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'We're Really Screwed Now': NSA's Best Friend Just Shivved The Spies

BobStackFan4Life

BobStackFan4Life

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Gotta love Diane Feinstein- doesn't give a shit that innocent Americans are spied on but spy on her pal Merkel and it's "Hell no!" I still suspect this is mainly for show, she's still one of the biggest cheerleaders for the NSA.
One of the National Security Agency's biggest defenders in Congress is suddenly at odds with the agency and calling for a top-to-bottom review of U.S. spy programs. And her long-time friends and allies are completely mystified by the switch.

"We're really screwed now," one NSA official told The Cable. "You know things are bad when the few friends you've got disappear without a trace in the dead of night and leave no forwarding address."

In a pointed statement issued today, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Dianne Feinstein said she was "totally opposed" to gathering intelligence on foreign leaders and said it was "a big problem" if President Obama didn't know the NSA was monitoring the phone calls of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She said the United States should only be spying on foreign leaders with hostile countries, or in an emergency, and even then the president should personally approve the surveillance.

It was not clear what precipitated Feinstein's condemnation of the NSA. It marks a significant reversal for a lawmaker who not only defended agency surveillance programs -- but is about to introduce a bill expected to protect some of its most controversial activities.

Perhaps most significant is her announcement that the intelligence committee "will initiate a review into all intelligence collection programs." Feinstein did not say the review would be limited only to the NSA. If the review also touched on other intelligence agencies under the committee's jurisdiction, it could be one of the most far-reaching reviews in recent memory, encompassing secret programs of the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, agencies that run imagery and spy satellites, as well as components of the FBI.
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A former intelligence agency liaison to Congress said Feinstein's sudden outrage over spying on foreign leaders raised questions about how well informed she was about NSA programs and whether she'd been fully briefed by her staff. "The first question I'd ask is, what have you been doing for oversight? Second, if you've been reviewing this all along what has changed your mind?"

The former official said the intelligence committees receive lengthy and detailed descriptions every year about all NSA programs, including surveillance. "They're not small books. They're about the size of those old family photo albums that were several inches thick. They're hundreds of pages long."

A senior congressional aide said, "It's an absolute joke to think she hasn't been reading the signals intelligence intercepts as Chairman of Senate Intelligence for years."

The former official added that the "bottom line question is where was the Senate Intelligence Committee when it came to their oversight of these programs? And what were they being told by the NSA, because if they didn't know about this surveillance, that would imply they were being lied to."
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http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/10/28/were_really_screwed_now_nsas_best_friend_just_shivved_the_spies
 
Like any good politician, Diane finally took at a look at the polls and figured she better get on the right side of the issue.
 
Deacon923 said:
let's hope more of them do on this issue, up to and including the Spy In Chief.
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Well, the reports are he didn't know about the spying on Merkel and other friendly world leaders, which if that's true, WOW!
Let’s get this straight: The National Security Agency (NSA) snooped on the cellphone conversations of German Chancellor Angela Merkel? Perhaps for as long as a decade? And President Obama didn’t know a thing about it?

Either somebody’s lying or Obama needs to acknowledge that the NSA, in its quest for omniscience beyond anything Orwell could have imagined, is simply out of control.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eugene-robinson-the-out-of-control-nsa/2013/10/28/49645872-4008-11e3-a624-41d661b0bb78_story.html
 
"In a pointed statement issued today, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Dianne Feinstein said she was "totally opposed" to gathering intelligence on foreign leaders"

Isn't that the whole point in having intelligence agencies in the first place?
 
WakeForestRanger said:
"In a pointed statement issued today, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Dianne Feinstein said she was "totally opposed" to gathering intelligence on foreign leaders"

Isn't that the whole point in having intelligence agencies in the first place?
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yeah really.

it is totally ass backwards that our elected representatives are falling all over themselves to outlaw spying on the president of a foreign country WITH WHICH WE FOUGHT THE TWO BIGGEST WARS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, but it's perfectly OK to hoover up my emails and phone calls in direct violation of the spirit of the Bill of Rights. Totally, completely backwards.
 
Deacon923 said:
yeah really.

it is totally ass backwards that our elected representatives are falling all over themselves to outlaw spying on the president of a foreign country WITH WHICH WE FOUGHT THE TWO BIGGEST WARS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, but it's perfectly OK to hoover up my emails and phone calls in direct violation of the spirit of the Bill of Rights. Totally, completely backwards.
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Well, then, there's that.
 
