CNN.com: NSA leaker fears for democracy

[visionary]

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113757/snowden-case-unhappy-history-american-defectors-moscow#

Moscow is No Place for a Defector

 

Edward Snowden may not have realized it as he fled Hong Kong last month, but he was about to become part of a tradition that predates Internet metadata collection, or Wikileaks, or the National Security Agency itself: He was an American dissident heading for Russia.

 

Now, as he nears his third week in consular limbo, the man who leaked word of the NSA’s Prism program must be feeling a tad dismayed by his reception, which has not exactly been warm or cold but somewhere, weirdly, in between. If he’d read up on the history of other Americans who wound up under the dubious protection of the Kremlin, he might not be so surprised. Whether seeking exile in a Soviet socialist paradise or merely hoping that Vladimir Putin’s hostility to Washington means you’ll be able to fly on toward Ecuador in peace, the history of Americans fleeing to Moscow is a long and unhappy one.

 

[Burgold]

I conducted this interview yesterday with former Congresswoman Connie Morella, who represented Maryland for 16 years.  She talks about Snowden, US-Russian relations, Latin American trade, and our need to look in the mirror.  Pretty forthright and honest interview.  The bosses must have like it too because they ordered a full transcription.  I generally veer away from political reporting, but when I got Morella to agree to speak to us I thought I should be the one to handle it.

 

http://voicerussia.com/radio_broadcast/61124198/117189279.html

[CrabR]

Bolivian  presidential plane was forced down in Austria and other countries refusing to refuel it

 

I watch as we are bullying the whole whole over Snowden and i don't like it.We used to be the shining knight on the hill now we are the big bully on the hill since 911. For us going to all this trouble to bring him home tells me he may know more than  has been released. We are going for him harder than we did for some of the people who gave the A bomb secrets to the USSR.

[Burgold]

Bolivian  presidential plane was forced down in Austria and other countries refusing to refuel it

 

I watch as we are bullying the whole whole over Snowden and i don't like it.We used to be the shining knight on the hill now we are the big bully on the hill since 911. For us going to all this trouble to bring him home tells me he may know more than  has been released. We are going for him harder than we did for some of the people who gave the A bomb secrets to the USSR.

 

I was reading about this yesterday.  Crazy.

[visionary]

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/smitten-spies-snowden-gets-proposal-tweet-russian-agent-6C10544354

Smitten spies? Snowden gets proposal tweet from Russian agent

 

A tabloid says Vladimir Putin is Russia's most eligible bachelor, but the president may have competition from an American half his age: Edward Snowden, the former U.S. spy agency contractor believed to be holed up at a Moscow airport.

 

Snowden, 30, has received a marriage proposal of sorts in a tweet from Anna Chapman, the glamorous redhead who was one of 10 Russian agents arrested in the United States and deported in a Cold war-style spy swap in 2010.

 

"Snowden, will you marry me?!" a posting on a Twitter account bearing Chapman's name and photograph said late on Wednesday..

 

[Larry]

I'm not blaming you, visionary. 

 

But I really wish that the issue of whether the government should be collecting wholesale mountains of data on citizens (and non-) with no reason other than "it might be useful to have", was getting more discussion than this guy's sexts. 

[visionary]

Maybe the Gizmodo thread would be a better place for that though, or not.  I'm not sure. 

I don't really have anything to say about all those kinds of details, so I'll let you guys talk about that.

[mcsluggo]

So, your assertion (and those of the numerous other posts claiming that it is somehow impossible for the term "whistleblower" to be applied to this person) is that, in order to be a whistleblower, a person has to reveal information which the law, and his employment agreement, allow him to reveal? 

 

thre are many ways to "blow the whistle" withou willy-nilly releasing clasified and senstive documents to the public.  He could've released teh information to a senator for Kentucky, or a (turdish) GOP congressman from California (or their liberal counterparts, that hate the domestic spying programs), and spurred an investigation. 

 

but that wouldn't work nearly as well for an attention whore....

[Popeman38]

So, your assertion (and those of the numerous other posts claiming that it is somehow impossible for the term "whistleblower" to be applied to this person) is that, in order to be a whistleblower, a person has to reveal information which the law, and his employment agreement, allow him to reveal? 

 

thre are many ways to "blow the whistle" withou willy-nilly releasing clasified and senstive documents to the public.  He could've released teh information to a senator for Kentucky, or a (turdish) GOP congressman from California (or their liberal counterparts, that hate the domestic spying programs), and spurred an investigation. 

 

but that wouldn't work nearly as well for an attention whore....

Thank you.

[Larry]

thre are many ways to "blow the whistle" withou willy-nilly releasing clasified and senstive documents to the public.  He could've released teh information to a senator for Kentucky, or a (turdish) GOP congressman from California (or their liberal counterparts, that hate the domestic spying programs), and spurred an investigation. 

 

but that wouldn't work nearly as well for an attention whore....

