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FBI Confirms No Major Terrorism Cases Cracked Via Unconstitutional Patriot Act Phone Spying
Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
FBI agents can’t point to any major terrorism cases they’ve cracked thanks to the key snooping powers in the Patriot Act, the Justice Department’s inspector general said in a report Thursday that could complicate efforts to keep key parts of the law operating.
Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz said that between 2004 and 2009, the FBI tripled its use of bulk collection under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows government agents to compel businesses to turn over records and documents, and increasingly scooped up records of Americans who had no ties to official terrorism investigations.
– From the Washington Times article: FBI Admits No Major Cases Cracked with Patriot Act Snooping Powers
Back in 2013, as debate about the Snowden revelations was at its zenith, I published a post titled NSA Chief Admits “Only One or Perhaps Two” Terror Plots Stopped by Spy Program. Here’s an excerpt:
The Obama administration’s credibility on intelligence suffered another blow Wednesday as the chief of the National Security Agency admitted that officials put out numbers that vastly overstated the counterterrorism successes of the government’s warrantless bulk collection of all Americans’ phone records.
Pressed by the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at an oversight hearing, Gen. Keith B. Alexander admitted that the number of terrorist plots foiled by the NSA’s huge database of every phone call made in or to America was only one or perhaps two — far smaller than the 54 originally claimed by the administration.
“One or perhaps two.” Or perhaps zero. The guy has the nerve to say “perhaps.” How do you not know? What a bunch of lying assholes. How the heck does 54 turn into “one or two,” and I’ll tell you something else, I don’t believe the one or two figure for a minute. I mean there’s no way he would say “zero” when he is fighting to keep his petty little Stasi state intact. Furthermore, how about some details here. What was the one plot the NSA foiled? Some teenager throwing firecrackers on the White House lawn? These guys need to get lost already. From the Washington Times:
As time has passed and the years have gone by, it has become increasingly clear that the phone records collection program hasn’t stopped a single terror attack. In fact, a recently published report by the Justice Department’s inspector general admitted as much. This takes on increased significance with parts of the Patriot Act set to automatically sunset on June 1st.
FBI agents can’t point to any major terrorism cases they’ve cracked thanks to the key snooping powers in the Patriot Act, the Justice Department’s inspector general said in a report Thursday that could complicate efforts to keep key parts of the law operating.
Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz said that between 2004 and 2009, the FBI tripled its use of bulk collection under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows government agents to compel businesses to turn over records and documents, and increasingly scooped up records of Americans who had no ties to official terrorism investigations.
Backers say the Patriot Act powers are critical and must be kept intact, particularly with the spread of the threat from terrorists. But opponents have doubted the efficacy of Section 215, particularly when it’s used to justify bulk data collection such as in the case of the National Security Agency’s phone metadata program, revealed in leaks from former government contractor Edward Snowden.
“The agents we interviewed did not identify any major case developments that resulted from use of the records obtained in response to Section 215 orders,” the inspector general concluded — though he said agents did view the material they gathered as “valuable” in developing other leads or corroborating information.
The report was heavily redacted, and key details were deleted. The entire chart showing the number of Section 215 requests made from 2007 through 2009 was blacked out, as was the breakdown of what types of investigations they stemmed from: counterintelligence, counterterrorism, cyber or foreign intelligence investigations.
Redacted indeed. This is what pages 16-20 look like, and the pages immediately after these are just as bad.
Most transparent administration ever.
Moving along, the conclusion that Section 215 of the Patriot Act hasn’t stopped any terror attacks naturally won’t stop FBI director James Comey (and others) from fear-mongering. A favorite pastime of government officials and their lapdogs. As Politico reports:
Speaking at an American Law Institute event this week, FBI Director James Comey warned that a PATRIOT Act sunset would “severely” affect his agency. The FBI relies heavily on the soon-to-expire provisions of the law to obtain specific business records — from library records to gun ownership data — and wiretaps for multiple devices, he said.
“If I lose these tools, it’s a huge, huge problem,” Comey said. “We use [Section 215 to obtain specific records] fewer than 200 times per year, but when we use it, it matters tremendously.”
But not for terrorism, and the Patriot Act was specifically passed to deal with terrorism.
“ISIS is singing a siren song, calling people to their death to crash on the rocks — and it’s the rocks that ISIS will take credit for,” said Ron Hosko, president of Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund and former assistant director of the FBI. “They’re looking for those who are disaffected, disconnected and willing to commit murder. So if we’re willing to take away tools, OK, congressman, stand behind it [and] take the credit for putting the FBI in the dark.”
Can you believe people like this exist, and that their insane rhetoric actually speaks to some people? Scary.
While the current debate about Section 215 of the Patriot Act is encouraging and necessary, it is extremely important to understand that this is just a tiny, potentially meaningless tip of the iceberg when it comes to unconstitutional government surveillance. As The ACLU’s Chris Soghoian explains courtesy of Schneier.com:
There were 180 orders authorized last year by the FISA Court under Section 215 — 180 orders issued by this court. Only five of those orders relate to the telephony metadata program. There are 175 orders about completely separate things. In six weeks, Congress will either reauthorize this statute or let it expire, and we’re having a debate — to the extent we’re even having a debate — but the debate that’s taking place is focused on five of the 180, and there’s no debate at all about the other 175 orders.