I can't tell how much of this is feigned outrage or legit outrage.
 
It's almost all feigned outrage. Although the domestic stuff should elicit real outrage.
 
I don't give a shit that we're spying on those shifty fucks. I give a shit that we were caught.

I think it is pretty apparent at this point that Snowden was more about Snowden that about being a patriot.
 
EatLeadCommie said:
I don't give a shit that we're spying on those shifty fucks. I give a shit that we were caught.

I think it is pretty apparent at this point that Snowden was more about Snowden that about being a patriot.
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You're not that stupid ELC. He threw away a smokeshow girlfriend and easy life in Hawaii to be the most hunted man in the world and asylum in Russia. Not exactly paradise. He could have walked into any number of embassies and sold those documents for a fortune- instead he gave them to some journalists and told them to carefullu vet them. How many interviews have you seen with Snowden? He could be on tv 24/7 if he wanted this to be about Snowden.
 
Snowden is a criminal. He put our nation at great risk. He harmed our ability to use human assets dramatically.

If Snowden was about telling the world about our overreaching NSA, he could have easily done it with 100 documents and not exposed real people to real danger.

This was a planned attack on the security of the United States.

It's outrageous that Putin won't give him back. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Snowden is giving Putin either data, methodology, technology or all three. Putin would not put himself in this position without getting something big in return.

That's the real world Bob.
 
"He put our nation at great risk." "He harmed our ability to use human assets dramatically." "This was a planned attack on the security of the United States." "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Snowden is giving Putin either data, methodology, technology or all three."


Show me the evidence for these claims, cause I think you're just making shit up.
 
RJKarl said:
Snowden is a criminal. He put our nation at great risk. He harmed our ability to use human assets dramatically.

If Snowden was about telling the world about our overreaching NSA, he could have easily done it with 100 documents and not exposed real people to real danger.

This was a planned attack on the security of the United States.

It's outrageous that Putin won't give him back. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Snowden is giving Putin either data, methodology, technology or all three. Putin would not put himself in this position without getting something big in return.

That's the real world Bob.
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I think Putin isn't getting anything. Just likes watching US squirm.
 
BobStackFan4Life said:
"He put our nation at great risk." "He harmed our ability to use human assets dramatically." "This was a planned attack on the security of the United States." "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Snowden is giving Putin either data, methodology, technology or all three."


Show me the evidence for these claims, cause I think you're just making shit up.
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RJ has been making this stuff up since the beginning to fit his narrative to make Obama not look so bad.
 
During the hearings yesterday, one of the Spy Chiefs made the usual comment of "if you want us to catch terrorists you can't take away all the tools we need to do our job". that kind of comment drives me nuts. The whole US Constitution and especially the Bill of Rights are all about taking away tools that government uses to catch people it identifies as enemies. Maybe we should go ahead and repeal the 4th Amendment too so we can all be "safe". The point of the United States system of government is liberty, not safety.

Any rational person, when faced with a choice between (a) a 100% chance of some shadowy government agency hoovering up all digital data about your life, or (b) an infinitesimally small chance of being the victim of a terrorist attack, should choose (b).
 
BobStackFan4Life said:
"He put our nation at great risk." "He harmed our ability to use human assets dramatically." "This was a planned attack on the security of the United States." "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Snowden is giving Putin either data, methodology, technology or all three."


Show me the evidence for these claims, cause I think you're just making shit up.
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Each one of those is totally. If you were a person gathering intel for the US and knew 1M+ had access to who you are and what you are doing, you would head for the hills. It would be justifiable.

Snowden admitted that he planned to do this even before he was hired. Sorry, if I use Snowden's own words.

If you think Putin isn't getting anything other than "making the US squirm", you need to study Putin more. he doesn't do anything he doesn't think will help and enrich him. He's not going to put trade and other issues at risk just to make the US uncomfortable. It's all logic.
 
Russia gave out bugged gift bags at the G8 meeting. This gives perspective on many levels.

If you don't think the Germans, Brits, Russians, Chinese, Indians and others are bugging us, you are being naive.

If you don't think the Russians (who bugged gift bags) aren't getting anything from getting Snowden, I'm guessing you are amazed when lose at three card monte and you do play each time you go to NY. Next time the dealer won't palm the queen..Right?
 
Good post, 923. Sadly we lack rationale people and operate by fear.
 
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