Sit NSA, Sit.
There was an incredibly Important Interview with NSA Director Keith Alexander that you Probably Missed because you were studying the vagaries of fuzzy blobs provided by various unclassified Satellites roaming the Earth. Let me tell you a little about it…
(And I also would like to suggest a couple additional Questions that must have been overlooked by the Interviewer, and in the Rare Event that another Opportunity to Record an Interview with General Alexander would be really Cool to ask.)
So the Full Court PR campaign is underway to put a Happy Face on No Such Agency.
The Fear is that Voters will demand the NSA be a Campaign Issue heading into the Midterms and Force Candidates to take a Position… Like; Do you think it’s OK for the NSA to Spy On American Citizens that have Committed No Crimes?
Eeewww… That could definitely suck.
Too Bad.
As I have said before… there is an Element of Danger one must accept in Order to Remain Free.
The Argument that the NSA is “Keeping Us Safe” may be true, but it is most certainly removing our Freedom to be Left Alone and is arguably Unconstitutional… no matter how “Nice” those good Folks at the NSA may be. It’s also worth Remembering that All of Government is made up of Human Beings… Whom are All Flawed deeply by their personal interests and insecurities. Men are not Angels.
But what really piqued my interest in this interview was a specific quote from General Alexander regarding the monitoring of Citizen’s e-mail (Jimmy Carter was the Citizen of question.):
“…The reality is, we don’t do that. And if we did, it would be illegal and we’d be…held accountable and responsible.”
Alexander said that even after an investigation into the agency’s practices,
“no one has found anything, zero, except for in 12 cases where people did that and we had already reported those.”
(Bold and Italics mine. Since I’m Cherry Picking, Full Transcript Here.)
Well OK then… Except for those we caught doing it, nobody has done it.
I will refer you to previous posts here that have dealt with NSA Domestic Spying which you can skim if you’d like.
Love NSA Style and Love NSA Style II and NSA Dir. Keith Alexander and Kevin Bacon
This Interview Left me with Two Questions that seemed Natural as Follow Up’s to General Alexander’s Unequivocally Hazy Statement.
1. “Sir, When you say held accountable and responsible does that mean these Individuals who Spied on Citizens without the Knowledge and Approval of the NSA were Prosecuted?”
2. “Were the Victim’s of this Domestic Spying Informed of the Acts and allowed to take Appropriate Actions?”
Just for the Fun of It, what do You think the response to those questions would be?
(Update: Someone should tell James Clapper to get on the Same Page… since he’s out admitting they do it. Do it. As in right now are Doing It.)
makeaneffort 