Ex-CIA man says exposed US spy scheme to protect world

The Indian Express ^ | Monday, June 10, 2013 | Reuters

[Jyotishi]

An ex-CIA employee working as a contractor at the U.S. National Security Agency revealed on Sunday it was he who leaked details of a top secret U.S. Surveillance program, acting out of conscience to protect "basic liberties for people around the world."

Holed up in a hotel room in Hong Kong, Edward Snowden, 29, said he had thought long and hard before publicizing details of an NSA program code-named PRISM, saying he had done so because he felt the United States was building an unaccountable and secret espionage machine that spied on every American.

Snowden, a former technical assistant at the CIA, said he had been working at the super-secret NSA as an employee of contractor Booz Allen. He said he decided to leak information after becoming disenchanted with President Barack Obama, whom he said had continued the policies of predecessor George W. Bush. "I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things ... I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under," he told the Guardian, which published a video interview with him on its website.

. . . . .

In naming Snowden on Sunday, the newspapers said he had sought to be identified. "The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything," Snowden said in explaining his actions. "With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards," he said.

[Theophilus]

He took the red pill.

[meyer]

Its not paranoia to think OBama admin will abuse the information to target Conservatives and his political enemies.

Not paranoid at all! He, and the dems have already done so through the CIA and other agencies. Does the Gibson guitar raid ring a bell? How about the investigation into Haslam's business? They went after "Joe the Plumber" also, back in the day. That should have rang a major bell in itself!

[EBH]

I agree with you, but what bothers me even more is the stark, stark contrast between the parties and how we treat the unprincipled politician.

Let's face it conservatives and to a lesser degree republicans would be screaming about this and demanding an end to such abuses. We tolerated this under a very controlled guise with Bush. And information seems to indicate the Bush Administration followed the law as intended and the spying was actually decreasing going into 2008.(plus it was used on FOREIGN calls etc. not the whole darn communication networks or credit card networks) The program was sunsetting as intended.

U.S. Collects Vast Data Trove (Major Phone Companies, Credit Cards, Online Activity)

Note the drastic increase and the amount of language changes to the orders under 0bama. This is a huge change. And let's not forget the renewal of the program was under a Democrat controlled congress from 2006-2010.

This is where the difference is between the citizenry:

Conservatives/Republicans are outraged vs. the liberal left actually supports this crap as an end justifies the means.

[EBH]

I had a one word answer for you...but he had a heart attack, he wasn’t taken out by the regime....

[freekitty]

I am so used to the way the commies operate.

[Daffynition]

Drone test......3,2,1....

[Daffynition]

This Booz Allen company NYT info is interesting:

Leaker’s Employer Became Wealthy by Maintaining Government Secrets

**Over the last decade, much of the company’s growth has come from selling expertise, technology and manpower to the National Security Agency and other federal intelligence agencies. Booz Allen earned $1.3 billion, 23 percent of the company’s total revenue, from intelligence work during its most recent fiscal year.**

Wonder how much he contributed to the Hussein campaign?

[Daffynition]

Answered my own question: Contributions 2008:

https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/totals.php?id=D000032046&cycle=A

**Obama received the most in contractor contributions from employees of IBM Corp., who gave him more than $415,000. Second on the list was the McLean, Va., consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., whose employees contributed more than $182,000.**

How lovely, Booz Allen matches their employee contributions

[EBH]

Just be aware...going into 2014 we're up against this machine...Civis Analytics. If you don't think they are crunching data already...think again.

For further details see this Fox Report: Inside the world of big data and big time politics

JUSTIN BROOKMAN, CTR FOR DEMOCRACY & TECHNOLOGY: They can decide we want to target union members, we want to target the Tea Party members, we want to target whoever we want. You know, they can take the information they buy (ph) from one data broker, combine it with another.

The government has the NSA and the democrat party has Civis/Citizen. What did 0bama say about a 'citizen force?"

And here's a question for the legal beagles on FR. If what the NSA is doing is illegal....why would it be OK for Civis to do it? If the NSA program gets shut-down or curtailed...what stops the FBI, DHS etc. from getting the info, now already crunched, from such a compliant source as Civis? Or...or from the people at Civis from seeing something and saying something....?

[4rcane]

I seem to recall a story not long ago of a couple getting fined by the government for building on their own property. The government called it a wetland even though it was not and adjacent properties had no issues

[B4Ranch]

>>We have no true safeguards. <<

Do you have a Bible? I do which is perhaps why I don’t feel alone or unprotected.

[flaglady47]

“Do you have a Bible? I do which is perhaps why I don’t feel alone or unprotected.”

Christian martyrs were fed to lions. I wouldn’t depend on the Bible alone as long as man has free will to do otherwise. There is evil in the world and we must protect ourselves physically and mentally from it. We must forever remain on guard if we are to protect our liberties.

[B4Ranch]

I tend to look into the future and I see my belief in Christ as the truest safeguard that is possible for a mere man. The other minor concerns that can be protected with firearms, food stores or attorneys are covered also.