The Effects Of The Snowden Leaks Aren't What He Intended

[struggle4progress]

by Tom Gjelten
September 20, 2013 4:34 PM

... The biggest concern, NSA officials say, is that foreign individuals or groups targeted for surveillance may now switch to more secure communication methods.

"If there is disclosure that NSA can do this thing or that thing, then they can take action to close that vulnerability. That denies us the ability to see the foreign intelligence threat," Ledgett says. "We're beginning to see that."

Assessing possible responses to the NSA disclosures, however, can be a complicated exercise. Even if terrorist groups change their means of communication, NSA surveillance programs may still serve a purpose.

"The question then becomes whether the existence of the program causes their operations to proceed more slowly, become more difficult, with less chance for real-time command and control," Ledgett says ...

http://www.npr.org/2013/09/20/224423159/the-effects-of-the-snowden-leaks-arent-what-he-intended

[dkf]

1. "because he was responsible for moving the documents to a more secure location"

Well now we learn how he got access...it was his job. What a joke.

[TxVietVet]

2. After having worked in the military wing of the NSA for many years,

I don't understand how Snowden got the job he had with limited education. He couldn't finish high school. Something tells me someone pulled some special strings with, say, maybe a lodge member and got this guy a job. This is an insult to all that work hard in school, keep their record clean to get a good job.

It's the same with the guy that shot up the Navy Yard in DC. How do these folks get these jobs with all the problems that are in their past?

[bemildred]

3. He was a contactor. The corruption is vast in the defense business,

and it's mostly on the private side, the back-scratching on the government side tends to focus on contracting officers. They have the power. One time I had a job they wanted me for go away three times when I insisted on choosing my own contracting agent. Money gets funnelled in the chosen directions.