US soldiers are supposed "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic." It seems what the government is doing is taking a big dump on the 4th amendment.
One man's traitor is another man's patriot. It all depends on your point of view, eh? I don't know which one he is just yet. It's called covering your ass. It's standard protocol to most anyone working for the federal government these days. This dude just laid a giant turd on one of the most ruthless, most connected organizations in the world. There's no where he will ever be truly safe. If he died and went to hell, the NSA would send someone down there to get him.
They need to go after FISA. They are the secret judicial oversight for these requests.. well it didn't look like they did any oversight.. it's more like threw NSA the keys and went on vacation.
Safe...from what? A trial? Oh no, the horror, how could such a great martyr be forced to deal with the horrors of defending his action and having a chance to explain his great love for liberty and freedom in something that would be covered around the word! Clearly the heir to Zenger right here, folks! Not to mention fleeing to ******* China, especially given their sterling record with cybersecurity - this is like if Ellsberg ran to Moscow to report, and heck Nixon was much nastier with reporters than Obama. Unless you're going to buy into conspiracy bull**** about how the US is going to knock this guy off or declare him an enemy combatant ( and if they didn't do that to Manning, they aren't going to do it to this guy), then this guy should accept the rule of law. Because law is what truly governs a society, not liberal panderings about freedom and liberty.
you're condemning a man who has shed a huge amount of insight into why FISC courts have declared certain provisions of the current survalliance system as unconstitutional---and why Bush's DOJ almost threatened to resign en masse to protest a program Obama is expanding. if you believe that law is truly what governs a society, and not liberal panderings about freedom and liberty, then you should want to investigate at once---and you should recognize that you owe the man a great length more than others trying to persecute him unfairly (as the Obama Admin. has a track record of doing with whistleblowers).
I've skimmed through this thread and this this post is what worries me the most. I am absolutely sure that if Obama tomorrow came out and said he would end this program many of those complaining about this would suddenly start saying this just shows that Obama is weak against terror. Just consider when Obama tried to close GITMO how much outcry there was, among many of those same people who criticize him on drone strikes and surveillance programs, that Obama was putting US lives in danger and bowing to terrorism. I hate to say this but there is a negative feedback loop. The fear of being considered soft on terror will keep driving each Admin. to continue and expand on the same programs that the previous one did.
When the pollsters at Pew asked Democrats in January 2006 how they felt about the NSA's surveillance programs, 37 percent labeled the programs "acceptable," while 61 percent said they were unacceptable. Today, those numbers are exactly the opposite: 64 percent of Democrats now think the NSA's surveillance programs are acceptable, while only 34 percent say they're not. Republicans polled much the same way (in reverse, obviously). Back in 2006, 75 percent of Republicans supported the NSA "scrutiniz[ing] phone calls and emails of suspected terrorists." Today, only 52 percent of Republicans say such actions are acceptable. Could it be that sharing a party ID with whoever's in the White House is a better indicator of one's opinion on major civil liberties issues, than, say principle? I AM REALLY STARTING TO THINK SO. Whole damn poll--including the frightening statistic that only 12 percent of 18-29 year-olds are following the NSA story--right here. http://reason.com/blog/2013/06/10/pew-democrats-cool-with-nsa-data-diving
I've called for getting rid of the Patriot Act and these policies even under Obama. I've asked if you agree and you ignored the question.Now you are using policies put in place by Bush (that you agree with) to criticize the President. Who's the shill?
