanitarian support, encouraging democratic development and aiding the free
flow of information.
U.S. officials say Gross’ work was not subversion because he was setting up
connections for Cuba’s Jewish community, not for dissidents. Jewish leaders have
said that they were unaware of Gross’ connections to the U.S. government and
that they already were provided limited Internet access. USAID has not said why
it thought the community needed such sensitive technology.
Asked if such programs are meant to challenge existing leaders, Lopes said, “For
USAID, our democracy programs in Cuba are not about changing a particular
regime. That’s for the Cuban people to decide, and we believe they should be
afforded that choice.”
Others disagree.
“Of course, this is covert work,” said Robert Pastor, President Jimmy Carter’s
national security adviser for Latin America and now director of the Center for
Democracy and Election Management at American University in Washington. “It’s
about regime change.”
HARD TO MISS
Gross, of Potomac, Maryland, was a gregarious man, about 6 feet (1.8 meters) and
250 pounds (113 kilograms). He was hard to miss. He had bought a Rosetta Stone
language course to improve his rudimentary Spanish and had scant knowledge of
Cuba. But he knew technology. His company specialized in installing
communications gear in remote parts of the world.
Gross’ first trip for DAI, which ended in early April 2009, focused on getting
equipment in and setting up the first of three facilities with Wi-Fi hotspots
that would give unrestricted Internet access to hundreds of Cubans, especially
the island’s small Jewish community of 1,500.
To get the materials in, Gross relied on American Jewish humanitarian groups
doing missions on the island. He traveled with the groups, relying on
individuals to help bring in the equipment, according to the trip reports.
Three people briefed on Gross’ work say he told contacts in Cuba he represented
a Jewish organization, not the U.S. government. USAID says it now expects people
carrying out its programs to disclose their U.S. government funding to the
people they are helping — if asked.
One of Gross’ reports suggests he represented himself as a member of one of the
groups and that he traveled with them so he could intercede with Cuban
authorities if questions arose.
The helpers were supposed to pack single pieces of equipment in their carry-on
luggage. That way, Gross wrote, any questions could best be handled during the
X-ray process at security, rather than at a customs check. The material was
delivered to Gross later at a Havana hotel, according to the trip reports.
USAID has long relied on visitors willing to carry in prohibited material, such
as books and shortwave radios, U.S. officials briefed on the programs say. And
USAID officials have acknowledged in congressional briefings that they have used
contractors to bring in software to send encrypted messages over the Internet,
according to participants in the briefings.
An alarm sounded on one of Gross’ trips when one of his associates tried to
leave the airport terminal; the courier had placed his cargo — a device that can
extend the range of a wireless network — into his checked bag.
Gross intervened, saying the device was for personal use and was not a computer
hard drive or a radio.
According to the trip reports, customs officials wanted to charge a 100 percent
tax on the value of the item, but Gross bargained them down and was allowed to
leave with it.
“On that day, it was better to be lucky than smart,” Gross wrote.
Much of the equipment Gross helped bring in is legal in Cuba, but the volume of
the goods could have given Cuban authorities a good idea of what he was up to.
“Total equipment” listed on his fourth trip included 12 iPods, 11 BlackBerry
Curve smartphones, three MacBooks, six 500-gigabyte external drives, three
Internet satellite phones known as BGANs, three routers, three controllers, 18
wireless access points, 13 memory sticks, three phones to make calls over the
Internet, and networking switches. Some pieces, such as the networking and
satellite equipment, are explicitly forbidden in Cuba.
Gross wrote that he smuggled the BGANs in a backpack. He had hoped to fool
authorities by taping over the identifying words on the equipment: “Hughes,” the
manufacturer, and “Inmarsat,” the company providing the satellite Internet
service.
The BGANs were crucial because they provide not only satellite telephone
capacity but an Internet signal that can establish a Wi-Fi hotspot for multiple
users. The appeal of using satellite Internet connections is that data goes
straight up, never passing through government-controlled servers.
AWARE OF THE RISKS
There was always the chance of being discovered.
Last year, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee asked about clandestine
methods used to hide the programs and reports that some of them had been
penetrated.
