Category Archives: NSA

German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared as a witness at the final hearing in the three-year existence of the parliamentary committee charged with investigating the 2013 NSA scandal. Although she admitted to technical and organizational mistakes, she parried suggestions that she knew or should have known about widespread American and German spying on allies at an early stage of the affair.

Merkels testimony was particularly anticipated not just because of her position as chancellor, but because of her high-profile statement in 2013: "Spying among friends - that simply isnt done."

The chancellor, appearing relaxed, began with a 25-minute statement full of self-quotations from 2013-15. In it she tried to prove that she had consistently come out against intelligence surveillance of allies in the wake of the Snowden leaks in 2013. She also sought to show that she had only gradually learned about the extent of the NSAs spying on Germans and the German foreign intelligence service BNDs monitoring of German allies, which emerged after journalistic inquiries in 2015.

She said that she had complained to then US President Barack Obama about the US spying in 2013 and insisted that US intelligence services operating on German soil follow German law.

"Were not in the Cold War any more," Merkel quoted herself as telling Obama.

Merkel said that the situation had been made more complicated by the complex and constantly evolving nature of surveillance technology.

"There are always some contradictions between freedom and security, and a balance must be maintained," Merkel said.

Merkel downplayed the importance of so-called "handygate"

The cell phone affair

The conservative chairman of the committee Patrick Sensburg was far less aggressive in his questioning of Merkel than he had been grilling high-ranking chancellors office leaders on Monday. One main thread of his queries had to do with alleged NSA eavesdropping on Merkel's cell phone.

Speaking without notes other than her opening remarks, Merkel said that it was never proven that the American intelligence service had listened in on her conversations. She added that she had received assurances from Obama that her phone was not tapped and wouldnt be in the future.

When asked why she didn't have her cell phone forensically examined, she said that she didnt want to give additional insights into her communication habits. She said it was easier for her just to procure a new device.

Deficits or something more?

The Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Greens sought to suggest that Merkel had violated her own principle that allies shouldnt spy on one another by failing to pursue the matter vigorously enough with Washington and to ensure that similar practices by BND were discontinued.

Merkel says she didn't know until 2015 that the BND spied on allies

In response to Merkel's insistence that she only gradually learned about the BND's use of so-called selectors, computer search terms, aimed at European political leaders and businesses, Christian Plisek of the SPD asked: "Is it responsible to demand things of intelligence services abroad, when youre not sure what our own ones are doing?"

When Plisek asked if she had inquired about where the BND got information it passed along to her, Merkel replied tersely: "I dont need information about sources of information."

Merkel said that her assertion that "friends" should spy on one another was a statement of political belief and not an assertion that Germany didnt run surveillance on allies. When pressed why it took until March 2015 for the BND to discontinue using certain controversial selectors, the chancellor blamed "technical and organizational deficits."

"You say that it cant be that friends spy on one another and yet the BND did precisely that over years," objected Andr Hahn of the Left Party. "And that was just down to 'technical and organizational deficits?'"

Merkel denied any deeper knowledge of German surveillance practices before 2015 and any responsibility for mistakes made by her subordinates. She said that she as chancellor set policy targets and trusted others to see that they were met.

Few tense moments

The mood at the hearing was fairly congenial

Konstantin von Notz of the Greens suggested that talk of a no-spy agreement between Germany and the US in 2013, which ultimately yielded no results, was a strategy to blunt the political damage of the NSA affair. Merkel denied that thiswas the case.

Notz also asked Merkel to name the reason why the former president of the BND Gerhard Schindler went into early retirement in 2015. The chancellor refused to do so, but said that she was happy thatGermanys foreign intelligence service was able to make a "new start."

The committee succeeded in highlighting mistakes madein the BND and to a lesser extent in the chancellors office. But it didnt uncover evidence of any massive misdeeds by Merkel or her associates.

In a break in the testimony, Plisek told reporters that he believed that chancellor didn't know about the practices within the BND when she made her "friends don't spy on friends" remark, although he did add that she seemed to have erected a "protective wall" around herself to keep from knowing more than she absolutely had to.

Although Merkel appeared to grow slightly more irritable as the hearing wore on, none the questioners managed to provoke her into an unmeasured response. Indeed, during the break she joked with reporters as though at a social event rather than a parliamentary investigative hearing.