Admiring the logic that says that leaking the info to the public means the guy is disqualified from "whistleblower" status, because leaking it to the public is illegal, but he should have given it to a Congressman, instead.

But let's skip that.

So, he could have given the information to somebody who

1) Supposedly already knows about it, anyway.

2) Supposedly passed legislation that supposedly makes it legal.

3) And is already making feeble, futile, ineffective, squawks of protest against this program. (Squawks which are being responded to, by the government, with sound bites designed to sound like they're claiming that the program doesn't exist.)

Please, tell me. In your scenario, does this hypothetical Congressman release this classified information?

If he doesn't, it looks to me like giving the info to the Congressman accomplishes absolutely nothing. The guy's already complaining, and he's already being ignored.

If the Congressman leaks the info, rather than this guy, then that's different, because . . . ?

----------

Although, frankly, it looks like leaking the info to the public isn't accomplishing anything, either. There's still no debate on the subject. In fact, the government is still sticking to the same sound bites that were designed to make people think that the program doesn't exist. And nobody is still calling them on it.

And part of the reason why the issue isn't being debated, is because of the people who would rather build themselves into towers of anger at the guy who showed them the truth.

You're choosing to make this debate about Snowden, instead of about the program. And you're trying to claim that he's making you do it.

The government has been spying on you for a decade, and lying to you about it. (And, frankly, transparently lying to you. They've been telling you that they've been lying, if you'd paid attention.

Here's a hint:

When the question is "Is the US Government demanding records of every single phone call made in the US, by US citizens?" . . . .

And the response is "The Government is not listening to every phone call in the US", or "The government is not singling out US citizens for surveillance without a warrant". . . .

Then the answer to the question was "Yes."

And, when someone actually reveals the truth that you should have known anyway, the reaction is . . . ?

"Let's make people not like the guy who told them the truth".

[chipwhich]

"Let's make people not like the guy who told them the truth".

 

 

The guy was granted a top secret clearance and signed an oath to keep secrets.

So which secrets should he keep and which aren't important?

I guess only the ones that suit him.  Or you?

[visionary]

https://research.tdwaterhouse.ca/research/public/Markets/NewsArticle/1314-L2N0FB1VV-1

Nicaragua says would grant Snowden asylum if circumstances permit

 

Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega said on Friday that he had received an asylum request from U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden and could accept the bid "if circumstances permit."

 

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/06/us-usa-security-venezuela-idUSBRE96500420130706

Venezuela's Maduro offers asylum to U.S. fugitive Snowden

 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Friday he had decided to offer asylum to former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who has petitioned several countries to avoid capture by Washington.

 

"I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young American, Edward Snowden, so that in the fatherland of (Simon) Bolivar and (Hugo) Chavez, he can come and live away from the imperial North American persecution," Maduro told a televised parade marking Venezuela's independence day.

 

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/15/us-usa-security-snowden-idUSBRE96E0JC20130715?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Russia's Putin: signs Snowden is shifting on the U.S

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday he saw signs that Edward Snowden, the former U.S. spy agency contractor turned fugitive secrets leaker, was shifting towards stopping "political activity" directed against the United States.

 

Putin, who previously refused to hand Snowden over to the U.S. authorities, said the fugitive's situation remained unresolved after Washington had blocked his further movements.

 

Asked on an island in the Gulf of Finland about Snowden's future, Putin said: "How do I know? It's his life, his fate."

 

"He came to our territory without invitation, we did not invite him. And we weren't his final destination. He was flying in transit to other states. But the moment he was in the air ... our American partners, in fact, blocked his further flight.

 

"They have spooked all the other countries, nobody wants to take him and in that way, in fact, they have themselves blocked him on our territory," Putin said.

 

Putin has stated Snowden should stop activity harmful to the United States if he wanted refuge in Russia and said he saw signs that the former contractor with the National Security Agency was moving in this direction.

 

[ixcuincle]

@jayrosen_nyu 7:28 PM

Cryptographer wins an award from NSA, uses the occasion to say he can't support what the NSA does lightbluetouchpaper.org/2013/07/19/nsa… via @jonathanstray

 

Full link http://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2013/07/19/nsa-award-for-best-scientific-cybersecurity-paper/

[PokerPacker]

Obama's campaign platform on whistle-blowers according to change.gov, brought to us by the wayback machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20130425082834/http://change.gov/agenda/ethics_agenda/

Protect Whistleblowers: Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled. We need to empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance. Barack Obama will strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste, fraud, and abuse of authority in government. Obama will ensure that federal agencies expedite the process for reviewing whistleblower claims and whistleblowers have full access to courts and due process.

Of course, that page has since been deleted because who wants to be held accountable for their campaign promises?

