Breaking News: The NSA Is Doing It's Job!
Yes, the USA Today has caused quite a bit of stir with it's report (erroneous at best, and a terrible attempt at fear-mongering) that the NSA is collecting data regarding phone calls. Let me emphasize this:
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.
All right, so what is the big deal? They are not violating any privacy rights of citizens. This is not a "search" of any sort. The following of patterns in an intelligence investigation is no different from financial advisors following market trends and patterns, and determining when is the right time to invest. I am sorry if to some readers that seems overly simplistic, but that is how I see it.
Now, the USA Today has done something that was started by the Washington Post last year, and added to by the New York Times with their exposure of a sesitive, classified NSA program. Let me also state that this is not new. We have done this for years. And I will also point out, for the umpteenth million time, that every president that preceded President Bush--starting with Jimmy Carter--has utilized the NSA to keep an eye out for enemies on US soil, and for those abroad plotting dirty little tricks against us. So, the hysteria emanating from the talking heads politicos, and the supposed "Fourth Amendment" advocates is unfounded. There are no Fourth Amendment violations in this program.
Anyone ever heard of ECHELON? ECHELON is a program that has been around since the 1960s, and during the Cold War and today, it collects signals intelligence. For years, ECHELON has been monitoring US communications. Sorry, but it is true. So, there is nothing new in this program to get all riled up about.
Furthermore, the phone companies participating in this have passed the information to the NSA via a third-party. The US Supreme Court has ruled that in such instances, the ideas related to "privacy" under the Fourth Amendment do not apply. It is, in essence, no different than a company selling your information to the numerous other companies that like to deluge us with tons of Spam and junk mail.
I have heard on the radio today people reacting to this story, and their reactions are ignorant, to say the least. People are accusing the administration of violating every level of privacy that citizens have. This is not true. It is a fallacy. Not only does the administration have the legal precedent to conduct their warrantless surveillance, but this program that the USA Today revealed today cannot even fall under the argument of a violation of privacy. It, too, like I stated above, has the precedent within the courts.
I am almost positive that the MSM will herald the USA Today piece, much the way they have the New York Times piece as a "whistleblower" story; one that points to a glaring illegal measure. It is not illegal, however the USA Today is now just as guilty as the New York Times is, and by their own admission:
The sources would talk only under a guarantee of anonymity because the NSA program is secret.
Correction, the program was secret. Now it is out in the open. And we are not the only ones commenting on this.
Michelle Malkin is on it.
Confederate Yankee asks, basically, "And your point is?"
The government is collecting "external" data on domestic phone calls but is not intercepting "internals," a term for the actual content of the communication, according to a U.S. intelligence official familiar with the program. This kind of data collection from phone companies is not uncommon; it's been done before, though never on this large a scale, the official said. The data are used for "social network analysis," the official said, meaning to study how terrorist networks contact each other and how they are tied together.
The NSA is consolidating and analyzing already collected data to try to stop terrorist attacks before they happen.
What exactly is the legitimate complaint against this program?
AJ Strata also notes a couple of things about the story.
...here is why this reporting is dangerous. Of course the leftwing nuts want to point out the brave groups ’speaking to power’, so they alert the terrorists to shift all their communications over to Qwest because Qwest is not partnering with the NSA to help find potential 9-11 terrorists here in the country:
Among the big telecommunications companies, only Qwest has refused to help the NSA, the sources said. According to multiple sources, Qwest declined to participate because it was uneasy about the legal implications of handing over customer information to the government without warrants.
Qwest’s refusal to participate has left the NSA with a hole in its database. Based in Denver, Qwest provides local phone service to 14 million customers in 14 states in the West and Northwest.
USA Today just tipped off the terrorist how to avoid detection and put the people in Qwest’s areas in danger because now it is known those areas have the least protection and should be targeted! What are these people THINKING! Someone needs to go to jail.
Agreed, AJ, but the question is will someone eventually go to jail over this?
Rick Moran notes that this is just another day in the life of leakers.
Stop The ACLU has an important point about this story:
USA Today has taken upon itself to "declassify" more classified information about programs aimed at protecting us. Obviously they decided that there wasn't already enough damage done to national security.
Yes, and like the Times, the USA Today has done a great deal of damage to the national security of the nation during a time of war.
James Joyner at Outside the Beltway also decided to pipe up about this.
Pajamas Media has a round up of thoughts from across the blogosphere.
Even "The Great One" has put his two cents in on this issue.
