'60 Minutes': NSA Good, Snowden Bad

[n2doc]

by SARA MORRISON

As if that whole retracted Benghazi report and the Amazon commercial/drone reveal didn't undermine 60 Minutes' credibility enough in the last few weeks, here's another gem: a report on how the NSA has simply been misunderstood by all those Snowden leaks and is a good guy, really.

The segment was presented by John Miller (who is rumored to be up for a "top counterterrorism or intelligence role" in the NYPD, which has a fine track record when it comes to not infringing on our civil liberties), who opened with:

Full disclosure: I once worked in the office of the director of National Intelligence, where I saw firsthand how secretly the NSA operates.

Because as long as you tell us up front about your huge conflict of interest, it's totally fine that you have one, right?

Anyway, that should give you a pretty good idea of what came next

more

http://www.thewire.com/national/2013/12/60-minutes-nsa-good-snowden-bad/356174/


This was telling:

As the behind-the-scenes report tells us, Alexander came to 60 Minutes and asked them to do the segment. Miller and his crew were supervised at all times by a team of "minders" -- as were their interview subjects. When one analyst says something an off-camera minder thinks might be classified, Miller quickly volunteers to change the subject. Alexander asks for "time outs" before he answers certain questions.

[AverageJoe90]

1. This is halfway right, actually. But *only* halfway.

Yes, Snowden is indeed a bad guy. Giving information to two of this nation's rivals(which he did, don't deny this, Snowden fanboys!) will do that to somebody. But the organization that hired him isn't exactly "good", either. Far from it.

[cherokeeprogressive]

16. How can I deny what you know as fact?

I mean you had to have been there, right? When Snowden passed secrets to the enemies? Why didn't you say so? You could have prevented lots of meaningless speculation!

[alato]

28. hrrrr drrrr blah blah

[Jerry442]

2. I used to listen to Radio Havana on the shortwave when I was a teen...

...and sometimes they'd relay Radio Hanoi. Regardless of how one might have felt about the issues of the time, it was pretty lame stuff. Even as a kid, it seemed pointless to me to use resources to broadcast obvious heavy-handed propaganda.

Here I am decades later. Deja vu.

[Pholus]

20. Ain't that the truth.

I am pissed about all that "the Iron Curtain is evil because they watch everyone" propoganda I got fed.

First of all, the sense of whiplash to simultaneously process the.....

Bad:




versus the Good:



Obviously, we felt that way about privacy ONLY because of the cold war, not because of any particularly deep feeling that it was right.

[another_liberal]

3. They say if a lie is told often enough . . .

General Alexander is a criminal. He should be in custody and on trial for his life.

No amount of NSA friendly media blitz is going to convince most Americans that they should just relax and trust that power-crazed, secretive bastard. They are not about to agree with letting some self-aggrandizing Spy King decide how much (if any) of their Constitutional Right to Privacy should be respected by his out-of-control agency.

[ReRe]

4. Ok, that's it.

This is government TV. Like, you know, Pravda in Russia.

This just proves to me that they have it backwards. It's really Snowden good, NSA bad.

[another_liberal]

5. Pick between the two.

Which would you be more likely to trust with your house keys: General Alexander or Edward Snowden?

[Dr Hobbitstein]

6. Alexander may go into your house and snoop around...

Snowden will take your keys to Russia, and publicly release them slowly...

[another_liberal]

7. Alexander will make copies of your keys . . .

. . . and then give them to the CIA, FBI and any number of police departments (through your local "Fusion Center&quot .

https://www.dhs.gov/fusion-center-locations-and-contact-information

[ReRe]

10. I don't think they need "keys"

They have ways to get in and snoop around. For example, one time when my son was about 5 yrs old, he was so curious about what was in his grandma's locked back yard barn... he got a ladder, climbed up to the back window, picked the putty from the window sill, carefully removed the pane of glass and after gently standing the glass against the base of the barn, climbed into the barn and looked around. It went undetected until we were getting ready to leave. My brother had to go out and putty the window back in.
If a 5 year old can do that, I'm sure there are a dozen ways for spooks to break in without keys.

[another_liberal]

13. I'm sure the NSA knows how to break-in to all our houses, should they feel a need.

I was merely using "your house keys" as a symbol for your right to privacy.

[ReRe]

15. I'm sorry.

I'm in a foolish talkative mood this AM. Yip, I guess privacy has pretty much bit the dust the world over. I used to worry myself sick over it, long long before all this NSA business blew up. I still don't tweet or FB. I barely know how to text. But I get on DU most days and blow it.

[ReRe]

11. .

[TBF]

12. I'd take my chances with Snowden -

Do you really want your government to have that kind of access to your home and life? All Snowden has done is let us know how far they are reaching behind the scenes. You'd think people would be intelligent enough to want to know that rather than burying their tiny little heads in the sand.

[SpcMnky]

34. A more apt analogy would be...

One is breaking into everyone's house, friends and foes alike, to spy on everything, everyone does.

While one of his minions, the key-master, "ratted" out the boss.

And we all know how organized crime treats "rats".

Exactly what we are seeing played out now.

So, which one is most responsible for the crime? Typically, in our courts of "justice", the BOSS.

Being a law and order supporter myself, I agree, the boss needs to be prosecuted, and the witness be put in a witness protection program.

It is a disgrace that for now, Russia is providing the latter service, though I suspect that once we come to our senses, fingers-crossed, that travesty of justice will have changed.

