Congressman Rogers on NSA Phone Surveillance: ‘Greenwald Doesn’t Have a Clue How This Thing Works’

NewsBusters.org ^ | June 9, 2013 | Noel Sheppard

[Kaslin]

Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, on Sunday had harsh words for the Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald revealing last week that the National Security Agency is looking at phone records of virtually all Americans.

Appearing on ABC’s This Week, Rogers said, “I know your reporter that you interviewed, Greenwald, says that he’s got it all and now is an expert on the program. He doesn't have a clue how this thing works” (video follows with transcript):

Congressman Rogers on NSA Phone Surveillance: ‘Greenwald Doesn’t Have a Clue How This Thing Works’

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, we're just about out of time. I just want a quick answer from each of you on this. We saw that a crimes investigation has been opened. Is it fair to say that both of you believe that this investigation should be pursued and the source if found should be prosecuted?

CONGRESSMAN MIKE ROGERS, CHAIRMAN OF HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE (R-MICHIGAN): I absolutely believe that someone did not have authorization to release this information, and why that’s so important, George, is because they didn't have all of the information. I know your reporter that you interviewed, Greenwald, says that he’s got it all and now is an expert on the program. He doesn't have a clue how this thing works. Neither did the person who released just enough information to literally be dangerous. I argue that there's other methods. He could come to the committees if they had concerns. We have IGs that they can go to in a classified way if they have concern.

Taking a very sensitive classified program that targets foreign persons on foreign lands, and putting just enough out there to be dangerous, is dangerous to us, it's dangerous to our national security, and it violates the oath of which that person took. I absolutely think they should be prosecuted.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You too Senator Feinstein?

DIANNE FEINSTEIN, CHAIRWOMAN OF SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE (D-CALIFORNIA): I do.

[Southack]

The law didnt grant the NSA unlimited powers to spy on all Americans in the U.S., so the NSA needs to be prosecuted for violating the law.

Not the whistleblower.

[RoosterRedux]

I would hope you are correct but I am afraid you are not.

Time will tell.

That said, I am surprised members of Congress aren't expressing concern over the power for abuse this gives our corrupt president. Unless they are themselves either victims or otherwise involved.

[grania]

Mike Rogers was creepy on the Stephanopoulus show. He agreed with Feinstein on everything. He was far more trusting of the Obama administration than anyone on the panel, and that includes a few who are usually pretty far left of center. They really, really didn't like that things aren't out in the open.

If Rogers is in a truly Republican district, they really should find a way to get rid of this fake. He has to be an Obama supporter who they got past the voters.

I had a thought watching the show this morning. There were a lot of real liberals there. Are they realizing the Democratic Party would be in better shape for them in the future if Obama and his implants weren't running their show?

[Cementjungle]

That said, I am surprised members of Congress aren't expressing concern over the power for abuse this gives our corrupt president. Unless they are themselves either victims or otherwise involved.

Yes, many in congress are likely co-conspirators with Obama's team on all this, and those who aren't are probably being blackmailed with data provided by these programs.

This guy is very smart... and I'm willing to bet that once this gains more traction that a lot of other very smart people are going to come out of the woodwork and join in.

This will make Watergate look like a parking violation investigation.

[stevie_d_64]

Yeah, its ALL about those temporary occupants of those offices in DC...

The bottom line is this, I do not believe we can get the jenie back in the bottle because of this data grab...Its too late...

As far as I am concerned the penalty that needs to be assesed is a complete and utter replacement of every breathing asshat inside the beltway, every damn one of them...

[WilliamofCarmichael]

[The Guardian] doesn't have a clue how this thing works.

But I know how that government thing works..

They vet the enemy and it is us.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Rogers: I absolutely think they should be prosecuted. The CHAIRWOMAN OF SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE agrees..

Well me.. I just would like to know how the CHAIRWOMAN OF SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE and hubby make millions of dollars on insider information, contacts, influence. . . .

[Paladin2]

Rogers has no idea of what he doesn’t know. Plenty of unknown unknowns.

[Paladin2]

You’re neglecting the megadata they have on you. Prove they don’t have it.

[Yo-Yo]

You’re neglecting the megadata they have on you. Prove they don’t have it.

Metadata. Data about the data. Duration of the call. Location of the call. Time and date of the call. That is all metadata.

As I said, once they secure the data using one legitimate FISA approved warrant, they are under no obligation to delete or destroy the data when that one case is resolved. They can keep the data forever, and consult it at some later date for an entirely unrelated puropose, without having to have any court or judge approve it's use.

[DeWalt]

I personally believe that’s what happened to Chief Justice John Roberts.

[Paladin2]

No, they also have megadata.

[Paladin2]

http://www.datacenterjournal.com/facilities/notable-data-center-builds-and-expansions/

[Whenifhow]

He was far more trusting of the Obama administration than anyone on the panel, and that includes a few who are usually pretty far left of center. They really, really didn’t like that things aren’t out in the open.
______________

Every person at the round table was furious about the NSA surveillance, including Democrat Rep. Keith Ellison, Paul Kurgman and Matthew Dowd as well as George Will, and Greta Van Susteren.

If you saw this, you would have noticed the 45 second introduction to the round table - a clip of a similar discussion in Congress in 1975.

At the beginning of this round table, a video is shown from discussion in Congress of the same debate in 1975. (45 seconds)

Round Table Roundtable I: Privacy vs. Security

http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/video/week-roundtable-privacy-security-19359675?tab=9482930&section=1206874&playlist=19360106

See the interview with Greenwald here.

Glenn Greenwald on ‘This Week’ (Video)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3029230/posts

A full transcript can be found here

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-sen-dianne-feinstein-rep-mike-rogers/story?id=19343314#.UbSfBMp0lvJ

[man_in_tx]

Michigan-based blogger Debbie Schlussel has had Rogers’ number for years:

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/tag/mike-rogers/

[grania]

Thanks for the exact information from the Stephanopoulus news show this AM. I watch him because I've noticed that, for over a year now, Stephanopoulus has gotten to be much more even handed and not really an Obama cheerleader.

It was a good show.

[SunkenCiv]

The murder-enabling rapist Assange and the murder-enabling catamite Manning haven’t been tried yet, what’s the rush?

[cripplecreek]

I believe Assange falls under the same legal category as Rosen. Its illegal to give the info but its not illegal to receive or disseminate it.

[jonrick46]

I have this nagging question that I want to put forward to those with like thinking minds:

We all know about word recognition software like Dragon. Many people use it to type their comments on the Free Republic by just talking into a microphone. There is software available to take the spoken word in one language and translate it to English.

So, lets say that all the phone conversations either by cell phone or land line were recorded and put into a voice recognition software and then stored as text. You could put a great deal of conversation on storage if it was in text. And, the storage capability is growing exponentially. Once in text form, you would also have the ability to do text searches using key words and other intelligent word searches using sophisticated software.

I believe it is true that the government does not actively listen to conversations. The huge number of phone conversations daily would make the storage of them impossible. I believe that it first converts conversations to text. Then, it searches conversations using computer technology. This is not active listening because it is in text form and may avoid the legal definition of wire tapping. I am no lawyer to know if it is wire tapping for sure. However, once conversation is identified as having possible illegal activity, the court process is used to bring up all the text material from the source telephone.

So, let’s say a group of phone numbers are of interest. They should be able to have the texts of all the phone calls from these source telephones.

Am I correct in this idea?