Posted on 11/22/2014 9:24:51 AM PST by darkwing104
A retired National Security Agency (NSA) senior agency executive warned the agency in 2009 that the program to collect, store and analyze American phone records wasn’t providing enough intelligence to be effective. Prior to the revelations made by Edward Snowden, dissenters within the Intelligence agency warned that the collection program wasn’t worth the backlash if the program became public. The role of the NSA was to eavesdrop on hostile foreign entities, not American citizens. Now the agency has tarnished its reputation of guarding America to become the free world’s secret police.
The AP–ever faithful to its dear leader–noted that Obama “is now trying to stop the NSA collection but preserve the agency’s ability to search the records in the hands of the telephone companies”. The article states that the Administration rejected the proposal in 2009 but never mentions the fact that he had to authorize its continuation and expansion in the first place and can stop it anytime with a written order! This is an example of the “Limbaugh Theorem”. This week the senate voted down a bill that would have stopped the collection and storage of telephone metadata by two votes in the Democrat majority senate. The bill would have required the phone companies maintain the metadata and provide access to the agency with a court order from the Kangaroo FISA court.
To date, active and retired intelligence analysts disagree about the effectiveness of the collection of American phone records to prevent terror attacks within the country. The only example of a terrorism case that was discovered by the program involved a San Diego cab driver sending money to a Somalia al-Qaida affiliate. Like the FBI, they must have of missed the Tsarnaev brothers.
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...
Big Data is a current fad in both government and big business. IT pushes it as it benefits them. The concept of Big Data is that computers can search the haystack and find the needle.
The problem is that most haystacks do not have a needle. There is then the need to justify the Big Data program by claiming it found sharp sticks that could be made as sharp as a needle...and it found mold and insects in the haystack that justify the Big Data program.
I’m all for Big Data. I could make Big Money consulting on it. But the question should always be asked whether the danger of making decisions based on irrelevant and manufactured information justifies the cost in both money and other things we value.
Know the Communist enemy - yes, Snowden.
This other guy did not need to turn over information to Chinese Communists to speak out about it.
Snowden made information available to our enemies.
ChiComs and al Qaeda have had a long relationship with regard to intelligence gathering and sharing.
Asymmetrical warfare.
Exactly. Snowden gave up far more INTEL plus how it is done. The Soviet Intel types left no stone unturned, and; he did not get residency there for nothing. Snowden did not only just work on this program alone, as he was a former Gov INTEL employee, plus he worked with a Private Corp that has more Gov contracts then probably anyone to include SOCOM. This little snitch gave up much more then most of us know.
Great post.
The Boston Marathon bombing illustrates one reason why these surveillance programs should be cut back severely. By scooping up everything instead of carefully targeting individual suspects, they drown the important signals in an avalanche of noise.
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