Report: NSA collecting data on all Verizon calls

[Valin]

Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law Professor, joins Steve to discuss the legality of the NSA phone monitoring program and other White House scandals.

[Valin]

And Again

 

http://youtu.be/Sl-GfmkvmGM

[Valin]

Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations

The 29-year-old source behind the biggest intelligence leak in the NSA's history explains his motives, his uncertain future and why he never intended on hiding in the shadows

[Valin]

http://youtu.be/V0AkeEbVSMg

[Valin]

H/T Real Clear Videos

[Valin]

The NSA Squirrel!

Mickey Kaus

6/9/13

 

King of the Squirrels: Has the White House hit on the perfect scandal for the President? The NSA snooping revelations create a huge fuss that distracts the press and prevents the public (especially conservatives) from learning the grueseome details of the 1000 page Schumer-Rubio immigration disaster now on the Senate floor yet doesnt hurt Obamas approval ratings like the IRS scandal does. It may even be helping them. Who gave Glenn Greenwald that scoop anyway? I question the timing!

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Rep. Peter King: Prosecute NSA leaker to the fullest extent of the law

Megan R. Wilson

06/09/13

 

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) on Sunday called for the prosecution of Edward Snowden, the admitted leaker of top secret documents detailing the National Security Agencys phone and internet surveillance programs.

If Edward Snowden did in fact leak the NSA data as he claims, the United States government must prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law and begin extradition proceedings at the earliest date, King said in a statement.

 

The chairman of the Homeland Security subcommittee on Counterintelligence and Terrorism also called on other countries to deny Snowden asylum.

The United States must make it clear that no country should be granting this individual asylum.

This is a matter of extraordinary consequence to American intelligence, King added.

 

(Snip)

 

Several lawmakers called for the prosecution of the then-anonymous leaker on the rounds of the Sunday morning talk shows.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said the national security leaks would endanger American lives.

Rogers said the leaker had other ways to bring about a change in policy.

He could come to the committees, if they had concern. We have IGs that they can go to in a classified way if they have concern, he said.

 

 

Eddy's new home.

[Valin]

Leaking Secrets Empowers Terrorists

The NSA's surveillance program doesn't do damage. Revealing it does.

MICHAEL B. MUKASEY

6/9/13

 

Once again, the tanks-have-rolled left and the black-helicopters right have joined together in howls of protest. They were set off by last week's revelations that the U.S. government has been collecting data that disclose the fact, but not the content, of electronic communications within the country, as well as some content data outside the U.S. that does not focus on American citizens. Once again, the outrage of the left-right coalition is misdirected.

 

(Snip)

 

Further, the current administration's promiscuous treatment of national secrets suggests that the current disclosures will beget others. Recall the president's startling boast in May 2011 that Osama bin Laden's hideout had yielded a trove of valuable intelligence, which alerted anyone who had dealt with bin Laden and thereby rendered much of that material useless. Recall the June 2012 newspaper stories describing U.S. participation in implanting a malware worm called Stuxnet in Iran's nuclear facilities, reports that even described White House Situation Room deliberations. And summon to mind also the president's obvious discomfort as he defendedsort ofthe programs now in question. There is little doubt that we will be treated to further disclosures to prove that these programs were successful.

 

If the current imbroglio opens an honest discussion of the legitimate need for secrecy in a fight against seventh-century primitives equipped with 21st-century technology, it may eventually prove to have been worth the cost, but I'm not laying down any bets.

[Draggingtree]

The NSA Squirrel!

Mickey Kaus

6/9/13

 

King of the Squirrels: Has the White House hit on the perfect scandal for the President? The NSA snooping revelations create a huge fuss that distracts the press and prevents the public (especially conservatives) from learning the grueseome details of the 1000 page Schumer-Rubio immigration disaster now on the Senate floor yet doesnt hurt Obamas approval ratings like the IRS scandal does. It may even be helping them. Who gave Glenn Greenwald that scoop anyway? I question the timing!

 

(Snip)

good point.

