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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSnowden saw what I saw: surveillance criminally subverting the constitution
Snowden saw what I saw: surveillance criminally subverting the constitutionSo we refused to be part of the NSA's dark blanket. That is why whistleblowers pay the price for being the backstop of democracy
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........... none of this is new to me. The difference between what the Bush administration was doing in 2001, right after 9/11, and what the Obama administration is doing today is that the system is now under the cover and color of law. Yet, what Snowden has revealed is still the tip of the iceberg.
General Michael Hayden, who was head of the NSA when I worked there, and then director of the CIA, said, "We need to own the net." And that is what they're implementing here. They have this extraordinary system: in effect, a 24/7 panopticon on a vast scale that it is gazing at you with an all-seeing eye.
I lived with that dirty knowledge for years. Before 9/11, the prime directive at the NSA was that you don't spy on Americans without a warrant; to do so was against the law and, in particular, was a criminal violation of Fisa. My concern was that we were more than an accessory; this was a crime and we were subverting the constitution.
I differed as a whistleblower to Snowden only in this respect: in accordance with the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act, I took my concerns up within the chain of command, to the very highest levels at the NSA, and then to Congress and the Department of Defense. I understand why Snowden has taken his course of action, because he's been following this for years: he's seen what's happened to other whistleblowers like me.
MORE:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/12/snowden-surveillance-subverting-constitution
randome
(34,845 posts)Unless with a warrant, of course.
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[font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font]
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Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)The courts or if he has wished to overlook this portion then he does not have the truth to divulge. And since he was working out under a Code of Ethics he has violated his condition of employment and guilty of other issues. He is wrong for his actions.
frylock
(34,825 posts)how many FISA requests were denied last year?
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)phone call record, wiretaps, etc, might be cya to you but it is legal.
frylock
(34,825 posts)I don't care about what is determined to be legal or what is determined to be illegal. that's for authoritarians to obsess upon. I stand by my statement: FISA is a CYA rubberstamp.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)frylock
(34,825 posts)During calendar year 2012, the Government made 1,856 applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for authority to conduct electronic surveillance and/or physical searches for foreign intelligence purposes.
That somewhat opaque statistic was disclosed in the Justice Departments latest annual report to Congress on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, filed on Tuesday. As is usually the case, none of the requests for electronic surveillance were denied by the Court.
http://blogs.fas.org/secrecy/2013/05/fisa-2012/