Merkel's testimony ends the main investigative work of the committee, which was formed in March 2014. It now has until the second half of June to file its final report on the NSA-BND spying affair.

Excerpt from:
Merkel testifies on NSA spying affair - Deutsche Welle

February 17, 2017

Agency wondered if ten psychics could cause a chain reaction that would cause a city to become lost in time and space

A classified government document opens with an odd sequence of events relating to parapsychology has occurred within the last month and concluded with an alarming question about psychics nuking cities so that they became lost in time and space. If this sounds like a plot out of science fiction, it is - but its also a NSA memo from 1977.

The first event raised by the NSA note is a CIA report which mentioned KGB research into parapsychology. According to this, the KGB used hobbyists and non-governmental researchers to talk to western scientists. This allowed the KGB to collect useful information without putting themselves into a position to accidentally leak confidential information to westerners. According to the NSA note, this tactic yielded high grade western scientific data.

The next event described by the NSA note was what appeared to be a Russian provocation, though exactly what sort was a matter of some debate. In June 1977, an American journalist was detained in Russia for receiving a Soviet paper on parapsychology. The paper allegedly documented PSI (i.e. psychic) particles within the living cell, allegedly providing a physical basis for parapsychology.

This struck American intelligence as being a form of entrapment, though the goal was uncertain. Some thought it was an effort to provoke radio chatter which the Soviets could trace to get a better idea of the U.S.s interest and activities. Another theory was that it was simply a warning to the West to stay away from sensitive Soviet research. A third theory was that it was a double-think ploy to pretend interest in a clumsy manner to make us think that this was really just a deception to trick the West into believing there was interest when there really was none. While this last theory might sound paranoid, this is how denial and deception operate - and its something that Russian counterintelligence has long excelled at.

The section concluded with a note that there had supposedly been a successful demonstration of telekinetic power in a Soviet military sponsored research lab, and the alleged discovery of a new type of energy perhaps even more important than that of Atomic energy.

The third event was the apparent postulation by some physicists along with the famous evolutionist, Teilhard de Chardin that the universe was more of a great thought than a great machine. According to this view, the unified field on ground of reality is awareness. The note cited telekinetic experiments and postulated that awareness focusing could produce a new form of energy that moves or perhaps alters matter.

The report cited British scientists experiencing poltergeist phenomena after testing Uri Geller. Objects allegedly left the room, some of which apparently reappeared later. Supposedly, this didnt surprise unnamed scientists who found it no harder to believe that objects could disappear and reappear than it was to believe in the detected particles emerging from energy and dissolving or disappearing back into energy.

From these premises, two types of telekinetic weapons were hypothesized: a telekinetic time bomb and the equivalent of a psychic nuke that could dislodge a city in time and space.

The first involved a member of the command and control staff being kidnapped and subjected to trauma that would allow him to be suggestively programmed to develop telekinetic effects under stress at work. The theory was that when an emergency situation arose and the officer was subjected to stress, objects would begin to move and disappear independently and communications would become impossible.

The second hypothetical weapon was even more elaborate and potentially terrifying. Citing a prediction of a massive change which will alter the direction, time, space and energy-matter relationship of our world, the note wondered what would happen if a group of psychics were brought together. If ten people who were evidencing disruptive telekinetic phenomena were brought into one area, would it cause a chain reaction, causing much matter to reverse direction and sink back into a sea of energy or be displaced in time and space? The memo concluded by wondering if such an event reach a critical mass and affect an entire city.

By an interesting coincidence, the Philadelphia Experiment hoax bears some superficial resemblance to the theorized weapon in the NSA note. According various versions of the hoax, the USS Eldridge was temporarily rendered invisible or transported through time and space. The incident is even listed on NSAs webpage of paranormal topics that they dont have records on. However, there were other papers prepared on the perceived potential of weaponizing psychic abilities, some of which will be explored later. For now, you can read the NSA note below:

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Image via Somethings Out There

Read the original here:
Life imitates Akira: the NSA's fear of psychic nukes - MuckRock

The US intelligence community continues its war to kick Donald Trump to the curb and destroy his presidency.

Obviously, the NSA, the CIA, and their silent partners want to continue to run this country.

So they spy and leak, spy and leak.

Well get to the guts of the problem in a minute, but first a word from Bill Binney.

William Binney, a former highly placed NSA official turned whistleblower, contended in an exclusive interview today that the National Security Agency (NSA) is absolutely monitoring the phone calls of President Donald Trump.

