Posted on 06/18/2013 9:58:07 AM PDT by Zakeet
To think it only took the world's most (in)famous whistleblower to get the NSA to disclose that it had heroically managed to prevent terrorist attacks involving the New York Stock Exchange (we supposed they refer to the Manhattan-based TV studio and not the actual exchange where the servers are now housed in Mahwah, NJ) and the NY Subway. Because whereas there was a time in the past when the various US secret services would scurry at the opportunity to disclose their expertise to the general public, now it is a false negative that is supposed to disprove a positive (pervasive spying on the US population is good for you because...). Of course it takes one non-false positive to disprove a false negative, namely the Boston Bombers, who as far as we recall, used cell phones to communicate. But so much for details: now please praise the NSA, and also comply with the Administration's push to rescind the second amendment. Or is Obama no longer pushing for "arms control"?
National Security Agency surveillance programs helped disrupt plots to bomb the New York Stock Exchange and the New York subway system, an FBI official told Congress on Tuesday.The official, Deputy Director Sean Joyce, said that the programs also linked an American citizen in Chicago to the 2008 terror attacks on hotels in India and to a plot to bomb the offices of a Danish newspaper that published a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.
Gen. Keith Alexander, the NSA director, told the committee that the programs had helped stop more than 50 “potential terrorist events” since the Sept. 11 attacks. He said he would provide classified details of all of them to the committee Wednesday.
“I would much rather be here today debating this point than trying to explain how we failed to prevent another 9/11,” Alexander said.
Joyce gave limited details on the foiled plots. In the stock exchange plot, he said, the NSA monitored an extremist in Yemen who was in contact with an operative in the United States.
In the subway plot, he said, the NSA intercepted an email from a terrorist in Pakistan in 2009 who was talking with someone in the United States about perfecting a recipe for explosives. He said that person turned out to be Najibullah Zazi, who later pleaded guilty in the plot and is in federal prison.
Rage Against the Machine shut the NYSE down in 2000 and they had no repercussions.
Good point. Like you say though, it’s clearly a bait and switch attempt.
I don’t think many of us would object to phone calls between the U. S. and places where terrorist activity is high.
It’s the inside the United States communications that are problematic. And even then, if we’re talking known terrorist suspects, none of us are going to object to monitoring.
Absolutely agree.
LOL! Obama thinks he’s gonna win back the under-30’s by saving the New York Stock Exchange?
Hmmm ... all involves international calls, no?
The NSA [testimony] has "acquired" millions of phone numbers,
-they just only "use" one or two when they can get a search warrant for those one or two numbers.
They need to have the "whole haystack" in order to find one needle.
Sorry horses "acquire" hay and "use" it by eating it.
It`s doubletalk deja vu.
These goons are taking Americans on a wild out-of-control runaway horseride.
They must be stopped as this haystack did not stop the Boston bombers.
It is a useless device and a violation of the U.S. Constitution since it only spies on Americans and not on muslims.
duuuuhhhhhhh.
The NSA said that the NSA database doesn`t have telephone number messages, emails etc.,
Ergo there exists a secret internet & phone database of everyone`s info, an "Area 51 top-secret database" which "doesn`t exist"..
It just ain`t the NSA database.
"Sorry NSA- we ain`t that stupoid.
The NSA didn’t stop Bane from attacking the stock exchange! I know because I saw the attack myself in the recent Batman movie.
[/s]
Bullcrap!
Exactly. We have no more freedom.
Following this logic, let’s bug everyone’s houses and let the police bust in any old time they want.
Just think of the criminals we’ll catch.
/s
1) After 9/11...now we can connect the dots.1) NO THEY CAN'T. They were flooded with dots and completely missed the Boston Bombers. We cannot connect the dots any better than before 9/11. The Bombers were a no-brainer, served up on a silver platter. Even Nancy Pelosi could have connected those dots.2) Public...no don’t connect the dots.
.........................................
3) Public...tell us what you stopped.
4) Ok...here this is what we stopped..
5) Public...spin spin spin.
2) WHO EVER SAID THAT?????????
3) Damned straight we asked once we learned of the use of Writs of Assistance.
4) You gave us all overseas contact examples. THAT'S NOT THE POINT IN QUESTION. Monitor Palm Beach to Pakistan, great. Monitor Palm Beach to Palm Springs, not so much.
5) If you mean the public is calling spin, damned straight again.
False analogy.
The dots to be connected weren’t Christian White Males and patriotic Americans.
The dots to be connected were muslims.
They refuse to look at or even investigate muslims, might offend them you know.
It sounds like NSA is wrongly spinning the private information that they are obtaining without a warrant as the “probable cause” to justify getting the information in the first place.
Exactly.
Which is the greater hazard- governmental excess or terrorism?
Governmental tyranny has slaughtered and opressed many, many times more victims than terrorism could ever dream of.
The founding dads knew what they were talking about.
Not that security is unimportant- it is, but if forced to choose I'll take liberty over security any day of the week.
Nor do I.
In the subway plot, he said, the NSA intercepted an email from a terrorist in Pakistan in 2009.
Bait and switch testimony. NOBODY cares that we have programs to monitor the international communications of foreign actors. This is what NSA is paid to do. The issue at hand is that the NSA has at least one program that monitors the domestic communications of AMERICAN CITIZENS. Let's hear if THAT program unmasked any terrorist plots.
Crickets...
Guess what, I don’t believe them...why is that?
yeah right if it was true they would have made that public the same day to get mass media exposure and support for the nsa and the goverment
“In the subway plot, he said, the NSA intercepted an email from a terrorist in Pakistan in 2009 who was talking with someone in the United States about perfecting a recipe for explosives.”Ok, a fine job monitoring emails from Pakistan into the USA. Now, back to the topic of widespread trawling of emails and phone calls between US citizens.
For extra credit, explain why we brought the Afghan citizen who was the “American” end of the plot into America in the first place, and thought it natural for him to travel back and forth to Pakistan after 9/11.
Data mining did not stop this plot. This story being revealed is pure Operation Mockingbird (or whatever the current name of the program is) intelligence community propaganda, nothing more.
Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!
To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don’t add you to the list...
These liars will say anything to cover their asses.
I call BS.
And, F the NSA, DHS, and Obozo.
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