Nsa Contractor Identifies Himself As Source

[lomatopo]

Obama administration had restrictions on NSA reversed in 2011

The Obama administration secretly won permission from a surveillance court in 2011 to reverse restrictions on the National Security Agency’s use of intercepted phone calls and e-mails, permitting the agency to search deliberately for Americans’ communications in its massive databases, according to interviews with government officials and recently declassified material.

In addition, the court extended the length of time that the NSA is allowed to retain intercepted U.S. communications from five years to six years — and more under special circumstances, according to the documents, which include a recently released 2011 opinion by U.S. District Judge John D. Bates, then chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-administration-had-restrictions-on-nsa-reversed-in-2011/2013/09/07/c26ef658-0fe5-11e3-85b6-d27422650fd5_story.html

Edited September 8, 2013 by lomatopo

[lomatopo]

NSA can tap into BlackBerry, iOs, and Android systems – report

The US National Security Agency (NSA) can access data on smart phones using the world’s most popular systems including iOs, Android, and even BlackBerry - which markets itself to be highly secure, according to a new report. The NSA has tapped into all the leading mobile operating systems to gain access to contact lists, SMS traffic, notes, and users’ current and past locations, Der Spiegel reported, citing internal NSA documents.

The leaked information also revealed that the NSA has organized a working group for each operating system. The groups are responsible for clandestine operations to gather data saved on the phones.

http://rt.com/news/nsa-smart-phones-spying-563/

Edited September 8, 2013 by lomatopo

[lomatopo]

This is not a joke....

The NSA has a "kids" site:

America's CryptoKids

http://www.nsa.gov/kids/

[SinglePot]

This is not a joke....

The NSA has a "kids" site:

America's CryptoKids

http://www.nsa.gov/kids/

Check out Snowden's revelations to the South China Morning Post back in June about US hacking of Tsinghua University. China's centre of excellence for young cyber geeks.

[Scott]

An inflammatory post has been removed.

[mania]

This is not a joke....

The NSA has a "kids" site:

America's CryptoKids

http://www.nsa.gov/kids/

Yes it is not a joke at all.

[lomatopo]

The Cowboy of the NSA

Inside Gen. Keith Alexander's all-out, barely-legal drive to build the ultimate spy machine.

On Aug. 1, 2005, Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander reported for duty as the 16th director of the National Security Agency, the United States' largest intelligence organization. He seemed perfect for the job. But one prominent person thought otherwise: the prior occupant of that office.

'Let's not worry about the law. Let's just figure out how to get the job done,'

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/09/08/the_cowboy_of_the_nsa_keith_alexander

Edited September 9, 2013 by lomatopo

[lannarebirth]

The Cowboy of the NSA

Inside Gen. Keith Alexander's all-out, barely-legal drive to build the ultimate spy machine.

On Aug. 1, 2005, Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander reported for duty as the 16th director of the National Security Agency, the United States' largest intelligence organization. He seemed perfect for the job. But one prominent person thought otherwise: the prior occupant of that office.

'Let's not worry about the law. Let's just figure out how to get the job done,'

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/09/08/the_cowboy_of_the_nsa_keith_alexander

Thanks for that insightful article. Most people ought to be disturbed by it if they look out 30 years into their own children's dystopian future.

[lomatopo]

Declassified court documents highlight NSA violations in data collection for surveillance

The National Security Agency for almost three years searched a massive database of Americans’ phone call records attempting to identify potential terrorists in violation of court-approved privacy rules, and the problem went unfixed because no one at the agency had a full technical understanding of how its system worked, according to new documents and senior government officials.

Moreover, it was Justice Department officials who discovered the problem and reported it to the court that oversees surveillance programs, the documents show, undermining assertions by the NSA that self-reporting is part of its culture.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/declassified-court-documents-highlight-nsa-violations/2013/09/10/60b5822c-1a4b-11e3-a628-7e6dde8f889d_story.html

NSA violations led judge to consider viability of surveillance program

Declassified documents from 2009 suggest NSA officials gave misleading statements to court and reveal judge placed a siginifcant restriction the bulk records program

A judge on the secret surveillance court was so disturbed by the National Security Agency's repeated violations of privacy restrictions that he questioned the viability of its bulk collection of Americans' phone records, according to newly declassified surveillance documents.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/10/nsa-violated-court-rules-data-documents

Edited September 11, 2013 by lomatopo

[lomatopo]

New Snowden Documents Show NSA Deemed Google Networks a "Target"

Aside from targeting Petrobras, Fantastico revealed that in a May 2012 presentation reportedly used by the agency to train new recruits how to infiltrate private computer networks, Google is listed as a target. So are the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and SWIFT, a financial cooperative that connects thousands of banks and is supposed to help securely facilitate banking transactions made between more than 200 countries. Other documents show that the NSAs so-called STORMBREW programwhich involves sifting Internet traffic directly off of cables as it is flowing pastis being operated with the help of a key corporate partner at about eight key locations across the United States where there is access to international cables, routers, and switches. According to a leaked NSA map, this surveillance appears to be taking place at network junction points in Washington, Florida, Texas, at two places in California, and at three further locations in or around Virginia, New York, and Pennsylvania.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/09/09/shifting_shadow_stormbrew_flying_pig_new_snowden_documents_show_nsa_deemed.html

Edited September 11, 2013 by lomatopo

[SinglePot]

Does Miranda know about the Brazilian connection? Or is he just a courier?