Binney was an architect of the NSAs surveillance program. He became a famed whistleblower when he resigned on October 31, 2001 after spending more than 30 years with the agency.

Asked whether he believes the NSA is tapping Trump, Binney replied: Absolutely. How did they get the phone call between the president and the president of Australia? Or the one that he made with Mexico? Those are not targeted foreigners.

Binney further contended the NSA may have been behind a data leak that might have revealed that Michael Flynn, Trumps national security adviser, allegedly misled Vice President Mike Pence and other Trump administration officials about the contents of his phone calls with Russias ambassador to Washington.

Regarding Flynns case, Binney stated of the NSA:

If they werent behind it, they certainly had the data. Now the difference here is that FBI and CIA have direct access inside the NSA databases. So, they may be able to go directly in there and see that material there. And NSA doesnt monitor that. They dont even monitor their own people going into databases.

So, they dont monitor what CIA and FBI do. And theres no oversight or attempted oversight by any of the committees or even the FISA court. So, any way you look at it, ultimately the NSA is responsible because they are doing the collection on everybody inside the United States. Phone calls. Emails. All of that stuff.

Utilizing data provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden, the Guardian and Washington Post in June 2013 released a series of articles reporting that the NSA was collecting the telephone records of millions of Americans.

they [the NSA, Binney said]] are given too much money anyway. When they are given too much money, they get to do wild and crazy things. And this is wild and crazy. Violations of the Constitutions 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments.

Now we come to the guts of the problem. Here is my complete article from April 10, 2014:

The Surveillance State has created an apparatus whose implications are staggering. Its a different world now. And sometimes it takes a writer of fiction to flesh out the larger landscape.

Brad Thors novel, Black List, posits the existence of a monster corporation, ATS, that stands alongside the NSA in collecting information on every move we make. ATS intelligence-gathering capability is unmatched anywhere in the world.

On pages 117-118 of Black List, Thor makes a stunning inference that, on reflection, is as obvious as the fingers on your hand:

For years ATS had been using its technological superiority to conduct massive insider trading. Since the early 1980s, the company had spied on anyone and everyone in the financial world. They listened in on phone calls, intercepted faxes, and evolved right along with the technology, hacking internal computer networks and e-mail accounts. They created mountains of black dollars for themselves, which they washed through various programs they were running under secret contract, far from the prying eyes of financial regulators.

Those black dollars were invested into hard assets around the world, as well as in the stock market, through sham, offshore corporations. They also funneled the money into reams of promising R&D projects, which eventually would be turned around and sold to the Pentagon or the CIA.

In short, ATS had created its own license to print money and had assured itself a place beyond examination or reproach.

In real life, whether the prime criminal source is one monster- corporation or a consortium of companies, or elite banks, or the NSA itself, the outcome would be the same.

It would be as Thor describes it.

We think about total surveillance as being directed at private citizens, but the capability has unlimited payoffs when it targets financial markets and the people who have intimate knowledge of them.

Total security awareness programs of surveillance are ideal spying ops in the financial arena, designed to suck up millions of bits of inside information, then utilizing them to make investments and suck up billions (trillions?) of dollars.

It gives new meaning to the rich get richer.

Taking the overall scheme to another level, consider this: those same heavy hitters who have unfettered access to financial information can also choose, at opportune moments, to expose certain scandals and crimes (not their own, of course).

In this way, they can, at their whim, cripple governments, banks, and corporations. They can cripple investment houses, insurance companies, and hedge funds. Or, alternatively, they can merely blackmail these organizations.

We think we know how scandals are exposed by the press, but actually we dont. Tips are given to people who give them to other people. Usually, the first clue that starts the ball rolling comes from a source who remains in the shadows.

What we are talking about here is the creation and managing of realities on all sides, including the choice of when and where and how to provide a glimpse of a crime or scandal.

Its likely that the probe Ron Paul had been pushingaudit the Federal Reservehas already been done by those who control unlimited global surveillance [NSA]. They already know far more than any Congressional investigation will uncover. If they know the deepest truths, they can use them to blackmail, manipulate, and control the Fed itself.

The information matrix can be tapped into and plumbed, and it can also be used to dispense choice clusters of data that end up constituting the media reality of painted pictures which, every day, tell billions of people whats news.

