Posted on 07/25/2012 10:40:37 AM PDT by JOAT
The TSA, DHS and countless other security agencies have been established to keep America safe from terrorist attacks in post-9/11 America. How far beyond that does the feds' reach really go, though?
The attacks of September 11, 2001 were instrumental in getting the US government to establish counterterrorism agencies to curb future tragedies. Some officials say that they haven't stopped there, though, and are spying on everyone in America.
Testimonies delivered in recent weeks by former employees of the National Security Agency suggest that the government is going beyond what most of America thinks they do in order to keep the country terrorist-free. Former NSA staffers even say that theirs old agency has actually been spying on the entire country — all in the name of national security.
On an interview carried on Current TV's Viewpoint program on Monday, former NSA Technical Director William Binney commented on the state of blanketing surveillance along with colleagues Thomas Drake and Kirk Wiebe, the agency's former senior official and senior analyst, respectively. The broadcast comes on the heels of a series of speeches given by Binney, who has quickly become more known for his whistle-blowing than his work with the NSA. In their latest appearance this week, though, all three former staffers corroborated on earlier accounts by suggesting that America's spy program is really more dangerous that others deem it to be.
Speaking to Viewpoint host Eliot Spitzer, Drake said there was a "key decision made shortly after 9/11, which began to rapidly turn the United States of America into the equivalent of a foreign nation for dragnet blanket electronic surveillance."
Although this accusation has been supported by claims that it is for national security, says that it doesn't stop there. In fact, warns the former NSA official, the government is giving themselves the power to put intel on every American aside for potential future crimes.
"When you open up the Pandora's Box of just getting access to incredible amounts of data, for people that have no reason to be put under suspicion, no reason to have done anything wrong, and just collect all that for potential future use or even current use, it opens up a real danger — and to what else what they could use that data for, particularly when it's all being hidden behind the mantle of national security," Drake said.
Although Drake's accusations seem astounding, they corroborate allegations launched by Binney only a week earlier. Speaking at the Hackers On Planet Earth conference in New York City earlier in the month, Binney addressed a room of thousands by speaking about the NSA's domestic spying. But in a candid interview with journalist Geoff Shively during HOPE, the ex-agency official admitted that things really are rather scary.
"Domestically, they're pulling together all the data about virtually every U.S. citizen in the country and assembling that information, building communities that you have relationships with, and knowledge about you; what your activities are; what you're doing. So the government is accumulating that kind of information about every individual person and it's a very dangerous process," Binney claims.
Both statements from the former NSA official come on the heels of a revelation that law enforcement officers collected the cell phone records of 1.3 million Americans in 2011 alone. By carrying out this and similar requests under provisions in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and using National Security Letters, though, news articles are emerging everyday suggesting that the surveillance of Americans — off the radar and under wraps — is becoming occurring more and more exponentially by the minute.
I don’t give a chit if they want to collect my surfing habits and they can publish them on the front page of the NYT.
Sincerely,
Bootlicker
Kool. When they decide your political comments constitute a crime against the state five years from now, I’m sure you’ll still hold the same opinion.
1) What evidence do you have that this will take place?
2) No, then I'll get mad.
/johnny
Right now, post your full name address and social security number right here on FR.
I also want a full list of every group you belong to, all your closest friends and a photo of you and every family member you love.
After all, YOU don't have ANYTHING to hide, right?
Come on, big boy, do it.
Nobody would abuse that info, ESPECIALLY this government!
You gotta be kidding!
You have to choose your interests. My interest leans more to security. I don’t think the consitution is a suicide pact but I’m not a constitutional scholar. If you want to fight those battles then good for you. I’m just of the opinion that with access to the technology of WMD’s being more and more available my interests are with internal security being as strong as possible. I’m more afraid of the terrorists than the workers at the NSA. That’s just me, YMMV, etc.
So he blows the whistle on Client #9’s show on AlGore TV (which is probably monitored by nobody BUT the NSA?) ???
FU, you post it.
Oh, so you DO have SOMETHING to hide.
HA! All hat and no horse there cowboy.
So, for the slow ones among us, let me translate.
All that info and MUCH MUCH MORE is being compiled by a government that doesn't have your best interests at heart.
Get it?
How many were killed by terrorists?
You go with your fears. I'll go with historical facts.
/johnny
>Oh, so you DO have SOMETHING to hide.
What? I said my surfing habits idiot. I don’t surf.
There's no Constitutional right to this stuff being private. You want privacy? Only use cash, cancel your internet and cable. Go back to the agrarian existence of our forefathers.
You want the convenience of google maps, facebook, Visa/Mastercard, and your 500 channels then you open yourself up to being 'tracked' or whatever the tin-foilers call it. It's all out there in the ether ready for the gov't or any business to just pick out.
That's right but this is not the 20th century.
Ok lets have some fun and give them something to do!
Device, emergency, plan, homeland security, french fries, terminate, Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau, detonate,
If they had kept a closer eye on Weiner’s weiner,, uhhhh
Does Huma eat Kosher? hmmm.. maybe her online shopping data and emails to her puppet, Hillary would tell ..
I'll maintain a wary eye on government. They have a well earned reputation for being dangerous, for thousands of years.
/johnny
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