Obama's best speech ever because of Snowden's NSA disclosures

Obama to call for significant changes in NSA practices http://t.co/GFC3W7839V #NSA #Obama
— johnmpoole.com (@johnmpoole) January 17, 2014

Now it comes down to execution and follow-up. There are a lot of details to fill in. The devil is in the details.

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

NSA and its "Golden Age of Sigint" crushed by Snowden

It's always a good thing when arrogant pricks like the NSA get their comeuppance --

N.S.A. Report Outlined Goals for More Power - NYTimes.com: "...Using sweeping language, the paper also outlined some of the agency’s other ambitions. They included defeating the cybersecurity practices of adversaries [that probably includes ordinary Americans] in order to acquire the data the agency needs from “anyone, anytime, anywhere.” The agency also said it would try to decrypt or bypass codes that keep communications secret by influencing “the global commercial encryption market through commercial relationships,” human spies and intelligence partners in other countries. It also talked of the need to “revolutionize” analysis of its vast collections of data to “radically increase operational impact."..."

The strategy document, provided by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden, was written at a time when the agency was at the peak of its powers and the scope of its surveillance operations was still secret. Since then, Mr. Snowden’s revelations have changed the political landscape."

In other words, the big, bad NSA with its grand schemes and plans, billions of  taxpayer funds to just throw away on useless projects, and free to do as it pleased by a clueless President, rubber-stamp secret Court, and dysfunctional Congress, was stopped by just one David -- thank you Mr. Snowden!

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

Why Care About the NSA? (video)

Why Care About the N.S.A.? - Video - NYTimes.com: "Why Care About the N.S.A.? BY BRIAN KNAPPENBERGER November 25th, 2013 A short film explores whether ordinary Americans should be concerned about online surveillance."

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

US Government is its own worst enemy

You have to hand it to Obama and his administration -- their ineptness leaves one breathless -- first they come down so hard on any and all whistleblowers (and target any member of the media who may be talking to whistleblowers uncovering US government misconduct) that the chilling effect produces (surprise!) a Snowden -- who changes the rules of the game -- rather than play by the US government rules and try to reform a corrupt administration from inside, he takes EVERYTHING and flees beyond the reach of Obama and his gang. Now ALL the information Obama and his administration wanted so badly to keep secret, including illegal and unconstitutional acts, are coming out, one by one, in media all over the world. Thanks to the NSA, Obama and his administration, and Bush before him, and their ilk, the reputation of the US in the world is in the toilet. So what do Obama's guys do? Why they take out their anger and vengeance against a small businessman named Levison and destroy his law-abiding company. What Justice?

ACLU: Lavabit 'fatally undermined' by US request for encryption keys | World news | theguardian.com: "ACLU lawyer Catherine Crump said the government's "unreasonably burdensome" demands "fundamentally destroyed the company as a whole". "Lavabit's business was predicated on offering a secure email service, and no company could possible tell its clients that it offers a secure service if its keys have been handed over to the government," Crump said. Lavabit closed its service in August after the US authorities demanded he hand over the encryption keys for its entire service – a move Levison said would have compromised the personal details of his 40,000 clients. Levison had previously offered the FBI access to the account that is believed to have been used by Snowden. The name of the FBI's target is redacted in court documents, and Levison is gagged by a court order from commenting."

One could call the actions of Obama's administration thuggish, moronic, short-sighted, and clumsy, but hardly effective. In the end, the might and power of a Goliath, has again been defeated by a David. Corrupt power never learns. If three years ago you had asked any of America's enemies for a strategy to diminish US influence and power in the world, none of them could have come up with the events of this year--the US government has been its own worst enemy, thanks to the policies of the NSA, Obama, and Obama's DOJ. They have no one to blame but themselves.

But I am optimistic. Somewhere in the future, the US will have wiser leadership, and a better government. That leadership and government will understand you want and need a leaky government in a democracy. That's how truth comes out, and how you stem the rot and corruption and excesses that are otherwise inevitable in all governments.

