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NSA chief slams "transparency culture," compares Snowden to Boston Bombers

16 points by Bootvis 13y ago

segacontroller 13y ago
The way he phrases the question of Islamic Fundementalism becoming a threat to National Security really irks me.
bsaul 13y ago
I find it very weird that revealing what everybody thought was very likely ( nsa spying on communications ) is such an absolute threat to the nation. Diplomatically it could probably force the US to be a little more careful before telling others what to do based on morality ( although i suppose that private talks between governements are much more pragmatic). All in all i see it more like a marketing issue damaging the "USA brand".
D9u 13y ago
All of the spying didn't stop the Boston bombings, so I find the excuse of "terrorism" to be flimsy, at best, and the citation of the "3rd party doctrine" fails to consider that when we, as Americans, post letters through the USPS, we have a "reasonable expectation of privacy" as pertains to our personal correspondence. Our correspondences, be they electronic, or otherwise, equate to "papers and effects," in that "papers and effects" were the communications media of the founding father's era. That the present administration has chosen to continue these unconstitutional practices when we are obviously not happy about it is more in keeping with Communist China, and NOT what we would expect from "the Land of the Free."
- Spearchucker 13y ago
  I'd argue that a tiny, if vocal minority is obviously not happy about it. And therein lies the problem. As much as the character assassination we're seeing is real, I suspect that people like Hayden are starting to capitalize on the possibility that Snowden is killed and does real damage. He can then turn 'round and say "I told you so!"
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
ChikkaChiChi 13y ago
Title is misleading. This is Former head of NSA Michael Hayden who had the foresight after his career in civil service to join Michael Chertoff's group. A former title and a uniform does not make one wise is somehow more important to the conversation at hand.
michaelrhansen 13y ago
Curious, name a specific instance when transparency caused more harm then good?
FellowTraveler 13y ago
They want us to be transparent. They just don't want to be transparent themselves.
linuxhansl 13y ago
It's interesting that the spying and the Bostom bombings are mentioned in one breath. How come all that spying did not identify the bombers before the attack? With the current foreign policies terrorist attacks are as inevitable as car accidents (albeit far less dangerous). We accepted car accidents (I do not see a war on driving). And since foreign policy remains largely unchanged it seems we have accepted terrorism as well. The terrorists have achieved their goal anyway. They instilled fear in the US populous, and set us all on a path to willingly give away our liberties. We should look at Norway, which kept its cool after the 2011 attacks; that is strong, confident reaction. Ours is one of cowardice; with lemmings like Hayden repeating the party line ad nauseum.
- cheald 13y ago
  > How come all that spying did not identify the bombers before the attack? Because the current measures aren't sufficient, obviously. We need more power and more tools to monitor everything all the time to prevent tragedies like this in the future. This "transparency culture" and the outmoded laws that tie our hands (when people are watching) are anti-American and cost American lives. (Yes, I am being sardonic.)

16 points by Bootvis 13y ago

The way he phrases the question of Islamic Fundementalism becoming a threat to National Security really irks me.

bsaul 13y ago

I find it very weird that revealing what everybody thought was very likely ( nsa spying on communications ) is such an absolute threat to the nation. Diplomatically it could probably force the US to be a little more careful before telling others what to do based on morality ( although i suppose that private talks between governements are much more pragmatic). All in all i see it more like a marketing issue damaging the "USA brand".

D9u 13y ago

All of the spying didn't stop the Boston bombings, so I find the excuse of "terrorism" to be flimsy, at best, and the citation of the "3rd party doctrine" fails to consider that when we, as Americans, post letters through the USPS, we have a "reasonable expectation of privacy" as pertains to our personal correspondence. Our correspondences, be they electronic, or otherwise, equate to "papers and effects," in that "papers and effects" were the communications media of the founding father's era. That the present administration has chosen to continue these unconstitutional practices when we are obviously not happy about it is more in keeping with Communist China, and NOT what we would expect from "the Land of the Free."

Spearchucker 13y ago
I'd argue that a tiny, if vocal minority is obviously not happy about it. And therein lies the problem. As much as the character assassination we're seeing is real, I suspect that people like Hayden are starting to capitalize on the possibility that Snowden is killed and does real damage. He can then turn 'round and say "I told you so!"
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

ChikkaChiChi 13y ago

Title is misleading. This is Former head of NSA Michael Hayden who had the foresight after his career in civil service to join Michael Chertoff's group. A former title and a uniform does not make one wise is somehow more important to the conversation at hand.

michaelrhansen 13y ago

Curious, name a specific instance when transparency caused more harm then good?

FellowTraveler 13y ago

They want us to be transparent. They just don't want to be transparent themselves.

linuxhansl 13y ago

It's interesting that the spying and the Bostom bombings are mentioned in one breath. How come all that spying did not identify the bombers before the attack? With the current foreign policies terrorist attacks are as inevitable as car accidents (albeit far less dangerous). We accepted car accidents (I do not see a war on driving). And since foreign policy remains largely unchanged it seems we have accepted terrorism as well. The terrorists have achieved their goal anyway. They instilled fear in the US populous, and set us all on a path to willingly give away our liberties. We should look at Norway, which kept its cool after the 2011 attacks; that is strong, confident reaction. Ours is one of cowardice; with lemmings like Hayden repeating the party line ad nauseum.

cheald 13y ago
> How come all that spying did not identify the bombers before the attack? Because the current measures aren't sufficient, obviously. We need more power and more tools to monitor everything all the time to prevent tragedies like this in the future. This "transparency culture" and the outmoded laws that tie our hands (when people are watching) are anti-American and cost American lives. (Yes, I am being sardonic.)