"Intelligence director details spy program targeting Web; Calls it essential in terror battle, denounces leaks" by Lara Jakes and Jim Kuhnhenn | Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Eager to quell a domestic furor over US spying, the nation’s top intelligence official stressed Saturday that a previously undisclosed program for tapping into Internet usage is authorized by Congress, falls under strict supervision of a secret court, and cannot intentionally target a US citizen.
You guys scooped up everything, so f*** off.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper decried the revelation of that and another intelligence-gathering program as reckless.
Another whistle-blower for Obama to prosecute!
For the second time in three days, he took the rare step of declassifying some details of an intelligence program to respond to media reports about counterterrorism techniques employed by the government.
‘‘Disclosing information about the specific methods the government uses to collect communications can obviously give our enemies a ‘playbook’ of how to avoid detection,’’ he said in a statement.
He means all 330 million of you, Americans!
Clapper said the data collection under the program, first unveiled by the newspapers the Washington Post and The Guardian, was with the approval of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court and with the knowledge of Internet service providers. He emphasized that the government does not act unilaterally to obtain that data from the servers of those providers.
And yet THEY DENIED IT (by law they have to lie and deny)!!
Clapper’s reaction came a day after President Obama defended the counterterrorism methods and said Americans need to ‘‘make some choices’’ in balancing privacy and security.
What balance?
But the president’s response and Clapper’s unusual public stance underscore the nerve touched by the disclosures and the sensitivity of the Obama administration to any suggestion it is trampling on civil liberties.
They git caught and are now sweating it, as well they should!
Late Thursday, Clapper declassified some details of a phone records collection program employed by the National Security Agency that aims to obtain from companies on an ‘‘ongoing, daily basis’’ the records of customers’ calls.
Clapper said under that court-supervised program, only a fraction of the records collected ever get examined because most are unrelated to any inquiries into terrorism activities.
He doesn't really expect us to believe that, does he?
His statement and declassification Saturday addressed the Internet scouring program, code-named PRISM, that allowed the NSA and FBI to tap directly into the servers of major US Internet companies such as Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and AOL.
Like the phone-records program, PRISM was approved by a judge in a secret court order. Unlike that program, however, PRISM allowed the government to seize actual conversations: e-mails, video chats, instant messages and more.
But they didn't listen to content or anything!
Clapper said the program, authorized in the Patriot Act, has been in place since 2008, the last year of the George W. Bush administration. ‘‘It continues to be one of our most important tools for the protection of the nation’s security,’’ he said....
And he proceeds to tell us it was all applied to foreign targets.
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"What surveillance can uncover about you; Americans’ daily routines tracked like never before" by Matt Viser, Noah Bierman and Bryan Bender | Globe Staff, June 08, 2013
WASHINGTON — You wake up in the morning and reach for your cellphone to read e-mail messages. You post your day’s plans to Facebook, call a friend, and search for the address of a lunch spot. You drive on streets tracked by security cameras, and your cellphone emits signals providing your location.
All of that information, including the credit card payment for the lunch itself, could theoretically be gathered, sorted, and reviewed by the federal government.
Nothing theoretical about it! They have collected all communications for at least the last 7 years!
See: Seeing Through the PRISM of Obama's Spying Program
This week’s disclosures that the government reportedly tracks cellphone records and taps into Internet databases are only the latest evidence that American society — increasingly reliant on social media, “cloud”-based computer files, and ubiquitous cellphones — is being tracked like never before, partly due to efforts to stop terrorism. And even though the government typically needs search warrants to ferret out the most personal information, the warrant process has become more secretive.
All of this is happening as the debate over how far the government should go in spying on the citizenry has whipsawed over the past several weeks.
In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, top lawmakers were aghast that more was not done to prevent the Tsarnaev brothers from allegedly launching their attacks. Now there has been an uproar that the government is invading privacy rights. All of this has renewed debate about whether the government has created the correct balance.
They have not, and their is no debating freedom and liberty. Scooping up every single Americans communications is not balanced.