In this global-surveillance world, we need to ask new questions and think along different lines now.

For example, how long before the mortgage-derivative crisis hit did the Masters of Surveillance know, from spying on bank records, that insupportable debt was accumulating at a lethal pace? What did they do with that information?

When did they know that at least a trillion dollars was missing from Pentagon accounting books (as Donald Rumsfeld eventually publicly admitted on September 10, 2001), and what did they do with that information?

Did they discover where billions of dollars, in cash, shipped to post-war Iraq, disappeared to?

When did they know the details of the Libor rate-fixing scandal? Press reports indicate that Barclays was trying to rig interest rates as early as January 2005.

Have they tracked, in detail, the men responsible for recruiting hired mercenaries and terrorists, who eventually wound up in Syria pretending to be an authentic rebel force?

Have they discovered the truth about how close or how far away Iran is from producing a nuclear weapon?

Have they collected detailed accounts of the most private plans of Bilderberg, CFR, and Trilateral Commission leaders?

For global surveillance kings, what we think of as the future is, in many respects the present and the past.

Its a new world. These overseers of universal information-detection can enter and probe the most secret caches of data, collect, collate, cross reference, and assemble them into vital bottom-lines. By comparison, an operation like WikiLeaks is an old Model-T Ford puttering down a country road.

Previously, we thought we needed to look over the shoulders of the men who were committing major crimes out of public view. But now, if we want to be up to date, we also have to factor in the men who are spying on those criminals, who are gathering up those secrets and using them to commit their own brand of meta-crime.

And in the financial arena, that means we think of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan as perpetrators, yes, but we also think about the men who already know everything about GS and Morgan, and are using this knowledge to steal sums that might make GS and Morgan blush with envy.

Continue reading here:
Is the NSA the real president of the United States? - Personal Liberty - Personal Liberty Digest

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The group filed Freedom of Information Act requests for the records weeks ago but are planning to sue by next week for the records if they do not receive anything by then.

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Judicial Watch filed the requests with the FBI, NSA, CIA, and Treasury Department, according to the groups Director of Investigations and Research Chris Farrell.

The group is aiming to find out whether there was ever a warrant allowing the U.S. government to wiretap Flynns phone calls, and if so, who requested it and why.

If you have a warrant, attached to the warrant 99 percent of the time, there is an affidavit, a sworn declaration normally by a law enforcement officer or senior official, said Farrell.

Such a warrant could be classified, depending on the case, he said.

A wiretapped phone call between Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak was leaked to the Washington Post and revealed in a Feb. 9 story.

The leak, which took place in December, contradicted public assertions by Vice President Michael Pence that Flynn had never discussed sanctions with Kislyak, and led to Flynns eventual resignation on Monday.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA)highlighted this week that such wiretapping would only be legal if intelligence agencies obtained a warrant or happened upon the conversation while investigating a foreign official.

Nunes speculated that its pretty clear that there was no warrant.

Its pretty clear thats not the case, he said. Im pretty sure the FBI didnt have a warrant on Michael Flynn To listen to an Americans phone call you would have to go to a court, thered be all that paperwork there. So Im guessing that doesnt exist.

Nunes said even if it was inadvertent, there is a process that masks the Americans identity.

And if you were going to unmask it, it seems like you would immediately go get a warrant, he said.

Farrell, a former Army counterintelligence officer and adjunct professor at George Mason University, said that a warrant would only be requested or granted if the agents in question suspected Flynn of criminal activity.

The Trump administration has denied that Flynn broke any law.

Both Nunes and Farrell said the leaking of the phone call is illegal and harmful to national security.

Farrell said the contents of the call would be considered raw intelligence, typically handled in a SCIF, or a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility an enclosed area in a building used to process types of classified information.

All activity and conversation inside a SCIF is restricted from public disclosure.

It seems that certain government officials were either reading that out loud to a reporter or giving them copies of it Farrell said.

That theyre conveying that information to reporters in order to embarrass or smear General Flynn or people in the Trump administration is treasonous, he said. Its a crime its a national security crime. The FBI should presently be hunting down the likely suspects.

Farrell also said the leak compromised COMINT, or communications intelligence, a subset of SIGINT, or signals intelligence.

It appears that these various officials that are reportedly so concerned about national security that they are recklessly making COMINT disclosures, he said. They are compromising sources, intelligence, and methods.

