4 ms·
That it's unconstitutional is bad enough. But the ineffectiveness of the NSA is the most damning aspect of all: > Drake had discovered a shocking example while
by appleflaxen 10y ago
That it's unconstitutional is bad enough. But the ineffectiveness of the NSA is the most damning aspect of all:
> Drake had discovered a shocking example while researching his postmortem report on the September 11 attacks. Months beforehand, the NSA had come into possession of a telephone number in San Diego that was used by two of the hijackers who later crashed planes into the World Trade Center. But the NSA did not act on this finding.
> As Drake later told the NSA expert James Bamford, the NSA intercepted seven phone calls between this San Diego phone number and an al-Qaida “safe house” in Yemen. Drake found a record of the seven calls buried in an NSA database.
> US officials had long known that the Yemen safe house was the operational hub through which Bin Laden, from a cave in Afghanistan, ordered attacks. Seven phone calls to such a hub from the same phone number was obviously suspicious. Yet the NSA took no action – the information had apparently been overlooked.
If you are going to shred the foundation of jurisprudence, you should get something for your trouble.
- pdkl95 10y ago> the ineffectiveness^Wincompetence of the NSA The NSA used to understand concepts like compartmentalization ("need to know"). Their OPSEC shouldn't have allowed a single contractor to access so much data.
- jessaustin 10y agoOne suspects that such practices were always tools used more to escape responsibility for heinous decisions than to secure the nation. Representative governments don't have "secrets".
- superobserver 10y agoEveryone seems to presume the NSA has one overarching goal in what it does, but I thought it was obvious that it answers to the demands of the POTUS. Shouldn't conclusions about "effectiveness" and "competence" stem from what a POTUS's intent is when employing it? These aren't going to be satisfactory arguments against it (viz., "ineffective" or "incompetent").
- maxerickson 10y agoI bet it is just the opposite. The likely problem is that it exists beyond purpose. The middle managers that would be the people proposing and creating the structures that would notice and utilize the 9/11 intelligence are focused on their careers.
- specialist 10y agoI've started using the phrase The Silent State for that phenomenon. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7755493-the-silent-state http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7755493-the-silent-state To see this in action, pick a hot topic, and watch any public hearing where our representatives are trying to get straight answers from department heads and middle management. It's infuriating. Effective governance, transparency, accountability are still unsolved problems. Meanwhile, more eyeballs and fact checking can help, given enough effort and endurance.