President Obama summed up the quandary on Friday when he felt compelled to say at a press conference that “nobody is listening to your telephone calls.” But he cautioned that concessions must be made at a time when the federal government’s top priority is to protect the country from terrorist attacks.
“You can’t have 100 percent security and then also have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience,” Obama said. “You know, we’re going to have to make some choices as a society.”
Okay. Let's start with you immediately resigning, you arrogant shit.
Btw, founding father Ben Franklin said those that sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.
Obama and other government officials stressed that the phone-tracking program allows them to access only fairly basic metadata, which contains things such as the phone number called or the length of the conversation. In order to actually listen in on the calls or read the e-mails, the government would need to gain another court order.
But Mark Rumold, a staff lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that the number dialed, the length of the call, and the time and place from which it was dialed offer “an intimate portrait about the citizens of this country” and that efforts that include surveillance of regular citizens are growing.
“I’m not suggesting that every American has been targeted by the NSA,” Rumold said, referring to the National Security Agency. “But they have the ability to call up and target every American.”
Another program, known as PRISM, reportedly mines consumer data from Internet providers, which the Obama administration has said tracks only foreigners.
Right. And if you expect me to believe that one....
Meanwhile, the FBI is working on merging its civil and criminal fingerprint databases, meaning innocent people who go through background checks as part of getting a job would now be included, Rumold said.
And as we saw in Florida with the killing of the Todashev kid, the FBI can be trusted.
The NSA can go deeper, using subpoenas approved in secret to gather more specific information.
“You don’t have to be a suspect,” said James Bamford, author of “The Shadow Factory” and two other books about the NSA. “It could be anybody who mentions the wrong combination of words or is communicating with somebody who might be communicating with somebody because the concentric circle seems to go around two or three circles.”
Separate from these government programs, law enforcement agencies can go to the courts and try to obtain subpoenas to gain data about an individual, such as Facebook posts, credit card charges, or e-mails. For example, cellphone carriers received 1.3 million requests in 2011 from law enforcement regarding calls, text messages, and location, according to a congressional report.
The newly disclosed NSA programs, meanwhile, obtain information after a request is made to secret court, and companies are prohibited from telling its users that their information has been given to the government.
That's why they all denied it or claimed they knew nothing, nothing.
Many of the companies involved in the programs, which have been classified and were unknown until news reports exposed them last week, said that they were following the law.
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg denied on Friday that the company was part of the PRISM program and said it does not give the government direct access to its servers. “When governments ask Facebook for data, we review each request carefully to make sure they always follow the correct processes and all applicable laws, and then only provide the information if is required by law,” Zuckerberg said in a posting on his Facebook page.
Google, the largest online search engine, said in a statement that it had not heard of the NSA’s PRISM program until it was reported this week by the British newspaper the Guardian and the Washington Post. “We provide user data to governments only in accordance with the law,” Google said.
Defenders of the NSA programs say they are necessary tools.
“We’re damn lucky as a country to have the kinds of technological capabilities we have to learn things about people who are planning to attack us, that we wouldn’t otherwise have,” said former senator Joseph Lieberman, the Connecticut independent. “I’m very grateful we have the capability to do what NSA does for us because it protects our lives.”
That guy keeps turning up like a bad penny.
Lieberman, who helped form the nation’s homeland security structure after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said he was briefed on at least two attacks that were thwarted as a result of the newly disclosed government programs. The government viewed e-mail and phone traffic that made them suspicious and, after gaining a court order, allowed them to obtain more information. Intelligence officials were able to take “a very small piece of metadata” and follow up with connections to a phone number of a known suspect, Lieberman said.
But NOT BOSTON, meaning Joe and the government have FAILED!
ALL THE COMMUNICATIONS were GATHERED UP, and THE FBI WAS WARNED ABOUT the alleged bombers -- and the TOTAL SURVEILLANCE GRID STILL FAILED, huh?
A look at how the secret court that oversees the gathering of electronic intelligence for national security purposes was established in 1978 demonstrates how its purpose and methodology have changed, including in ways that were not intended by its sponsors.