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

Snowden: Mass Surveillance Is a Threat (Video)

Snowden Speaks Again: Mass Surveillance Is a Threat: Video - Bloomberg: "Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- For the first time since June, Edward Snowden spoke about his National Security Agency leaks. Six new clips, released by WikiLeaks Saturday on YouTube, show a speech Snowden gave Thursday at a small gathering where he received the Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence. (Source: Bloomberg)"

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

NSA Data Center Meltdown -- Snowden?

NSA Investigators Stumped by What's Causing Power Surges That Destroy Equipment -- 

Meltdowns Hobble NSA Data Center - WSJ.com: "Chronic electrical surges at the massive new data-storage facility central to the National Security Agency's spying operation have destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of machinery and delayed the center's opening for a year, according to project documents and current and former officials. There have been 10 meltdowns in the past 13 months that have prevented the NSA from using computers at its new Utah data-storage center, slated to be the spy agency's largest, according to project documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. One project official described the electrical troubles—so-called arc fault failures—as "a flash of lightning inside a 2-foot box." These failures create fiery explosions, melt metal and cause circuits to fail, the official said." (read more at link above and the comment at: Meltdowns Hobble NSA Data Center ("NSA  goons on power trips") - WSJ.com )

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

Whistleblowers, Manning Sentence, Snowden, Lessons Learned

NSA, and the rest of the US national security bureaucracy, can't help but trip over itself, repeatedly --

Bradley Manning's Sentence, David Miranda's Detention: Two Scandals : The New Yorker: "The lesson that Edward Snowden, the N.S.A. leaker, seems to have drawn from the prosecutions of Manning and others is that, if you have something you think people should know, take as many files as you can and leave the country. It also places the deterrent in the wrong place. What combination of over-classification and security bureaucracy requires almost five million people in this country to have security clearances—almost a million and a half with top-secret clearance, which is what Manning had, or higher? That’s also why Snowden, a private contractor, saw what he did."

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

Ron Paul, Snowden, Manning, Heroes

Ron Paul: Snowden, Manning 'should be treated as heroes' — RT USA: (see the video here )

"I think highly of them (Manning and Snowden). I think of them like Daniel Ellsberg, who they tried to put away for a long time and they tried The New York Times for releasing the truth of how the Vietnam War started and how we were lied into that war,” he said. “The people now telling us the truth about what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan should be seen more as heroes. A guy like Snowden knows exactly what he was up to and he knows the danger of it. I sincerely believe, although I’ve never met him, that he believed he was doing a service to the people by doing this. We shouldn’t be calling people like this traitors.”

Julian Assange, the founder of the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks who has supported Paul's position of opening the conversation up for a more beneficial political dialogue, was also discussed in the interview.

“I want as much government transparency as possible and think WikiLeaks has worked very hard to make sure no one has been hurt, and there’s no evidence anyone has, but if our government is doing something wrong and they’re hiding it from us I think there is a moral obligation of those who know it and can reveal that to us to let us know," Paul told King.

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

How Snowden did it, NSA Eyes Wide Shut

Merely confirmation of what I said before --

How Snowden did it - Investigations: "When Edward Snowden stole the crown jewels of the National Security Agency, he didn’t need to use any sophisticated devices or software or go around any computer firewall. All he needed, said multiple intelligence community sources, was a few thumb drives and the willingness to exploit a gaping hole in an antiquated security system to rummage at will through the NSA’s servers and take 20,000 documents without leaving a trace. “It’s 2013 and the NSA is stuck in 2003 technology,” said an intelligence official. . . ."

Billions and billions of dollars wasted on the NSA and its lame contractors in the last 10 years, but I guess if you're going to have a government agency trashing the Fourth Amendment (with no accountability, nor oversight, and complete with secret rubber-stamp Courts) and spying on all Americans, it is better to have an incompetent agency than a competent one. And at this point, it is obvious the only oversight being given to agencies like the NSA is for whistleblowers like Snowden to come forward. Thank you Edward Snowden --  not only did you expose the Constitutional violations of the NSA, you also exposed how inept and incompetent the NSA truly is!

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

Snowden, NSA, Security, Safeguards, Forensic Investigators Clueless

NSA stands for National Security Agency? Is this a joke or what? And now the leaks from NSA are about the NSA's lack of security --

Edward Snowden's digital maneuvers still stumping U.S. government - CBS News: "The government's forensic investigation is wrestling with Snowden's apparent ability to defeat safeguards established to monitor and deter people looking at information without proper permission, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the sensitive developments publicly."

