This morning we have yet another article detailing a warrantless surveillance program by the National Security Agency that contradicts representations made by President Barack Obama and members of Congress. You may recall how Obama has tried to get citizens to embrace a new surveillance-friendly model of privacy after the disclosure of massive surveillance of citizens, including programs acquiring every call made by citizens. Various Democratic members came forward to admit that they knew of such programs and not to be afraid . . . they have our backs. Yet every story that has surfaced has contradicted claims that such programs are limited and do not involve the content of communications in emails and messages. The latest program being reported is called XKeyscore and is described as scouring emails, chat rooms, and browsing histories . . . all without a warrant. In the meantime, citizens in polls are saying that they are more concerned with the threat of their own government to their privacy than the threat of terrorism. Once again, citizens learned of this program not from their representative or their media but largely from the foreign press and the disclosures of Edward Snowden.
Of course, media allies of the President are expressing exasperation with people like Snowden in keeping them from moving on to other subjects and away from the eradication of privacy in America.
The NSA for its part has denied reports “of widespread, unchecked analyst access to NSA collection data are simply not true.” Something tells me it is the “unchecked” that the agency is stressing. The Obama Administration is infamous for replacing due process and privacy guarantees with its own self-evaluation and monitoring guarantees.
This program is described as allowing the agency access to “nearly everything a typical user does on the internet” in “real time.”
As these reports mount, the Democratic Party remains largely silent. While there was a highly orchestrated vote on the surveillance program recently (that predictably failed by just a few votes), the Democratic Party has now joined prior Bush supporters in attacking the most fundamental protections of U.S. citizens. The winner is a growing security state that employs hundreds of thousands and pours hundreds of billions of dollars into the pockets of agencies and their contractors. Citizens have become the subjects of such programs like raw material for an insatiable and unstoppable surveillance machine.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald has detailed how low-level employees have access to such material. My guess is that the NSA will focus on that issue rather than the existence of these programs. It is now a common technique of the Obama Administration: focusing on the procedures rather than the privacy concerns. We are likely to hear about criteria and internal reviews as part of the “trust me I am Obama” approach to authoritarian powers. After all, they got away with that in announcing a policy allowing Obama to vaporize U.S. citizens based on his sole authority.
With Congress now fully supporting this surveillance state, citizens are left with a dangerous vacuum in our constitutional system. The federal courts have created a blind spot where they bar judicial review on the basis of increasingly narrow standing rules and classification barriers. Even reading about these issues is difficult. As we have been discussing, the U.S. media has largely yielded to demands of the White House not to call Snowden a whistleblower and we often have to read about these programs from foreign sources like the Guardian.
How did we come to this point as a nation?
Bron,
I am under 35 (barely) and have a little brother in his mid 20s whom I consider very intelligent. When I asked him about this issue I was shocked to hear the response: “it doesn’t bother me.” My father and father-in-law had similar responses – as long as you are not doing something wrong you have nothing to worry about.
To elaborate on Jill’s first point – our system of government doesn’t work without the citizenry’s collective participation. That means paying attention to important issues affecting the public at large, having a basic understanding of the issues affecting us today, and “playing the game” by notifying congress members of our concerns, and ultimately, showing up at the polls to hold them accountable. Unfortunately, at least in my bubble of a world, I can count on one hand how many people I know of that actually fully participate.
I think Jill’s point of people working hard to get by (making a living, raising a family, and still having time to participate in the process) is not mentioned enough as a cause of how we got to where we are today. The dumbing down of the citizenry is another big factor.
I have little time to devote to the issues facing this nation today, but I make time to at least gain a general understanding and notify my congressmen when I feel necessary. For whatever reason, I think most people simply don’t pay attention or participate.
Another comment caught in the moderation process…
Thanks for the link, lottakatz.
A portion of the article “NZ article reopens debate on spying on journalists”:
“Military officials in Wellington were quick to reject the claims in the article by freelance investigative reporter and liberal activist Nicky Hager. He wrote that the military became unhappy at Stephenson’s reporting on how it treated Afghan prisoners.
“We have identified no information at this time that supports Mr. Hager’s claims,” Maj. Gen. Tim Keating, the acting defense force chief, said in a statement.
He said the military officers responsible for operations in Afghanistan had assured him there had been no unlawful monitoring of Stephenson by New Zealand. “This includes asking foreign organizations to do this on our behalf,” he said.
Also Monday, New Zealand Defense Minister Jonathan Coleman acknowledged the existence of an embarrassing confidential order that lists investigative journalists alongside spies and terrorists as potential threats to New Zealand’s military. That document was leaked to Hager, who provided a copy to The Associated Press. Coleman said the order will be modified to remove references to journalists.
He also said the New Zealand Defense Force had conducted an extensive search of its records over the weekend and had found no evidence that either it or any other agency had spied on Stephenson.
“The collection of metadata on behalf of the NZDF by the U.S. would not be a legitimate practice, when practiced on a New Zealand citizen,” Coleman said. “It wouldn’t be something I would support as the minister, and I’d be very concerned if that had actually been the case.”
Metadata is the information associated with a phone call or an email, such as the location of the caller or sender, or the length of the call. It is analogous to the information available on the envelope of a letter sent by regular mail.
Prime Minister Key, who is traveling in South Korea, told a reporter from The New Zealand Herald newspaper that “if you rang a member of the Taliban that the Americans were monitoring because they believed them to be a threat, then in theory that’s how you could show up.”
“I’m not saying that’s happened. I’m just saying that we don’t go and monitor journalists,” he added.
On Monday, Hager said he stood by the story.