And we can expect a heck of a lot more reaction to come. I do not want to hear the MSM trying to defend these media outlets for the damage they have knowingly and willingly done to the nation in regard to her national security. They can try to spin it or justify it to the best of their abilities, but there is none that can prevent them from being charged. Both the USA Today and the NEW York Times revealed a leaked, classified program to the general public. As AJ points out above, our enemies now know where they can go to avoid such monitoring.
ABC News noted on January 12 of this year that there was a significant increase in the sale of disposable cell phones just a couple short weeks AFTER the NEW York Times story blowing the lid off of the NSA program.
Federal agents have launched an investigation into a surge in the purchase of large quantities of disposable cell phones by individuals from the Middle East and Pakistan, ABC News has learned.
The phones — which do not require purchasers to sign a contract or have a credit card — have many legitimate uses, and are popular with people who have bad credit or for use as emergency phones tucked away in glove compartments or tackle boxes. But since they can be difficult or impossible to track, law enforcement officials say the phones are widely used by criminal gangs and terrorists.
Here is an open memo to the MSM from us, at the Asylum:
Our enemy reads your worthless rags, and listens to your ill-informed and frankly, uneducated diatribes. They see you, read you, and pick up on the information you reveal YOU MORONS! If the MSM thinks that they can simply stumble through life, report whatever they want, and face no repercussions for their transgressions, think again. One of these days, a report from them is going to lead to a terrorist attack. It is going to kill a lot of people, or do a lot of damage to our nation, or both. And WE are going to hold the media personally responsible for that. These fools have no clue what the hell they are doing in their precious little "clubs" called newsrooms. They have no conscience in their actions, or how they could possibly be at fault when they report stories like this.
If ANYONE in the government right now has the guts and the backbone, I would like to see a full bore investigation carried out, and I want to see some people locked up. We can start with the reporters, and move onto the editors that approved these stories for airing and publication. I am sick of watching this occur. And either we take that measure, and send the message to the media that this sort of reporting is unacceptable--this is not criticism of the government as the "freedom of the press" addresses.
And I think one of the first steps that the administration should take is to let everyone within the hierarchy know that if they speak to the press outside of the normal press briefings (a la Mary McCarthy) that they will be fired and they will be prosecuted. If we continue to allow this sort of partisan irresponsibility to continue, it will bite us back one day when we watch another attack unfold live on TV.
The Bunny ;)
Yes, the USA Today has caused quite a bit of stir with it's report (erroneous at best, and a terrible attempt at fear-mongering) that the NSA is collecting data regarding phone calls. Let me emphasize this:
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.
All right, so what is the big deal? They are not violating any privacy rights of citizens. This is not a "search" of any sort. The following of patterns in an intelligence investigation is no different from financial advisors following market trends and patterns, and determining when is the right time to invest. I am sorry if to some readers that seems overly simplistic, but that is how I see it.
Now, the USA Today has done something that was started by the Washington Post last year, and added to by the New York Times with their exposure of a sesitive, classified NSA program. Let me also state that this is not new. We have done this for years. And I will also point out, for the umpteenth million time, that every president that preceded President Bush--starting with Jimmy Carter--has utilized the NSA to keep an eye out for enemies on US soil, and for those abroad plotting dirty little tricks against us. So, the hysteria emanating from the talking heads politicos, and the supposed "Fourth Amendment" advocates is unfounded. There are no Fourth Amendment violations in this program.
Anyone ever heard of ECHELON? ECHELON is a program that has been around since the 1960s, and during the Cold War and today, it collects signals intelligence. For years, ECHELON has been monitoring US communications. Sorry, but it is true. So, there is nothing new in this program to get all riled up about.
Furthermore, the phone companies participating in this have passed the information to the NSA via a third-party. The US Supreme Court has ruled that in such instances, the ideas related to "privacy" under the Fourth Amendment do not apply. It is, in essence, no different than a company selling your information to the numerous other companies that like to deluge us with tons of Spam and junk mail.
I have heard on the radio today people reacting to this story, and their reactions are ignorant, to say the least. People are accusing the administration of violating every level of privacy that citizens have. This is not true. It is a fallacy. Not only does the administration have the legal precedent to conduct their warrantless surveillance, but this program that the USA Today revealed today cannot even fall under the argument of a violation of privacy. It, too, like I stated above, has the precedent within the courts.
I am almost positive that the MSM will herald the USA Today piece, much the way they have the New York Times piece as a "whistleblower" story; one that points to a glaring illegal measure. It is not illegal, however the USA Today is now just as guilty as the New York Times is, and by their own admission:
The sources would talk only under a guarantee of anonymity because the NSA program is secret.
