National Security

[moreluck]

Obama would never tell a lie! . . . OK, maybe he would.


Via The Hill:

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Friday disputed a claim President Obama made at a press conference only moments earlier, when the president said that every member of Congress had been briefed on the National Security Agency’s (NSA) domestic phone surveillance program.

Merkley said only select members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees had been briefed on the program, and that he was only aware of it because he obtained “special permission” to review the pertinent documents after hearing about it second-hand.

“I knew about the program because I specifically sought it out,” Merkley said on MSNBC. “It’s not something that’s briefed outside the Intelligence Committee. I had to get special permission to find out about the program. It raised concerns for me. … When I saw what was being done, I felt it was so out of sync with the plain language of the law and that it merited full public examination, and that’s why I called for the declassification.”

At a press conference on Friday, Obama said that every member of Congress had been briefed on the phone monitoring program. The president argued that the policy, which was implemented in 2007, struck the “right balance” between privacy and national security, and that it had been helpful in thwarting terrorist attacks.
​

 

[moreluck]

“friend” In FISA Means Foreign

​

At one point in his somewhat disjointed justification, President Obama, in his remarks, said that this data mining was not applied to Americans, that it’s about foreign intelligence, it’s not spying on Americans.
“friend” in FISA means foreign, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. You can read a copy of the act here. The purpose of the act is to gather information on foreign terrorists, the purpose was never meant to target or gather information on Americans, particularly if they had no association with terrorists.
The purpose of the National Security Agency(NSA) is also not to be spying on Americans. Their mission as set forth in Executive Order 12333 :

is to collect information that constitutes “foreign intelligence or counterintelligence” while not ”acquiring information concerning the domestic activities of United States persons”. NSA has declared that it relies on the FBI to collect information on foreign intelligence activities within the borders of the USA, while confining its own activities within the USA to the embassies and missions of foreign nations.

​

So how do we get then to the “secret” “Foreign Surveillance Court” authorizing a massive dragnet of data of domestic phone calls to give to the NSA, who isn’t supposed to be collecting it to be begin with, according to its mission?
Anyone can appreciate the need to go after foreign terrorists, even that some information might cross over to some Americans who might be in league with foreign terrorists.

Yet the order that allowed this massive NSA grab didn’t even give that as a justification, the order says the following:

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that, the Custodian of Records shall produce to the
National Security Agency (NSA) upon service of this Order, and continue production
on an ongoing daily basis thereafter for the duration of this Order, unless otherwise
ordered by the Court, an electronic copy of the following tangible things: all call detail
records or “telephony metadata” created by Verizon for communications (i) between
the United States and abroad; or (ii) wholly within the United States, including local
telephone calls. This Order does not require Verizon to produce telephony metadata
for communications wholly originating and terminating in foreign countries.

​

Note, no requirement that there be any terrorist connection at all, no requirement that it even originate from overseas, just grabbing data of all local calls.
How is that foreign?

President Obama, in his remarks, was almost dismissive, saying snidely, “No one is listening in on your calls”, clearly disturbed that he would even have to justify this, raising a “strawman” that had never been raised.
But it isn’t foreign, isn’t terrorist connected (according to the order) despite what you said.

So pray tell, sir, what is your justification? And how might one trust what you have to say on this matter?

How do you justify going after server information and credit card information?

A “court order” would be needed to get more info beyond the metadata? Oh you mean, like the warrant your administration got when Eric Holder lied about James Rosen? Right, no issue, no problem here.

As we reported earlier, Jim Sensenbrenner, who helped write the Patriot Act said this is not in accordance with the act. Rand Paul calls it an all out assault on the Constitution.

The “don’t worry, trust us” excuse doesn’t work anymore, Mr. President…

 

[moreluck]

Same guy who for years railed against Bush’s warrantless tapping of foreign phones, see here, here, and here for a few examples.

Via WaPo:

President Obama sought to calm down “hype” about secret surveillance programs Friday, telling reporters that “nobody is listening to your telephone calls.”

The intelligence community is “looking at phone numbers and durations of calls. They are not looking at people’s names, and they are not looking at content.” By sifting through “metadata,” he said, they may find leads on potential terrorists. But to listen to the content of calls, he said, a court order from a judge would be needed.

He added that the e-mails of U.S. citizens are not being read.

