Posted on 04/26/2015 10:40:45 AM PDT by Olog-hai
It was obvious from its construction speed just how important the new site in Bavaria was to the Americans. Only 4½ months after it was begun, the new surveillance-proof building at the Mangfall Kaserne in Bad Aibling was finished. The structure had a metal exterior and no windows, which led to its derogatory nickname among members of the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), the German foreign intelligence agency: The “tin can.”
The construction project was an expression of an especially close and trusting cooperation between the American National Security Agency (NSA) and the BND. Bad Aibling had formerly been a base for US espionage before it was officially turned over to the BND in 2004. But the “tin can” was built after the handover took place.
The heads of the two intelligence agencies had agreed to continue cooperating there in secret. Together, they established joint working groups, one for the acquisition of data, called Joint Sigint Activity, and one for the analysis of that data, known as the Joint Analysis Center.
But the Germans were apparently not supposed to know everything their partners in the “tin can” were doing. The Americans weren’t just interested in terrorism; they also used their technical abilities to spy on companies and agencies in Western Europe. They didn’t even shy away from pursuing German targets. …
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
I forget, are then whistle blowers heroes or traitors?
Any wonder nobody trusts us anymore?
The BND are just as complicit.
It also helps explain why the US is so unpopular in Germany:
Plus how Obama secretly tapped the German chancellor’s phone
I still think all this spy crap is more destructive to our national interest than it is helpful.
It would be better to deal openly and honestly with all nations, and engage in no secret back dealings. All our friends would know exactly where they stood. And every enemy would also know exactly where they stood.
Replace the freedom killing, reputation killing skullduggery with a certain and deadly military response to any attacks on us.
Think of it as Chuck Norris living on your block foreign policy. He doesn’t peek in your windows or read you mail. If you are a friend, he doesn’t need to. If you are an enemy and plan to mug him in the driveway, in that moment you can expect full justice.
I think that would be a pretty nice block to live on.
“Gentlemen do not read each other’s mail.”
Henry Stimson.
He was highly opposed to efforts to spy between diplomats. This quote gets used as a quaint way to act like he was naïve, but he wasn’t. This was less than a decade after the cataclysm of WWI. He simply had ethics.
And when America was stabbed in the back, he lead the war dept in WWII including the building and use of the Atom bomb. THAT was America.
Chia Lin says that an army without spies is like a man without ears or eyes.The hoopla is over the USA’s ineptitude, or (as I suspect) deliberate undermining of espionage, which has been caused at the very top. Dealing openly at all times with respect to foreign relations is sheer folly.
I argue Sun Tsu was referring to reconnaissance, not the surveillance state we have today. Also, he was not an American son of the Enlightenment.
Dealing openly in foreign relations is not folly. It is America as our founders meant relations with other nations to be.
A nation needs to abide by all the rules an individual must. Think of a good Christian man who owns a gun. He deals with everyone in complete honesty. He is a friend to other honest men. If some “friend” tries to engage him in an intrigue or design where he must hide his dealings, he walks away. They are immoral.
If another neighbor is a menace, he does not pretend he approves. He openly resists the drug dealer next door and makes sure they know -he- is no friend.
And everyone on the block knows he is an honest man. Criminals and shady types avoid him because he will not be compromised. Honest neighbors know they can trust him even when their back is turned. They know he has not combined with others to maybe pursue something against their interests.
This honest man, with a 45 under his jacket and an AR15 in his closet has no need to spy to discover his neighbors intent. He is following his own moral course, and has the power to ensure his own well-being.
The spy culture is abject proof of the way Europe has corrupted America in the last decade. Cloak and dagger, and secret deal behind hidden treaty is a European behavior. And it is why they are no good. I fully believe that the way German scientists came into our rocket program, Nazi intelligence and British intelligence, corrupted our intelligence agencies after WWII. Those nations are not dedicated to individual freedom.
And last I heard, some Chinaman isn’t the final say on morality. Tsu also approved of monarchs.
“Dealing openly at all times with respect to foreign relations is sheer folly.”
You couldn’t be more tragically wrong. Every war after WWII has featured miscalculation of intent as a centerpiece. Uncertainty causes wars. April Glaspie assuring Saddam that we wouldn’t go to war over Kuwait. Osama deciding Mogadishu meant America wouldn’t attack after a hard blow. Ukraine is filled with unclear intent. The Kiev Nazis thought we would flood in and support them, the rebels in the east think we are.
Syria is filled with miscalculations.
Honest diplomacy, backed by clear unmistakable power, and by exact certainty of where we intend to draw the line is how wars are avoided.
Spying is good for one class of people. A ruling class that does not answer to it’s people.
In fact, a very accurate gauge of how free a nation is, is by how much spying it does. And when the spying is inward, that’s the worst governments of all,
None of those miscalculations were caused by secretiveness and stealth.
I don’t feel like paying for Manning’s upkeep in prison, much less the “lopitoffame” surgery. The death penalty is severely underutilized.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.