Rogers: Russia may be behind Snowden leak

Politico ^ | January 18, 2014 | By Adam Sneed

[Vendome]

And the most damning information he has thus far exposed is the name of the program, one of many.

[ETL]

Former CIA Director Woolsey: Snowden Has Done ‘Substantial’ Damage to National Security

By Noel Sheppard | June 24, 2013

One of the claims by many of Edward Snowden’s supporters is that what he revealed from the National Security Agency had little to no impact to national security.

According to former Central Intelligence Agency director James Woolsey, nothing could be further from the truth.

Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Monday, Woolsey said Snowden has done “substantial” damage to national security.

JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST: How much damage has Mr. Snowden done in your opinion to America’s national security?

JAMES WOOLSEY, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Well, It’s a little hard to assess from outside, but I’d say substantial, because what is now being sent out to the terrorists as well as everybody else is how these programs generally operate. And so they know what to pay attention to, what general procedures to follow. It’s hard to sort of zero in on any one specific. But it’s very damaging when an opponent that you’re trying to get information from, as we try to get information from their communications, terrorist communications overseas, knows that you’re doing it and how generally you’re doing it. It helps them a lot. […]

KATHLEEN PARKER, WASHINGTON POST: I wanted to ask in terms of what has happened with Snowden, what is more damaging to the United States: what was actually revealed or the fact that he was able to secure this information and distribute it?

WOOLSEY: I suppose the substance because that’s what will help the terrorists keep us from connecting the dots. You remember after 9/11, everybody said the intelligence community didn’t connect the dots. Well, that’s part of what’s been going on with respect to particularly going after the terrorists here and foreign intelligence collection, and that, the way we were connecting them is now out there and is in the hands of the terrorists. And so they know a lot more about how to plan, how to use telephones and the like. And I think that’s the main problem.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/06/24/former-cia-director-woolsey-snowden-has-done-substantial-damage-natio

[11th Commandment]

What is not been disclosed is how Snowden passed Hong Kong customs with a (allegedly) suspended passport. It is suspicious that while the US was trying to extradite Snowden for two weeks before he left Hong Kong, the State Department only revoked his passport hours before his fight departed? How can that be?

We know Snowden could not enter Russia because his passport was revoked so he was in the transit zone. We know the US has raised questions of how the airline left him board the flight (BTW, airline just check for documents, they do not run the docs in the computer). Not a peep from US authorities why his passport was not immediately revoked... Not a question from US authorities of how Snowden passed customs to leave Hong Kong.

[ETL]

“R. James Woolsey Jr., director of central intelligence during the Clinton administration, said Monday that the United States’ failure to deal strongly with Russia and President Vladimir Putin is setting an example for other countries in the Edward Snowden leak escapade.

“Hong Kong and Ecuador are learning from Russia, which is that if you insult the United States and don’t follow international norms with respect to it, nothing happens,” Mr. Woolsey said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “And so they’re behaving appropriately. Nothing’s happening.”

Mr. Woolsey said Mr. Putin has been able to throw his weight around with essentially no consequences, or implied consequences, from the U.S.

“His general attitude is don’t be weak, and that’s fine, but he’s not really doing anything else except avoiding being weak, simply trying to throw his weight around with respect to the United States,” Mr. Woolsey said. “He’s not cooperating, really, on anything substantial, and there’s no risk in it for him. He doesn’t have anything negative happen when he behaves that way with us, so the kind of cooperative relationship we had from time to time in the past, say with [Mikhail] Gorbachev, is just not here … he’s almost impossible to work with.”

Mr. Snowden, a 30-year-old who had top-secret clearance and disclosed the government’s collection of phone records and a program that tracks some foreigners’ Internet activity, revealed his plans through a statement from WikiLeaks — founded by leaker Julian Assange — after reports he departed from Hong Kong bound for Moscow and then a new haven from American authorities seeking his arrest.

Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino confirmed on Twitter that his government had received an asylum request from Mr. Snowden, who landed in Moscow on Sunday and planned to travel to South America through Cuba, The Associated Press reported, citing Russian news agencies.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/24/former-cia-head-james-woolsey-russias-insulting-us/print/

[TigerClaws]

So the people spying on Americans with no warrant just want us to take it on faith they abridged our constitutional rights for good reason?

Sorry.

The oath is to defend the Constitution.

Don’t destroy our country and claim you’re saving it.

[SeminoleCounty]

Problem is most of today’s critics of Russia are the biggest supporters of Communist China.

You don’t think so? Look at all the defenders of Communist China come out of the woodwork when you mention “put tariffs on Communist China”

You lose all credibility decrying about Russia when you support Communist China (who is stealing everything from the USA)

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

More likely, he didn’t get Russian help, but the NSA would love to pretend he did.

From the Russian point of view, though, Snowden does provide them stimulus. Lots of the data they discreetly stole from the NSA is now “public domain”, so is now worthless. But at the same time, he has given them lots of new leads, and allowed them to “connect the dots” with other intelligence they had.

Also, likely many NSA leads into Russian intelligence have been compromised, so they can now quickly patch many of those. All in all, it’s a 52-card pickup.

[ETL]

Exposing the NSA wiretapping was just Snowden’s throwing a bone to those who otherwise would have been all over him for releasing national security secrets to Moscow and other enemy nations.

[ETL]

“Testifying before the full Senate Appropriations Committee with representatives from Homeland Security, the FBI and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Army Gen. Keith B. Alexander, who is also commander of U.S. Cyber Command, shared his concern for the nation.

