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"We were gathering bulk data from telecoms even before the Patriot Act" Thought this was important to note.
ps. Do not use satellite phones unless you want everything listened too:)
Interesting that he now calls Snowden a traitor for the China-specific intel turned over, while supporting him broadly otherwise. Pretty much the same line I'd draw (although I think he should have gone to IG/Congress rather than the media, but with the threat of going to media if no action taken. It's possible he went to IG/Congress already, but I don't think so.)
Giving up British intelligence for the G20 surveillance is also probably crossing the line. If developed countries can't trust each other not to spy on their diplomats where does that leave us? I guess they should all assume they are being spied on at all times while on foreign soil, but airing that in public is likely to worsen his chance of avoiding jail time—or worse.
It leaves us precisely where we are - developed countries have been spying on each others' diplomats and using their diplomats for spying for, well, just about ever.
US Secretary of State Henry Simpson famously said "Gentlemen don't read each other's mail" some 80 odd years ago. A quaint attitude, even back then.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Giving up British intelligence for the G20 surveillance is also probably crossing the line. If developed countries can't trust each other not to spy on their diplomats where does that leave us? I guess they should all assume they are being spied on at all times while on foreign soil, but airing that in public is likely to worsen his chance of avoiding jail time—or worse.
I have ~no problem with gov on gov spying. I actually have more problem with China's spying on US companies for commercial reasons than China's spying on the USG. USG spying on private individuals might be worse than China spying on USG from an abstract moral perspective. I'd argue that US v USSR spying during the Cold War, particularly PHOTOINT and SIGINT and other forms of technical intelligence, largely averted a…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Giving up British intelligence for the G20 surveillance is also probably crossing the line. If developed countries can't trust each other not to spy on their diplomats where does that leave us? I guess they should all assume they are being spied on at all times while on foreign soil, but airing that in public is likely to worsen his chance of avoiding jail time—or worse.
I have ~no problem with gov on gov spying. I actually have more problem with China's spying on US companies for commercial reasons than China's spying on the USG. USG spying on private individuals might be worse than China spying on USG from an abstract moral perspective. I'd argue that US v USSR spying during the Cold War, particularly PHOTOINT and SIGINT and other forms of technical intelligence, largely averted a…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which is funny, because I thought mandatory access controls was the key feature that the NSA added in SELinux.
Yeah, everything I've been seeing seems to be that they seriously threw out everything about being competent in the 1990s, and then blew up into something huge (and incompetent) in the post-9/11. Hayden does not seem to have been a good director at all, at either NSA or CIA, and was responsible for the big push toward contractors as well.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Giving up British intelligence for the G20 surveillance is also probably crossing the line. If developed countries can't trust each other not to spy on their diplomats where does that leave us? I guess they should all assume they are being spied on at all times while on foreign soil, but airing that in public is likely to worsen his chance of avoiding jail time—or worse.
If developed countries can't trust each other not to spy on their diplomats where does that leave us? It leaves us precisely where we are - developed countries have been spying on each others' diplomats and using their diplomats for spying for, well, just about ever. US Secretary of State Henry Simpson famously said "Gentlemen don't read each other's mail" some 80 odd years ago. A quaint attitude, even back then.
I actually salute him. I will say it right here. I actually salute him, given my experience over many, many years both inside and outside the system. Remember, I saw what he saw. I want to re-emphasize that. What he did was a magnificent act of civil disobedience. He's exposing the inner workings of the surveillance state. And it's in the public interest. It truly is.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Andrews_Drake
[2] http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2013/0616/Dick-Chene...
[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/01/politics/campaign/01CHEN.h...
William Binney is an absolute hero. I have absorbed everything this guy has ever said or done[2]. He was not only employed at the NSA, but he was a director who designed the software that is being used right now to dragnet all the communications. It is difficult for anybody - congressman, president, republican voter, etc. - to argue that what the NSA is doing is fine when the guy with all the technical details and design of the program says it isn't. That he is against what is happening is a big deal and needs more attention.
This video is on the front page of USA Today, so these guys and the topic is starting to get the recognition they deserve.
[1] The New Yorker did a great feature on him called 'The Secret Sharer' - good for background http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/23/110523fa_fact_...
[2] Search YouTube for Binney - he was the keynote speaker at the 2600 HOPE conference last year - a presentation that everybody must watch. Apparently Snowden decided to go the route he did after watching Binney in Laura Poitras' "The Program" for the NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/opinion/the-national-secur... Potras is the same person who was the first journalist Snowden contacted.
Somehow this quote from the interview by Thomas Drake, a former senior executive of the NSA and a decorated Air Force and Navy veteran[1], carries a bit more weight for me than the widely trumpeted blatherings of Dick Cheney[2], winner of five draft deferments[3]: I actually salute him. I will say it right here. I actually salute him, given my experience over many, many years both inside and outside the system. Remem…