NSA Whistleblower Speaks Live: "The Government Is Lying To You"

Just a month ago we raised more than a proverbial eyebrow when we noted the creation of the NSA's Utah Data Center (codename Stellar Wind) and William Binney's formidable statement that "we are this far from a turnkey totalitarian state". Democracy Now has the former National Security Agency technical director whistleblower's first TV interview in which he discusses the NSA's massive power to spy on Americans and why the FBI raided his home. Since retiring from the NSA in 2001, he has warned that the NSA’s data-mining program has become so vast that it could "create an Orwellian state." Today marks the first time Binney has spoken on national TV about NSA surveillance. Starting with his pre-9-11 identification of the world-wide-web as a voluminous problem since the NSA was 'falling behind the rate-of-change', his success in creating a system (codenamed Thin-Thread) for 'grabbing' all the data and the critical 'lawful' anonymization of that data (according to mandate at the time) which as soon as 9-11 occurred went out of the window as all domestic and foreign communications was now stored (starting with AT&T's forking over their data). This direct violation of the constitutional rights of everybody in the country was why Binney decided he could not stay (leaving one month after 9-11) along with the violation of almost every privacy and intelligence act as near-bottomless databases store all forms of communication collected by the agency, including private emails, cell phone calls, Google searches and other personal data.

There was a time when Americans still cared about matters such as personal privacy. Luckily, they now have iGadgets to keep them distracted as they hand over their last pieces of individuality to the Tzar of conformity.

Part 1 - Exclusive: National Security Agency Whistleblower William Binney on Growing State Surveillance

William Binney's shocking facts start at around 15:00...

Part 2 - Detained in the U.S.: Filmmaker Laura Poitras Held, Questioned Some 40 Times at U.S. Airports

The Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Laura Poitras discusses how she has been repeatedly detained and questioned by federal agents whenever she enters the United States. Poitras said the interrogations began after she began working on her documentary, "My Country, My Country," about post-invasion Iraq. Her most recent film, "The Oath," was about Yemen and Guantánamo and follows the lives of two past associates of Osama bin Laden. She estimates she has been detained approximately 40 times and has had her laptop, cell phone and personal belongings repeatedly searched.

Part 3 - "We Don’t Live in a Free Country": Jacob Appelbaum on Being Target of Widespread Gov’t Surveillance

We speak with Jacob Appelbaum, a computer researcher who has faced a stream of interrogations and electronic surveillance since he volunteered with the whistleblowing website, WikiLeaks. He describes being detained more than a dozen times at the airport and interrogated by federal agents who asked about his political views and confiscated his cell phone and laptop. When asked why he cannot talk about what happened after he was questioned, Appelbaum says, "Because we don’t live in a free country. And if I did, I guess I could tell you about it." A federal judge ordered Twitter to hand over information about Appelbaum’s account. Meanwhile, he continues to work on the Tor Project, an anonymity network that ensures every person has the right to browse the internet without restriction and the right to speak freely.

Part 4 - Whistleblower: The NSA is Lying–U.S. Government Has Copies of Most of Your Emails

National Security Agency whistleblower

William Binney reveals he believes domestic surveillance has become more expansive under President Obama than President George W. Bush. He estimates the NSA has assembled 20 trillion "transactions" — phone calls, emails and other forms of data — from Americans. This likely includes copies of almost all of the emails sent and received from most people living in the United States. Binney talks about Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act and challenges NSA Director Keith Alexander’s assertion that the NSA is not intercepting information about U.S. Citizens.

Comments

[AndTheRest]

Please elaborate on your 9/11 conspiracy theory and these "exercises" that were taking place that day.

[jplotinus]

"Please elaborate on your 9/11 conspiracy theory and these "exercises" that were taking place that day"

You presume too much. Before you presume I have a "9/11 conspiracy theory" you should ask if I have one or not. But, in any event, I don't think much good would come from a discussion about 9/11 with you, notwithstanding the related subject of the new revelations concerning NSA data mining of everyone, everywhere.

As to the military exercises taking place that day, you may simply start with the 9/11 Commission Report for an ever so brief (surprise, surprise) mention of them -- see fn 116, for instance; and then let google be your friend.

I can assure you will be able to find as much (or as little) as you are led by your own bias to find (or not) on the military exercises taking place on 9/11 that simulated the hijacking of aircraft and the crashing of them into buildings and on the FAA/NEADS commentary that asked "is this exercise or is this real world." (One mention is at pg. 20, 9/11 Commission Report).

When you do, feel free to share your findings.

[earleflorida]

Quoted excerpt [sic]:  "The Dark Side" c.2008 by Jane Mayer ___ [Chapter 11__Blowback; pg 290-291

"Gonzales and WH Chief-of-Staff Andrew Card were coming over. Comey suspected that the WH team was trying to subvert the law by strong-arming Ashcroft, in his enfeeble state, into renewing the TSP. Alarmed, Comey reached Mueller, the FBI Director, who supported him, as well as Goldsmith and Philbin. They sped to the hospital --- Comey got his car driver to use the car's siren --- hoping to beat the WH officials to Ashcroft's bedside, in order to stop him from being bullied into renewing the illegal program.

After bounding up the hospital stairs, Comey reached Ashcroft first, but found him alarmingly weakened. He was in IC, lying in a hospital bed, looking deathly. [omitting a few sentences] A few minutes later, Card and Gonzales walked through the door carrying an envelope. It was an order that the WH wanted Ashcroft to sign, reauthorizing the TSP.

"How are General?" asked Gonzales, paying no attention to the unexpected visitors.

"Not well," Ashcroft replied. He had already been briefed by Comey and was coherent enough to grasp what Gonzales was up to.

Gonzales didn't engage in small talk. He quickly pulled out the draft order and asked Ashcroft to sign it. Ashcroft lifted his head off the pillows and delivered a strong denunciation of the TSP's legal framework. [omitting a few sentences]

Defeated, Gonzales and Card got up to go. "Be well'' is all Card said on the way out. [moving fast forward]

Two days later, however, Bush asked Comey and Mueller to speak with him privately. [moving along] What Mueller said remains unknown, but a close confident of his said that the FBI Director told Bush that he personally planned to resign if the TSP was renewed, because he had sworn to uphold the law. "Mueller and Comey were probably the first lawyers to tell the president that the program was illegal", the confidant said.  

end quoted [sic] excerpts

Ps. Ashcroft had great disdain for the likes of Cheney, Yoo, Bibby, Addington, Gonzales, Rumsfeld, Haynes, Tenet, Hayden, etc., etc., etc.,

Ps2. SHORT READ, Great Read,... Read the Book !

Ps3.  the truth can never be known if we silence the crime - these are/ were the propaganda tools of Stalin and Zedong ,... 

thankyou, Tyler 

[Inthemix96]

Dont worry boys and girls. I live in northern England, and if your lot of top dogs are any where near as good as our lot, you have absolutley nothing to worry about. They couldnt organise a piss up in a brewey.

And while im on it. Fuck you GCHQ and fuck you NSA, you want it?

Come and get it you fucking imbeciles