So what is the real deal with the NSA?

[rdb241]

I was listening to a news story about the whistle blower Eric Snoden. If he ever returns to the US he will be prosocuted for treason. But in the same story the NSA really does not want him to come back in the US because ultimatly Snoden would release more info about the NSA. So what is the NSA really up to if they do not want Snoden back in the US. Why are they scared of what Snoden would say? What does this guy know?

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[rick benjamin]

What is the NSA really up to?
It collects signal intelligence.

What does Snowden know?
Knows he's in a real stinky mess.

In other news, Bradley Manning convicted of similar crimes.

 

[ATCclears]

I think we've only gotten a whiff of the depth of the NSA's activities...

Peter

 

[Burt Gummer]

Independent panel denounces ?chilling? NSA program as illegal, demands end ? RT USA

An independent review board has labeled NSA hoarding of phone data ‘illegal’, adding that while it poses a serious threat to civil liberties, it was unable to find a “single instance” of a threat to the US where the program made any difference.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I do not trust ANY GOVERNMENT AGENCY, federal, state or local!!! This country is so far in the toilet and there ain't no end in sight of it getting any better. We are in a Police state and are just waiting to fear the actual drone attacks sure to happen in the future...

 

[cookie]

Eric Snowden is a true patriot.

 

[simon99]

I think Snowden knows and has a lot more dirt on the NSA than he's leaked thus far. Personally I think he's using that data as his bargaining chip to keep himself alive......I look forward to seeing what else he provides.

 

[Audrey]

I had to read a majority of the PATRIOT Act while taking an "Technology and Internet Ethics" class in college. It's no surprise to me this was going on. After 9/11 everyone was scared and willing to give up some privacy for a sense of security. It was misguided, and now people have finally calmed down enough to see that.

 

[rick benjamin]

How does ... bridge signals off the internet backbone?
All that's needed is an optical bridge.
How do I know? I installed them.
Was a toll-transmission tech 39 years for AT&T Portland OR
(not at&t, we were pirated)
The bridged signal went to a locked server cabinet with cameras pointing at any cabinet opener person.
My opinion is if you are upset about this now, YOU ARE TOOOO LATE!
You weren't paying attention when Tom Clancy was writing his spy novels, waxing poetic on "carnivor" and "eschelon".

 

[BAMCIS]

Eric Snowden is a true patriot.

No. He should be tried and given the option of the electric chair, firing squad, hanging or lethal injection. A true patriot would have remembered the agreement he signed to get his security clearance. I know I remember it when I signed mine to get my security clearance. Instead, he would have been a patriot if he handled his concerns through any number of LEGAL avenues open to him. But then we'd have never heard of him and he wouldn't have gotten the notoriety he so desperately sought.

As far as the NSA is concerned, nothing will be made public. but it has been set back years. It has had its wings clipped to the point where it is impotent and is suffering a "brain drain". Think they will have a hard time recruiting now? (In case no one knows, the NSA hires the best and brightest. Many right out of college. A large portion of the workforce there is around 25 years of age, with some even under 20.)

 

[Brutus57]

I think him and others believing the whistleblowing was OK is like saying, well, you know, Charlie Manson was really good with children. Calling out the NSA in no way covers for what he gave the commies!

Brutus Out!

 

[aslinged]

Blackmail and leverage material---wide and deep.

 

[Brutus57]

Blackmail and leverage material---wide and deep.

I think this is truly the crux of the matter and I think the threat of it has removed McCain's and Boehner's backbones. Their actions and rhetoric has become so moderate that you would think they were moderate democrats.

It's like the guy on Princess Bride said in the battle of wits...."Inconceivable!" but here we are effed up so bad as a country by these cowards and socialists I am not sure we'll ever get back close to what we were just a dozen years ago.
They fear Christie so much they are going to bury him over next to nothing because they figure he's the only threat to Hillary. Right now the NSA is mining the SH@t out of his electronic footprint as far back as they can.


Brutus Out

 

[flybynyt]

cookie
Eric Snowden is a true patriot.

You are so right. A true patriot!!!

 

[clearconscience]

Pretty much all the scary big brother stuff the crazy old men tell you about is real. And they have been doing it for 20-30 years.
Thats the funny thing all these people all up in arms now. They have been doing this since the internet and cell phones started.
Their technology is probably 10-20 years ahead of what we have commercially.

