PRISM Program: Obama Administration Held 22 Briefings For Congress On Key FISA Law

This administration, like the one before it, has gone to great lengths to keep the program, and the extent of the spying on Americans, a secret not just to Americans, but to Congress.

I guarantee you that many, if not most members of Congress never knew about PRISM, nor did they know the breadth of the NSA's, et al's, reach into our private lives.  PRISM isn't listed in the FISA legislation.  What they're talking about "briefing" is section 702, and only in the most general terms.  

I can tell you that from what they've said and what we know of how these intelligence agencies have been "briefing" members over the years.  "Soft peddle" is a kind word for how they misinform members of Congress.  A more accurate description is that they set out to dupe members of Congress.  We even can see DNI director James Clapper LYING, point blank, to a direct question by a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee's question on this subject.  It's breath-taking how these people are operating.  Read these -

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Marcospinelli/edward-snowden-nsa-leak-guardian-whistleblower-nsa-revelations_n_3412245_259897780.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Marcospinelli/prism-program-obama_n_3416973_260112012.html
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PRISM Program: Obama Administration Held 22 Briefings For Congress On Key FISA Law

By Fox News.
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PRISM Program: Obama Administration Held 22 Briefings For Congress On Key FISA Law

Actually, the core of the Patriot Act was written by Joe Biden in 1995 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnibus_Counterterrorism_Act_of_1995
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Edward Snowden, NSA Whistleblower, Says He Acted Out Of Conscience To Protect 'Basic Liberties'

If you have nothing to hide, then you wouldn't mind giving me the passwords to your email accounts, and your social security number, your credit card numbers and bills since when you first had credit cards.  And you'll have no problem with me posting it all online, right?

Do you have curtains on your windows?  

Do you close the door when you go to the bathroom?

Do you have s3x on public streets?  

If you have nothing to hide, then you have no life.

It's not about having anything to hide; it's about things not being anyone else's business.  People don't need to justify their desire for privacy.  We have a birthright to this privacy - It's called the Constitution.  You and the government need to justify your interest in my privacy - Come back with a warrant.  

Currently there are over 1 MILLION people with the same or better security clearances as Edward Snowden, who can gain access to our private records.  Everything from our medical histories and television viewing habits, our book purchases, etc., in the hands of people who are PEOPLE.  Disgruntled exes, employees-going-postal, all kind of people suffering from "the human condition" with information that many don't even want their families and friends knowing.  They're not even in government - This is all private contracting work.  

Your head-in-the-sand attitude that goes with "I've got nothing to hide" shows your lack of any good judgment - You are trusting in an executive that has declared that the government can rendition you, keep you imprisoned indefinitely, and kill you, on a hunch.  No oversight, no due process, nothing.  How stvpid are you?
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Edward Snowden, NSA Whistleblower, Says He Acted Out Of Conscience To Protect 'Basic Liberties'

If you have nothing to hide, then you have no life.

Do you have curtains on your windows?  

Do you close the door when you go to the bathroom?

Do you have s3x on public streets?  

If you have nothing to hide, then you wouldn't mind giving me the passwords to your email accounts, and your social security number, your credit card numbers and bills since you've had credit cards, and you'll have no problem with me posting it all online.  

I don't have anything to hide, but I don't have anything that I feel like showing you, either.  It's not about having anything to hide; it's about things not being anyone else's business.  People don't need to justify their desire for privacy.  You and the government need to justify yours - Come back with a warrant.  

The head-in-the-sand attitude that goes with "I've got nothing to hide" shows your lack of any good judgment - You are trusting in an executive that has declared that the government can rendition you, keep you imprisoned indefinitely, and kill you, on a hunch.  No oversight, no due process, nothing.
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Eric Cantor 'Perplexed' By NSA Surveillance Revelations

Member of the intelligence committees, people who have been cleared to see top secret documents, have been LIED to and stonewalled.   

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Marcospinelli/eric-cantor-nsa_n_3414635_260054706.html

Whatever those who did know were told, their STAFFs weren't allowed to see the information, and without being able to discuss it with experts, they'd have no idea of what they're dealing with.  