The court was established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, which was written by Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Edward Levi, attorney general for President Ford.
The court was made responsible for signing off on requests to gather national security information inside the United States in the event there was suspicion that an individual or individuals might be connected to a foreign plot against the United States.
After it was disclosed that the NSA was engaging in warrantless spying, Congress modified the FISA law in 2008 to give the government the greater tools it said it needed to prevent terrorist attacks but also bring them under the law and ensure the privacy of innocent Americans.
That was when Democrats had control of the Congress and Bush was in the White House!
Among the changes was a broader definition of “electronic surveillance” to include so-called “metadata” — trillions of phone calls and e-mails each day — that could be analyzed by special computer software to identify patterns of activity like communications between the United States and a known terrorist overseas that might indicate a plot.
Notice how the focus of this apologetic pos has turned once again to FOREIGN communications?
The law stipulated that the government would have to return to the court for permission to look at any specific communications and identities of Americans involved.
The modifications passed by Congress also granted the George W. Bush administration’s request to give telecommunications firms who cooperated with the NSA immunity from lawsuits, thus making it easier for the NSA to recruit those companies to share information.
Retired Admiral Stansfield Turner, who served as director of the CIA when the surveillance courts were first established, said in an interview Friday that he believes the oversight process, even though it takes place out of public view, is rigorous in protecting civil liberties. He noted that the judges appointed to the court are all federal court judges normally dealing with cases in the civilian justice system.
He took issue with assertions that it is simply serves as a rubber stamp, reportedly rarely modifying the requests of intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Asked if has concerns about the broad nature of the newly disclosed domestic surveillance program, Turner said he believes the structure in place is a “good compromise.”
“I think there are enough checks and balances that if it got out of control someone would blow the whistle,” he said, “and there would be a congressional investigation.”
Does anyone think this government cares about warrants? This is all diversion and distraction. As for whistleblowers, Obama hates them! Prosecuted more in his first term than the rest of the country's history combined. Doubled it in fact!
However, Kennedy opposed the modifications to the FISA Act approved by Congress in 2008, saying they granted too much latitude to the executive branch.
“The rules governing electronic surveillance affect every American,” Kennedy said on the Senate floor in December 2007. “They are the only thing that stands between the freedom of Americans to make a phone call, send an e-mail, and search the Internet, and the ability of the government to listen in on that call, read that e-mail, review that Google search.”
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"‘Nobody is listening to your telephone calls,’ Obama says" by Josh Lederman and Darlene Superville
| Associated Press, June 07, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama vigorously defended sweeping secret surveillance....
It was revealed late Wednesday that the National Security Agency has been collecting the phone records of hundreds of millions of US phone customers.
Meaning all of us.
The leaked document first reported by the Guardian newspaper gave the NSA authority to collect from all of Verizon’s land and mobile customers, but intelligence experts said the program swept up the records of other phone companies too. Another secret program revealed Thursday scours the Internet usage of foreign nationals overseas who use any of nine US-based internet providers such as Microsoft and Google.
Oh, now it's only foreign nationals? That's horse shit. The servers make no distinction.
In his first comments since the programs were publicly revealed this week, Obama said safeguards are in place.
Meaning all of us.
The leaked document first reported by the Guardian newspaper gave the NSA authority to collect from all of Verizon’s land and mobile customers, but intelligence experts said the program swept up the records of other phone companies too. Another secret program revealed Thursday scours the Internet usage of foreign nationals overseas who use any of nine US-based internet providers such as Microsoft and Google.
Oh, now it's only foreign nationals? That's horse shit. The servers make no distinction.
In his first comments since the programs were publicly revealed this week, Obama said safeguards are in place.
‘‘They help us prevent terrorist attacks,’’ Obama said. He said he has concluded that prevention is worth the ‘‘modest encroachments on privacy.’’
Your hollering terrorism at every turn is most distasteful.
Your hollering terrorism at every turn is most distasteful.
