NSA collecting phone data on millions of people

kmoney

kmoney

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Meet the guy who leaked the info...

Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations - Guardian

The individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden has been working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.

The Guardian, after several days of interviews, is revealing his identity at his request. From the moment he decided to disclose numerous top-secret documents to the public, he was determined not to opt for the protection of anonymity. "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong," he said.

Snowden will go down in history as one of America's most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning. He is responsible for handing over material from one of the world's most secretive organisations – the NSA.

In a note accompanying the first set of documents he provided, he wrote: "I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions," but "I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant."

Despite his determination to be publicly unveiled, he repeatedly insisted that he wants to avoid the media spotlight. "I don't want public attention because I don't want the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the US government is doing."

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jeffblue101

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If the NSA Trusted Edward Snowden With Our Data, Why Should We Trust the NSA
Edward Snowden sounds like a thoughtful, patriotic young man, and I’m sure glad he blew the whistle on the NSA’s surveillance programs. But the more I learned about him this afternoon, the angrier I became. Wait, him? The NSA trusted its most sensitive documents to this guy? And now, after it has just proven itself so inept at handling its own information, the agency still wants us to believe that it can securely hold on to all of our data? Oy vey!

According to the Guardian, Snowden is a 29-year-old high-school dropout who trained for the Army Special Forces before an injury forced him to leave the military. His IT credentials are apparently limited to a few “computer” classes he took at a community college in order to get his high-school equivalency degree—courses that he did not complete. His first job at the NSA was as a security guard. Then, amazingly, he moved up the ranks of the United States’ national security infrastructure: The CIA gave him a job in IT security. He was given diplomatic cover in Geneva. He was hired by Booz Allen Hamilton, the government contractor, which paid him $200,000 a year to work on the NSA’s computer systems.

Let’s note what Snowden is not: He isn’t a seasoned FBI or CIA investigator. He isn’t a State Department analyst. He’s not an attorney with a specialty in national security or privacy law.

Instead, he’s the IT guy, and not a very accomplished, experienced one at that. If Snowden had sent his résumé to any of the tech companies that are providing data to the NSA’s PRISM program, I doubt he’d have even gotten an interview. Yes, he could be a computing savant anyway—many well-known techies dropped out of school. But he was given access way beyond what even a supergeek should have gotten. As he tells the Guardian, the NSA let him see “everything.” He was accorded the NSA’s top security clearance, which allowed him to see and to download the agency’s most sensitive documents. But he didn’t just know about the NSA’s surveillance systems—he says he had the ability to use them. “I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities [sic] to wiretap anyone from you or your accountant to a federal judge to even the president if I had a personal email,” he says in a video interview with the paper.

Because Snowden is now in Hong Kong, it’s unclear what the United States can do to him. But watch for officials to tar Snowden—he’ll be called unpatriotic, unprofessional, treasonous, a liar, grandiose, and worse. As in the Bradley Manning case, though, the more badly Snowden is depicted, the more rickety the government’s case for surveillance becomes. After all, they hired him. They gave him unrestricted access to their systems, from court orders to PowerPoint presentations depicting the crown jewels of their surveillance infrastructure. (Also of note: They made a hideous PowerPoint presentation depicting the crown jewels of their surveillance infrastructure—who does that? I’ve been reading a lot of Le Carré lately, and when I saw the PRISM presentation, I remembered how Le Carré’s veteran spy George Smiley endeavored to never write down his big secrets. Now our spies aren’t just writing things down—they’re trying to make their secrets easily presentable to large audiences.)
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PureX

PureX

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jeffblue101

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resurrected said:
that does it!

I'm not voting for Bush anymore!

Thank God we have Obama now so this will never happen again!
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I thought you might enjoy this classic jem of quote from Purex in 2006 describing Bush's NSA surveillance program

PureX said:
His idea of a democratic republic seems to be that once he's elected, he becomes Divine Emperor. This is what happens when we elect morons to high office. We should maybe remember this, next time.
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The Barbarian

The Barbarian

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It's certainly a valid point. Obama is simply the lying scumbag who has done nothing to repeal these violations like he promised.

But yeah, this all began under Bush.
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They hate being reminded that their hero made it all possible. And they really hate me telling them that I told them so.

But I told them so.
 