“Possible counterintelligence penetration is a known risk in Cuba,” the State
Department said in a written response to AP. “Those who carry out our assistance
are aware of such risks.”
Gross’ first trip to Cuba ended in early April 2009 with establishment of a
communications site in Havana.
He went back later that month and stayed about 10 days while a site was set up
in Santiago, Cuba’s second-largest city.
On his third trip, for two weeks in June 2009, Gross traveled to a city in the
middle of the island identified by a U.S. official as Camaguey. He rented a car
in Havana and drove seven hours rather than risk another encounter with airport
authorities.
Gross wrote that BGANs should not be used outside Havana, where there were
enough radio frequency devices to hide the emissions.
The report for Gross’s fourth trip, which ended early that August, was marked
final and summarized his successes: wireless networks established in three
communities; about 325 users; “communications to and from the U.S. have improved
and used on a regular basis.” He again concluded the operation was “very risky
business.”
BACK TO CUBA
Gross would have been fine if he had stopped there.
In late November 2009, however, he went back to Cuba for a fifth time. This time
he didn’t return. He was arrested 11 days later.
An additional report was written afterward on the letterhead of Gross’ company.
It was prepared with assistance from DAI to fulfill a contract requirement for a
summary of his work, and so everyone could get paid, according to officials
familiar with the document.
> ‘I am deeply sorry for being a trusting fool. I was duped. I was used’
The report said Gross had planned to improve security of the Havana site by
installing an “alternative sim card” on the satellite equipment.
The card would mask the signal of the BGAN as it transmitted to a satellite,
making it difficult to track where the device was located.
The document concluded that the site’s security had been increased.
It is unclear how DAI confirmed Gross’ work for the report on the final trip,
though a document, also on Gross’ company letterhead, states that a
representative for Gross contacted the Jewish community in Cuba five times after
his arrest.
In a statement at his trial, Gross professed his innocence and apologized.
“I have never, would never and will never purposefully or knowingly do anything
personally or professionally to subvert a government,” he said. “I am deeply
sorry for being a trusting fool. I was duped. I was used.”
In an interview with AP, his wife, Judy, blamed DAI, the company that sent him
to Cuba, for misleading him on the risks. DAI spokesman O’Connor said in a
statement that Gross “designed, proposed, and implemented this work” for the
company.
Meanwhile, the 62-year-old Gross sits in a military prison hospital. His family
says he has lost about 100 pounds (45 kilograms) and they express concern about
his health. All the U.S. diplomatic attempts to win his freedom have come up
empty and there is no sign that Cuba is prepared to act on appeals for a
humanitarian release.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
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* 1
Over 150 hurt in hours-long Tel Aviv chaos between rival Eritrean migrant
groups, cops
* 2
Controlled explosion in Golan Heights one of largest ever in Israel
* 3
Iran claims to foil major Mossad attempt to insert defective parts into its
missiles
* 4
US defends Yad Vashem chair amid coalition’s efforts to remove him
* 5
A film on Spinoza that got its crew banned by an Amsterdam rabbi is making
waves
* 6
Netanyahu says government will look into deporting migrants who rioted in Tel
Aviv
* 7
Soldier killed, six injured in truck-ramming terror attack near Modiin
* 8
Netanyahu in public spat with Ben Gvir and own MK over Palestinian prisoners
policy
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Current Top Stories
Live
Attorney general asks court to strike down law curtailing oversight of
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By Joshua Davidovich
Gali Baharav-Miara presents latest challenge to Netanyahu-led coalition, urging
judges to disqualify amendment to Basic Law voiding reasonableness test for
government decisions
* 32min ago
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* 56min ago
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‘A real threat’: PM backs widespread arrests, eyes deportations in migrant
crackdown
By ToI Staff
After riots, cabinet members okay administrative detentions, weigh pulling work
permits; Netanyahu says they’ll also strive ‘to get all the rest of the illegal
infiltrators out’
Some 40 still hospitalized after Eritrean migrant riots, 12 in serious condition
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Officer hospitalized with serious head injury after migrant clashes in Tel Aviv
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US officials voice concern over alleged government bid to oust Yad Vashem
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By Jacob Magid
Antisemitism envoy Lipstadt stresses ‘professionalism and independence’ of
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123 Holocaust experts: Gov’t attack on Yad Vashem chief threatens memory of 6