The irony is rich, he said.

Democratic lawmakers and officials in the Obama administration blame Russia for hacking into servers belonging to the Democratic National Committee and top Hillary Clinton aide John Podesta and leaking them to Wikileaks.

The hacks prompted intelligence investigations, which concluded that Russia was responsible. Trump dismissed suggestions that Russias involvement helped him win, and criticized the intelligence community, setting up a contentious relationship that has continued throughout his first weeks in office.

Farrell said he believes embedded political operatives within the various agencies and departments are likely responsible for the leaked Flynn call.

Youve got political appointees who converted to civil service slots, he said. Theres a legion of Sally Yates out thereat lower levels or at different departments and agencies who are either overtly or subversively attempting to undermine not just Gen. Flynn and aiming at President Trump.

Its an incremental attack. They will try to pick off one by one people close to the president. I refer to this as really as a soft coup, he said.

More here:
Judicial Watch Planning to Sue FBI, NSA, CIA for Flynn Records - Breitbart News

A Maryland Democrat has invited President Trump to tour the National Security Agency to become better acquainted with its mission and workers, after Trump questioned the intelligence community's loyalty to the American people amid a series of leaks.

In a letter to Trump, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger wrote Thursday he thinks it's "critical" for the president to witness the work of the "dedicated men and women do every day to protect our soldiers on the battlefield, as well as everyday Americans" who work at NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Md., which is in Ruppersberger's district.

Responding to intelligence agency leaks that led to the resignation of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn on Monday, Trump criticized the integrity of the Federal Bureau of Intelligence and the NSA, calling them "un-American" and suggesting that "they act just like Russia."

"I am confident this will give you a new understanding and appreciation of the essential services provided by our intelligence workers," Ruppersberger wrote. "As commander in chief, it is imperative you avail yourself the opportunity to experience the mission of the NSA up close and personally."

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The president is also reportedly looking to hire billionaire investor Stephen Feinberg, a co-founder of Cerberus Capital Management, to lead an investigation into the leaks, according to a report.

Ruppersberger said he found these reports "alarming."

"Today's report that you plan to assign a friend with almost no national security experience to review our intelligence agencies is simply the colloquial straw that broke the camel's back," Ruppersberger wrote. "If you follow through with this effort, I fear it will greatly damage our intelligence community's required independence and stifle the exchange of sensitive information that may conflict with your policy positions."

Top Story

Some are are discussing ways in which the president might be quickly removed from office.

02/17/17 7:15 PM

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Democrat invites Trump to tour NSA after he called it 'un-American' - Washington Examiner

President Donald Trump (Photo: Twitter)

Attorney Larry Klayman, the founderof Freedom Watch, is asking a federal court to hold an emergency hearing on the National Security Agency, alleging likely CIA spying on President Donald Trump.

In an emergency supplement filed Wednesday with the U.S. District Court in Washington, he saidthe NSA and likely the Central Intelligence Agency are continuing to violate the [Fourth] Amendment to the Constitution and related statutes.

Klayman charged the agencies spied onPresident Trump, the White House, his former National Security Adviser General Michael Flynn and others in his administration.

He is requesting an emergency status conference to determine how to proceed.

See Klaymans explanation:

Klaymans newest filing was an addition to his argument to the court that his original cases should not be dismissed, as the government wants.

Police State USA: How Orwells Nightmare Is Becoming Our Reality chronicles how America has arrived at the point of being a de facto police state and what led to an out-of-control government that increasingly ignores the Constitution. Order today!

His issue was the governments program to obtain and keep metadata from all cell phone calls in the country. He brought the first case several years ago.

Related story:

Flynn defiant: Intelligence leaks a criminal act'

While the media is focused on the so-called Russian election hacking scandal, it ignores the fact that our own government has committed the biggest violation of constitutional rights in American history, leaving the intelligence agencies free to continue their pattern and practice of violating the law in its intelligence gathering operations, Klayman argued against a dismissal.

As plaintiff Klayman argued in this court on Nov. 18, 2013, We have never seen in the history of this country this kind of violation of the privacy rights of the American citizens. We live in an Orwellian state.'

His argument continued, This court concurred, finding the almost-Orwellian technology that enables the government to store and analyze the phone metadata of every telephone user in the United States is unlike anything that could have been conceived in 1979.

