Blithering idiot says we need more data collection at the NSA/CIA

[Savannahmann]

Like many of you, I have friends and relatives across the political spectrum. While at times, it can be infuriating to talk to them, often it is informative. It lets me know what they really think, and the background, the why.

Today's highlight is a report in the RW National Journal. I am not posting this as a RW talking point except to demonstrate how utterly the Authoritarians are out of touch with public sentiment, no matter what letter comes after their name.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/defense/nsa-panel-member-recommends-increased-data-collection-20131222

Michael Morell, the former acting director of the CIA and a member of President Obama's task force on surveillance, said in an interview on Sunday that a controversial telephone data-collection program conducted by the National Security Agency should be expanded to include emails. He also said the program, far from being unnecessary, could prevent the next 9/11.

Morell, seeking to correct any misperception that the presidential panel had called for a radical curtailment of NSA programs, said he is in favor of restarting a program that the NSA discontinued in 2011 that involved the collection of "meta-data" for internet communications. That program only gets a brief mention in a footnote on page 97 of the task-force report, "Liberty and Security in A Changing World." "I would argue actually that the email data is probably more valuable than the telephony data," Morell told National Journal in a telephone interview. "You can bet that the last thing a smart terrorist is going to do right now is call someone in the United States."

Now, there haven't been any intercepted terrorist attacks based upon the massive data collection. The problem according to this moron is not that the invasive programs are useless, but because they haven't intercepted enough information. In other words, there are communications that the NSA/CIA is not intercepting, like text messages between you and a friend in the same town, and emails between you and a someone in the same town. If the CIA could read all of those, then they could potentially prevent another 9-11.

But what are the Authorities doing? Activating web cameras. http://gizmodo.com/fbi-can-secretly-activate-laptop-cameras-without-the-in-1478371370 We can assume that the assholes at the FBI are doing what every other voyeur is doing, trying to see into teenaged girls bedrooms like the common peeping toms.

But what terrorist crimes have been prevented? Well, none really. Oh sure, their internet and email surveillance has netted some criminals, but no terrorists.

But the problem according to Michael Morell is not that they are violating the 4th Amendment regularly, but it is that they are not collecting enough information.

Let me be among the first to explain this to you Michael Morell. The fourth amendment is not an idea who's time is past, it's an idea who's time is right here and now. You have no right, and the lame justifications you use are the same asinine claims made by those who would defend CIA torture. With it we might (perhaps in a parallel universe) prevent another terrorist attack. It is immoral, and plainly prohibited by the Constitution, and the oath you supposedly swore was not to protect me from some vague pretend threat, but to protect the Constitution. I'll take my chances against the vague pretend threats that you and the rest of the assholes claim are out there. I won't take my chances that you assholes are not reading and listening to the stuff you weren't supposed to be collecting in the first place.

If our battle against extremism means we have to surrender our constitutional rights to win, then we've already lost. The only question is what the terms of our surrender should be. You in the CIA, NSA, FBI, and DHS are the greatest threat this nation has faced in it's entire history. That includes the burning of the White House during the war of 1812. That includes the Civil War. The Nazi's were a threat, but they would be slobbering in envy at the police state you and your colleagues have created.

[RC]

1. This right here, shines a light on our biggest problem.

If our battle against extremism means we have to surrender our constitutional rights to win, then we've already lost. The only question is what the terms of our surrender should be. You in the CIA, NSA, FBI, and DHS are the greatest threat this nation has faced in it's entire history. That includes the burning of the White House during the war of 1812. That includes the Civil War. The Nazi's were a threat, but they would be slobbering in envy at the police state you and your colleagues have created.