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No, NSA Spying Did NOT Prevent a Terror Attack on Wall Street
In response to the revelation that the NSA has been illegally spying on all Americans for more than a decade, NSA chief General Keith Alexander claimed that the spying prevented a terrorist attack on Wall Street and the New York subway.
There’s only one problem: the claim is completely false.
The Christian Science Monitor notes today:
According to officials at the House Intelligence hearing, this plan was caught when the NSA was using its Internet intercept authority to monitor the communications of a known extremist in Yemen.
This suspect, in turn, was in contact with an individual in the United States named Khalid Ouazzani. Thus warned, the FBI investigated Mr. Ouazzani through traditional law enforcement methods, and discovered a burgeoning plot to bomb the NYSE.
“Ouazzani had been providing information and support to this plot,” FBI Deputy Director Sean Joyce told lawmakers.
However, Mr. Ouazzani pleaded guilty to providing material support – in his case, money – to Al Qaeda, not to terror planning. His May 2010 plea agreement makes no mention of anything related to the New York Stock Exchange, or any bomb plot, notes David Kravets in Wired magazine.
Plus, Ouazzani’s defense attorney said Tuesday the stock market allegation was news to him.
“Khalid Ouazzani was not involved in any plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange,” attorney Robin Fowler told Wired.
How much did this bad guy give Al Qaeda? $23,000 total.
The other publicly-discussed disrupted terror plot – on the New York subway – was also not really due to government’s overbroad spying program.
The Associated Press reports:
Little was offered to substantiate claims that the programs have been successful in stopping acts of terrorism that would not have been caught with narrower surveillance. In the New York subway bombing case, President Barack Obama conceded the would-be bomber might have been caught with less sweeping surveillance.
The Christian Science Monitor notes of the New York subway case:
As to the New York subway plot, it was discovered not by analysis of vast amounts of Internet data of foreign users, but rather by old-fashioned police work, according to The Guardian ….
In addition, the Guardian pointed out:
Lawyers and intelligence experts with direct knowledge of two intercepted terrorist plots that the Obama administration says confirm the value of the NSA’s vast data-mining activities have questioned whether the surveillance sweeps played a significant role ….
Indeed, top security experts say that mass surveillance does not help keep us safe.
Glenn Greenwald notes:
This is just the same playbook that U.S. government officials have been using for the last five decades whenever anything gets done that brings small amounts of transparency to the bad conduct that they do in the dark. They immediately accuse those who brought that transparency of jeopardizing national security. They try and scare the American public into believing that they’ve been placed at risk and that the only way they can stay safe is to trust the people in power to do whatever it is they want to do without any kinds of constraints, accountability or light of any kind.
Postscript: Mr. Ouazzani giving $23,000 to Al Qaeda is indeed a crime. He supported Al Qaeda, and was rightly prosecuted and convicted for that crime. But given that the American government has been providing arms, money and logistical support to Al Qaeda in Syria, Libya, Mali, Bosnia and other countries – and related Muslim terrorists in Chechnya, Iran, and many other countries – Mr. Ouazzani’s support for terrorism seems rather small in comparison.
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And how many on the House Intelligence Committee will read the info at the above links or actually care after they did?
GW...you truly are a valuable and valued contributor. I have so much respect for you.
'Tell your boss I owe him another friggin' beer:' Hot mic catches NSA boss praising FBI chiefs for supportive testimony on surveillance programs
GW, good work, watch your backside, they took out another outspoken journalist today. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/michael-hastings-dead-33-002300721.html
Check out comments section. An example "He had just had a bad run in with Hillary Clintons people over Benghazi.....called their answers to his questions BS......now he's dead."
More proof that whistle-blowers and truth-tellers can't drive.
And no, nsa spying did not prevent 9/11 either.
Why would they prevent one of their own operations?
Just kidding, they'd never do that.
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The faggots at the NSA are merely snapping their fingers on one hand with their other up justices skirt.
I can't wait till congress pulls him back in and confronts him. Or maybe I can. Is anyone else frightened by how pathetic and ineffective their lies have become? Most of the country's press excluded. They aren't even making an effort anymore. I love how all the plea bargaining is done and defense has never heard of it. They always negotiate uncharged items.
the whole system is based on faith... many are losing faith fast. Going to get interesting..http://tinyurl.com/mem7o7x
Well bless my pressure cookers has anyone ever seen an intelligence official who didn't lie when his lips moved?
Did the NSA really contact you saying that "NSA" is copyrighted and you are not allowed to use it in your art?
Max Kaiser mentioned it in a segment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arCZLJKPyWM
Sorry if it's old news, but I hadn't heard it before.
Too bad the NSA spy's/minder's haven't figured out a way to protect the citizen from Wall Street.
Should be fairly easy to mirror all of Goldman, Morgan etc. execs' emails and hard drives on to the Internet for public inspection. Quid pro quo for the disembowelment of the economy, er, needed bailouts.
Get on that, NSA freedom moles!!!
the point people are missing is that even though maybe he didn't actually plan to blow up nyse, one can still imagine a universe in which he *did* plan to do so
and one can imagine that furthermore, in such a parallel universe, the nsa *could* have gathered information through its spying, and that this information *could* have prevented the imagined blowing-up
and that is why we need to protect the nsa's ability to spy on everyone
because one can imagine a scenario in which the spying would prevent a blowing-up
also, one can imagine a scenario in which the government would need 100 trillion dollars, and so that is why we need to go ahead and get it printed.
If only they weren't such lying sacks of shit, one could possibly believe them.
Just watch the MSM run their fakey 'tough on spying' segments, then isolate and weaken pro-freedom token guests on 9 out of ten segments. Erin Burnett just got done with one on CNN a few minutes ago. Pukey stuff and you can see how uncomfortable she is with the off camera 'handling'.
Still, beats being dead....or does it?
So what about Boston?? Why didn't they stop that? They already knew who the bomber was and they still missed it. And who were those guys wearing the SEAL caps running around with cell phones glued to their ears carrying back packs minutes before and after the bombing? Its all over the Internet. Why didn't anyone in the SELECT COMMITEE ask about them?
Jim - I like your posts. But look, this is an intervention. Turn it off. Put the remote in a pail of water.
You'll look back on it as a good move.
I know you are strong in the head, but you're out numbered by thousands of man hours over many decades.
Best to just turn it off.
OK, 'Barney Miller' reruns for me then.
Try Alfred Hitchcock presents on Antenna TV and the one hour episodes on Encore suspense. You cant go wrong . Great entertainment with a twist.
And the hits just keep on coming! Now the FBI admits to domestic drone surveillance: http://rt.com/usa/fbi-director-mueller-drones-947/
Good article, George. I wish you would check out the Extortion 17 issue and report on that as well. Like him or not, Larry Klayman is representing the parents in a class action lawsuit to force the gov't to reveal all information.