The arguments this week came shortly after Flynn resignedas national security adviser over his conversations about sanctions with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. Then on Wednesday followed reports of the leaking ofinformation in the Trump administration.

Klayman argued that the district court, which already is well into an advanced position regarding chargesof government spying, should take up the issue. He pointed out that judges are allowed access to classified information behind closed doors and that the continuing unlawful conduct of the government defendants is highly destructive of our republic.

Klayman charged in a filing before the election: The intelligence agencies conscious disregard for the law has been ongoing for decades, and there is no reason to believe that, all of a sudden, they will begin to respect the constitutional right of plaintiffs, and all Americans. Indeed, even today, [then-]President-elect Donald Trump credibly accused outgoing CIA chief, John Brennan, who worked with James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, of leaking false news reports and classified information to the media in an attempt to undermine him.

Trumps statement at that time was: Outgoing CIA chief, John Brennan, blasts Pres-Elect Trump on Russia threat. Does not fully understand. Oh really, couldnt do much worse just look at Syria (red line), Crimea, Ukraine and the buildup of Russian nukes. Not good! Was this the leaker of Fake News?

WND reported on Klaymans case oneyear ago, when U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, who previously said the NSAsspy-on-Americans cell phone monitoring program likely is unconstitutional, helda status hearing.

The judge had noted the cases were at the pinnacle of national importance.

Klayman, at that time, said: Mass surveillance of the citizenry cannot be permitted when it is likely based on reasons that go far beyond catching terrorists. Indeed, as Judge Leon found on two occasions in issuing his prior preliminary injunctions, Obama and his agents at the spy agencies have not been able to cite one instance when the unconstitutional mass surveillance caught even one terrorist.

Police State USA: How Orwells Nightmare Is Becoming Our Reality chronicles how America has arrived at the point of being a de facto police state and what led to an out-of-control government that increasingly ignores the Constitution. Order today!

In Klaymans case, Leon ruled Dec. 16, 2013, and again Nov. 9, 2015, that the NSA program likely was unconstitutional, barring the government agency and Obama from conducting mass telephonic metadata surveillance over the plaintiffs.

The cases involve not only telephonic metadata mass surveillance, Klayman said, but mass surveillance of all Americans Internet and social media activity.

Klayman, at the beginning of the case, originally sued the NSA, Barack Obama, then-Attorney General Eric Holder and a number of other federal officials. Other defendants include NSA chief Keith Alexander, U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Judge Roger Vinson, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA chief John Brennan, FBI chief James Comey, the Department of Justice, the CIA and the FBI.

Plaintiffs in the case include Klayman, Charles and Mary Ann Strange, Michael Ferrari, Matt Garrison and J.J. Little.

Two of Americas influential civil-rights groups, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have sided with Klayman.

The data that the NSA collects, they explained in a brief, reveals political affiliation, religious practices and peoples most intimate associations.

It reveals who calls a suicide prevention line and who calls their elected official; who calls the local tea-party office and who calls Planned Parenthood.

The groups brief said the relevant fact for whether an expectation of privacy exists is that the comprehensive telephone records the government collects not just the records of a few calls over a few days but all of a persons calls over many years reveals highly personal information about the person and her life.

See the original post:
Emergency hearing sought to stop NSA 'spying' on Trump - WND.com

This story, from the Jan. 12, 2017, edition of the New York Times, was little-remarked upon at the time, but suddenly has taken on far greater significance in light of current events:

In its final days, the Obama administration has expanded the power of the National Security Agency to share globally intercepted personal communications with the governments 16 other intelligence agencies before applying privacy protections.

The new rules significantly relax longstanding limits on what the N.S.A. may do with the information gathered by its most powerful surveillance operations, which are largely unregulated by American wiretapping laws. These include collecting satellite transmissions, phone calls and emails that cross network switches abroad, and messages between people abroad that cross domestic network switches.

The change means that far more officials will be searching through raw data. Essentially, the government is reducing the risk that the N.S.A. will fail to recognize that a piece of information would be valuable to another agency, but increasing the risk that officials will see private information about innocent people.

One of the central questions behind the Mike Flynn flap that should have been asked but largely wasn't is: who was wiretapping the general? The answer, we know now, was the National Security Agency, formerly known as No Such Agency, the nation's foremost signals-intelligence (SIGINT) collection department.