[Draggingtree]

 

 

Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations

 

The 29-year-old source behind the biggest intelligence leak in the NSA's history explains his motives, his uncertain future and why he never intended on hiding in the shadows

You know I really don’t know how I stand on this for two reasons.

a) I don’t want leaks like in the case of Bradley Manning.

In the case of Edward Snowden listening to the interview of him why he stepped forward,

Where else could he have gone and exposed a program gone way over what it was created for.

Time and more information will come forward then I’ll know where I’ll stand.

[Valin]

@Draggingtree

 

I have a suspicion that as time goes along, and we discover more about little St. Eddy, some people on our side are going to....regret their willingness to nominate him for sainthood.

(Putting my tin foil hat on) I think there might be a reason why the WH is being so quiet about this.

[Valin]

You know I really don’t know how I stand on this for two reasons.

 

Where else could he have gone and exposed a program gone way over what it was created for.

The House/Senate Intelligence Oversight Committees...The IG at the NSA come to mind. Glenn Greenwald? You might want to take a look at this guy. That well know right winger and opponent of Civil rights

doesn't think very highly of him.

[Draggingtree]

So Much for Privacy

 

Did anyone really believe that the secret court order that was leaked to the Guardian requiring Verizon to hand over customer phone records would be the end of it? Late Thursday, the Guardian and The Washington Post reported that U.S. intelligence agencies have been operating a broad data-mining program that extracted e-mail, photos and other private communications from at least nine major Internet companies. Cato scholars Julian Sanchez and Jim Harper say that while the data collection may be “well-intentioned,” the potential problems are many and significant.

“Why The NSA Collecting Your Phone Records Is A Problem,” by Julian Sanchez

 

http://www.cato.org/blog/why-nsa-collecting-phone-records-problem

[Draggingtree]

Trust and Taps

By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | June 10th, 2013 at 04:30 AM

 

It is long held that the government can look at the outside of an envelope as it passes through the postal system. The government can see who is sending a letter, to whom it is being sent, and from which postal location the letter was mailed.

 

The government, in the twenty-first century, is trying to come to terms with a society that transmits information differently from the postal service. Extrapolating the boundaries of the mail, the government has decided to start collecting the metadata of emails and phone calls, e.g. who

There is one key issue here — unlike the postal service, private companies control the series of tubes through which the data travels. The private companies are either complicity working with the government (most likely) or are being hacked in some way by the government (least likely).

 

I do not fault the Obama Administration trying to keep us safe. President Obama has used and expanded the very policies of George W. Bush that candidate Obama attacked.

The President has maintained for five years that the buck does not stop with him.

http://www.redstate.com/2013/06/10/trust-and-taps/

[Valin]

[Draggingtree]

 

You know I really don’t know how I stand on this for two reasons.

 

Where else could he have gone and exposed a program gone way over what it was created for.

The House/Senate Intelligence Oversight Committees...The IG at the NSA come to mind. Glenn Greenwald? You might want to take a look at this guy. That well know right winger and opponent of Civil rights

doesn't think very highly of him.

 

Well what I think the (W. H/) are looking at Mr. Snowden past trying to find anything to demean him / take him down to the level of just plain trash, mark my words in the coming wks things are going to come out whether true or false.

Is he a traitor or American patriot?

Now to your point he could have gone to the I.G. or House/Senate Intelligence Oversight Committees sure he could have, Here’s what they would told him we Know about this program. Then he would been hung out to dry.

[Draggingtree]

Drudge Headlines

VIDEO: The 29-year-old source behind biggest intelligence leak in NSA history explains his motives...
'I do not expect to see home again'...
'I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things'...
'I believed in Obama's promises'...
'Presidents openly lie to secure the office'...
'Government has granted itself power it is not entitled to'...
Suggests he's defecting -- to China?
Former CIA Officer: 'Potential Chinese Espionage'...
Extradition Calls Begin...
REPORT: Intel officials overheard saying NSA leaker should be 'disappeared'...

http://www.drudgereport.com/

[Draggingtree]

Former NSA Employee Leaked Surveillance Details Prior to Snowden

Posted by Mandy Nagy Monday, June 10, 2013 at 8:40am

Why didn’t the prior revelations cause as much controversy?

