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NSA whistleblower Russ Tice goes on record with new revelations
- rl3 13y agoDirect audio link is here (MP3): http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/podpress_trac/web/20927/0/BF.0112.Tice_20130617.mp3 http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/podpress_trac/web/20927/0/BF... --- At 0:48:26 Tice mentions the intercept order for then-Senatorial candidate Obama. He also mentions that senior civilian, military and government leaders were explicitly targeted. Some of the notable intercept targets included Colin Powell, Hillary Clinton, Samuel Alito, former FISA Court judges, U.S. Congressional intelligence committees, law firms, financial firms, State Department personnel, humanitarian NGOs. Lawyers and civil rights groups were mentioned as well, I'm wondering if EFF was included in that. --- Tice previously played off his unclassified resume's listing of space-based systems expertise as a cover story for his activities at NSA. However, he has now revealed that he specialized in space-based capabilities at NSA all along. This is humorous when you consider the following: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/01/nsa-whistlebl-2/ http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/01/nsa-whistlebl-2/ Do you have any connection to outer space stuff? I asked. "I watch Buck Rogers." --- Also of note: NSA's Bluffdale, Utah data storage facility is apparently already online and operational.
- mtgx 13y agoSo they are spying the very people that are supposed to watch over them and keep them in check? Well that must be very convenient.
- ihsw 13y agoIt's one of the many reasons General Alexander is regarded among conspiracy theorists as 'supreme leader' of the USG -- he has the ability to blackmail everybody with 100% effectiveness. He stands at a very interesting intersection between civilian leadership (head of the NSA) and military leadership (head of US CyberCommand).
- MisterWebz 13y agoBased on the incredible amount of ass-kissing during the congressional testimony a few days ago, I wouldn't be surprised if that were true.
- ihsw 13y agoThere are a few who stand at odds with the party line, for example during the congressional hearings in the past couple of weeks Senator Tom Udall (D, New Mexico) notably has been very active in discussing NSA programs rather than attacking Snowden's credibility. https://twitter.com/SenatorTomUdall https://twitter.com/SenatorTomUdall
- ianhawes 13y agoLt. Gen Michael Hayden (Ret) was the DIRNSA at the time Russell Tice is alleging these wiretaps occurred.
- ihsw 13y agoThis is indeed true, however there's nothing indicating that those programs have stopped.
- peripetylabs 13y agoTechnically the NSA is a part of the DOD. They assist the ODNI which is civilian, although its leadership role is limited.
- brown9-2 13y agoNSA's Bluffdale, Utah data storage facility is apparently already online and operational. Does the interview mention how someone who left the NSA in 2005 would know this?
- rl3 13y agoYes, he said an insider sent him a coded handwritten message on a basis similar to a one-time pad. He also said that he could not read most of said message due to misplacing the key-code. EDIT: My original reply likely butchered terminology, sorry. The relevant audio can be heard verbatim at 1:03:11 in the interview recording.
- richardwhiuk 13y agoIf the OTP was used to encrypt the message, it's usefulness is already gone.
- brown9-2 13y agoA source inside the NSA that re-uses a onetime pad would be pretty ironic.
- runjake 13y agoThis isn't hard to believe. The scheduled "go live" time for the Utah facility was September 2013.
- fnordfnordfnord 13y agoMaybe Tice reads newspapers. Use of the datacenter would be nearly impossible to conceal. One can look at the power feeds with an IR camera and arrive at a reasonable estimate of power consumption. Also, water vapor from cooling equipment.
- doe88 13y agoSo they would have pulled a page out from FBI's playbook. It would not be surprising.
- programminggeek 13y agoYou know, I've always thought that the Barack "Hussein" Obama political attacks that allege that he's not a citizen, he's a muslim, and he's part of some conspiracy to bring down the USA are particularly crazy insomuch as we have the CIA, FBI, NSA, etc. whose job is to investigate people to keep our country safe. I've always thought that if the allegations were somehow true, that someone at one of those groups would have leaked something that would keep Obama from being president or from continuing as president. Yet, that never happened despite the fact that he obviously would have been investigated by plenty of people in those spy organizations. So, the fact that Obama was spied on should not come as a surprise. It would surprise me if people in power weren't spied on.
- LoganCale 13y agoMaybe it's not surprising, but it's bad. It puts the non-elected agency officials in a position of power over the people who are supposed to be their bosses and make sure they aren't going out of line. It basically nullifies a lot of checks and balances if the agency officials want to blackmail or threaten to blackmail elected officials.
- trevelyan 13y agoNot to mention that the state spying on its citizens without probable cause and judicial review is unconstitutional, illegal and anti-democratic.
- drawkbox 13y agoI don't think the Constitution really made it into this century with us. Sad really. The footnotes and exceptions on the Bill of Rights due to executive orders is probably longer than the whole Constitution.
- squozzer 13y agoMaybe. But someone who would have been disqualified from the presidency might prove useful to those who hold the information. It would explain the 180 on Gitmo, ferinstance.
- btipling 13y agoClaims like this may be more convincing when they are supported by evidence.
- akiselev 13y agoThe people of the United States are innocent until proven guilt. Their government does not deserve the same benefit of the doubt.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- JumpCrisscross 13y agoBecause our government is made of bricks?
- akiselev 13y agoNo, because the majority of people in power (and a few of their minions) have immunity, both legal and practical. Innocent until proven guilty does not apply to them if they can't be prosecuted to begin with. Yes I know this isn't a legal argument, but if someone receives immunity for actions that would otherwise be unacceptable they should not receive the benefit of the doubt when accused. The burden should be on them to prove they deserve our continued trust.