***************************
The president’s remarks followed an unusual late-night statement Thursday from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who denounced the leaks of highly classified documents that revealed the programs and warned that America’s security will suffer....
So WHEN is the NEXT FALSE FLAG INSIDE JOB, Jim? Already in the works?!
So WHEN is the NEXT FALSE FLAG INSIDE JOB, Jim? Already in the works?!
The Obama administration’s defense of the two programs came as members of Congress were vowing to change a program they voted to authorize and exasperated civil liberties advocates were crying foul, questioning how Obama, a former constitutional scholar who sought privacy protections as a US senator, could embrace policies aligned with President George W. Bush, whose approach to national security he had vowed to leave behind....
He's WORSE THAN BUSH at this point! The change went in the WRONG DIRECTION!
He's WORSE THAN BUSH at this point! The change went in the WRONG DIRECTION!
Senior administration officials defended the programs as critical tools and said the intelligence they yield is among the most valuable data the US collects. Clapper said the Internet program, known as PRISM, can’t be used to intentionally target any Americans or anyone in the U.S, and that data accidentally collected about Americans is kept to a minimum.
And if you believe that, I have some of Saddam's nooks to sell you.
And if you believe that, I have some of Saddam's nooks to sell you.
Leaders of Congress’ intelligence panels dismissed the furor over what they said was standard three-month renewal to a program that’s operated for seven years. Committee leaders also said the program recently helped thwart what would have been a significant domestic terrorist attack....
But they DIDN'T THWART BOSTON, huh?
The widespread notion of a government dragnet ensnaring terror suspects and innocent Americans pushed typical political foes to stand together against Obama as he enforces what many likened to Bush-era policies....
But they DIDN'T THWART BOSTON, huh?
The widespread notion of a government dragnet ensnaring terror suspects and innocent Americans pushed typical political foes to stand together against Obama as he enforces what many likened to Bush-era policies....
Officials from Clapper’s office, the Justice Department, NSA and FBI briefed 27 senators for some two hours late Thursday at a hurriedly convened session prompted by severe criticism and uncertainty about the program....
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said, ‘‘After revelations that the Internal Revenue Service targeted political dissidents and the Department of Justice seized reporters’ phone records, it would appear that this administration has now sunk to a new low.’’
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said, ‘‘After revelations that the Internal Revenue Service targeted political dissidents and the Department of Justice seized reporters’ phone records, it would appear that this administration has now sunk to a new low.’’
************************
Republicans who usually don’t miss a chance to criticize the administration offered full support.
Republicans who usually don’t miss a chance to criticize the administration offered full support.
‘‘I'm a Verizon customer. I could care less if they’re looking at my phone records. ... If you’re not getting a call from a terrorist organization, you got nothing to worry about,’’ said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
A supremely fascist attitude, and no the point.
A supremely fascist attitude, and no the point.
The disclosures come at a particularly inopportune time for Obama.
Awwwwww.
His administration already faces questions over the Internal Revenue Service’s improper targeting of conservative groups, the seizure of journalists’ phone records in an investigation into who leaked information to the media, and the handling of the terrorist attack in Libya that left four Americans dead.
Notice how Libya is always the least mentioned of the scandals?
Awwwwww.
His administration already faces questions over the Internal Revenue Service’s improper targeting of conservative groups, the seizure of journalists’ phone records in an investigation into who leaked information to the media, and the handling of the terrorist attack in Libya that left four Americans dead.
Notice how Libya is always the least mentioned of the scandals?
At a minimum, it’s all a distraction as the president tries to tackle big issues like immigration reform and taxes.
Of his own making.
And it could serve to erode trust in Obama as he tries to advance his second-term agenda and cement his presidential legacy....
There is no trust left to erode, and his legacy as a law-breaker has been sealed.
Of his own making.
And it could serve to erode trust in Obama as he tries to advance his second-term agenda and cement his presidential legacy....
There is no trust left to erode, and his legacy as a law-breaker has been sealed.