This is reminiscent of how Bush and Cheney managed to get Congress to vote for the AUMF (Authority to Use Military Force) against Iraq.  Former Democratic representative Pete Kanjorski told about a meeting he and other members of Congress were summoned to at the White House, with Bush and Condoleeza Rice floating in and out of.  CIA was making the presentation, and it was later that he (and we) all learned that it was FABRICATED evidence - Photographs CIA was purporting to have been taken over Iraq, of Iraq's ability to get intercontinental missiles to the U.S.  In actuality, the photographs were created in the U.S. southwest.  

We also learned how Bush-Cheney managed to manage Congress, congressional approval, for criminal acts like torture and water boarding, and then saying "Congress knew all about it and approved" by breaking up 'notice' into component parts, like the budget for such an operation.  It would then introduce it through a subcommittee which typically the congress's staff attends, but not necessarily the members themselves.  As the staff has no security clearance for knowing about torture or waterboarding, the actual category for the expense is never divulged, but instead some generic label is given to the expense which nobody ever knows the real purpose.  

That was Dick Cheney's and David Addington's "gift" to the Bush administration - The inner workings of Congress from Cheney's time in the House, and how to get around that pesky body.
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Eric Cantor 'Perplexed' By NSA Surveillance Revelations

Senator John Thune: ‘Most Members Of Congress’ Didn’t Know NSA Programs Were So Broad (VIDEO)

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/thune-most-members-of-congress-didnt-know-nsa
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Eric Cantor 'Perplexed' By NSA Surveillance Revelations

On 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos', Stephanopolous played this clip from DNI director James Clapper's testimony before the Senate Intelligence committee this past March: 

STEPHANOPOULOS: Both of you know so much more than any other Americans. One of the things you heard from Senator Udall is the desire for more public information. Now, he believes that the administration hasn't been misleading generally the committee and the public, but I want to play an exchange, it was in the Intelligence Committee in March, when James Clapper was questioned by your colleague, Senator Wyden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RON WYDEN, D-OREGON: Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?

JAMES CLAPPER, DNI: No, sir.

WYDEN: It does not?

CLAPPER: Not wittingly. There are cases where they could inadvertently, perhaps, collect, but not wittingly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Feinstein, I have to confess, I have a hard time squaring that answer with what we learned this week.

FEINSTEIN: Well, I think this is very hard. There is no more direct or honest person than Jim Clapper, and I think both Mike and I know that. You can misunderstand the question. This is one of the dilemmas of talking about it. He could have thought the question had content or something, but it is true that this is a wide collection of phone records, as Mike said. No name, no content. But the number to number, the length of time, the kind of thing that's on the telephone bill, and we have to deal with that.


Clapper flat out lied to members of the Intelligence committee.  And Feinstein, instead of demanding his head on a platter, makes excuses for him.  
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Edward Snowden, NSA Whistleblower, Says He Acted Out Of Conscience To Protect 'Basic Liberties'

The new privacy model would protect only the content of your emails and calls — unless the government wants to read them. Before we are lulled back to sleep by our leaders, it is worth noting what you are about to give up.

The government has been secretly collecting all of your contacts from your intimate friends to political associations to doctors to product suppliers. Thus, if you are a government employee seeking information on being a whistleblower, your effort to reach lawyers or whistleblower groups will be seized.

Consider who you have called or emailed in the last month. The government can learn a great deal about you from just the people you call and subjects of your emails. Your “metadata” can reveal peculiar tastes and associations that you may consider hidden from all but your closest friends – and now a few thousand government monitors. The government will now know not only who you are calling but how long you are speaking, how often you call people or groups, where you call from, and even attachments like photos that you send. Ironically, the actual content of your calls or emails are usually not needed to determine the reason and subject of such communications. When you call an abortion clinic repeatedly or a medical marijuana resource line, the likely purpose of the call is self-evident. For citizens with unpopular political or religious views, repeated calls or emails to certain churches or groups indicate an obvious interest. From intimate affairs to political associations, the purpose of most communications are self-evident, particularly when they are placed within a mosaic of all of your contacts and calls.


