NSA reportedly recommend abandoning surveillance program for all telephone calls and text messages

American Thinker ^ | 04/25/2019 | Thomas Lifson

[SeekAndFind]

In an exclusive report based on anonymous sources, Dustin Voltz and Warren P. Strobel of the Wall Street Journal (non-paywall version here) write:

The National Security Agency has recommended that the White House abandon a surveillance program that collects information about U.S. phone calls and text messages, saying the logistical and legal burdens of keeping it outweigh its intelligence benefits, according to people familiar with the matter.

The recommendation against seeking the renewal of the once-secret spying program amounts to an about-face by the agency, which had long argued in public and to congressional overseers that the program was vital to the task of finding and disrupting terrorism plots against the U.S.

The latest view is rooted in a growing belief among senior intelligence officials that the spying program provides limited value to national security and has become a logistical headache.

Frustrations about legal-compliance issues forced the NSA to halt use of the program earlier this year, the people said. Its legal authority will expire in December unless Congress reauthorizes it.

It is up to the White House, not the NSA, to decide whether to push for legislation to renew the phone-records program. The White House hasn’t yet reached a policy decision about the surveillance program, according to the people familiar with the matter.

The White House National Security Council and the NSA declined to comment.

Oddly, no mention at all is made of the unfolding scandal of the use of NSA data to spy on the Trump campaign.

Early in 2016 NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers was alerted of a significant uptick in FISA-702(17) “About” queries using the FBI/NSA database that holds all metadata records on every form

[DBrow]

You believe they are going to destroy all the records?

If that’s what it takes to keep Barry Soetero and Hillary safe, then yes that’s what they will do even if it involves smashing it with a hammer.

But yes, /s!

[Mariner]

“I still remember when Jimmy Carter wanted to use automated systems to listen in on private phone calls. If certain words were mentioned, automatic recording would start.”

That system was put in place and was operational NLT 1980.

[Bob434]

I am more skeptical- I think they will just destroy those records- and keep all records on republicans conservatives, Christians etc-

[Ransomed]

I don’t buy it. But in any case they can still simply regularly exchange all the captured communications of other nation’s citizens for all the captured communications of US citizens.

Freegards

[thoughtomator]

nuke the site from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure

[Reily]

Doesn’t matter they’ll just buy what they need from the commercial world!

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/coming-store-shelves-cameras-guess-age-sex-62573634

This is the tipy tip of the commercial world’s “soon-to-be-Internet-of-Things” data collection for marketing purposes.

I now work on Deep Learning etc. and go to a lot of technical & business conferences on this. This data “collection” is exponentially growing and combined with A.I. shall we say “very interesting”. What’s driving it solid business reasons but there are secondary & tertiary consequences but that’s your problem. It’s not going to stop. Notice I haven’t even mentioned social media!

[Billthedrill]

This was always a brute-force method whose expenses will inevitably mushroom along with the data. One notes there is no talk of suspending targeted surveillance or what the parameters of that targeting are likely to be. FISA has proven a very permeable safeguard. And then this:

Oddly, no mention at all is made of the unfolding scandal of the use of NSA data to spy on the Trump campaign.

The problem was alleged access by uncleared contractors to the family jewels. At this point we've crossed the line between potential abuse and actual abuse and the argument isn't hypothetical anymore. We have already seen corruption at the highest levels of government lead to the release of highly classified technical data to the Chinese during the Clinton administration and the deliberate leakage of surveillance data to the equally corrupt media during the 0bama administration. The real issue is not that the legal safeguards are costing more than the data are worth, it's that they're no damn good.

[subterfuge]

Sorry, nothing coming out of the bloated, corrupt, Obama appointee laden government is to be taken at face value.

What? They’re going to fire the 350,000 spooks that spy on us all every single day?

[Black Agnes]

My thoughts exactly. ‘Pull the other one, it’s got bells...’.

[a fool in paradise]

They must’ve found dirt on Hillary and Obama that they regret uncovering.

[DesertRhino]

Oh, Like Binney recommended 20 years ago. And proved that the flood of data in capturing everything swamped the intel world and caused them to miss every terror attack including 9/11?

The retards, moving at the speed of molasses.

[a fool in paradise]

When we see terrorist attacks, the perps are known wolves.all of this monitoring doesn’t make us any safer.

FIB agents are pointed to these Islamists by concerned citizens, they file their reports, interview the Islsmists, then cut them loose.

[ksc]

ANONYMOUS SOURCES? Are these the same sources that provided the FAKE Bombshell news stories for the past year? I guess, these sources had to move on from the fake Russian Collusion to a possible fake NSA story.

If a person cannot name the sources on a story on this, then it is best to just ignore it.

[DesertRhino]

NOW... it finally makes sense. Bitcoin mining. You win the internets for the day.

[M Kehoe]

But but but James Clapper and John Brennan told a House Committee on intelligence that they didn’t do that sort of thing. (H/t Snowden.)

IIRC, Clapper also told the same Senate committee.

They are complicit in an attempted coup against the President of the United States.

The Constitution calls that treason. The punishment is also there for everyone to read.

5.56mm

[DBrow]

I remember waaay back there was a metadata surveillance program named ABLE DANGER, that was mining all sorts of databases to reveal terrorist activities (it’s rumored to have ID’d the 911 attackers). Then...it started to uncover US Government contacts with overseas terror groups (like maybe some Clintonistas). Immediate end to the program!

[Buckeye McFrog]

Pretty much all voice communication now travels over the internet as packets, so somebody always has access to it.

[indthkr]

This sounds more like a budget request to me...

[fella]

Stopped reading at

anonymous sources

[Pontiac]

Anyone want to buy a slightly used server farm in the Utah desert?

It’s going cheap at 1 billion dollars!

However you will have to supply your own operating system and other software as all of the drives will be scrubbed (can’t have top secret software out there in the wild you know).