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It is abundantly obvious that the NSA has no interest whatsoever in following the law or offering an avenue for whistleblowers to point out wrongdoing. This we
by StanislavPetrov 10y ago
It is abundantly obvious that the NSA has no interest whatsoever in following the law or offering an avenue for whistleblowers to point out wrongdoing. This well-written and detailed article is just more confirmation. It seems clear that any internal compliance channels purportedly offered as a way to raise concerns about violations of law are worse then just windowdressing - they are more like a honeypot used to sniff out employees who have any regard for law or ethics.
>During the course of the interview, standard interview questions were used, but were tailored as needed to follow the flow of the interview. It is also important to note that there were questions included that were meant to uncover whether Mr. Snowden was dissatisfied with the US government.
The "standard interview questions" asked when an employee raises a legal concern about the practices of the NSA are used to turn the microscope onto the employee, rather then the legal issue (a practice certainly not lost on employees considering raising an issue). The message here is clear - keep your head down and do what your told, or you will be hammered down like a nail that sticks out from a board. The willingness of the NSA to continue its constant and continuing barrage of lies is troubling and revealing, laying bare the immoral, illegal, and sociopathic tendencies of those employed there.
- Shivetya 10y agoIt seems to be a problem across many agencies, this disrespect for the law. The FBI was recently busted again for submitting illegal requests that were ruled such back in 2008.
- alexandercrohde 10y agoI'd go a step further and propose it's systemic problem that will occur with any closed powerful agency with a mission (NSA, Anonymous, North Korea): if you have a hammer everything looks like a nail. Once you've decided you're The GoodGuy™, anybody who stops you becomes The Enemy™. It's just a matter of time until you're wrong and those trying to stop your error become The Enemy™.
- ageofwant 10y agoThere is a simpler and more universal explanation for corporate behaviour, and that is that it wants to continue continuing. Once it exists it will justify its existence as priority one. Of course this becomes problematic for big government institutions with "inherent" power. The only power the people have over these institutions is funding, and the case of the CIA, they have taken care of that existential threat as well.
- nugget 10y agoI remember when the scandal first broke I asked a friend whether he thought Snowden had truly tried to follow proper whistleblowing channels before going rogue. To which my friend replied, ''Do you really think the NSA would have shut down a multi billion dollar project because a young kid in Hawaii raised some Constitutional objections?'' I know a lot of good people working at three letter agencies but I do think they take on a life, mission, and momentum of their own sometimes.
- gumby 10y agoThe article cites Snowden as saying that as a contractor he was not subject to the protections of the whistleblower law. Perhaps I should write "protections" since we also know that whistleblowers are punished rather than protected.
- joe_the_user 10y agoSure, But I would expect Snowden was also smart enough not to raise extremely strong sounding objections since he probably couldn't have done what he wound-up doing if he had. After all, Snowden basically saw a couple other NSA dissidents who went entirely through the chain of command get eaten up and chewed out. This is the context of these events.
- superuser2 10y ago>following the law There is a strong intuition that what the NSA is illegal, but I've not seen that borne out by reality. Time and time again, bills have passed with wide bipartisan support to expand and extend surveillance powers, and the Supreme Court is clear that the Constitution does not protect 3rd party records. If the NSA has actually done anything illegal, I imagine it was only in the brief period between when it thought to do so and when Congress gave its approval.
- avs733 10y agoI don't agree with the ACLU on everything, but they make a pretty solid argument by my lay-eye that the NSA's conduct was explicitly illegal.[1] >Unfortunately, although the law in this matter is crystal clear, many Americans, faced with President Bush's bold assertions of "inherent" authority for these actions, will not know what to believe. [1]https://www.aclu.org/nsa-spying-americans-illegal https://www.aclu.org/nsa-spying-americans-illegal
- gscott 10y agoPeople who do illegal things just call themselves patriots and it makes them feel all better.
- beambot 10y agoSame thing applies to corporate HR. They are not your friends; they are not there for your protection. Their job is to cover the company's ass. We'll probably see similar whistleblower-ignoring effects (if not outright disinformation & discrediting) in the corporate world too. The VW emissions scandal comes to mind...
- omegaham 10y agoIt just so happens that protecting you might fall under covering their ass. If it doesn't, watch out.