Correction, the program was secret. Now it is out in the open. And we are not the only ones commenting on this.
Michelle Malkin is on it.
Confederate Yankee asks, basically, "And your point is?"
The government is collecting "external" data on domestic phone calls but is not intercepting "internals," a term for the actual content of the communication, according to a U.S. intelligence official familiar with the program. This kind of data collection from phone companies is not uncommon; it's been done before, though never on this large a scale, the official said. The data are used for "social network analysis," the official said, meaning to study how terrorist networks contact each other and how they are tied together.
The NSA is consolidating and analyzing already collected data to try to stop terrorist attacks before they happen.
What exactly is the legitimate complaint against this program?
AJ Strata also notes a couple of things about the story.
...here is why this reporting is dangerous. Of course the leftwing nuts want to point out the brave groups ’speaking to power’, so they alert the terrorists to shift all their communications over to Qwest because Qwest is not partnering with the NSA to help find potential 9-11 terrorists here in the country:
Among the big telecommunications companies, only Qwest has refused to help the NSA, the sources said. According to multiple sources, Qwest declined to participate because it was uneasy about the legal implications of handing over customer information to the government without warrants.
Qwest’s refusal to participate has left the NSA with a hole in its database. Based in Denver, Qwest provides local phone service to 14 million customers in 14 states in the West and Northwest.
USA Today just tipped off the terrorist how to avoid detection and put the people in Qwest’s areas in danger because now it is known those areas have the least protection and should be targeted! What are these people THINKING! Someone needs to go to jail.
Agreed, AJ, but the question is will someone eventually go to jail over this?
Rick Moran notes that this is just another day in the life of leakers.
Stop The ACLU has an important point about this story:
USA Today has taken upon itself to "declassify" more classified information about programs aimed at protecting us. Obviously they decided that there wasn't already enough damage done to national security.
Yes, and like the Times, the USA Today has done a great deal of damage to the national security of the nation during a time of war.
James Joyner at Outside the Beltway also decided to pipe up about this.
Pajamas Media has a round up of thoughts from across the blogosphere.
Even "The Great One" has put his two cents in on this issue.
And we can expect a heck of a lot more reaction to come. I do not want to hear the MSM trying to defend these media outlets for the damage they have knowingly and willingly done to the nation in regard to her national security. They can try to spin it or justify it to the best of their abilities, but there is none that can prevent them from being charged. Both the USA Today and the NEW York Times revealed a leaked, classified program to the general public. As AJ points out above, our enemies now know where they can go to avoid such monitoring.
ABC News noted on January 12 of this year that there was a significant increase in the sale of disposable cell phones just a couple short weeks AFTER the NEW York Times story blowing the lid off of the NSA program.
Federal agents have launched an investigation into a surge in the purchase of large quantities of disposable cell phones by individuals from the Middle East and Pakistan, ABC News has learned.
The phones — which do not require purchasers to sign a contract or have a credit card — have many legitimate uses, and are popular with people who have bad credit or for use as emergency phones tucked away in glove compartments or tackle boxes. But since they can be difficult or impossible to track, law enforcement officials say the phones are widely used by criminal gangs and terrorists.
Here is an open memo to the MSM from us, at the Asylum:
Our enemy reads your worthless rags, and listens to your ill-informed and frankly, uneducated diatribes. They see you, read you, and pick up on the information you reveal YOU MORONS! If the MSM thinks that they can simply stumble through life, report whatever they want, and face no repercussions for their transgressions, think again. One of these days, a report from them is going to lead to a terrorist attack. It is going to kill a lot of people, or do a lot of damage to our nation, or both. And WE are going to hold the media personally responsible for that. These fools have no clue what the hell they are doing in their precious little "clubs" called newsrooms. They have no conscience in their actions, or how they could possibly be at fault when they report stories like this.
If ANYONE in the government right now has the guts and the backbone, I would like to see a full bore investigation carried out, and I want to see some people locked up. We can start with the reporters, and move onto the editors that approved these stories for airing and publication. I am sick of watching this occur. And either we take that measure, and send the message to the media that this sort of reporting is unacceptable--this is not criticism of the government as the "freedom of the press" addresses.
And I think one of the first steps that the administration should take is to let everyone within the hierarchy know that if they speak to the press outside of the normal press briefings (a la Mary McCarthy) that they will be fired and they will be prosecuted. If we continue to allow this sort of partisan irresponsibility to continue, it will bite us back one day when we watch another attack unfold live on TV.
The Bunny ;)
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 2:18 PM
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