tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post5354371684931829203..comments2023-11-03T09:36:22.100-04:00Comments on In From the Cold: In Our NameGeorge Smileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07049707648660651119noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-16811797243553246062013-06-24T22:12:25.642-04:002013-06-24T22:12:25.642-04:00All paid a steep price for their actions, but they...<i>All paid a steep price for their actions, but they worked within the system.</i><br /><br />Since most of us believe that "system" long since left its integrity and ethical sense at the door...what good did they do? Was it worth the price they paid?<br /><br />Or, to echo a recent govt functionary, "What difference, at this point, does it make?" <br /><br />Corky Boyd's understandable 'paranoia' about how such a sketchy person ended up with that level of clearance is not borne out by what is being uncovered re the many questionable backgrounds of our civilian 'security personnel' who seem to have carte blanche to run amok. And not just the Secret Service or the ambassador to Belgium (his moral level fits right in there. Brussels is a pedophilia capital) who was called back to Soggy Bottom for a chat and then let loose.<br /><br />The edifice is rotten. How about <br />State Department whistleblower, Aurelia Fedenisn? Thugs threatened her kids??<br /><br />Well, they warned us we'd get a good dose of the Chicago Way. While I don't like what Snowden did (and Greenwald is unspeakable), he seems a symptom of a systemic problem. <br /><br />The whole thing seems to be falling apart, as though the game plan is to so overload us with major scandals that eventually we *have* to tune out.<br />Dymphnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06040064724546519425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-31872998758381479252013-06-19T10:01:44.764-04:002013-06-19T10:01:44.764-04:00By the nature of his job, a SysAdmin needs root ac...By the nature of his job, a SysAdmin needs root access. It's <i>really, really hard</i> to fully secure your system from a nosey SysAdmin who is tasked with maintaining it. . . Geodkythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17340718574781403778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-43499890449881170022013-06-19T10:00:04.595-04:002013-06-19T10:00:04.595-04:00Ed Bonderenka --
"Leaking" to Congress ...Ed Bonderenka --<br /><br />"Leaking" to Congress is a weird case.<br /><br />By law, all Federal elected officials and Senate confirmed judges (but NOT their clerks and staffers) have an <i>automatic</i> clearance for anything they need to do their duties (to emphacize, this operates strictly on "need to know", not formal clearances), and senators and representatives have absolute immunity for anything they say from the floor (which includes "revsied and extended" remarks submitted in writing). It's a separation of powers thing, so the Executive can't cut the Judiciary and Legislature out of the loop by denying them clearances. (Gerald Ford used the latter to kill a DoD prior restraint on claims of security leaks to the book <i>The Green Berets</i> by reading the specific passages in question into the public record.)<br /><br />Snowden's problem was that he could reasonably presume he was blocked from pursuing the matter through the Exectutive Branch, AND the designated oversight committee. But there was still a way he could bypass the blockage. . . <br /><br />Had Snowden leaked to members of Congress, he could have claimed whistleblower status. Had THAT failed utterly he could have "leaked" to SCOTUS justices as a way around any feared bloackage in the FISA courts; SCOTUS has original juristdiction over ANY federal judicial matter they choose. <br /><br />Only if he was completely blocked from taking action through ALL three branches of government could he even make a tenuous claim to being a whistleblower by going public. I don;t believe he'd be able to claim the <i>legal</i> status of whistleblower then, but he could have claimed the moral and ethical claim. <br /><br />And even that claim would have instantly evaporated when he started leaking about solely foreign surveillance issues -- I don't care if NSA is bugging Putin's shrink or the confessionals in the Vatican; spying on foreign entities is half their friggin' <i>JOB</i>. Fourth and Fifth Amendment protections against domestic surveillance do not apply to spying on foreign governments or entities -- it's only when US citizens or territory is involved that it even becomes an issue. Therefor, there is no whistle to blow, since it's 100% legal for us to spy on, and yes, hack, the Chinese, for instance.<br /><br />Of course, the fact that he crapped all over himself and the nation with his disclosures about wholly foreign operations and the completely inappropriate and illegal fashion in which he <i>did</i> get the domestic data out, we shouldn't throw out the gold nugget in the pile, just because it's covered in crap.Geodkythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17340718574781403778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-47023964469857073152013-06-18T19:15:55.427-04:002013-06-18T19:15:55.427-04:00Good post and excellent points... And yes he IS gu...Good post and excellent points... And yes he IS guilty of multiple violations.Old NFOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16404197287935017147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-69540330634723495402013-06-18T12:26:49.971-04:002013-06-18T12:26:49.971-04:00Your thoughts are right on target and carry more v...Your thoughts are right on target and carry more validity because of your background. Most folks who with experience in SIGINT/COMINT side with absolute secrecy. <br /><br />Your subtle doubts about Snowden's career moves bears thought. I simply cannot fathom how such an individual could land in such sensitive jobs unless he had help. Also it strains credulity of how he could gain access to the FISA Verizon court order in reproducible form.<br /><br />I find myself suspicious he is a front for one or more highly placed individuals who are concerned with the potential of an Orwellian state. Snowden spent just enough time (3 months) as an NSA analyst in Hawaii to establish himself as a credible source. He certainly didn't have a lot of time to come to the conclusion that abuses at NSA are widespread.<br /><br />More will come out on this. The sooner the better.<br /><br /><br /><br />Corky Boydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16363812378536729410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-7966165625458594422013-06-18T07:44:32.398-04:002013-06-18T07:44:32.398-04:00A related concern is whether even the FISA "k...A related concern is whether even the FISA "key" to the content would prevent abuse. While FISA approval is obtained presumably from a group of judges, DOJ tapped Rosen's calls after having to shop 3 judges, AND by falsifying (or some may say exaggerating) their basis for the intrusion. Is FISA as vulnerable to agency manipulation? Who knows? Richhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15390468013273738737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-41537050939861485832013-06-17T22:08:03.558-04:002013-06-17T22:08:03.558-04:00Thoughtfully good post, Spook. In full disclosure,...Thoughtfully good post, Spook. In full disclosure, this multi-year reader has found an increasing number of your blogs veering rather more starboard than I care for, but this one steers a fair and truthful course without resorting to either the "trust us" or the "don't trust any of them at all, ever" generalizations. We need to be asking hard, thoughtful questions such as the ones you pose.Dick Recruiterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04620324865249561937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-73530692235136101112013-06-17T21:47:10.484-04:002013-06-17T21:47:10.484-04:00There are those congresscritters who said that Sno...There are those congresscritters who said that Snowden should have come to them.What would they have done, even if they agreed with him (as Sensenbrenner indicates).Snowden going to ANYONE (even congress) violated the rules.And if a sympathetic congresscritter agreed with him, the only route left would still be exposure to the public, because the oversight committees had already approved the activity.Making the oversight committees a shadow government.If the Patriot Act is more limited than the oversight committees approved activity as Sensenbrenner (the author) believes, then the real authority is the oversight committee, and who in their ranks would expose it?There are people who think that what the NSA was doing was OK.This begs the question, "OK by the law, OK by the Constitution (may God bless and protect it), or OK by their own wishes.Ed Bonderenkahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03724552853113809036noreply@blogger.com