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Education minister seen as seeking to oust Yad Vashem head Dani Dayan
By ToI Staff
In Tel Aviv’s tense south, business owners guard stores damaged in Eritrean
riots
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A clash between rioters, ostensibly over politics in Eritrea, has left some
stakeholders in despair about the area’s prospects
AG approves Levin’s request for independent counsel in judicial selection panel
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Justice minister had claimed Baharav-Miara has ‘extremist positions,’ also asks
to postpone High Court hearing set for Thursday so a new legal team can prepare
ToI podcast
Daily Briefing Sept. 3: Why the PM dropped a 2018 deal for Eritrean asylum
seekers
By ToI Staff
Editor David Horovitz on violent Shabbat clashes in Tel Aviv, poor diplomacy
with Libya; military reporter Emanuel Fabian on rioting on Gaza border,
Thursday’s deadly terror attack
ExplainerEritreans in Israel: Long neglected, divided amongst themselves and
dividing society
By ToI Staff
Hospital chief says ‘can’t recall’ medical event on scale of Eritrean migrant
clashes
By ToI Staff
PM: Foreign Ministry publication of Libya meeting ‘not helpful,’ won’t happen
again
By ToI Staff
In interview with Cypriot press, Netanyahu says ‘it’s very important to maintain
discreet channels… They shouldn’t be publicized in an uncontrolled way’
Libya’s chief prosecutor seeking more details on minister’s meeting with Israeli
FM
By AP and ToI Staff
Libyan PM rejects Israel normalization in first public remarks since his FM met
Cohen
By AP and ToI Staff
Analysis
Amir Bar Shalom
Iranian claims about suspension of ex-US envoy Rob Malley shake up Washington
Tehran Times publishes ostensible letter informing diplomat that his security
clearance is ‘suspended pending an ongoing investigation’ amid ‘serious security
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Tel Aviv school principal resigns as board bans student event on refusing IDF
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Some 200 students intended to jointly announce refusal to serve in military,
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In first, head of Moroccan senate to make official visit to Knesset on Thursday
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Nasrallah meets with Palestinian terror chiefs amid high tensions with Israel
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Hezbollah leader, along with Hamas deputy politburo chief Saleh al-Arouri and
Ziyad al-Nakhala, head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, recommit to fight ‘against
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By Emanuel Fabian
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Netanyahu heads to Cyprus for talks with Cypriot, Greek leaders
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leaders; trip seen as statement that the alliances are valued despite Israel’s
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‘They dare accuse the IDF of working for terrorists’: 35th week of overhaul
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Shai Aharonovitz to be appointed head of Israel Tax Authority
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Alarm over Austria far-right Freedom Party’s ‘frightening’ video glorifying Nazi
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Iran sentences two journalists to jail time for ‘conspiracy’ and ‘collusion’
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UK unveils plans for ‘fitting tribute’ to Queen Elizabeth II
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Iranian Revolutionary Guards seize ship they say is suspected of smuggling fuel
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The Tree of Life mass murderer deserves his sentence
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Jonathan Muskat
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The future of Hamas
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either way, Hamas is integral in Palestinian politics
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My great uncle never went to Cairo
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Golda’s disservice to Golda
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challenges she faced before and after the Yom Kippur War
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Jerusalem’s new bridge to Israel’s future
Anyone opposed to the battles in Israeli society should visit and remember that
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Don’t leave me to bear this alone
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As the school year starts, we must still teach the Holocaust
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collective majority consciousness
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American academics take a page out of the Soviet anti-Zionist playbook
Coming to a campus near you: a brazen effort to create and legitimize a new
field called ’Critical Zionist Studies’
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Saudi Arabia and the allure of instant gratification
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Today's Daily Briefing
Why the PM dropped a 2018 deal for Eritrean asylum seekers
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