[Autumn]

8. Interesting question. I'll go with Edward Snowden.

I think I would trust him a hell of a lot more than Alexander.

[ReRe]

9. Easy.

Snowden.

[eShirl]

14. I'll go with the idealist champion of individual privacy rights, thanks.

[Pholus]

21. Isn't the "correct" response..

I have nothing to hide, fellow citizen, so of course Starship Commander Herr General Alexander may intrude through my private affairs to his heart's content and record them for posterity.

Or so I've been told on this website, multiple times.

[another_liberal]

37. Right!

Good one!

[backscatter712]

36. Snowden - he showed some principles, and put his ass on the line standing for them. n/t

[another_liberal]

38. Snowden was alturistic with his downloaded info, using excerpts to blow the whistle on the NSA.

How many other NSA contractors have actually downloaded the same files and sold them secretly to the highest bidder? The security of their massive data base is clearly very weak. Are we to believe that only Snowden has taken advantage of that weakness?

We should all be concerned about who might well now have access to our personal information, thanks to the all-powerful NSA collecting it and allowing access to it by their thousands of "Private Contractors."

[RC]

17. Why is anyone around here sticking up for the NSA and General Alexander and his fiefdom?

Doesn't the rule of law and the meaning and spirit of the United States Constitution mean anything to the Snowden detractors?
Edward Snowden did the world a great service at a significant personal cost to himself. It could be years before all this shakes out and settles down. Hopefully we will get at least some of our privacy and Constitutional Rights back.

[RoccoR5955]

18. I am surprised that people here are sticking up for the establishment myself.

Could they be plants?

[RC]

19. Plants? That's a pun, correct?

[GoneFishin]

24. A crap-load of money is spent on PR. For peanuts you can hire a handful of shills to post

on public forums to steer public debate. The question is, given the breadth of their dragnet, do you think they overlooked this fact? I say not a chance in hell.

There are plants here. It is just a matter of how many and which ones.

BTW, I am sure there are genuine apologists also. I am not suggesting that all apologists are paid.

[another_liberal]

40. One is far too many.

They are spending Americans' tax dollars to spy illegally on Americans, and they add to that outrage by using our tax dollars to hire shills to pretend they are uninvolved citizens who support such spying.

A bunch of NSA assholes need to go to jail.

[jsr]

22. +1.

[SpcMnky]

33. Some view politics like they do sports

So, they root for the "home" team, especially when in power, no matter what.

However, a few are simply bots, wether wet or dry, they are doing the job they've been programmed to.

The "dry" bots (i.e. Artificial Intelligence Software) are the ones that have me the most concerned.

When the internet first became really popular with people, turn of the century, I was extremely excited about its potential to have an effective, positive impact on modern politics.

However, with the corresponding rise in AI automation, I became less optimistic about the positive implications of the political web.

This is not to say that I no longer believe in the web's positive potential on modern politics, but that we must work just as hard as we ever have to be effective.

The way I see it, we have 2 primary objectives...

1. Communicate our position in a moe compelling manner than our opponents. (Same as it ever as)
2. Identify, and challenge the bots (see step 1.)

To all on DU, I salute YOU!

[no more banksters]

23. "Training" societies in tolerating interceptions

"The media increasingly avoid using the word "scandal" regarding interceptions. It is more likely for you to hear the word scandal for the extramarital relationships of a famous Hollywood star, than for the fact that the NSA intercepted the main communication links that carry data of millions of users of Google and Yahoo. This is also a tactic within the "training" of societies. Since people must become familiar with monitoring of everything, the word "scandal" should disappear from such cases."

http://failedevolution.blogspot.gr/2013/11/training-societies-in-tolerating.html

[drynberg]

25. Edward Snowden is a brave hero who acted without self consequences

CBS is acting to "clean" the reputation of the NSA...why? Could it be the same motivator that Snowden had? Y'know, the greater good? Just think how differently we have viewed the world in the last 12 1/2 months because of Edward's brave acts and his conscience that allows him to sleep well, and the care he used in vetting his releases. Problem is, he has stepped on some really Big Toes and they want his ass fried. All else is propaganda...y'know, the Big Toes screaming.

[on point]

27. He deserves a full complete absolute pardon plus the Medal of Freedom

[another_liberal]

39. Too right!

I second that nomination!

[on point]

26. Translation. 60 Mins reveals it is a govt shill

[L0oniX]

29. "asked them to do the segment" ??? ...asked???

[arcane1]

30. What does Amazon have to do with this?

Did I miss something?

[zeemike]

31. I'm waiting for the movie.

And you know it is coming...where the man from NSA saves the world from a terrorist strike...they are king of all media.

[Swede Atlanta]

32. We have surrendered our constitutional rights.......

We live in a police state, period.

We see this everywhere. We know NSA is storing huge amounts of data pertaining to law-abiding American citizens without probable cause. This is a direct violation of the U.S. Constitution. Last time I checked any change to the Constitution must be done either through a Constitutional Convention or through the amendment process. Congress, the President and the FISA court can't just decide on their own to ignore the constitution.

Police forces are militarized and shoot indiscriminately at unarmed civilians.

There is little independent media - see 60 Minutes that serve as the mouthpiece of the Fascists in our government.

We are indeed becoming a 3rd world country.

[SpcMnky]

35. In a just US, he would be in a witness protection program

That Russia is currently fulfilling that role, is another ominous sign of the dark times in our country.