Again, there were those of us who made this point 10 years ago and were called unamerican and traitors
Another poll that'll blow basso's mind Pew Poll: 56 Percent Of Americans Say Phone Tracking Is Acceptable Anti-Terror Tactic Majority Views NSA Phone Tracking as Acceptable Anti-terror Tactic
on the hunt: -- Inside the ‘Q Group,’ the Directorate Hunting Down Edward Snowden by Eli Lake Jun 10, 2013 12:44 PM EDT The top-secret ‘Q Group’ has been chasing Edward Snowden since he disappeared in May. Eli Lake on the intel community’s internal police—and why the agency is in ‘complete freakout mode.’ 234 inShare 272 Even before last week’s revelations by The Guardian newspaper that the National Security Agency (NSA) was collecting call records from telecommunications companies and had the ability to mine user data from major U.S. Internet companies, the NSA was already on the trail of the leaker, according to two former U.S. intelligence officers with close ties to the agency. Edward Snowden’s (inset) disappearance in May was immediately noticed by the NSA. (Patrick Semansky/AP; inset: Getty) On Sunday, The Guardian revealed its source—a 29-year-old former U.S. Army soldier and CIA employee named Edward Snowden. Snowden—who worked as a contract employee at an NSA station in Hawaii—said he agreed to have his identity revealed because he feared that the NSA would put pressure on his family and his friends for information about his whereabouts. From a hotel in Hong Kong, he told The Guardian he expected he would never be allowed to return home and that he could end up imprisoned or murdered because of his decision to leak. The people who began chasing Snowden work for the Associate Directorate for Security and Counterintelligence, according to former U.S. intelligence officers who spoke on condition of anonymity. The directorate, sometimes known as “the Q Group,” is continuing to track Snowden now that he’s outed himself as The Guardian’s source, according to the intelligence officers. Snowden began final preparations for his departure three weeks ago, The Guardian reports, copying the final documents he intended to share, telling his supervisor that he would need time off for medical treatment, and his girlfriend simply that he would be away. "That is not an uncommon occurrence for someone who has spent the last decade working in the intelligence world," he told the paper in his interview from Hong Kong. The security and counterintelligence directorate serves as the NSA’s internal police force, in effect watching the agency’s watchers for behavior that could pose an intelligence risk. It has the authority to interview an NSA contractor or employee’s known associates, and even to activate a digital dragnet capable of finding out where a target travels, what the target has purchased, and the target’s online activity. “We have seen the latest report from The Guardian that identifies an individual claiming to have disclosed information about highly classified intelligence programs in recent days,” Office of the Director of National Intelligence spokesperson Shawn Turner said in a statement issued Sunday. “The Intelligence Community is currently reviewing the damage that has been done by these recent disclosures. Any person who has a security clearance knows that he or she has an obligation to protect classified information and abide by the law.” The directorate serves as the NSA’s internal police force, in effect watching the agency’s watchers. “It informs our adversaries. It puts American companies at risk internationally for simply complying with our laws,” said Mike Hayden, a former director of the NSA and a former director of the CIA. “It teaches practically everyone in the world—sources, liaison services—that America can’t keep secrets.” The impact of the leak inside the NSA has been enormous. “There is complete freakout mode at the agency right now,” one former intelligence officer tells The Daily Beast. “There has never been anything like this in terms of the speed of referral of a crime report to the Justice Department. Normally this kind of thing takes weeks and weeks.” Snowden’s disappearance in May was immediately noticed by the directorate, and when The Guardian published the first court order and then documents associated with a program called PRISM, Snowden immediately became the leading suspect in the leak, the intelligence sources said, adding that the FBI was now investigating the leak as well. Edward Snowden explains why he released top secret information. In Congress, some members have already called for the United States to pursue Snowden’s extradition and prosecute him for his unauthorized disclosures. “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,” Rep. Peter King, the Republican chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterintelligence & Terrorism, said in a statement Sunday. Hayden dismissed the criticism that terrorists already knew the NSA was collecting vast amounts of telephone metadata before Snowden's leak. “Let me get this right: I got a religious fanatic in the cave in the Hindu Kush, yet this is a front-page, above-the-fold story and he already knew this?” he asked rhetorically. “That does not make sense. It will teach guys to be far more cautious in the future." The former U.S. intelligence officers, however, said the case is already being treated as a potential defection. “I think it is really tragic that an American has to move to a place that has a reputation for less freedom,” Snowden told The Guardian. “Still, Hong Kong has a reputation for freedom in spite of the People's Republic of China. It has a strong tradition of free speech." The former U.S. intelligence officers, though, compared Snowden with William Hamilton Martin and Bernon F. Mitchell, two NSA cryptologists who defected to the Soviet Union on June 25, 1960. Both held a press conference at the time where they disclosed U.S. spying programs from Moscow. An NSA assessment of that defection a few years later called it the worst intelligence breach in the history of the NSA—a mark that may have just been passed. Press officers for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the NSA declined to comment for this story. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...-directorate-hunting-down-andrew-snowden.html
I Can't remember when democrats weren't p*****s, but at least republicans can ram down their agenda when they think they're right. All this triangulation bs means that democrats are a party with no moral standing as they do what is tolerable rather than what's right. Republicans will b**** and moan regardless of action. I'm sick of this tribalistic cheer leading of who is bloody worse
FISA Court Approves 99.97% Of Government Requests For Warrants… There have been 34,000 warrant applications, only 11 were denied. What’s the point of having a court if they’re going to rubber stamp nearly every request? Via WaPo: http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...l?Post+generic=?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost
Bottom lining this, I don't think I've read an opinion yet by any american...democrat, republican or whatever that is completely comfortable with what is going on. Both sides have been hypocrites on this issue. We don't generally trust the government....unless its OUR party in power. I need to remind myself that Democrats are rivals, but not enemies. Govt officials overreaching....that's a different story. In reality, ALL of us should be much more distrustful of government regardless of what party is in power. And to be honest, I'm just as panicked by the apparent lack of awareness of the majority of the electorate on the current issues of the day (such as this one). Maybe if the next scandal involved the cancellation of "The Voice" it would get their attention...
It will be cancelled? When? Why? What will replace it? I think it is rating well enough. Why would they cancel it?