PureX

PureX

Well-known member
TomO said:
Yeah, but...It's different now.
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Sure, the bias is now on the other foot. When Bush started this program, conservatives and republicans were all for it, liberals were against it, while the democratic politicians quietly went along with it.

Now, the conservatives and republicans are all against it, while the liberals are still against it, and the democratic politicians still quietly support it.

So the only two-faced flip-floppers, here, are the conservatives and the republicans, who are now changing their position on it in an effort to slander Obama. This is the republican strategy, now, to slander Obama in any way can, for as long as they can. That's it; that's their whole plan for the next two years.

Don't they just make ya proud!
 
The Barbarian

The Barbarian

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In all fairness, I suspect that the guys who set up that system, probably realized that democrats would use it, too. Remember, they were right wingers, and they think the government should be able to keep track of us.

They just don't want us tracking government. Obama disappointed his leftist supporters most by not disassembling this mess.
 
PureX

PureX

Well-known member
The Barbarian said:
They hate being reminded that their hero made it all possible. And they really hate me telling them that I told them so.

But I told them so.
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Oh, they would still be all in favor of it if the current president were a republican. The hypocrisy is just oosing out all over the place.
 
TomO

TomO

Get used to it.
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PureX said:
Sure, the bias is now on the other foot. When Bush started this program, conservatives and republicans were all for it, liberals were against it, while the democratic politicians quietly went along with it.

Now, the conservatives and republicans are all against it, while the liberals are still against it, and the democratic politicians still quietly support it.

So the only two-faced flip-floppers, here, are the conservatives and the republicans, who are now changing their position on it in an effort to slander Obama. This is the republican strategy, now, to slander Obama in any way can, for as long as they can. That's it; that's their whole plan for the next two years.

Don't they just make ya proud!
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:think: Which ones would those be?
 
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jeffblue101

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PureX said:
So the only two-faced flip-floppers, here, are the conservatives and the republicans, who are now changing their position on it in an effort to slander Obama. This is the republican strategy, now, to slander Obama in any way can, for as long as they can. That's it; that's their whole plan for the next two years.

Don't they just make ya proud!
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Wow. lets get our facts straight. Not all republicans(or those like myself who have no choice but to vote for democrat light) support George Bush in everything that he did. secondly, the republicans who did support this bill are defending Obama and are demanding that the whistleblower be treated like a criminal
 
PureX

PureX

Well-known member
The Barbarian said:
In all fairness, I suspect that the guys who set up that system, probably realized that democrats would use it, too. Remember, they were right wingers, and they think the government should be able to keep track of us.

They just don't want us tracking government. Obama disappointed his leftist supporters most by not disassembling this mess.
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Politicians become politicians because they are fascinated with power. Power is their life. So it doesn't really matter whether they are democrats or republicans, when the proposition comes along that would increase their power, they pretty much all are in favor of it. And once they get it, they really, REALLY don't want to let it go.

Obama is no different than Bush when it comes to that infatuation with power, but Bush/Cheney created this spying system, not Obama. But Obama, like nearly every politician that has ever lived, simply doesn't want to let it go, now that he's got that bit of power. And I'm sure he justifies it by telling himself that he must do everything he can to try and prevent another 9/11, just as George Bush did.

And admit it. You conservatives would be "all in" if it were still under republican presidential control.

This whole issue is nothing more than another republican party attempt in a continuing series of attempts at smearing Obama with anything and everything they can think of, while they continue to stonewall legislation until the next election cycle.
 
TomO

TomO

Get used to it.
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The Barbarian said:
Obama disappointed his leftist supporters most by not disassembling this mess.
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Oh...I see...When Bush was doing it they were "enraged" and now that Obama is doing it they are "disappointed". :think:

A pox on both their houses.
 
PureX

PureX

Well-known member
jeffblue101 said:
Not all republicans support George Bush in everything that he did.
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Well the few who didn't were mighty scarce. Especially in Washington, and here on TOL.
jeffblue101 said:
... secondly, the republicans who did support this bill are defending Obama and are demanding that the whistleblower be treated like a war criminal
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While their party spokesmen are in front of every news camera in the western world decrying "Obama the dictator" as loudly and repeatedly as they possibly can, and the conservatives here in TOL are desperately trying to claim that this is all somehow different and not at all related to the program set up by Bush/Cheney and thoroughly supported by themselves 8 years ago.

Like I said, the bias and hypocrisy are just oosing out of everywhere, on this one.
 
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