On the heels of revelations that the National Security Agency has been collecting phone and internet data of millions of Americans as part of a controversial surveillance program, the identity of the source who leaked that information was unveiled Sunday as 29-year old Edward Snowden, a Booz Allen Hamilton defense contractor working at the NSA. But a 2012 interview that’s recently resurfaced has revealed the NSA’s activities had already been leaked by another former NSA employee.

 

From Business Insider:

 

His name is William Binney, a 32-year veteran of the secretive agency, and one of the best codebreakers in NSA history — who appeared in an Aug. 2012 video shot by Laura Poitras for The New York Times.

 

Binney detailed a top-secret surveillance program called“Stellar Wind” — the scope of which had never been public— which tracked electronic activities, including phone calls, emails, banking, travel records, and social media, and then mapped them to collect “all the attributes that any individual has” in every type of activity and build a profile based on the data.

 

“So that now I can pull your entire life together from all those domains and map it out and show your entire life over time,”Binney said in the interview.

 

The interview with Bill Binney is interesting because it does

http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/06/former-nsa-employee-leaked-surveillance-details-prior-to-snowden/

[Valin]

 

 

You know I really dont know how I stand on this for two reasons.

 

Where else could he have gone and exposed a program gone way over what it was created for.

The House/Senate Intelligence Oversight Committees...The IG at the NSA come to mind. Glenn Greenwald? You might want to take a look at this guy. That well know right winger and opponent of Civil rights

doesn't think very highly of him.

 

Well what I think the (W. H/) are looking at Mr. Snowden past trying to find anything to demean him / take him down to the level of just plain trash, mark my words in the coming wks things are going to come out whether true or false.

Is he a traitor or American patriot?

Now to your point he could have gone to the I.G. or House/Senate Intelligence Oversight Committees sure he could have, Heres what they would told him we Know about this program. Then he would been hung out to dry.

 

That is not my point, that is Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.)'s point. I will say I agree.

2 points.

A. You are assuming they don't take this stuff seriously, from what i have read over the years...they do.

B. It looks like he didn't even try that, no he went to a hard left anti-government "journalist", with a history of...taking liberties with the truth, and providing aid and comfort to the Islamists.

[Draggingtree]

Published on Friday, June 7, 2013 by The Guardian

On Whistleblowers and Government Threats of Investigation No healthy democracy can endure when the most consequential acts of those in power remain secret and unaccountable

by Glenn Greenwald

 

We followed Wednesday's story about the NSA's bulk telephone record-gathering with one yesterday about the agency's direct access to the servers of the world's largest internet companies. I don't have time at the moment to address all of the fallout because - to borrow someone else's phrase - I'm Looking Forward to future revelations that are coming (and coming shortly), not Looking Backward to ones that have already come.

 

"The people who do [create accountability for those in power]are heroes. They are the embodiment of heroism. They do it knowing exactly what is likely to be done to them by the planet's most powerful government, but they do it regardless."

 

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/06/07-3

 

Has anybody read this book

 

How Would a Patriot Act? Defending American Values from a President Run Amok.

Glenn Greenwald (Author)

[Draggingtree]

It is seductive to believe that our security can be assured cost-free. It can’t. Metadata and the common defense

By Frank Gaffney Jr. (Bio and Archives) Monday, June 10, 2013

The revelation that the super-secret National Security Agency has been vacuuming up so-called “metadata” from foreign and American communications has lots of us in a full-scale flail.

 

The libertarian Right denounces it as an unacceptable abuse of government power. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) is inviting millions of Americans to join him in bringing a class-action suit before the Supreme Court to stop this now-not-so-covert program.

 

Even the Left that normally, reflexively supports whatever President Obama does is up in arms.