Verizon Executive Vice President and General Counsel Randy Milch, in a blog post, said the company can’t comment on any such court order. He said Verizon take steps to protect customers’ privacy, but must comply with court orders. Verizon listed 121 million customers in its first-quarter earnings report this April.
The NSA is sensitive to perceptions that it might be spying on Americans....
They read that before you did.
They read that before you did.
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For massive coverage of the spying scandal (and others) go HERE.
"Congress must set clear limits on NSA surveillance program" June 08, 2013
Dialing a friend is a private act, no less than the content of the call itself. So this week’s revelations that the federal government, in the name of fighting terrorism, collects vast amounts of data about the online contacts and phone calls of Americans struck many as a profound breach of privacy. The fact that the program is legal and that the government doesn’t eavesdrop on the actual calls, as the Obama administration contends, didn’t quell the disturbing sense of violation. Congress must set clearer boundaries on the executive branch’s power to monitor the communications of millions of innocent people — and lead an overdue discussion of privacy in a rapidly changing electronic world.
HMMMMMMMMMM!!!!
There should be NO DISCUSSION when it comes to the CONSTITUTION and the BILL of RIGHTS, sorry!
Especially when all this spying is BUILT UPON the MASSIVE and DAMNABLE LIES of that 9/11 inside job!
The National Security Agency’s telephone surveillance has its roots in the program of warrantless wiretaps under the Bush administration. After the furor following that program’s exposure by The New York Times in 2005, Congress moved to make such sweeping surveillance legal. Then-senator Barack Obama supported giving Bush those powers, so his administration’s use of them now can hardly come as a shock. Still, his administration has expanded monitoring even further. In addition to phone calls, the Washington Post reported that the administration is also keeping tabs on Facebook, AOL, Yahoo, and other popular sites that hold a treasure trove of photos, messages, and other private information. That program is only supposed to snag foreign Internet users, but the Post reported there are inadequate protections to ensure Americans aren’t monitored, too.
A few critics in Congress have faulted the administration’s spying, including several members of the Massachusetts delegation. Yet they seem to be a distinct minority on Capitol Hill. In a rare display of bipartisanship, senior senators of both parties have lined up to support Obama, citing the specter of foreign terrorism. “The threat from terrorism remains very real, and these lawful intelligence activities must continue, with the careful oversight of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, and Senator Saxby Chambliss, Republican of Georgia, in a joint statement. ‘‘I could care less if they’re looking at my phone records,” said Senator Lindsey Graham.
Instead of recycling such bromides, those lawmakers need to listen to the outcry this week and steer surveillance laws toward a more sophisticated balance of privacy and security. That the NSA’s information may have proved helpful in fighting terrorism doesn’t mean the overall approach is absolutely necessary. The administration and the program’s defenders need to make a convincing case that it’s an irreplaceable tool....
And even if the government’s huge fishing expedition were truly invaluable as an intelligence source, the scope of the invasion of privacy it entails is simply too great to swallow. With the memories of the Marathon bombing still fresh, Bostonians don’t need to be reminded of the importance of fighting terrorism. But that cannot trump every other concern. Congress must begin a public debate on privacy, and then set new limits on surveillance that balance the needs of national security with the rights of all citizens to be free of unnecessary intrusions. Simply setting clear limits, and making the public aware of them, will do much to promote confidence in government.
Sorry, but that's gone and will never come back, especially after the Todashev killing in Florida.
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Same goes for the newspaper, sorry.
I may be gone for a while, readers.
I'm taking in a movie and then a ball game as I prepare my next posts.
UPDATE:
"NSA contract worker revealed surveillance data" Globe staff, June 09, 2013
A British newspaper Sunday revealed the source of the leak revealing the NSA’s extensive surveillance of US communications.
Edward Snowden, a former CIA technical assistant who now works for a defense contractor with ties to the National Security Agency, asked the Guardian newspaper to reveal his identity.
“I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong,” he told the newspaper in a remarkable, rambling interview that touched on his reasons for the leak, how he took precautions in not revealing documents that could harm particular people, how he became disillusioned, and how he expects his life as he knows it to end. “I don’t want the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the US government is doing.”