In his press conference, Obama repeated the siren call of all authoritarian figures throughout history: while these powers are great, our motives are benign. So there you have it. The government is promising to better protect you if you just surrender this last measure of privacy. Perhaps it is time. After all, it was Benjamin Franklin who warned that “those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

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Edward Snowden, NSA Whistleblower, Says He Acted Out Of Conscience To Protect 'Basic Liberties'

Snowden acted from within this closed system. We have a democratic system that seems entirely unconnected to the public. From the continuation of our fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan to warrantless surveillance, the views of the public seem entirely immaterial to our leaders. They offer rhetorical responses but largely act within a system controlled by two parties and their leaders. Congress itself has proven, yet again, to be entirely disinterested in civil liberties or privacy values. The courts have refused to hear dozens of public interest lawsuits seeking review of such programs. In this environment, whistleblowers often feel that they have no recourse but to go to the media. Of course, this Administration has not only attacked privacy but the free press in the recent scandals.

What is striking is the anger directed at Snowden from the media. He will be held accountable for any crime, but he is also someone who acted at great peril to himself. I do not believe that that makes him a “clown” and I hope that some attention will remain on the attack on privacy represented by these programs.

-Jonathan Turley

http://jonathanturley.org/2013/06/10/leaders-call-for-snowdens-prosecution-as-cnns-toobin-calls-him-a-clown/#more-65451
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Edward Snowden, NSA Whistleblower, Says He Acted Out Of Conscience To Protect 'Basic Liberties'

Ironically, President Barack Obama told the public that he was happy that we could have this debate over the balancing of privacy and security. However, he wants the person responsible for that debate to be prosecuted. Without Snowden, the program would have remained secret and no debate would likely have occurred. While aspects of these programs were previously discussed in 2006, this was the first confirmation of the programs from the government.

U.S. Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, called Snowden “a defector” and said “this person is dangerous to the country.” That is the new spin: the “high school dropout” and “clown” who fled to Hong Kong. Indeed, many news outlets are focusing on the fact that he allegedly had a $300 night hotel in Hong Kong before checking out.  (Anyone who has traveled to Hong Kong will tell you that this expense for a room is not uncommon and it is certainly not “one of the priciest” rooms for the city).  Much of the focus will be on Snowden and his case as opposed to the massive surveillance program. Many believe, like Snowden, that the greater danger to the country is the loss of privacy — as discussed in my column today in USA Today. What is clear is that this massive security state, and its contractors, are irate about these leaks, which have given critical information to the public that has long been denied to it by its elected representatives. It is a closed system that is represented vividly by Booz Allen. The current head of national intelligence (Clapper) is a former company executive. The prior intelligence head is now leading the company. It is part of a security state that generates hundreds of billions of dollars and we are the subject of their work under these and other programs. They do not like people causing the public to ask questions.



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Edward Snowden, NSA Whistleblower, Says He Acted Out Of Conscience To Protect 'Basic Liberties'

Edward Snowden, 29, is now a hunted man. The media this morning has moved from the shock over the massive surveillance of citizens to attacking Snowden as a leaker. Indeed, this morning, CNN’s Senior Legal Analyst Jeff Toobin denounced Snowden as a “clown” and someone who should be denounced.

Toobin and I have been disagreeing a great deal lately. While I respect Jeff Toobin, I was surprised last week when he defended aspects of the investigation of journalists and later the massive surveillance programs. However, I was taken aback by the attack on Snowden. There certainly is a basis for criminal investigation — a point no one denies. He will have to answer for any violation of his clearance agreement and national security laws. However, it is the tenor and shift of the comments this morning that so surprised me.

Rather than continue the debate of the loss of privacy, political and media figures are focusing on Snowden rather than the programs. You can disagree with his methods just as you can disagree with Julian Assange. However, there is an obvious effort to (like Assange) make him look unbalanced and dangerous. The story appears more complex. This is a man who gave up a $200,000 a year job and his likely freedom to reveal something that he felt the public should know about in the interest of privacy. You can disagree with his method, but few of his critics would even consider such a sacrifice for principle. Yet, the coverage this morning is largely on how to catch him and punish him. Over the weekend, the White House said it would find the person responsible and punish him. Snowden then self-disclosed his identity.


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