CIA Veteran: Snowden Did Everything Wrong And The Government Respects Your Privacy

[bemildred]

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First, he points out that these agencies couldn't care less about your trivial online activities.

The U.S. government truly does make strenuous efforts not to violate privacy, not just because it respects privacy (which it does), but because it simply doesn't have the time to read irrelevant emails or listen in on conversations unconnected to possible plots against American civilians.

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Second: while agents may be mainly interested in "possible plots," evidence exists that they take time out of their busy schedules to listen to irrelevant phone calls and read irrelevant emails.

That's why I find the Snowden controversy so frustrating. I realize many Americans don't trust their government. I wish I could change that. I wish I could tell people the amazing things I witnessed during my 30 years in the CIA, that I've never seen people work harder or more selflessly, that for little money and long hours, people took it for granted that their flaws would be scrutinized and their successes ignored. But I've been around long enough to know that deep-rooted distrust of government is immune to stories from people like me. The conspiracy buffs are too busy howling in protest at the thought that their government could uncover how long they spent on the phone with their dear aunt.

Realizing people don't trust the government is great, I suppose, but the problem remains that the government has rarely shown interest in rebuilding this trust. I'm sure the CIA has its share of hardworking, trustworthy employees just like any other corporation. (Former NSA director Michael Hayden made the same sort of claim in his interview with CNN -- "The people working at the NSA have the same concerns as the American people.&quot But like any other corporation, it's also going to have its share of less-than-stellar employees, only these under-performers have access to a hell of a lot of data. Telling the public that some people do a damn good job won't change anything, as Liepman notes. But he's still going to try.

But once he's through trying to humanize the intelligence agencies, Liepman falls right back into the same rhetorical trap so many other defenders have: belittling the public for its concerns. Instead of making any attempt to portray American citizens' concerns about broad, non-targeted data harvesting as legitimate, Liepman downplays the opposition's credibility by referring to them as "howling conspiracy buffs" concerned about the government listening to "phone calls to their aunts."

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130813/07375024152/cia-veteran-snowden-did-everything-wrong-government-respects-your-privacy.shtml

[Cooley Hurd]

1. CIA vet=biased opinion...

[bemildred]

3. He makes some points that I consider to be good points.

Are you some kind of anti-CIA bigot?

[Cooley Hurd]

6. Yes. I'm a fan of Frank Church.

[bemildred]

8. The Senator, right? Senator Frank Church? I'll bet you could look him up online. nt

[Cooley Hurd]

9. Yes, the Senator.

[kardonb]

10. biased ?

your reaction is equally biased , Cooley . You just WANT to believe bad things about our gvmt .

[djean111]

2. What a stupid meme - we are afraid they are listening to our phone calls to our aunt.

No, they are saving all of your phone calls so that they can search for key words you may use while you are talking to your aunt.
For the most part, the data is being stored so they can search through it later.
That's why they can cheerily say they are not listening in - they don't need to.

[bemildred]

5. I do see a lot of name-calling, but that's kind of normal.

So much as I'd like to, you can't infer much from it.

However, one of the points of the OP, which I liked, was that that knee-jerk desire to insult is a mistake. And that leads to the basic disconnect here, on the one hand the public is the enemy who must be lied to and mislead, and on the other hand the public is the voters and must be protected, sucked up to and appeased.

So naturally the argument keeps falling apart.

[phleshdef]

7. There is ZERO evidence that phone audio is being stored by the government. ZERO.

[midnight]

20. The biggest-ever data complex in Utah stores emails, phone calls, on line shopping lists...etc...

The biggest-ever data complex, to be completed in Utah in 2013, may take American citizens into a completely new reality where their emails, phone calls, online shopping lists and virtually entire lives will be stored and reviewed.

US government agencies are growing less patient with their own country with every month. First, paying with cash, shielding your laptop screen and a whole list of other commonplace habits was proclaimed to be suspicious – and if you see something you are prompted to say something. Then, reports emerged that drones are being fetched for police forces. Now, the state of Utah seems to be making way in a bid to host the largest-ever cyber shield in the history of American intelligence. Or is it a cyber-pool?

Utah sprang to media attention when the Camp Williams military base near the town of Bluffdale sprouted a vast, 240-acre construction site. American outlets say that what's hiding under the modest plate of a Utah Data Complex is a prospective intelligence facility ordered by the National Security Agency.

Cyber-security vs. Total awareness

The NSA maintains that the data center, to be completed by September 2013, is a component of the Comprehensive National Cyber-security Initiative. The facility is to provide technical assistance to the Department of Homeland Security, collect intelligence on cyber threats and carry out cyber-security objectives, reported Reuters.

http://rt.com/news/utah-data-center-spy-789/

[indepat]

4. Glad the CIA veteran cleared up our misconceptions: surely none of the massive governmental

abuse of so many involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement stemmed from any communications unconstitutionally harvested by big brother.

[blkmusclmachine]

11. !!

[1StrongBlackMan]

12. I wonder…

Realizing people don't trust the government is great, I suppose, but the problem remains that the government has rarely shown interest in rebuilding this trust.

What could the government do to rebuild the trust of those whose distrust is largely based on fantasy (paranoid) scenarios?

Before you dismiss the question, let’s cast what we (think we) know about the NSA in the worst possible light … They are “hoovering up” and scrutinizing every piece of electronic communication in cyber-space. Okay, so what?

“It’s a violation of my liberty!” … How? That data is already in the possession of third parties.

“They could use that data to do bad things” … Right! Operative word, “COULD.”

“I just f@#$ing don’t want people reading my sh!t!” Again, your sh!t is, likely, already being read … Google Ads, anyone?

All of this concern is based on a distrust of an “evil government” that preceded this NSA story; and is unlikely to be placated by a government that you already distrust.

[bemildred]

13. I really don't think the government should cater to paranoid delusions or any sort.

It seesms like a silly premise for your argument.

Edit: if you simply want to say that some people get overwrought about these things, I agree, but I don't see any need to do anything about it. Some people like to get overwrought.

[1StrongBlackMan]

14. Nor do I ...

But wasn't it you that wrote:

Realizing people don't trust the government is great, I suppose, but the problem remains that the government has rarely shown interest in rebuilding this trust.

That's what led to my question.

[bemildred]

15. No, I didn't write that.

I mean I agree with it, it's talking about what is called "legitimacy" in political studies, the willingness of the people to voluntarily comply with the governments wishes. But that has nothing in particular to do with the treatment of the mentally ill.

[1StrongBlackMan]

16. Oh ...

My bad.

Sorry.

[bemildred]

17. Easy mistake.

I usually put comments after the link, for that reason, but there is nothing you can rely on, people do all sorts of things.

[Demeter]

18. I'm supposed to believe anything the CIA tells me?

Do you think I'm that stupid? They are in the business of :

1. Lying
2. Spying
3. Lying about their spying, and now
4. Running their own private army, without any public oversight. Some might even call it "terrorism" or "death squads"

[bemildred]

19. That sort of dumbfounds me every time this comes up.

"Are you going believe me, your friend, or your own lying eyes?"

That anybody would have a scintilla of trust for these people, with the track record they have? WHY do you think they feel compelled to hide all of their acitvities and make all these threats? Terrorists? They love terrorists. The thIng they fear is no terrorists, nothing for them to do, no further need for their "services".

For the man in the paddock, whose duty it is to sweep up manure, the supreme terror is the possibility of a world without horses.
-- Henry Miller in Tropic of Cancer"