More coffee Glenn?

[Publicus]

Snowden and Greenwald have been pretty quiet lately.

I wonder what's up, or not.

Maybe Putin has in fact muzzled him.

[SinglePot]

And Assange followers are dropping like flies.

[FDog]

Snowden and Greenwald have been pretty quiet lately.

I wonder what's up, or not.

Maybe Putin has in fact muzzled him.

Or it could be that Snowden is abiding by his agreement not to provide any further documents. The documents being reported on now are those that are already released.

Snowden always said he did not want the attention, he just wanted it known what was happening. He has stuck by his word. A man of honor.

I, for one, am enjoying how the Obama administration is being caught out with it's incessant lies.

[jbrain]

Snowden Nominated for Freedom of Thought Prize

BRUSSELS/MOSCOW, September 11 (RIA Novosti) – Members of the European Parliament are officially nominating fugitive US leaker Edward Snowden for a prize celebrating freedom of thought, a parliamentary representative said Wednesday.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20130911/183359483/Snowden-Nominated-for-Freedom-of-Thought-Prize.html

Edited September 11, 2013 by jbrain

[lomatopo]

N.S.A. Gathers Data on Social Connections of U.S. Citizens

WASHINGTON — Since 2010, the National Security Agency has been exploiting its huge collections of data to create sophisticated graphs of some Americans’ social connections that can identify their associates, their locations at certain times, their traveling companions and other personal information, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews with officials.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/us/nsa-examines-social-networks-of-us-citizens.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[Publicus]

There Is No Justification For Edward Snowden's Latest Leaks

Renegade National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden has been praised as a heroic whistleblower who exposed illegal and immoral actions by the United States government.

Perhaps this was true at the beginning, such as when Snowden outlined the NSA's quasi-legal practice of scooping up telephone metadata of millions of Americans over Verizon's telecommunication lines.

But as time goes on, Snowden's leaks have increasingly related to international spying and other legitimate actions of the U.S. government, which he has neither legal nor moral justification for exposing

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/edward-snowden-is-not-a-whistleblower-2013-9#ixzz2gHzRAcMO

I note that many who post here have chosen to focus on Edward Snowden's revelations of domestic surveillance activities by US government agencies that may or may not directly affect US citizens. There is merit to this pursuit and I support and encourage it. The truth in these matters relate directly to Constitutional rights, the Fourth Amendment in particular.

I however have chosen to focus on Snowden's unnecessary and harmful leaks of national and global security matters that are harmful to the United States and its allies. I am especially concerned and worried that national security information disclosed by Snowden has helped and enhanced terrorists and terrorism against the United States, both abroad and at home.

The latest national and global security violations by Edward Snowden are now being repudiated by Snowden's journalism accomplice, Glenn Greenwald of the Guardian newspaper in the UK. Greenwald has said he has withheld global national security information and now specifically criticized Snowden for indiscriminately disclosing US national and global security information that is harmful both to the US and its allies.

Here's some idea of the damage and criticisms Snowden is getting from national security officials and from Greenwald himself:

Even Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who broke the Snowden saga, said that he would not have published those Chinese addresses.

What motivated that leak though was a need to ingratiate himself to the people of Hong Kong and China, Greenwald told The Daily Beast.

Snowden, caught in Moscow and looking for asylum countries, would presumably have felt the need to "ingratiate" himself by feeding information to Moscow as well. While some may call it "pure speculation" that Russia and China in some way got information from Snowden, still others take it as a matter of common sense.

In any case, spying is an accepted part of foreign relations. The U.S. government employs spies, as does every other modern government. These spies gather intelligence on other governments for use in statecraft (diplomatic negotiations) as well for military application.

Yes, even allies spy on each other, and no, it is not illegal (but it may get you detained for prisoner trade, and it will definitely get you deported).

Richard Lourie of The Moscow Times wrote last year:

Like the poor, spies are always with us. Everybody does it: Enemies spy on each other, but so do allies. During the Cold War, the Soviets were, of course, the most active in spying on the U.S., but the Israelis were right behind them in second place.