 

[MBGraphix]

As far as the NSA is concerned, nothing will be made public. but it has been set back years. It has had its wings clipped to the point where it is impotent and is suffering a "brain drain". Think they will have a hard time recruiting now? (In case no one knows, the NSA hires the best and brightest. Many right out of college. A large portion of the workforce there is around 25 years of age, with some even under 20.)

Replying so you will all re-read this (above) again. You have no idea how accurate this is.


BAMCIS - You the man !

 

[JackThompson]

Eric Snowden got the information out the ONLY way he could.

He knew he would have simply been murdered and dumped somewhere if he followed "Proper channels" in this case, and with the unprecedented vigor with which the Obama administration has persecuted whistleblowers and ignored all the whistleblower protection laws, he is playing their game by the rules they have set forth.

Do you think he is enjoying his 15 minutes of fame?

It's ludicrous to accuse him of betraying the American people. He sacrificed himself for the American people.

 

[SynapticSilence]

I spent 21 years in military intelligence before retiring as an E-9 in '93. The last two years were working at NSA in a high-level liaison position. NSA isn't what the movies make out. They don't carry guns. They don't kill people. They're ultra-geeks and world class mathematicians and computer scientists who, along with their military intelligence counterparts, have served the country well and honorably. I served during the Cold War and know for a fact the role they played in keeping the nation safe. They were tasked by the Bush Administration to devise any means necessary to prevent another 9/11 and given a great deal of freedom in pursuing that goal. In today's digital communications age, where any call is split into billions of ones and zeroes and only reassembled at the receiving end, monitoring actual conversations is nigh on impossible. The only way to do the type of traffic analysis to reveal the patterns of communication needed to ferret out bad guys is to know who called whom where and when, ie the "metadata" you hear about. All they've done is what they've been tasked to do. Snowden is either a spy or a traitor in my book because he has compromised what may be the only way of tracking terrorists down. If you think they haven't already changed their communication tactics because of what he's leaked, you're naive. He's aided and abetted the enemy and calls himself a hero for doing it. While conveniently being granted asylum by a country that's not far removed from the enemy we had for nearly 50 years that wanted us blown out of existence. Take off your black helicopter hats for a minute and think about that.

 

[JackThompson]

I spent 21 years in military intelligence before retiring as an E-9 in '93. The last two years were working at NSA in a high-level liaison position. NSA isn't what the movies make out. They don't carry guns. They don't kill people. They're ultra-geeks and world class mathematicians and computer scientists who, along with their military intelligence counterparts, have served the country well and honorably. I served during the Cold War and know for a fact the role they played in keeping the nation safe. They were tasked by the Bush Administration to devise any means necessary to prevent another 9/11 and given a great deal of freedom in pursuing that goal. In today's digital communications age, where any call is split into billions of ones and zeroes and only reassembled at the receiving end, monitoring actual conversations is nigh on impossible. The only way to do the type of traffic analysis to reveal the patterns of communication needed to ferret out bad guys is to know who called whom where and when, ie the "metadata" you hear about. All they've done is what they've been tasked to do. Snowden is either a spy or a traitor in my book because he has compromised what may be the only way of tracking terrorists down. If you think they haven't already changed their communication tactics because of what he's leaked, you're naive. He's aided and abetted the enemy and calls himself a hero for doing it. While conveniently being granted asylum by a country that's not far removed from the enemy we had for nearly 50 years that wanted us blown out of existence. Take off your black helicopter hats for a minute and think about that.

First, I appreciate the work you and anybody protecting our people during the Cold War did.

I don't mean this as a slam to any particular person.

With that said:

There IS no terrorist threat, bubblegum the (current) NSA, and there is ZERO reason to intrude on our lives "To keep us safe".

Stop buttbubbleguming every other nation and we won't have so many enemies at the gates.

The biggest terrorist threat we face today is named Monsanto, coca cola, citibank, Wells Fargo, the ATF, the NSA, DHS, TSA...the list goes on, but none of it contains some Arab across the world,

 

[clearconscience]

CIA is pretty much the same a bunch a history geeks ready and writing reports.

Either way our enemy today is from within.
EPA, IRS, and completely power hungry ignorant, out of touch with reality, greedy politicians