Wasn't the Nation big on re-electing President Crackdown?
On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 6:47 AM, Jim Devine <[email protected]> wrote: > from the NATION: > Obama's Crackdown on Whistleblowers > Tim Shorrock <http://www.thenation.com/authors/tim-shorrock> > > March 26, 2013 | This article appeared in the April 15, 2013 > edition of The Nation. <http://www.thenation.com/issue/april-15-2013> > > > - > - > - > - > - > > <http://www.thenation.com/printmail/article/173521/obamas-crackdown-whistleblowers> > > - [image: Decrease text size] [image: Increase text size] > - > > <https://subscribe.thenation.com/servlet/OrdersGateway?cds_mag_code=NAN&cds_page_id=105997&cds_response_key=I11BSPRV1> > > - > > > *(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)* > > In the annals of national security, the Obama administration will long be > remembered for its unprecedented crackdown on whistleblowers. Since 2009, > it has employed the World War I–era Espionage Act a record six times to > prosecute government officials suspected of leaking classified information. > The latest example is John > Kiriakou<http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/lists/the-new-political-prisoners-leakers-hackers-and-activists-20130301/john-kiriakou-19691231> > > , a former CIA officer serving a thirty-month term in federal prison for > publicly identifying an intelligence operative involved in torture. It’s a > pattern: the whistleblowers are punished, sometimes severely, while the > perpetrators of the crimes they expose remain free. > > Research support provided by the Investigative Fund of the Nation > Institute. > About the Author > Tim Shorrock <http://www.thenation.com/authors/tim-shorrock> > > Tim Shorrock, who has been contributing to The Nation since 1983, is the > author of Spies for Hire: The Secret World of... > Also by the Author > Naoto Kan and the End of 'Japan > Inc.'<http://www.thenation.com/article/159596/naoto-kan-and-end-japan-inc> > > (World Leaders <http://www.thenation.com/section/world-leaders> > > , History <http://www.thenation.com/section/history> > > , World <http://www.thenation.com/section/world> > > ) > > Criticism of the government’s response to the catastrophe has obscured > major political changes. > Tim Shorrock <http://www.thenation.com/authors/tim-shorrock> > > > <http://www.thenation.com/article/173521/obamas-crackdown-whistleblowers#> > > 1 comment <http://www.thenation.com/node/#comment> > > Watching What You Say<http://www.thenation.com/article/watching-what-you-say> > > (Bush Administration<http://www.thenation.com/section/bush-administration> > > , Corporate > Responsibility<http://www.thenation.com/section/corporate-responsibility> > > , Covert Ops <http://www.thenation.com/section/covert-ops> > > , Politics <http://www.thenation.com/section/politics> > > , Society <http://www.thenation.com/section/society> > > ) > > How are AT&T, Sprint, MCI and other telecommunications giants cooperating > with the National Security Agency’s warrantless surveillance program? > Tim Shorrock <http://www.thenation.com/authors/tim-shorrock> > > > The hypocrisy is best illustrated in the case of four whistleblowers from > the National Security Agency <http://www.nsa.gov/> > > : Thomas Drake, William Binney, J. Kirk Wiebe and Edward Loomis. Falsely > accused of leaking in 2007, they have endured years of legal harassment for > exposing the waste and fraud behind a multibillion-dollar contract for a > system called Trailblazer, which was supposed to “revolutionize” the way > the NSA produced signals intelligence > (SIGINT<http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/d5100_20.htm> > > ) in the digital age. Instead, it was canceled in 2006 and remains one of > the worst failures in US intelligence history. But the money spent on this > privatization scheme, like so much at the NSA, remains a state secret. > > The story goes back to 2002, when three of the whistleblowers—Loomis, > Wiebe and Binney—asked the Pentagon to investigate the NSA for wasting > “millions and millions of dollars” on Trailblazer, which had been chosen as > the agency’s flagship system for analyzing intercepted communications over > a smaller and cheaper in-house program known as ThinThread. That program > was invented by Loomis, one of the NSA’s top software engineers, and > Binney, a legendary crypto-scientist, both of whom began working for the > NSA during the Vietnam War. But despite ThinThread’s proven capacity to > collect actionable intelligence, agency director Gen. Michael Hayden vetoed > the idea of deploying the system in August 2001, just three weeks before > 9/11. > > Hayden’s decisions, the whistleblowers told *The Nation*, left the NSA > without a system to analyze the trillions of bits of foreign SIGINT flowing > over the Internet at warp speed, as ThinThread could do. During the summer > of 2001, when “the system was blinking red” with dangerous terrorist > chatter (in former CIA Director George Tenet’s famous words), they say the > agency failed to detect critical phone and e-mail communications that could > have tipped US intelligence to Al Qaeda’s plans to attack. > > “NSA intelligence basically stopped in its tracks when they canceled > ThinThread,” says Wiebe, sitting next to Binney at an Olive Garden > restaurant just a stone’s throw from NSA headquarters in Columbia, > Maryland. “And the people who paid for it were those who died on 9/11.” > > The NSA Four are now speaking out for the first time about the corporate > corruption that led to this debacle and sparked their decision to blow the > whistle. In exclusive interviews with *The Nation*, they have described a > toxic mix of bid-rigging, cronyism and fraud involving senior NSA officials > and several of the nation’s largest intelligence contractors. They have > also provided an inside look at how Science Applications International > Corporation (SAIC <https://www.saic.com/> > > ), the government’s fourth-largest contractor, squandered billions of > dollars on a vast data-mining scheme that never produced an iota of > intelligence. > > “That corruption was the heart of our complaint—the untold treasure spent > on a program that never delivered,” Drake explained to me one morning in > Bethesda, Maryland, across the street from the local Apple Store where he > now works. He wants it understood that the NSA Four’s case was not > primarily about President Bush’s warrantless domestic surveillance program, > as outrageous as that was. “Some in the press think we blew the whistle on > Trailblazer because, oh, it violated people’s rights,” he said. “Well, it > didn’t violate anybody’s rights, or create any intelligence, because it > never delivered anything.” > > But there’s a direct link between their case and domestic spying: the > technology developed at the NSA to analyze foreign SIGINT—including > programs created for ThinThread—was illegally directed toward Americans > when the agency radically expanded its surveillance programs after the 9/11 > attacks. In response, Drake, Wiebe and Binney have taken to the media to > expose and denounce what they say is a vast and unconstitutional program of > domestic surveillance and eavesdropping. > > By using the NSA to spy on American citizens, Binney told me, the United > States has created a police state with few parallels in history: “It’s > better than anything that the KGB, the Stasi, or the Gestapo and SS ever > had.” He compared the situation to the Weimar Republic, a brief period of > liberal democracy that preceded the Nazi takeover of Germany. “We’re just > waiting to turn the key,” he said. > > more at: > http://www.thenation.com/article/173521/obamas-crackdown-whistleblowers > -- > Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own > way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. > > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > -- Cheers, Tom Walker (Sandwichman)
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