As I've said before-- LOL -- you can't make this stuff up!

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

"That Dell guy" Snowden also downloaded NSA secrets

It was a BIG job -- it took a LONG time, and a LOT of thumbdrives --

Snowden downloaded NSA secrets while working for Dell, sources say | Reuters: " . . . . Two U.S. officials said the investigations into Snowden's activities confirmed that his downloading of sensitive information began at Dell. He is believed to have moved from Dell to Booz Allen with little time off in between . . . Snowden wrote under the screen name "The True HooHA." "Society really seems to have developed an unquestioning obedience towards spooky types." In addition to a Justice Department investigation, which has produced criminal charges against Snowden, U.S. intelligence agencies are conducting an extensive inquiry to determine precisely what documents Snowden had access to, what he downloaded . . ."

Top Secret? "Oh, it's just 'that Dell guy' . . . "

You can't make this stuff up! LOL (and you gotta either laugh or cry) -- and with this kind of national security, no wonder the Chinese have robbed us blind!

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

Snowden surveillance leaks open way for challenges to programs’ constitutionality

Snowden surveillance leaks open way for challenges to programs’ constitutionality - The Washington Post: "“There is one critical difference from the Bush era. We now have indisputable physical evidence that the conduct being challenged is actually taking place,’’ said Stephen Vladeck, an expert on national security law at American University law school. He said Snowden’s disclosures make it “more likely” that cases will at least be allowed to go forward in court, leading to a years-long legal battle over surveillance and privacy."

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

US Media Amplifies Lies of US Government

One other unintended, good consequence of the Edward Snowden story is how it has revealed MSM (mainstream media) as a source of misinformation, unreliable, and whose purpose and role is apparently to amplify the lies of those "in authority"--

Edward Snowden: Russia, China Did Not Get Any Documents From Me: "It’s understandable for journalists to grant anonymity in order to get verifiable information or details that governments, agencies and companies cannot or will not provide publicly. But in granting anonymity to officials and experts to speculate about how Snowden interacted with Chinese and Russian authorities -- without evidence -- the media is amplifying the government’s arguments that he damaged national security, without any accountability. . . ." (read more at link above)

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

NSA and Snowden, what happened between May 20th and May 31st?

Nations Buying as *Hackers Sell Flaws in Computer Code - NYTimes.com: "All over the world, from South Africa to South Korea, business is booming in what hackers call “zero days,” the coding flaws in software like Microsoft Windows that can give a buyer unfettered access to a computer and any business, agency or individual dependent on one."

Edward Snowden and the NSA files – timeline | World news | The Guardian: "20 May Edward Snowden, an employee of defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton at the National Security Agency, arrives in Hong Kong from Hawaii. He carries four laptop computers that enable him to gain access to some of the US government's most highly-classified secrets. 1 June Guardian journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill and documentary maker Laura Poitras fly from New York to Hong Kong. They meet Snowden in a Kowloon hotel after he identifies himself with a Rubik's cube and begin a week of interviews with their source. 5 June The Guardian publishes its first exclusive based on Snowden's leak, revealing a secret court order showing that the US government had forced the telecoms giant Verizon to hand over the phone records of millions of Americans. . . ."

Most people by now have heard of Edward Snowden. They may know of his 4 laptops which the Guardian says "enable him to gain access to some of the US government's most highly-classified secrets." I doubt that statement of the Guardian. There is no evidence that Edward Snowden is a hacker* (see story at the first link above). There is no evidence Snowden is able to access US classified networks and devices via the 4 laptops he is carrying with him.

"Hackers" in this context, are persons who are able to gain access to networks and network devices from "outside" the subject network, device, and organization. Contrast this with Snowden--he was easily able to access (without apparent detection) and download, at will, voluminous "classified/top secret" material of the NSA from "inside." Putting aside, for a moment, the gross incompetence of the NSA, there is no evidence that Snowden utilized ANY hacking skills or software to access the voluminous material he took with him. He simply used his authorized credentials, and was able to take anything he wanted.