Now, Senator Wyden has said there are other bulk collection programs targeted at Americans that the public would be shocked to learn about. We don’t know, for example, how the government collects records from Internet providers. We don’t know how they get bulk metadata from tech companies about Americans. We don’t know how the American government gets calling card records.
So the 215 program that has been disclosed publicly, the 215 program that is being debated publicly, is about records to major carriers like AT&T and Verizon. We have not had a debate about surveillance requests, bulk orders to calling card companies, to Skype, to voice over Internet protocol companies. Now, if NSA isn’t collecting those records, they’re not doing their job. I actually think that that’s where the most useful data is. But why are we having this debate about these records that don’t contain a lot of calls to Somalia when we should be having a debate about the records that do contain calls to Somalia and do contain records of e-mails and instant messages and searches and people posting inflammatory videos to YouTube?
Certainly the government is collecting that data, but we don’t know how they’re doing it, we don’t know at what scale they’re doing it, and we don’t know with which authority they’re doing it. And I think it is a farce to say that we’re having a debate about the surveillance authority when really, we’re just debating this very narrow usage of the statute.
The battle to push back the American Stasi is just beginning.
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To 'PROTECT' you... We blacked out all you need to be AFRAID about...
Notwithstanding, TRUST US... you NEED our PROTECTION... So sign here...
theres a lot more to do... i suggest interested people read bruce schneiers "data and goliath"
Meanwhile the risk of getting shot by the Police remains substantially higher than harm from any terrorist action in the land of the free??
Redacted like a CIA-duh ledger.
#WHOCOULDANODE?
Of course no terrorist plots were stopped, because terrorism was just the false bogey man created to keep the sheeple afraid. All of these god damned parasites need to just go the fuck away. I am referring to the MIC, banksers and most other gov employees.
Here is what I find works best when trying to wake a sheep. If the gov really cared about terrorism and security, the first thing they would do is secure the borders. Yet that is the furthest thing from their minds. 80% or more of the military is sitting in foreign bases, not even defending the US.
Too funny
Encryption etc. Those that do not wish to be spied on are not.
But, isn't the Patriot Act an act of terror?
Or, to look at it another way, the people they "caught" were too big to jail. Too big to touch.
Out of chaos comes order, fuck you to the tribe.
I despise the US Gov't. Got that NSA/CIA/FBI/TSA/ATF/DHS/DEA/HUD/EPA/DoE/DoEd? Put me on the list
bomb
antrax
train
plane
ISIS
POTUS
SOCTUS
dirty
etc etc etc
Ballsy. +1
Not really, we have a duty.
Seventeen Law (Jew) Enforcement Agencies on the books?
How's that for ballsy?
The FBI runs almost all the domestic terror operations in the US [such as the boston bombing], except for seminal events such as the PNAC revolutionaries New Pearl Harbor which was run by the CIA and Mossad.
YOU MEAN THIS LIST? THIS ONE IS USED TO FLAG YOUR E-MAILS. HAVE YOU EVER USED ANY OF THESE WORDS?
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Gawd Almight
I used artichoke once.
Maybe just once is OK. And make sure you spell "Exxon" right. They didn't get it right.
Manhattan
District
White House
congress
Pentagon
mass casualties
martyr
Allah
Jihad
nuclear weapon
biological weapon
shopping mall
train station
water reservoir
poison
FUCK YOU NSA
They only win when you are afraid
that's because the always on gps listening anal probes haven't been installed yet, that'll keep us all safe!
And all of the intel was given to/ syphoned off by Israel, that's the 800 lb. hook nosed gorilla in the room.
The M.O. of the FBI is to decide who's guilty before investigation and then frame their chosen guilty with manufactured evidence and coerced testimony. Why doesn't the FBI record testimony? How does the FBI get collaborative testimony? http://www.forbes.com/sites/harveysilverglate/2011/07/27/constructing-tr...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/fbi-overstated-forensic-hair-m...
Watch this before you ever consent to speak to the FBI, even if you're guilty of nothing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgDsbjAYXcQ
Truth. FBI is a criminal organization. How DOES a lab tech go in and testify that a dog hair belongs to a human suspect? How do they not get fired - unless they were doing ther job?
When one stops to think about it, the FBI is just a make work welfare program for psychopaths. Which is another reason I always chuckle when someone takes umbrage with a addled Shaniqua instead of one of these psychopathic thugs and parasites.
But then I expect to be tortured to death in one of their "Room 101s." "Yes, yes, 2 and 2 is 5. Just stop the rats."
Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission..
FBI: The Flimflam Bureau of Intrigue."
Their motto: "Go forth and lie and pin some shit on some hapless subject so we can generate headlines and steal his stuff."