 

Here’s the question that must be addressed: Is this effort to detect and counter patterns of behavior that may be associated with terrorists and their plots legitimate and necessary? All three branches of government have agreed that it is legal and required – provided Team Obama is not doing as it has done elsewhere: namely, abusing its powers for political purposes

 

Unfortunately, supporters of this program are being buffeted by growing evidence that the Obama administration continues to blur – if not actually brazenly to cross – the lines between constitutionally appropriate and legal actions and those that are beyond the pale.

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/55803

[Valin]

Big Brother isnt watching you

Marc A. Thiessen

6/10/13

 

(Snip)

The exposure of the PRISM program under which the NSA monitors foreign terrorists on the Internet, as well as the leak of a top-secret court order requiring Verizon to share calling data with the government, are incredibly damaging to national security. These leaks give terrorists information they did not have about our collection activities. They undermine the willingness of American companies to cooperate with us because these leaks have put their international reputations at risk. And they teach everyone including sources and liaison partners not to work with us because we cannot keep a secret.

 

(Snip)

 

But instead of being outraged by the damage done by these leaks, critics on the left and right are criticizing the NSA for undertaking activities that are lawful, constitutional and absolutely vital to protecting the country.

 

(Snip)

 

The Verizon court order shows that what is being tracked is not the content of the communications but the records of which phone number called which number, as well as the location and duration of the calls. In Smith v. Maryland, the Supreme Court held that theres no reasonable expectation of privacy, and thus no Fourth Amendment protection, for the phone numbers people dial (as distinct from the content of the call), because the number dialed is information you voluntarily share with the phone company to complete the call and for billing purposes.

 

(Snip)

[Casino67]

Did anyone see ex-NSA Director Hayden explain how the info is used?

 

Hard for me to explain here, but it is only used to query the database to see if a phone number they have of a bad guy was called by anyone in this country. They save the info so that they can have a history of whatever number they are interested in.

 

My only concern is how THIS corrupt administration would use the data, as in how they used the IRS.

 

Does anyone have any idea how long this has been going on? Does anyone know of anyone, innocent of anything, caught up in any investigation? Will everyone be happy when another big one happens that we have no idea who did it and government accused of not 'connecting the dots'?

[Valin]

Did anyone see ex-NSA Director Hayden explain how the info is used?

 

 

Here is Rand

 

 

1 Hard for me to explain here, but it is only used to query the database to see if a phone number they have of a bad guy was called by anyone in this country. They save the info so that they can have a history of whatever number they are interested in.

 

2 My only concern is how THIS corrupt administration would use the data, as in how they used the IRS.

 

3 Does anyone have any idea how long this has been going on? Does anyone know of anyone, innocent of anything, caught up in any investigation?

4 Will everyone be happy when another big one happens that we have no idea who did it and government accused of not 'connecting the dots'?

1 This is how Signet works

2 Your are right to have concerns. The thing is the NSA...etc have a different institutional culture. They screw up...people die, and they know that.

3 By "this" do you mean this program? If so 2007 as I recall.

You might want to look at these vids I posted Inside NSA - The National Security Agency - Documentary+ Nova: The Spy Factory

4 Many of those people who are ranting and raving today, will do the same thing if another attack happens. To much emotion, not enough thinking.

 

(broad brush time)

We have two groups of people weighing in on this. One group either has worked in or with or studied how Intelligence agencies work, and they are saying this is not that big of a deal. The other group hasn't worked in or with or studied how Intelligence agencies work, and they are the one's yelling the loudest. At least that is how it appears to me.

[Casino67]

#3, I meant 'this' administration.

 

And thanks for finding the Hayden clip. Do you agree that he explained it rather well? No one is being monitored and they certainly aren't listening to millions of conversations--at least not in this country.

 

(broad brush time)

"We have two groups of people weighing in on this. One group either has worked in or with or studied how Intelligence agencies work, and they are saying this is not that big of a deal. The other group hasn't worked in or with or studied how Intelligence agencies work, and they are the one's yelling the loudest. At least that is how it appears to me."

 

Exactly.