And Michael Bohn of the same publication wrote this gem, titled, "Spying is a Sovereign Right":

One of the more ridiculous aspects of the Edward Snowden affair has been Russia's feigned and exaggerated indignation over his revelations that the National Security Agency conducted a spying campaign aimed at Russia and other foreign countries.

Edited September 29, 2013 by Publicus

[Publicus]

Did WikiLeaks Sell Out Snowden To The Russians?

Is it just a coincidence that former NSA analyst Edward Snowden, a valuable intelligence asset, ended up in the hands of Russia's security services?

Or did WikiLeaks, the "anti-secrecy" organization that has taken responsibility for Snowden, send him there in collaboration with the Russians?

Former senior U.S. intelligence analyst Joshua Foust makes a compelling argument that Wikileaks may have been infiltrated by Russia's Federal Security Bureau, the post-Soviet successor to the KGB.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/did-wikileaks-sell-out-snowden-to-the-russians-2013-9#ixzz2gI50U900

I have stated a number of times that during the events of Edward Snowden's fleeing the United States and becoming a fugitive from justice, it had become apparent that Wikileaks had become an appendage of the Russian government.

Wikileaks took charge of Snowden's flight from US justice from the time Snowden was in Hong Kong. It was Julian Assange, who is in refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, that arranged for the Ecuadorian ambassador in London to grant Snowden travel documents to Moscow from Hong Kong after the CCP told to get out.

By the time Snowden arrived in Moscow, the president of Ecuador had said the travel documents were not legitimately issued and thus had no legal standing, which stranded Snowden in Moscow. Here's how one journalist describes it:

Snowden was able to travel because Assange had convinced Ecuador's consul in London to provide a document requesting that authorities allow Snowden to travel to Ecuador via Russia "for the purpose of political asylum." The country's president subsequently said the document was "completely invalid."

When Snowden arrived in Moscow the next day with useless travel papers, all signs suggest that Russia's domestic intelligence service (i.e. FSB) took control of him.

That day a radio host in Moscow "saw about 20 Russian officials, supposedly FSB agents, in suits, crowding around somebody in a restricted area of the airport," according to Anna Nemtsova of Foreign Policy.

On July 12, the day Snowden appeared with the the FSB's public relations officer and accepted all offers for asylum, Foust wrote that the "involvement of known FSB operatives at his asylum acceptance ... suggests this was a textbook intelligence operation, and not a brave plea for asylum."

Snowden subsequently hired Anatoly Kucherena, a Moscow lawyer who is linked to the FSB, to advise him.

Kucherena has publicly spoken for Snowden since then, and on Aug. 1 he said Snowden was taken to a "secure location" after receiving asylum in Russia. Kucherena set up Snowden's new life in Russia.

As for Russian president Vladimir Putin having control over Wikileaks, consider the following realities:

Former senior U.S. intelligence analyst Joshua Foust points out that in October 2010 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said: We have [compromising materials] about Russia, about your government and businessmen. ... We will publish these materials soon.

Subsequently, an FSB official issued a threat via independent Russian news website LifeNews: It's essential to remember that given the will and the relevant orders, [WikiLeaks] can be made inaccessible forever.

Those files were never published.

In December 2010, Israel Shamir, a friend of Assange, provided Russian ally Belarus with a cache of WikiLeaks files about opposition members in the country.

In April 2012, the government-funded Russian TV station RT gave Assange his own talk show.

Foust states that the chain of events leading up to Snowden’s flight, and his decision in Hong Kong to flee to Russia, of all places, strongly suggest that Russian intel has co-opted him to a remarkable degree.

Now Snowden's father, who has defended his son, is saying he doesn't trust Snowden's "friends."

I never have trusted either Snowden or anyone who claims to be Snowden's friend, not in the United States or abroad - in Russia especially and in particular.

And I'd say the burden of proof is on those who would deny that Vladimir Putin exercises control over Wikileaks. Consequently, I no longer trust Wikileaks in anything it says, does or publishes now or at any time into the future.

Edited September 29, 2013 by Publicus

[lomatopo]

NSA employee spied on 9 women for 6 years

The employee of the main US government surveillance organization was able to secretly intercept the phone calls of nine foreign women for six years without ever being detected by his managers, NSA’s internal watchdog has revealed.

This odd spying case came to light only after one of the women, who happened to be a US government employee, told a colleague that she suspected the man - with whom she was having a relationship - was listening to her calls, the British daily The Guardian has reported.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/09/29/326724/nsa-employee-spied-on-9-women-for-6-years/

[F430murci]

Here is what Snowden has to look forward to. Pussy Riot member in hospital in horrible condition after abuse and etc. She said she was going on hunger strike Monday, but he landed in hospital quickly and neither her husband nor her lawyer can apparently see her. Sounds a bit like that Russian lawyer who blew the whistle and turned up dead.

