FROM TODAY’S SEATTLE TIMES (July 19, 2013) and a piece titled “U.S. Officials says NSA taking steps to stop leaks” (page A2): an AP article acknowledges that “The information revealed [by Edward Snowden] that the agency was gathering millions of US phone records and intercepting some US Internet traffic.” Which, if you care about government transparency—an absurd expectation to many—then it looks like we will be needing more Snowdens.
“Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said systems administrators like Snowden must now work with a colleague when accessing sensitive, compartmented intelligence—the kind Snowden leaked to the media. The information revealed that the agency was gathering millions of U.S. phone records and intercepting some U.S. Internet traffic.”
I know of no one, Democrat or Republican or Libertarian or Green—NO ONE!—who wants their phone calls and emails “intercepted” by a government intelligence-gathering agency.
The article notes that the National Security Agency is implementing new security measures to try to prevent more disclosures of questionable activities like those that Snowden revealed to the world.
Uh uh! That’s the OPPOSITE of what should occur in a democracy: the NSA should be announcing new policies to prevent those questionable activities so that future Snowdens are unnecessary!
Because it looks like we will be needing more Snowdens.
Of course, I ain’t gonna hold my breath waiting for that kinda turnaround . . .
HEADER IMAGE: The cartoon at the top of this page is by Olle Johansson.
Mystically liberal Virgo enjoys long walks alone in the city at night in the rain with an umbrella and a flask of 10-year-old Laphroaig who strives to live by the maxim, “It ain’t what you know that gets you into trouble; it’s what you know that just ain’t so.
I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn, and a college dropout (twice!). Occupationally, I have been a bartender, jewelry engraver, bouncer, landscape artist, and FEMA crew chief following the Great Flood of ’72 (and that was a job that I should never, ever have left).
I am also the final author of the original O’Sullivan Woodside price guides for record collectors and the original author of the Goldmine price guides for record collectors. As such, I was often referred to as the Price Guide Guru, and—as everyone should know—it behooves one to heed the words of a guru. (Unless, of course, you’re the Beatles.)
What is most worrisome is that the phone calls are gathered by a private company Booz Allen Hamilton which is owned by the Carlyle Group. Booz Allen has the phone calls but they only hand over the metadata to the NSA.
So we’re paying top dollar to these private companies that have no real allegiance to the U.S. (Bin Laden family are part owners of the Carlyle Group) to spy on Americans. Nice.
Let’s return to government run operations where workers make a living wage and have a vested interest in the welfare our our country.
BILL Apologies for the delay in responding here: I just realized that I have several “pending” comments! If the war in Europe 1939-1945 can be simplified to “democracy versus fascism,” then democracy won. If the “cold war” that followed can be simplified as “capitalism versus socialism” then capitalism won. What few paid attention to was that while capitalism was defeating Communism it was also bringing democracy to its knees. Thanks for the input! NEAL
Talk about “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” - Snowden may have broken the law, but he provided Americans with mind-boggling, and I’d go so far as to include scary, information.
TIMBER Apologies for the delay in responding here: I just realized that I have several “pending” comments! And you gotta know that Snowden knew what he was getting into, which makes him a hero in my eyes. Thanks for the input! NEAL