Homeland Stupidity

Vladimir Putin defends the U.S. on spying programs, drones and Occupy Wall Street

"Russian President Vladimir Putin called the massive U.S. surveillance programs, revealed last week by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, 'generally practicable' and 'the way a civilized society should go about fighting terrorism.' His comments seemed to defend programs that have been deeply controversial in the United States and much of Europe, offering an endorsement that the Obama administration is probably not thrilled to receive. He said of the New York city police response to Occupy Wall Street, in a comment sympathetic toward controversial U.S. programs, 'That’s the way it’s done in the U.S., and that’s the way it’s done in Russia.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVladimir Putin defends the U.S. on spying programs, drones and Occupy Wall Street

Ron Paul ‘Worried’ U.S. Might Kill Snowden With Drone

"'I'm worried about somebody in our government who might kill him, with a cruise missile or a drone missile.' 'We live in a bad time where American citizens don't even have rights and that they can be killed,' Paul continued. 'But the gentleman is trying to tell the truth about what's going on, he is not defecting, there's no signs of that happening. It's a shame we're in an age where people who tell the truth about what the government is doing gets into trouble.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRon Paul ‘Worried’ U.S. Might Kill Snowden With Drone

Key anecdote to defend NSA data gathering is full of holes

"James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said a data collection program by the National Security Agency helped stop an attack on a Danish newspaper for which Headley did surveillance. And Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the Senate intelligence chairwoman, also called Headley’s capture a success. But a closer examination of the case, drawn from extensive reporting by ProPublica, shows that the government surveillance only caught up with Headley after the U.S. had been tipped by British intelligence. And even that victory came after seven years in which U.S. intelligence failed to stop Headley as he roamed the globe." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKey anecdote to defend NSA data gathering is full of holes

James Bamford: Connecting the Dots on PRISM, Phone Surveillance, and the NSA’s Massive Spy Center

"Physically, the NSA has always been well protected by miles of high fences and electrified wire, thousands of cameras, and gun-toting guards. But that was to protect the agency from those on the outside trying to get in to steal secrets. Now it is confronting a new challenge: those on the inside going out and giving the secrets away. While the agency has had its share of spies, employees who have sold top-secret documents to foreign governments for cash, until the last few years it has never had to deal with whistleblowers passing top-secret information and documents to the press because their conscience demanded it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJames Bamford: Connecting the Dots on PRISM, Phone Surveillance, and the NSA’s Massive Spy Center

Thomas Drake: Snowden saw what I saw – surveillance criminally subverting the constitution

"I differed as a whistleblower to Snowden only in this respect: in accordance with the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act, I took my concerns up within the chain of command, to the very highest levels at the NSA, and then to Congress and the Department of Defense. I understand why Snowden has taken his course of action, because he's been following this for years: he's seen what's happened to other whistleblowers like me. By following protocol, you get flagged – just for raising issues. You're identified as someone they don't like, someone not to be trusted. In November 2007, I was raided by a dozen armed FBI agents." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThomas Drake: Snowden saw what I saw – surveillance criminally subverting the constitution

Assange on NSA leak: Snowden will be prosecuted for years

"The ex-CIA man who blew the lid off America's vast NSA public surveillance net - is promising more explosive revelations. Edward Snowden's supporters are mobilizing too - with tens of thousands signing a petition to pardon the whistleblower. With us now, a man who knows what it's like to blow the whistle in a big way, and incur the wrath of Washington - Julian Assange. He joins talks to RT via broadband from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAssange on NSA leak: Snowden will be prosecuted for years

Rep. Peter King: Punish journalists who report classified information

"Representative Peter King (R-NY) on Tuesday night said that journalists who revealed secret government programs should face criminal charges. In response to WikiLeaks, King proposed legislation in 2010 that would have made publishing classified information “concerning the identity of a classified source or informant of an element of the intelligence community” an act of espionage. 'These organizations are a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States,' King explained at the time. 'Julian Assange and his compatriots are enemies of the US and should be prosecuted under the Espionage Act.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRep. Peter King: Punish journalists who report classified information

Sen. Lindsey Graham: I would support censoring mail if it was ‘necessary’

"Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters on Tuesday that he approved of censoring snail mail if it was necessary to protect innocent lives. 'If I thought censoring the mail was necessary, I would suggest it, but I don’t think it is,' he said, according to Yahoo News. The remarks came as Graham was answering questions about the National Security Agency’s surveillance program, which has indiscriminately amassed Americans’ phone records. The Republican senator explained that censoring the mail had a precedent in American history. Though the First Amendment was 'sacrosanct,' it also 'has limits,' Graham said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSen. Lindsey Graham: I would support censoring mail if it was ‘necessary’

The Absurdist, Tragicomic Narratives of Domestic Surveillance

"Is there a legitimate security need to monitor the entire world's communications? What's missing is the sense that the nation's citizenry should have a say in these policy decisions. We're supposed to be satisfied that a handful of thoroughly corrupted-by-the-corporatocracy congresspeople have been spoon-fed a thin dribble of intelligence gruel and told to rubberstamp it in the name of democracy. This calls to mind the notion that authorities inoculate the public with carefully measured doses of the operative master agenda and narrative. By carefully releasing bits and pieces of the program, authorities inoculate the public against outrage or political action." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Absurdist, Tragicomic Narratives of Domestic Surveillance

Civil liberties groups launch StopWatching.us to protest surveillance

"A coalition of Internet and civil liberties groups launched a campaign Tuesday protesting the huge US online surveillance program revealed in the past week. Joining the effort were the Mozilla Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union, Greenpeace USA, the World Wide Web Foundation and more than 80 other organizations or companies. The coalition launched a website, StopWatching.us, and called on Congress to launch a full probe and urging more disclosure from US officials about the National Security Agency’s vast program Internet surveillance program. An online petition was also launched on the website." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCivil liberties groups launch StopWatching.us to protest surveillance