No Animals were harmed during the filming of this movie...
sIGNED,
~ ACE vENTURA~
Ace Ventura? He's a god guy. Try Hillary & Bill.
Nothing worked, but we still want to be up your ass sideways anyway.
Cultural faggotry. Sorry Ireland.
Doesn't matter. Some tidbit of info about you today could become useful down the road should you become politicaly unacceptable to them. Publically, you could be denounced as a leper (or maybe conspiracy nut). It's obvious why they scoop up all meta-data, it's sheep food for tomorrow.
This is all bullshit ...there is no government spying on anyone , RED MARK (Marco Rubio)says so goddammitt! /S
What the FBI doesn't tell you is bulk program or not the telecom's still bulk collect all the phone voice and metadata still anyways and they still get to use FISA court and NSL's to get that information still. Same as before removing this portion of the Patriot Act doesn't affect them one iota as far as access to these records go.
The problem is not the law, the problem is the telecom system itself.
I'd be more interested in the FBI's usage of stingray devices, especially aerial ones on drones which can pick up a whole cities worth of metadata since it sits between an satellite uplink.
yes
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said "Be careful his bowtie is really a camera
They all come to look for America
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-062j9dafg
I'd be more interested in exactly what the definition is for domestic and non domestic airspace as far as altitude goes...
If it isn't domestic then any 3 letter agencies aerial drone with stingray capabilities could being used to bulk collect phone records right over a major US city if it operates at a high enough altitude.
The problem has always been that the NSA is covering up the needles with a haystack. With so much hay, they simply cannot be proactive. If they want to collect data, grab cell phone calls from Muslims who have traveled to Iraq or Iran or Yemen (etc). This is the population from which terrorists emerge. Yes, it's racial profiling, but Muslims who were born in the US, who have never travelled abroad, who do not go to radical mosques, and who do not visit radical web sites are not likely terrorists. Identify the target population, and when someone from that group does something to draw attention - only then do you start monitoring.
Actually, they were all Saudi, working for Western and Saudi intelligence. The CIA knows exactly what they're up to. Mission accomplished they are quickly spirited back home, never to be heard from in the Christian world again.
Nobody in Iraq or Yemen has an interest in Uncle Sugar bombing the crap out of them. The House of Saud does though. Their price for helping keep oil cheap and Russia down is dominion of the Middle East---including Israel.
This is a replication of the fast trac tready. Pass the unknown TPP and wait for the SCOTUS to declare it as a tax. Just like ACA. (ObamaCare).
Watch the bullets rain down on the public servants. Grabs my popcorn. We aren't the Brussels of European Union who is broke.
Grabs my popcorn? Who then will be raining bullets down on the public servants?
Greasy trigger fingers are a no-no.
These EU cunts are clueless. Got it FBI, DHS, and NSA?
Spring 2015 Economic Forecast: Tailwinds support the recoveryhttp://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/eu/forecasts/2015_spring_forecast_en...
On a side note alphabet soup mentioned above. I want the assholes's in contept of breaking the constitutional laws. If you don't do it, the public will. Get busy. No one passes treadies without disclosure. This is unlawful. We the people will take this corrupt government down. Your currently funded by the people of the United States of America. Do your job! Thank you.
Nice tool ya got there. Can I try it out?
the federal bunglers of instigation could not find their asses with two hands and a map
no fucking shit sherlock. can we stop surveilling everybody now?
POTUS
After spending all of that money and time only to find that it doesn't work for its intended purpose i would think that a good manager of a .gov organization would want to cut losses and refocus resources onto programs that do work. Unless of course the failed programs are working exactly as intended. Which is to have the goods on anyone who rocks the boat.
The Patriot Act is working EXACTLY as intended. Terrorism is has nothing to do with it.
Why is this a surprise? Every successful terrorist attack on US soil was done with the full knowledge and consent of the CIA.
Jahar Tsarnaev was a scared child in the wrong place at the wrong time. His only real crime may have been crossing the real Boston bomber's path at the wrong moment.
One day we'll find out who the real bomber was, beyond the obvious---he was Saudi, the CIA spirited him home at lightning speed, and he now lives rich and happy in Saudi Arabia, having a good laugh at Jahar's expense.
Mission Accomplished.
Of course no terrorism related cases have been cracked when the alphabet letter agencies are behind or supporting almost every single false flag and/or terrorist event you can think of in one form or another, and in conjunction with other foreign intelligence agencies.
We might all get the chance to view our personal 'files' that .gov keeps on us. IF this has a happy ending. You wont achieve victory, tyrants. The harder you grip, the harder motivated citizens will resist. Try to comprehend how scary these motivated citizens could be, if they applied the CIA's rules of engagement. Tick tock, motherfuckers.
Not only what is in the file but who put it in the file. Some things demand a personal touch.
The more you tighten you grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.
A man's life in these parts often depends on a mere scrap of information.
- Man with no name
The USG cretins even missed 9/11 & Boston bombers
Trapped in their own web of lies. Kind of fitting.
Another way to look at is how the great Brit Hume said " there has been no one that has come forward to show they have been harmed by the patriot act"