Ever hear of ANY member of Congress (or Obama) asking NSA officials how they could run such a slipshod operation in view of the billions of taxpayer dollars spent wasted on the NSA since 9/11? The evidence, thus far, is that all the information Snowden is carrying and/or took with him while he worked for NSA contractor Booz Allen, he obtained from "inside" via thumb drives (a/k/a USB drives) plugged into computers and/or other network devices he had access to as an employee of Booz Allen working for the NSA.

So what was Snowden doing between May 20 and May 31 (other than line up interviews with the Guardian et al)? My best guess is he was transferring all the files he was carrying on his "4 laptops" to various cloud storage devices via network connections that Snowden thought were secure and/or unable to be tracked by US agencies. The NSA, CIA, and other US agencies had more than 10 days to apprehend Snowden in Hong Kong before his first interview was given. So what were they (NSA, CIA, et al) doing between May 20 and May 31st? Nobody's talking--except Snowden.

And so Snowden, even if he makes it to Venezuela or other asylum haven, has a serious long-term problem. He is not a skilled hacker. At best, he is only a semi-skilled amateur with idealistic motives (which is why the Chinese and Russians have no real interest in him other than brief exploitation of him for global political purposes). The information Snowden took will soon be "stale" and most, if not all, that information was already known by the Chinese, Russians, and others. Snowden's information (and similar information about Russian, Chinese, European et al, snooping)  was just not publicly acknowledged--that's against the rules of the game. If Snowden had been a real hacker with similar motives, he would have never left Hawaii, his cushy job, or his pole-dancing girlfriend. He would have taken the same information, undetected or without being tracked, by hacking the NSA and transferring it to Wikileaks anonymously.

As it is, Snowden's value to anyone other than the US DOJ, and the value of his information, is quickly dissipating. The bad news for the NSA (and other US government agencies), is that they will now become an increasing target for real hackers, foreign and domestic, some of whom will have the same idealistic views as Edward Snowden. The clumsy and inelegant response of the Obama administration and Congressional "defenders" of the NSA, the ineffective Congressional oversight of NSA and other agencies, and secret "rubber-stamp" FISA court, have all validated in the minds of many hackers the perception that the US government is just another "bad guy."  

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

Demonizing Edward Snowden--when did the US media establishment become such cowards?

John Cassidy in the New Yorker "nails it"--

"It is easy to understand, though not to approve of, why Administration officials, who have been embarrassed by Snowden’s revelations, would seek to question his motives and exaggerate the damage he has done to national security . . . More unnerving is the way in which various members of the media have failed to challenge the official line." (source infra)

Demonizing Edward Snowden: Which Side Are You On? : The New Yorker: " . . . . journalists are meant to stick up for the underdog and irritate the powerful. On its side, the Obama Administration has the courts, the intelligence services, Congress, the diplomatic service, much of the media, and most of the American public. Snowden’s got Greenwald, a woman from Wikileaks, and a dodgy travel document from Ecuador. . . ." (read more at link above)

On the other hand, has the press been cowered into becoming nothing but an organ "mouthpiece" for the ruling party in the White House? In any event, if you live in the US and your sole source of news is "mainstream media," you are sorely misinformed. What is a real journalist? Sadly there are very few left in the US. Charlie Rose interviewed two real journalists recently. You can watch it here.

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

3 NSA veterans support Snowden - "feel vindicated"

3 NSA veterans speak out on whistle-blower: We told you so: "Today, they feel vindicated. They say the documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old former NSA contractor who worked as a systems administrator, proves their claims of sweeping government surveillance of millions of Americans not suspected of any wrongdoing. They say those revelations only hint at the programs' reach."

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

Protesters rally in Hong Kong to support Snowden

Rise of the free city-state?

Protesters rally in Hong Kong to support Snowden: "Maverick Hong Kong lawmaker "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung called US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping "twin brothers" when it comes to Internet spying. "The most important thing is in defending Mr Snowden. If he can be extradited and be punished, who will be the second whistleblower?" he told AFP. So far the United States has not filed a formal extradition request to Hong Kong, a former British colony that retained its separate legal system when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997." (more at link above)

Tweet   Follow @johnmpoole