“I’m willing to sacrifice all of that because I can’t in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, Internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building.”
“My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them.” said Snowden, who added that he has been holed up in a hotel room in Hong Kong and hopes to receive asylum, possibly from Iceland.
The Guardian said that Snowden was working at the NSA office in Hawaii three weeks ago when he made final preparations for his disclosures. It said he copied the documents, then advised a supervisor that he needed to be away for “a couple of weeks,” saying he required medical treatment.
He then told his girlfriend that he would be away for a few weeks.
On May 20, the newspaper reported, he boarded a flight to Hong Kong, where he remains ensconced in a luxury hotel room. He said he chose that city because of its “spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent.”
The paper said Snowden, fearing that he himself would be the object of spying, lines the door of his hotel room with pillows to prevent eavesdropping.
At one time one would have said he was crazy, but now....
In its account of Snowden’s motivations, The Guardian described him as a man whose patriotism and deep-seated idealism about his country suffered a stinging series of disappointments, leaving him conflicted and finally pushing him to take a step some have described as treason.
After growing up in North Carolina, he moved with his family to Maryland, near NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Md.
Though he never obtained a high school diploma, he studied computing at a community college in Maryland. He enlisted in the US Army in 2003 and began training to join the Special Forces, he told the newspaper, helping to fight in the Iraq war “to help free people from oppression.”
But his experience was dispiriting, The Guardian reported. “Most of the people training us seemed pumped up about killing Arabs, not helping anyone,” he said. Snowden broke both legs in a training accident and received a discharge.
He then got a job as a security guard at a covert NSA facility at the University of Maryland, soon moving to a computer job with the CIA, rising with unusual speed for someone lacking a high school diploma.
The CIA sent him to Geneva in 2007; he had diplomatic cover and clearance giving him access to classified documents.
But he grew disillusioned there by the tactics he saw agency operatives use in trying to recruit a man to spy on Swiss banks, and he began thinking for the first time about exposing government secrets.
And he didn't even see any torture.
He temporized, however, fearing that his disclosures might endanger someone, and hoping that the election of Barack Obama might bring greater transparency to government.
We all did.
But after taking a job for a private contractor, and being assigned to an NSA facility on a military base in Japan, he said he watched “as Obama advanced the very policies that I thought would be reined in,” adding, “I got hardened.”
He has gradually embraced, with ever-greater fervor, the causes of transparency and Internet freedom.
The Guardian said he had been fully transparent himself when challenged by its reporters to confirm the authenticity of the materials he provided. It said he offered his Social Security number, even his CIA identity number.
Notice they never challenge government?
Snowden said that he admired both Daniel Ellsberg, the source of the Pentagon Papers, and Bradley Manning, the Army private who has acknowledged providing huge troves of government documents in the WikiLeaks scandal.
Related: Burying Bradley Manning
But he drew a contrast, saying that “I carefully evaluated every single document I disclosed to ensure that each was legitimately in the public interest.” He said that “harming people isn’t my goal. Transparency is.”
Snowden said that he now hopes he might be granted asylum someplace — possibly Iceland — but that he is prepared for whatever happens.
“I feel satisfied that this was all worth it,” he said. “I have no regrets.”
Thank you for doing what you did, son.
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Also see: Current and former US intelligence officials said the revelation of Snowden’s role in the leaks will lead to a sweeping re-examination of security measures at the CIA and the NSA
Cui bono?
Clapper gives it a nice touch by also blaming the corporate media mouthpieces, while politicians howl for extradition.
UPDATED: NSA – Prism Created By Isreali SiSense – Linked to EMC Google Yahoo Facebook Spying On Citizens
Manufactured Hero Edward Snowden – The NSA Whistleblower Exposed as Career NSA, CIA, Special Forces Trained Agent
Once again proving that if you make the paper you are part of the program.
Looks like this blog may be over soon -- and there was so much I never got to.