“Great harm has already been done by opening this up, and the consequence, I believe, is [that] our security is jeopardized,” Alexander said.

“There’s no doubt in my mind,” the general added, “that we will lose capabilities as a result of this, and that not only the United States, but those allies that we have helped, will no longer be as safe as they were two weeks ago.”

http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/news/2013/intell-130614-afps01.htm

[ETL]

So the people spying on Americans with no warrant just want us to take it on faith they abridged our constitutional rights for good reason?

Exposing the NSA wiretapping was just Snowden’s throwing a bone to those who otherwise would have been all over him for releasing national security secrets to Moscow and other enemy nations.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3113294/posts?page=28#28

[SeminoleCounty]

The main purpose of a passport is to allow you return in your home country.

Note that Hong Kong is now part of Communist China.

A nation can choose to either allow you in or not. You may have a legal authorized passport, and a visa from that nation, and still will not be allowed in

I know Communist Globalists hate that individual nations dictate soverignty and their borders, but that is the way it is still in the rest of the world

[InterceptPoint]

Exposing unconstitutional wiretapping and email hacking is horrible for Americans how?

Look at the mountain, not the molehill. Most of what NSA does is spy on the bad guys and the facilities they have are worldwide and the data they collect is primarily and, IMHO, massively about non-USA citizens. The French get collected, the Chinese, the Russians, the Iranians, the Germans. They get it all. The Good Guys and the Bad Guys are all collected to any depth that NSA chooses. The rules they follow are not limited by the US Constitution nor should they be. Those rules only limit collection on US citizens and they are certainly worth scrutinizing. Yes, Snowden may have done us a favor in that area. But Rogers is talking about the 99% of the NSA business that is focused on the foreign threat and the collection of data about communications not involving US citizens.

We really don't know at this point what Snowden has divulged about the broad range of NSA programs and the related capabilities and methods. Those program directly affect National Security. They detect ship movements, troop movements, planning by our enemies, terrorist communications in Yemen, you name it. But Rogers probably does know what information about the NSA capabilities that have been given to the Russians. He is worth listening to. He is probably right.

[Aevery_Freeman]

I don’t believe this, but were it true it’d mean the Russians are better Americans than the rotten to the core leadership of the USA.

The people now talking are those who somehow have still not asked even ONE time, “Barry what did you do after 5 pm the night of Bengazi...?”

The question is short and simple and I can’t trust a leadership that doesn’t ask it — I don’t care if some of them have an “R” after their names.

I agree and thank you for continuing the Bengazi drumbeat - never forget!

[ETL]

Problem is most of today’s critics of Russia are the biggest supporters of Communist China.

Problem is some people just don't seem to get it that the Russians and ChiComs are now close military allies.

From April 22, 2012 (Lenin's birthday)...

China-Russia Yellow Sea naval drills begin
AP via Yahoo News ^ | April 22, 2012

BEIJING (AP) — China and Russia launched joint naval exercises Sunday that highlight warming ties between their militaries and growing cooperation in international affairs.
[snip]
"It's an excellent exchange for China to be able to drill jointly in such sensitive areas," Yin told CCTV.
[snip]
Much of that cooperation takes place within the confines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a grouping of Central Asian states that seeks to check U.S. influence in the region and began holding joint drills in 2005.

Formerly Cold War rivals for leadership of the communist world, China and Russia have since found common ground in countering liberal democratizing trends across Asia and Eastern Europe and frequently vote against Western initiatives in the United Nations Security Council. ..."

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
_____________________________________________

[ETL]

From the Sino-Russian Joint Statement of April 23, 1997:
"The two sides [China and Russia] shall, in the spirit of partnership, strive to promote the multipolarization of the world and the establishment of a new international order."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/HI29Ag01.html
______________________________________________________________

"Joint war games are a logical outcome of the Sino-Russian Friendship and Cooperation Treaty signed in 2001, and reflect the shared worldview and growing economic ties between the two Eastern Hemisphere giants."

http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2005/09/war-games-russia-china-grow-alliance

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,170287,00.html

[ETL]

Chinese armored forces advance in Peace Mission-2013

Xinhua | 2013-8-10

A Chinese helicopter hovers the field for drill as Chinese armored forces advance during the Peace Mission-2013 China-Russia joint military drill in Chelyabinsk, Russia, on August 9, 2013. The 20-day Peace Mission-2013 China-Russia joint military drill began in Chelyabinsk on July 27. (Xinhua/Xian Yunqiang) 

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/802946.shtml

[Texas Fossil]

Bump!

And the ChiComs too.

[Aevery_Freeman]

More likely, he didn’t get Russian help, but the NSA would love to pretend he did.

This is what FLEXIBILITY looks like.

The Sate Dept. and the administration failed to act swiftly and surely for some reason.

Wonder what Putin really knows about our actions in Bengazi?

[Vendome]

Puhleeze.

You seriously believe Woolsey?

What are the specific things he did to compromise national security?

Then, bonus question:
.
“Are you completely and totally not concerned about the abrogation of your constitutional rights?”

You seem more comfortable parroting (sorry, “Quoting”) others so called thoughts on this matter.

[ETL]

“Are you completely and totally not concerned about the abrogation of your constitutional rights?”

Of course I'm not ok with that. But as I said earlier, that was likely Snowden's way of pacifying his critics and gaining their support. ie, "throwing a bone to them" to get them off his back on the national security leaks.