Imperial Hubris

Edward Snowden: US government has been hacking Hong Kong and China for years

"US whistle-blower Edward Snowden yesterday emerged from hiding in Hong Kong and revealed to the South China Morning Post that he will stay in the city to fight likely attempts by his government to have him extradited for leaking state secrets. In an exclusive interview carried out from a secret location in the city, the former Central Intelligence Agency analyst also made explosive claims that the US government had been hacking into computers in Hong Kong and on the mainland for years." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEdward Snowden: US government has been hacking Hong Kong and China for years

EU warns Obama of ‘grave consequences’ facing Europeans from NSA intel scandal

"Viviane Reding, the EU’s Justice Commissioner, wrote a letter on Monday to US Attorney General Eric Holder demanding 'swift and concrete' answers about the spy scheme when they meet in Dublin on Friday. 'Programmes such as PRISM and the laws on the basis of which such programmes are authorised could have grave adverse consequences for the fundamental rights of EU citizens,' she wrote. Her questions to Holder include whether EU citizens were targeted by the US programmes, whether Europeans would be able find out whether their data has been accessed, and whether they would be treated similarly to US nationals in such cases." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEU warns Obama of ‘grave consequences’ facing Europeans from NSA intel scandal

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

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

State Department personnel running amok with drugs and ‘hookers on foreign soil’

"CBS News obtained excerpts from a draft of an Inspector General inquiry into another incident involving 'hookers on foreign soil.' This time, however, rather than Obama’s Secret Service detail getting into trouble abroad, it was the security detail charged with protecting then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The report called the problem of U.S. foreign service employees hiring sex workers while abroad 'endemic' and cited eight different incidents. In 2011, the State Department ordered investigators to halt investigation into a U.S. ambassador who routinely left his post and 'ditched his security detail' to have sex with prostitutes in a public park." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingState Department personnel running amok with drugs and ‘hookers on foreign soil’

Switzerland seeks US response over alleged CIA bank spying

"The Swiss government on Tuesday revealed that it has asked the United States to explain an alleged CIA blackmail operation to spy on Switzerland's banks, exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The Swiss foreign ministry told AFP that it was aware of media reports about the issue and that it had sent the US embassy in the capital Berne a diplomatic note seeking 'clarification'. The ministry also confirmed that Snowden was accredited as a diplomatic attache at the US permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva from March 2007 to February 2009." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSwitzerland seeks US response over alleged CIA bank spying

Intelligence chief defends Internet spying program

"Eager to quell a domestic furor over U.S. spying, the nation's top intelligence official stressed Saturday that a previously undisclosed program for tapping into Internet usage is authorized by Congress, falls under strict supervision of a secret court and cannot intentionally target a U.S. citizen. He decried the revelation of that and another intelligence-gathering program as reckless. For the second time in three days, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper took the rare step of declassifying some details of an intelligence program to respond to media reports about counterterrorism techniques employed by the government." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIntelligence chief defends Internet spying program

How the CIA Maneuvered to Get Secret Information From a Swiss Banker

"He described as formative an incident in which he claimed CIA operatives were attempting to recruit a Swiss banker to obtain secret banking information. Snowden said they achieved this by purposely getting the banker drunk and encouraging him to drive home in his car. When the banker was arrested for drunk driving, the undercover agent seeking to befriend him offered to help, and a bond was formed that led to successful recruitment. 'Much of what I saw in Geneva really disillusioned me about how my government functions and what its impact is in the world,' he says. 'I realised that I was part of something that was doing far more harm than good.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow the CIA Maneuvered to Get Secret Information From a Swiss Banker

Hawaii’s Forgotten Internment Camps

"While the Roosevelt administration's internment of Japanese-American citizens on the West coast is well-documented, the story of Hawaii's internment camps was buried for years. Jane Kurahara, a researcher at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, made it her personal mission to uncover as much as she could about Hawaii's mysterious internment camps. And, amazingly, Kurahara and the cultural center eventually discovered ruins of a long-forgotten camp on Oʻahu. Reason TV spoke with Niiya and Kurahara about the history of Hawaii's internment camps and visited the newly discovered ruins, which will be open to the public soon." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHawaii’s Forgotten Internment Camps