[Zazzaro703]

New York woman visited by police after researching pressure cookers online

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/01/new-york-police-terrorism-pressure-cooker

"A New York woman says her family's interest in the purchase of pressure cookers and backpacks led to a home visit by six police investigators demanding information about her job, her husband's ancestry and the preparation of quinoa.

Michele Catalano, who lives in Long Island, New York, said her web searches for pressure cookers, her husband's hunt for backpacks and her "news junkie" son's craving for information on the Boston bombings had combined somewhere in the internet ether to create a "perfect storm of terrorism profiling".

Members of what she described as a "joint terrorism task force" descended on Catalano's home on Wednesday."

More at link

Police state here we come.

[PokerPacker]

I know that the tendency of Government is to keep power once it's attained, but I'm wondering if the younger generation will roll back the big brother when the old people die off. I sure hope so, because damn if them old people aren't ruining everything this country is supposed to stand for.

[mistertim]

New York woman visited by police after researching pressure cookers online

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/01/new-york-police-terrorism-pressure-cooker

"A New York woman says her family's interest in the purchase of pressure cookers and backpacks led to a home visit by six police investigators demanding information about her job, her husband's ancestry and the preparation of quinoa.

Michele Catalano, who lives in Long Island, New York, said her web searches for pressure cookers, her husband's hunt for backpacks and her "news junkie" son's craving for information on the Boston bombings had combined somewhere in the internet ether to create a "perfect storm of terrorism profiling".

Members of what she described as a "joint terrorism task force" descended on Catalano's home on Wednesday."

More at link

Police state here we come.

While that does sound like a freaky situation and that the cops were a bit overbearing, that wasn't a "big brother police state" operation. An employer who saw the searches from one of the computers at their office alerted authorities about it; it wasn't a government internet data mining system.

[zoony]

Wouldn't it be interesting if this entire thing was nothing other than disinformation. Keep the publics eye off Benghazi by creating a leak controversy surrounding info that was already known

http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/01/exclusive-dozens-of-cia-operatives-on-the-ground-during-benghazi-attack/?hpt=hp_inthenews

CNN is uncovering some scary stuff

[Corcaigh]

I think from the start it was known that Benghazi was a CIA operation primarily. There was limited reason for the State department to have their operations there.

It may be the reason that the messaging was so mangled. Spontaneous riot in response to offensive video was what someone came up with rather than the reality of an Al Qaeda attack on a CIA base.

[Zazzaro703]

Wouldn't it be interesting if this entire thing was nothing other than disinformation. Keep the publics eye off Benghazi by creating a leak controversy surrounding info that was already known

http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/01/exclusive-dozens-of-cia-operatives-on-the-ground-during-benghazi-attack/?hpt=hp_inthenews

CNN is uncovering some scary stuff

Foxnews was reporting this stuff awhile ago but it was labeled as right wing hate against the president and his administration. It was just a spontaneous act by people that didn't like a video. Right. To be fair though its not like Foxnews is a bastion of correct and fair/balanced reporting, I'm sure they just took the story reported from non American news outlets and ran with it. They were smuggling guns to the terrorists we are supposed to be afraid of and it went awry. I also like how now after this story is being brought back to light, they plaster a terrorist alert on all the main media pages. We need an end to the one party system, both parties are corrupt beyond repair. I wonder how the American public will react when they find out Al-Queda was and still is a CIA run outfit.

[CurseReversed]

EDIT: Already posted in other thread.

 

Apparently the CIA could very well have a lot more to hide regarding its role in Benghazi then previously known.

 

Although vaguely mentioned in this article, there are rumors of that some very shady weapons deals were going on. 

 

 

 

 

 

http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/01/exclusive-dozens-of-cia-operatives-on-the-ground-during-benghazi-attack/

Speculation on Capitol Hill has included the possibility the U.S.
agencies operating in Benghazi were secretly helping to move
surface-to-air missiles out of Libya, through Turkey, and into the hands
of Syrian rebels.

 

Since January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency's missions
in Libya, have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph
examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the
agency's workings.

The goal of the questioning, according to sources, is to find out if anyone is talking to the media or Congress.

It is being described as pure intimidation, with the threat that any
unauthorized CIA employee who leaks information could face the end of
his or her career.

In exclusive communications obtained by CNN, one insider writes, "You
don't jeopardize yourself, you jeopardize your family as well."

Another says, "You have no idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear on anyone with knowledge of this operation."

[Corcaigh]

More from cryptography and security expert Bruce Schneier on the Snowden leaks ... it seems that the act of trying to protect your online anonymity and privacy using TOR and other approaches is sufficient grounds for the NSA to hack your computers in order to spy on you.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/04/tor-attacks-nsa-users-online-anonymity

[skinsmarydu]

All of this makes me really wish the members of Congress would've at least listened to Michael Moore when he was trying to read the Patriot Act to them from a megaphone in a bread/ice cream truck.  (But he's just some crazy movie guy who makes **** up, right?)  Kinda seems important now, huh?