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It's possible, but there is no indication that the US security agencies "go rouge." The NSA might be stretching the 4th Amendment but it does so at the command

It's possible, but there is no indication that the US security agencies "go rouge." The NSA might be stretching the 4th Amendment but it does so at the command of the President and it does within the bounds of the law. When Obama had the CIA kill a US citizen, they wrote a legal memo about it. The rule of law is still worshiped in the US. It helps that the leadership of these agencies are political appointees and then rank and file are just regular bureaucrats. The guys at the NSA aren't some secret cabal. It's the nerdy dood you play Settles of Caatan with at a game club in DC. I also think controlling public opinion is a lot harder than you are imagining. Even in N. Korea the people generally know their country is bullshiting them.

flycaliguy 12y ago
I hope you are right. Ultimately I'm not opposed to American intelligence agencies. I'm aware that there are big threats beyond terrorism and it's important for us to have the best team with the best resources. If things escalate with China for example I'm willing to accept that sacrifices will have to be made to our concept of privacy as a wartime measure. If we have to pull pages out of Art of War to win this thing then I guess that's that. I just worry that they have in fact gone rouge and have lost track of their real duty. Snowden's critique of citizen surveillance aside, his critique of America's ability to protect ourselves from China after crippling our nation's encryption efforts is what really bothers me. I'm worried that the agency, in an attempt to tighten it's grip on the western world's communication, is missing the important window to instead begin locking things down. They are missing our chance to get our corporations, institutions and infrastructure encrypted properly to protect civilians from cyberwar fallout. Protecting us from a modern war modelled in part on America's WWII strategic bombing campaign of German civilians in an era when we no longer have the geographical advantage of two oceans keeping us safe. I think they got a taste of the power that comes with total information (not unlike the advertising world is with leaders like Zuckerburg [but thats another post...]) and are not willing to give it up and smarten up.

flycaliguy 12y ago

I hope you are right. Ultimately I'm not opposed to American intelligence agencies. I'm aware that there are big threats beyond terrorism and it's important for us to have the best team with the best resources. If things escalate with China for example I'm willing to accept that sacrifices will have to be made to our concept of privacy as a wartime measure. If we have to pull pages out of Art of War to win this thing then I guess that's that. I just worry that they have in fact gone rouge and have lost track of their real duty. Snowden's critique of citizen surveillance aside, his critique of America's ability to protect ourselves from China after crippling our nation's encryption efforts is what really bothers me. I'm worried that the agency, in an attempt to tighten it's grip on the western world's communication, is missing the important window to instead begin locking things down. They are missing our chance to get our corporations, institutions and infrastructure encrypted properly to protect civilians from cyberwar fallout. Protecting us from a modern war modelled in part on America's WWII strategic bombing campaign of German civilians in an era when we no longer have the geographical advantage of two oceans keeping us safe. I think they got a taste of the power that comes with total information (not unlike the advertising world is with leaders like Zuckerburg [but thats another post...]) and are not willing to give it up and smarten up.