“Direct denials are always unsettling, but I would not have published unless I had a really good source,” he said.
Hager, who has written several books on New Zealand military intelligence, declined to elaborate on his sourcing. He said he’s faced unwarranted denials before.
The confidential order he obtained states under the heading “The Threat” that “Organizations with extreme ideologies may try to acquire classified information, not necessarily to give to a potential enemy, but because its use may bring the government into disrepute. There is also a threat from certain investigative journalists who may seek to acquire and exploit official information for similar reasons.”
The revelation has angered journalism advocates in New Zealand.”
Bron,
My five oldest grandchildren (20 years – 24 years old) and their friends all expressed the exact same sentiments at a party we all attended 2 weeks ago.
I was surprised
“We’re the enemy.”
http://youtu.be/_TJDZax426I
NZ article reopens debate on spying on journalists
http://www.wjtv.com/story/22952552/new-zealand-probes-report-it-spied-on-journalist
I was talking to a young lady last week about government surveillance of citizens and she said that her generation doesnt really care and attributed it to social media. She and her friends “spy” on each other all the time.
She didnt think it was a big deal.
Anyone under 35 care to comment? The young lady was 26.
On the heels of Jill’s comment, a good time to revisit the following, perhaps:
“The Authoritarians”, A Book Review and Book”
Published 1, January 21, 2012
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
http://jonathanturley.org/2012/01/21/the-authoritarians-a-book-review-and-book/
We have come to this state through many different factors. People are working very hard just to survive. This isn’t conducive to thinking or even knowing what the govt. is up to. There is a concerted propaganda campaign against our citizens by this govt. Propaganda works most of the time and it has confused many people into supporting the opposite of what they might normally agree to. (See vaporizing citizens of this and other nations.)
FEAR–terrorism and what I call crazed left/right wing threat assessment. 9/11 was turned into an “opportunity” for authoritarian leaders to shred our Constitution, make endless war, torture, murder, surrveil at will. All along, the biggest threat our citizens face has been a govt. untethered to the rule of law. Dismantling the Constitution has and will continue to do far greater damage to this society than any terrorist attack.
We have the most whipped up, terrified population I know of. The problem with all that fear is that it’s channeled in such a way as to benefit an authoritarian leadership. Both right wing and left wing groups are constantly fearful of each other. I’m not saying there aren’t real differences that we need to fight each other about, I’m saying this govt. has used those differences to keep us at each other’s throats. That way, we aren’t united against tearing down the rule of law. That is a far greater threat we all face.
Finally, there is hypocrisy at work on the left and the right. Under Bush, too few Republicans came out swinging against his rising dictatorship and attendant crimes. Once Obama came into power, way too many people on the left also turned into hypocrites and refused to call out Obama for his crimes. Instead, the left wing attacked those who told the truth. (I hope someday some person on the left will be really honest and write about why they did such things.)
It does now seem that many people are being honest on both the left and right. That’s going to give us a chance.
**“Mike, you can hide out at my house when the shite hits the fan.”
Seamus,
Thank you, but who says they won’t be coming for you too? **
There’s an ole story about a guy & his family starting out just before the US Civil War.
He saw the war coming & decided he needed to move for his family’s safety.
He moved to Gettysburg!!! 🙂
If you repeat after me you won’t have anything to worry about
OBAMA IS THE GREATEST PRESIDENT EVAH
repeat after me LOL
**
That is why when I first started commenting at websites I used my real name. **
Mike S,
After a bit of time I too decided to start using my real name.
Then I saw a video conference with some Internet security guys.
Yes, the govt can still illegally hack us, but their point was not to do anything to make it any easier for criminals to hack our security.
Forced into their game of spy vs spy all that us bystanders can do is to attempt to keep pace with them.
Mike S.,
you are right. We will a pretty big hideout at this rate.
Nal,
The NSA is making a lot of “hay”!
AP,
With all that discussion in the NSA’s press release about training, I guess the trainers missed the part about Warrants.
lottakatz,
Most likely when he figured out he needed to & spoke with a lawyer.
Another interesting side point to me from reading all this stuff is the fact now that the potential jury pool in the US/world has become more informed & will tend to side with the individual unless the states case is overwhelming.
AN new interesting story had come out.
Many people were already aware/sure of the connections between the British GCHQ and the NSA.
Someting from Snowden says that the US funded GCHO to the tune of $100 Million –
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/01/nsa-paid-gchq-spying-edward-snowden
in return for… asks like ..
The article indicates that teh NSA put very heavy on teh UK to deliver the goodies. The goodies in question appear to be things that even the NSA would hesitate to do directly to a US citizen based in the US.
.
e.g.
.
It’s cool. NSA assisting another state to spy on the USA.
Mike, you can hide out at my house when the shite hits the fan.
“Mike, you can hide out at my house when the shite hits the fan.”
Seamus,
Thank you, but who says they won’t be coming for you too? 🙂
lottakatz,
I’ve read that it may have had something to do with his interactions with the FBI. I’ll see if I can find a link, time-permitting.
Nal, A couple of my comments to the recent Snowden article disappeared. Would you mind checking?
The sad truth is that many of us who comment here could later find our words used against us if things get worse. That is why when I first started commenting at websites I used my real name. If one is to take a stand against those that would turn our country into a model of the totalitarian state, I felt in a personal sense that using my real identity was a part of that stand. Unfortunately, history has proved me wrong. Even those with pseudonyms can be and are being identified. If the trend continues they will be “scored” as to their “loyalty” to the Nation. That loyalty being defined as their acceptance of the propaganda put out by the CMIC.