- mithaler 13y agoSo you automatically assume any allegation leveled against the government to be true until someone in the government spends effort disproving it? Is it really so much to ask that we criticize the government for things that we know it actually did?
- fnordfnordfnord 13y agoEvidence is mounting that agencies within the US gov't are up to no good. Given that the main one is the NSA, an agency with a fair amount of expertise at keeping secrets; it shouldn't be a surprise that great smoking guns of evidence aren't bursting from within the place.
- lignuist 13y agoIsn't every potential US president scanned from tip to toe?
- krapp 13y agoOne would hope, but by the press and the American people...
- peterwwillis 13y agoTo get security clearance, yes.
- jasonjei 13y agoNot elected officials like the President. They are exempt from the OPM/USIS investigations.
- dak1 13y agoThe President doesn't need a security clearance. His or her election gives him/her the ultimate security clearance.
- Zigurd 13y agoThat implies that if a candidate could be denied a clearance they would be disqualified from holding office.
- roc 13y agoSecurity clearance involves being wiretapped these days? And how would that remotely explain Powell, who would have been cleared to the highest levels decades before this program?
- CWuestefeld 13y agoBackground checks and surveillance are two different things.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- salimmadjd 13y agoOT: What's stopping NSA staff from wiretapping CEOs and use that info for insider trading making a bundle?
- betterunix 13y agoWhat's to stop the NSA from wiretapping foreign companies, then handing their trade secrets over to well-connected US companies? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON
- salimmadjd 13y agoAll these are possible. They can use the profit from the stock market to get the funds to hire mercenaries, i.e. defense contractors in Iraq to then silence anyone who ties to expose them.
- visarga 13y agoThat's why any business outside US needs to move their stuff from the NSA backyard.
- pvnick 13y agoWOW, so surprised to see Sibel Edmond's stuff on this site. As a translator for the FBI, she had a lot to say about the 9/11 attacks and how corruption within the FBI's translation unit may have played a factor in failing to prevent those attacks [1]. She went on record to claim that the subsequent 9/11 Commission was a farce and did nothing to gather the relevant facts [2]. As she went through the proper channels to report what she had seen, she was eventually fired as a result of her allegations [3]. Her testimony was also sealed by John Ashcroft under the states secrets privilege [4], which is exactly what has happened with the recent Snowden allegations [5]. Personally I think Sibel Edmonds is one of the most reliable people in the whistleblower community and that she has a lot to say that's being hidden from the public. [1] http://www.aclu.org/national-security/sibel-edmonds-patriot-silenced-unjustly-fired-fighting-back-help-keep-america-safe http://www.aclu.org/national-security/sibel-edmonds-patriot-... [2] http://www.nswbc.org/Press%20Releases/NSWBC-911Comm.htm http://www.nswbc.org/Press%20Releases/NSWBC-911Comm.htm [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibel_Edmonds#cite_note-oig_update-12 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibel_Edmonds#cite_note-oig_upd... [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibel_Edmonds#FBI_career http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibel_Edmonds#FBI_career [5] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/07/us-government-special-privilege-scrutiny-data http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/07/us-government-sp...
- gundy 13y ago"I have information about things that our government has lied to us about. I know. For example, to say that since the fall of the Soviet Union we ceased all of our intimate relationship with Bin Laden and the Taliban - those things can be proven as lies, very easily, based on the information they classified in my case, because we did carry very intimate relationship with these people, and it involves Central Asia, all the way up to September 11." America has many relationships with everyone. They would fuck over Jesus Christ if they thought it was a good idea at the time.
- specialist 13y agoIIRC, she was also gagged by the court during her wrongful termination lawsuit, citing national security. Convenient.
- tptacek 13y agoAny major media outlet in the country right now could 1.5-3x its pageviews or audience share by going wall-to-wall on the revelation that NSA spied on Barack Obama before he was a candidate. None of them have. Why is that?
- pvnick 13y agoI would say 1) this revelation is too shocking to be parroted without smoking gun evidence to support it (eg copies of the top secret documents themselves) and 2) journalists these days are too much in bed with the establishment to stir the waters that much and ask these kinds of hard questions posed by "fringe elements". What do you think?
- tptacek 13y agoI don't believe (2) at all. Journalists are careerist and media outlets are bottom-line focused. It would be one thing to argue that some specific venue, like the NYT, is captured somehow (that would be an extraordinary claim but let's stipulate it). But to say that every major media outlet is somehow blinded to its own incentives on a story like this? That's flatly implausible.
- foobarqux 13y agoYou could say the same thing about the suppressed NYT NSA story a few years back. Incentives are more complicated than short term profits of the firm. Being in the good graces of powerful government actors is certainly a strong incentive in terms of personal benefits and long term profits. Given the above, and not making any judgment as to the veracity of the claim, there isn't enough evidence for mainstream media to publish. Compare with allegation of the Syrian government's use of Sarin for which there is equally little evidence but media outlets are quick to publish because it is inline with government interests.
- tptacek 13y agoIs there a single major media outlet --- The New York Times, The Washington Post (which is already out in front of this story), The Wall Street Journal (a Murdoch paper), The Washington Times (a strongly partisan anti-Obama paper), Bloomberg News, heck, Le Monde --- a single one that appears to be taking this story seriously? Why not? Is your argument that every reputable major media outlet in the world is somehow cowed by the administration?
- rl3 13y agoRussell Tice on MSNBC this morning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKyIil9OdF4#t=0m04s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKyIil9OdF4#t=0m04s
- callenish 13y agoI think this calls for a meme. http://qkme.me/3uxsx0 http://qkme.me/3uxsx0