Russian, the champion of human rights fer sure . . .

-----

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was admitted to the hospital at the prison where she is serving a two-year term for a protest against President Vladimir Putin in Russia's main Orthodox Christian cathedral, Pyotr Verzilov said.

Verzilov said the acting head of the prison had described Tolokonnikova's condition as "horrible" but had given no further details. He also said prison officials would not show him documents about her transfer to hospital or allow her lawyers to visit.

http://www.nbcnews.com/entertainment/jailed-pussy-riot-member-hospitalized-after-hunger-strike-husband-says-8C11295940

[SinglePot]

Any leverage afforded by Snowden to the Putin regime is questionable IMHO.

[F430murci]

Whistle Blower in the US gets $ 14,000,000.00. Whistle blower lawyer divulging financial fraud in Russia gets sent to jail on trumped up charges, beat, denied medical care and dies. Snowden is in good hands.

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/01/20775423-whistleblower-gets-record-14-million-payout-from-sec?lite

Edited October 1, 2013 by F430murci

[F430murci]

Great article on existence and extent of this stuff under prior regime.

----

US killing of al-Shabaab leader in '08 may shine light on NSA surveillance program

In May 2008, U.S. officials touted a major counterterrorism success in Africa: A U.S. missile strike had killed Aden Hashen Ayrow, a top leader of the Somali-based terror group al-Shabaab.

Five years later, that strike is under fresh scrutiny over an issue that got little attention at the time: how the U.S. government found Ayrow in the first place.

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/19/21015476-us-killing-of-al-shabaab-leader-in-08-may-shine-light-on-nsa-surveillance-program?lite

[lomatopo]

N.S.A. Said to Tap Google and Yahoo Abroad

WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency and its British counterpart have apparently tapped the fiber-optic cables connecting Google’s and Yahoo’s overseas servers and are copying vast amounts of email and other information, according to accounts of documents leaked by the former agency contractor Edward J. Snowden.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/31/technology/nsa-is-mining-google-and-yahoo-abroad.html?_r=0

NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say

The National Security Agency has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world, according to documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and interviews with knowledgeable officials.

By tapping those links, the agency has positioned itself to collect at will from hundreds of millions of user accounts, many of them belonging to Americans. The NSA does not keep everything it collects, but it keeps a lot.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-infiltrates-links-to-yahoo-google-data-centers-worldwide-snowden-documents-say/2013/10/30/e51d661e-4166-11e3-8b74-d89d714ca4dd_story.html

http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/the-nsa-is-hacking-private-networks/542/

[lomatopo]

US 'spied on future Pope Francis during Vatican conclave'

NSA spied on the future Pope Francis before and during the Vatican conclave at which he was chosen to succeed Benedict XVI. The claims were made by Panorama, an Italian weekly news magazine, which said that the NSA monitored the telephone calls of many bishops and cardinals at the Vatican in the lead-up to the conclave, which was held amid tight security in the Sistine Chapel.

The information gleaned was then reportedly divided into four categories — “leadership intentions”, “threats to financial system”, “foreign policy objectives” and “human rights”.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/10415228/US-spied-on-future-Pope-Francis-during-Vatican-conclave.html

[lomatopo]

'Numerous' NSA Analysts Don't Like The Google Cloud Hack, And For Good Reason

According to the Post's NSA slides, "Numerous S2 [intelligence] analysts have complained of its [MUSCULAR] existence, and the relatively small intelligence value it contains does not justify the sheer volume of collection at MUSCULAR (1/4 of the total data collect)."

The slide goes on, "Numerous offices have complained about this collection diluting their workflow." "They’re making themselves dysfunctional by collecting all of this data," Binney told the Daily Caller.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-nsa-is-collecting-too-much-data-2013-10#ixzz2jEdPv6Tq

[MJP]

The US Government now just looks paranoid, delusional and frankly dysfunctional.

It's a shame for the American people.

[lomatopo]

Obama halted NSA spying on IMF and World Bank headquarters

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama has ordered the National Security Agency to stop eavesdropping on the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank as part of a review of intelligence gathering activities, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.

The order is the latest move by the White House to demonstrate that it is willing to curb at least some surveillance in the wake of leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden of programs that collect huge quantities of data on U.S. allies and adversaries, and American citizens.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/31/us-usa-security-imf-idUSBRE99U1EQ20131031

[lomatopo]

In Shadows, Hints of a Life for Snowden

MOSCOW — On very rare occasions, almost always at night, Edward J. Snowden leaves his secret, guarded residence here, somewhere, in Russia. He is always under close guard. He spends his days learning the language and reading. He recently finished “Crime and Punishment.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/world/europe/snowden-russia.html?_r=0

[Mosha]

The Germans would like a chat with him.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24770430