He said he came into office with a “healthy skepticism” of these programs, but has come to believe that they prevent terrorist attacks and have developed safeguards “that Americans should feel comfortable about.”
​

 

[scratch]

Obama Meets Verizon: 'Can You Hear Me Now? Yes We Can.' - YouTube

 

[Upsmule]

"The war on terror is over." "Al Qaeda is on the run."

Partisan hack! What a effing hypocrite! Wake up ostrich apologists.

 

[wkmac]

"The war on terror is over." "Al Qaeda is on the run."

Partisan hack! What a effing hypocrite! Wake up ostrich apologists.

Then again, maybe the "Partisan Hack" is forced to begin telling the truth in a certain way because the truth is becoming more widespread.

BBC: Al Qaeda Does Not Exist, Banned in the US

 

[Upsmule]

"The war on terror is over." "Al Qaeda is on the run."

Partisan hack! What a effing hypocrite! Wake up ostrich apologists.

Then again, maybe the "Partisan Hack" is forced to begin telling the truth in a certain way because the truth is becoming more widespread.

BBC: Al Qaeda Does Not Exist, Banned in the US

The power of nightmares? The arms race and the Cold War were obvious realities. As is the reality of islamo- fascism. Ask any Israeli.

 

[moreluck]

 

[wkmac]

The arms race and the Cold War were obvious realities.

The arms race and the cold war appear rather different when you begin to drill down well below the surface. Hint, follow the money on both sides of the supposed conflict.

 

[Upsmule]

The arms race and the cold war appear rather different when you begin to drill down well below the surface. Hint, follow the money on both sides of the supposed conflict.

The cold war became an arms race, and the battlefield became economic policies.

 

[wkmac]

The cold war became an arms race, and the battlefield became economic policies.

Next step, what, where. why, when, how and of course, who!

Don't stop, you're on a roll. Keep going.

 

[Upsmule]

Haha

 

[Upsmule]

I just wish I could understand how and why and in such a short period of time....51% of voting Americans have forgotten what successful economic policies look like verses proven failed ones. I guess it's just easier to allow an agenda driven media to think for you in this country. Screw reality.

 

[wkmac]

Sir Patrick Stewart tweeted with the following caption:

I should have never switched to Verizon #NSA

 

[Upsmule]

The only reason I'm with Verizon is they give ups employees a discount. I forget what percentage but......

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

22%

 

[Upsmule]

22%

​Worth it....still!

 

[wkmac]

Obama Defends "Big Brother" Powers - YouTube

 

[wkmac]

A former drone operator who helped kill 1,626 targets says he's haunted by the carnage he witnessed from behind his computer screen.
Brandon Bryant, 27, served as a drone operator from 2006 to 2011 at bases in Nevada, New Mexico and Iraq. It was a desk job of sorts, but unlike any other, it involved ordering unmanned aircraft to kill faraway targets while he watched.

In an interview with NBC News' foreign correspondent Richard Engel, Bryant recalled one operation where his team fired two missiles from a drone at three men in Afghanistan.

The guy that was running forward, he’s missing his right leg,' he said, recalling what he saw of the scene through the thermal images on his screen. 'And I watch this guy bleed out and, I mean, the blood is hot.'He recalled watching the mens' bodies grow cold, as slowly the red color detecting the heat of their bodies grew smaller. I can see every little pixel if I just close my eyes,' he said.

Ex-Drone Operator On His Part in Killing over 1600 People

 

[Upsmule]

A former drone operator who helped kill 1,626 targets says he's haunted by the carnage he witnessed from behind his computer screen.
Brandon Bryant, 27, served as a drone operator from 2006 to 2011 at bases in Nevada, New Mexico and Iraq. It was a desk job of sorts, but unlike any other, it involved ordering unmanned aircraft to kill faraway targets while he watched.

In an interview with NBC News' foreign correspondent Richard Engel, Bryant recalled one operation where his team fired two missiles from a drone at three men in Afghanistan.

The guy that was running forward, he’s missing his right leg,' he said, recalling what he saw of the scene through the thermal images on his screen. 'And I watch this guy bleed out and, I mean, the blood is hot.'He recalled watching the mens' bodies grow cold, as slowly the red color detecting the heat of their bodies grew smaller. I can see every little pixel if I just close my eyes,' he said.

Ex-Drone Operator On His Part in Killing over 1600 People

But hey! We saved a few bucks.... :/