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Interesting point that the NSA spends billions of dollars, if not trillions of dollars, along with some of the most sophisticated technology on the planet to ca

Interesting point that the NSA spends billions of dollars, if not trillions of dollars, along with some of the most sophisticated technology on the planet to catch b-level smugglers and criminals.

pessimizer 12y ago
Might be important to find out who is selling all of that gear.
Shivetya 12y ago
terrorism isn't free. neither side, funding the act or trying to stop it
- ivanca 12y ago
  Any evidence that this is for funding terrorism, or is just wishful thinking?
- higherpurpose 12y ago
  And yet we were talking about how they are using billions to catch B-level criminals...
rdtsc 12y ago
Quite often NSA spends billions because it already spends billions. Contractors, infrastructure, PR, salaries, promotions, training. That has been put into place. Well it was there to spy on the Soviets. Then it was kind of sitting there waiting for a problem. And the problem was found. Terrorism. Drugs. Could be something else tomorrow. As long as Joe Smith in SIGINT department 15 gets his salary paid, he doesn't care. As long as L3 or whoever gets to build another data center they don't care. They will all collectively find some reason to justify it, but underneath, quite often is just making more money keeping busy. They made the mistake though (mistake from their point of view), that one of the characteristics they look for in people they hire is patriotism. That can very very dangerous if eventually those people are forced to do un-patriotic things (or things they can't brainwash them into thinking they are patriotic). You end up with Binney and Snowden then.
- sitkack 12y ago
  Some people conflate blind faith and patriotism. I am pretty sure that what they really wanted was the former. All organisms want to survive (political, economic, etc). Now if the NSA could just deem cancer a threat to the national security of the country then they could put their super computer power to good use.
- us0r 12y ago
  This image kind of explains a lot: http://leaksource.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/booz-allen-map.png http://leaksource.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/booz-allen-map... It is missing Clapper. He came from Booz.
  - samstave 12y ago
    Are they holding these positions simultaneously?
    - rdtsc 12y ago
      Usually not. They jump from gov to private and back. This happens with other agencies as well. FDA is full of future and past heads from agro-businesses and pharma companies. FCC is full of people from cable and satellite companies and so on. This is capitalism at work. Achieve success by whatever means possible. The easiest means is the get in the position to re-write rules and police yourself.
      - chris_mahan 12y ago
        That's what you get with term limits.
        rdtsc 12y ago
        Unless the people writing legislation are the ones doing it so they never pass the bill to change term limits.
Zelphyr 12y ago
Which highlights the fact that our broken drug policy is actually costing us quite a bit more than the $30+ billion a year usually quoted. I'm not one for conspiracy theories but this kind-of points to the NSA working for the DEA working for the prison corporations.
samstave 12y ago
They are protecting their racket

Interesting point that the NSA spends billions of dollars, if not trillions of dollars, along with some of the most sophisticated technology on the planet to catch b-level smugglers and criminals.

pessimizer 12y ago

Might be important to find out who is selling all of that gear.

Shivetya 12y ago

terrorism isn't free. neither side, funding the act or trying to stop it

ivanca 12y ago
Any evidence that this is for funding terrorism, or is just wishful thinking?
higherpurpose 12y ago
And yet we were talking about how they are using billions to catch B-level criminals...

rdtsc 12y ago

Quite often NSA spends billions because it already spends billions. Contractors, infrastructure, PR, salaries, promotions, training. That has been put into place. Well it was there to spy on the Soviets. Then it was kind of sitting there waiting for a problem. And the problem was found. Terrorism. Drugs. Could be something else tomorrow. As long as Joe Smith in SIGINT department 15 gets his salary paid, he doesn't care. As long as L3 or whoever gets to build another data center they don't care. They will all collectively find some reason to justify it, but underneath, quite often is just making more money keeping busy. They made the mistake though (mistake from their point of view), that one of the characteristics they look for in people they hire is patriotism. That can very very dangerous if eventually those people are forced to do un-patriotic things (or things they can't brainwash them into thinking they are patriotic). You end up with Binney and Snowden then.

sitkack 12y ago
Some people conflate blind faith and patriotism. I am pretty sure that what they really wanted was the former. All organisms want to survive (political, economic, etc). Now if the NSA could just deem cancer a threat to the national security of the country then they could put their super computer power to good use.
us0r 12y ago
This image kind of explains a lot: http://leaksource.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/booz-allen-map.png http://leaksource.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/booz-allen-map... It is missing Clapper. He came from Booz.
- samstave 12y ago
  Are they holding these positions simultaneously?
  - rdtsc 12y ago
    Usually not. They jump from gov to private and back. This happens with other agencies as well. FDA is full of future and past heads from agro-businesses and pharma companies. FCC is full of people from cable and satellite companies and so on. This is capitalism at work. Achieve success by whatever means possible. The easiest means is the get in the position to re-write rules and police yourself.
    - chris_mahan 12y ago
      That's what you get with term limits.
      - rdtsc 12y ago
        Unless the people writing legislation are the ones doing it so they never pass the bill to change term limits.

Zelphyr 12y ago

Which highlights the fact that our broken drug policy is actually costing us quite a bit more than the $30+ billion a year usually quoted. I'm not one for conspiracy theories but this kind-of points to the NSA working for the DEA working for the prison corporations.

samstave 12y ago

They are protecting their racket