military industrial complex

Bradley Manning found not guilty of aiding the enemy, but guilty of theft and espionage

"Army Private First Class Bradley Manning was found not guilty on Tuesday morning on charges of knowingly aiding enemies of the U.S. by transferring 750,000 pages of military files to WikiLeaks, the Associated Press reported. Manning was tried on 20 other criminal counts, and offered to plead guilty to most of them, but refused to say he helped the terrorist network al-Qaeda. The Guardian reported that Manning was found guilty on five counts of theft and five counts of espionage." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBradley Manning found not guilty of aiding the enemy, but guilty of theft and espionage

Momentum Builds Against N.S.A. Surveillance

"The sudden reconsideration of post-Sept. 11 counterterrorism policy has taken much of Washington by surprise. As the revelations by Mr. Snowden, a former N.S.A. contractor, were gaining attention in the news media, the White House and leaders in both parties stood united behind the programs he had unmasked. They were focused mostly on bringing the leaker to justice. Backers of sweeping surveillance powers now say they recognize that changes are likely, and they are taking steps to make sure they maintain control over the extent of any revisions." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMomentum Builds Against N.S.A. Surveillance

Increasing use of costly military-style equipment by NH law enforcement questioned

"Concord is poised to accept $258,000 in federal funding to buy an armored vehicle that police say would provide protection during a terrorist attack, riot or shooting incident. In its grant application to DHS, the police department said New Hampshire's experience with terrorism 'slants primarily towards the domestic type,' and said 'the threat is real and here.' 'Groups such as the Sovereign Citizens, Free Staters and Occupy New Hampshire are active and present daily challenges,' the application stated. In addition to organized groups, it cited 'several homegrown clusters that are anti-government and pose problems for law enforcement agencies.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIncreasing use of costly military-style equipment by NH law enforcement questioned

How the Military Industrial Complex Targeted the Amash Amendment

"The NSA gave members of Congress private scare briefings. Former Attorney Generals and past 'spook agency' leaders signed an open letter of opposition. The Wall Street Journal attacked Amash as 'unqualified' to introduce such a bill. The Democratic Whip's office even suggested that the Amash amendment '...pertain[s] to persons who may be in communication with terrorist groups...' But the absolute worst tactic came from the House Republican leadership. They offered an amendment that would supposedly protect Americans from the PRISM system. Sounds good right? Well... It was a fraud designed to peel away support from Amash." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow the Military Industrial Complex Targeted the Amash Amendment

Glenn Greenwald: Major opinion shifts, in the US and Congress, on NSA surveillance and privacy

"Pew finds that 'a majority of Americans – 56% – say that federal courts fail to provide adequate limits on data the government is collecting as part of its anti-terrorism efforts.' And 'an even larger percentage (70%) believes that the government uses this data for purposes other than investigating terrorism.' Moreover, '63% think the government is also gathering information about the content of communications.' That demonstrates a decisive rejection of the US government's three primary defenses of its secret programs. Overall, 47% say their greater concern about government anti-terrorism policies is that they have gone too far." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: Major opinion shifts, in the US and Congress, on NSA surveillance and privacy

Ron Paul: A House Divided Over NSA Spying on Americans

"Taken together, the NSA's Maryland headquarters and its newly built enormous data center in Utah will be seven times larger than the Pentagon! Over the last week we have seen two significant prison-breaks, one in Iraq, where some 500 al-Qaeda members broke out of the infamous Abu Ghraib prison, which the US built, and another 1,000 escaped in a huge break in Benghazi, Libya – the city where the US Ambassador was killed by the rebels that the US government helped put in power. Did the US intelligence community, focused on listening to our phone calls, not see this real threat coming?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRon Paul: A House Divided Over NSA Spying on Americans

Glenn Greenwald: Low-level NSA analysts can spy on Americans

"The NSA keeps trillions of telephone calls and emails in their databases which they can access anytime, he said. 'And what these programs are, are very simple screens, like the ones that supermarket clerks or shipping and receiving clerks use, where all an analyst has to do is enter an email address or an IP address, and it does two things. It searches that database and lets them listen to the calls or read the emails of everything that the NSA has stored, or look at the browsing histories or Google search terms that you’ve entered, and it also alerts them to any further activity that people connected to that email address or that IP address do in the future.'” Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: Low-level NSA analysts can spy on Americans

Reforms of Domestic Government Surveillance

"Proposals to reform the court have included publishing declassified summaries of all its rulings and the creation of a public advocate to argue against the government’s filings with the court and to appeal FISA court rulings (now only the government can appeal). These proposals to increase the court’s transparency would be an improvement on the current Orwellian situation, but a better solution would be to get rid of the Orwellian situation. There is no place in a constitutional republic for a secret, parallel system of justice with lower standards. Thus, both the FISA Court and the Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act (actually the entire PATRIOT Act) need to be neutered." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingReforms of Domestic Government Surveillance

Life as a US drone operator: ‘It’s like playing a video game for four years’

"'It is a lot like playing a video game,' a former Predator drone operator matter-of-factly admits. 'But playing the same video game four years straight on the same level.' His bombs kill real people though and, he admits, often not the people he is aiming at. What Omer Fast's film does brilliantly is evoke the weirdness of people in Nevada endlessly trawling foreign countries for 'bad guys', whom they then get permission to fire on. A former US air force drone operator admits to making mistakes: 'You see a lot of death,' he says before pondering why he carries on – perhaps because if it was not him then it might be some 'new kid doing it badly'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLife as a US drone operator: ‘It’s like playing a video game for four years’