Once compartmentalized to avoid injuring private citizens caught up in the net of the Black Widow(as we all are already) and her technological successors, the NSA was suddenly handed greater latitude in what it could share with other, perhaps more politicized bodies of the intelligence community. Why?

Let's call the roster of the bad guys:

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch signed the new rules, permitting the N.S.A. to disseminate raw signals intelligence information, on Jan. 3, after the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr., signed them on Dec. 15, according to a 23-page, largely declassified copy of the procedures.

Previously, the N.S.A. filtered information before sharing intercepted communications with another agency, like the C.I.A. or the intelligence branches of the F.B.I. and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The N.S.A.s analysts passed on only information they deemed pertinent, screening out the identities of innocent people and irrelevant personal information.

Now, other intelligence agencies will be able to search directly through raw repositories of communications intercepted by the N.S.A. and then apply such rules for minimizing privacy intrusions.

This is not expanding the substantive ability of law enforcement to get access to signals intelligence, said Robert S. Litt, the general counsel to Mr. Clapper. It is simply widening the aperture for a larger number of analysts, who will be bound by the existing rules.

Read the original:
Surprise: At the End, Obama Administration Gave NSA Broad New Powers - PJ Media

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Binney was an architect of the NSAs surveillance program. He became a famed whistleblower when he resigned on October 31, 2001 after spending more than 30 years with the agency.

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Asked whether he believes the NSA is tapping Trump, Binney replied: Absolutely. How did they get the phone call between the president and the president of Australia? Or the one that he made with Mexico? Those are not targeted foreigners.

Binney further contended the NSA may have been behind a data leak that might have revealed that Michael Flynn, Trumps national security adviser, allegedly misled Vice President Mike Pence and other Trump administration officials about the contents of his phone calls with Russias ambassador to Washington.

Regarding Flynns case, Binney stated of the NSA:

If they werent behind it, they certainly had the data. Now the difference here is that FBI and CIA have direct access inside the NSA databases. So, they may be able to go directly in there and see that material there. And NSA doesnt monitor that. They dont even monitor their own people going into databases.

So, they dont monitor what CIA and FBI do. And theres no oversight or attempted oversight by any of the committees or even the FISA court. So, any way you look at it, ultimately the NSA is responsible because they are doing the collection on everybody inside the United States. Phone calls. Emails. All of that stuff.

He was speaking on the podcast edition of this reporters talk radio program, Aaron Klein Investigative Radio, broadcast on New Yorks AM 970 The Answer and Philadelphias NewsTalk 990 AM.

During the interview, Binney referred to a 2008 report referencing two NSA whistleblowers who said they worked at the agencys station in Fort Gordon, Georgia and were asked to not only monitor phone calls of U.S. citizens but transcribe them.

Utilizing data provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden, the Guardian and Washington Post in June 2013 released a series of articles reporting that the NSA was collecting the telephone records of millions of Americans.

Prior to those reports, National Intelligence Director James Clapper claimed on March 12, 2013 during an open session of the Senate Intelligence Committee that the NSA was not wittingly collecting data on Americans.

Not wittingly, Clapper said when asked whether the NSA was spying on U.S. citizens. There are cases where they could inadvertently, perhaps, collect, but not wittingly.

During the interview, Binney charged that the NSA was over-funded and out of control.

He offered recommendations for how he says Trump can reign in the agency:

He can order that they put a filter on the front end of all their collection that eliminates any U.S. citizens anywhere in the world unless they have a warrant for it. If they dont, then he has to put people in jail if they violated.

So, I mean, thats the way to do it. The other way is to cut their budget. I mean they are given too much money anyway. When they are given too much money, they get to do wild and crazy things. And this is wild and crazy. Violations of the Constitutions 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments.

On Wednesday, Trump singled out the NSA and FBI in a series of tweets about Flynns case as well as reports in the New York Times and Washington Post claiming further contacts between Trump advisors and Russia.

The Times on Tuesday seemed to be quoting from intercepted phone calls to report on alleged contacts between Trump campaign aides and Russian intelligence agents.

The Times reported:

Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald J. Trumps 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election, according to four current and former American officials.

American law enforcement and intelligence agencies intercepted the communications around the same time they were discovering evidence that Russia was trying to disrupt the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee, three of the officials said.

Aaron Klein is Breitbarts Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, Aaron Klein Investigative Radio. Follow him onTwitter @AaronKleinShow.Follow him onFacebook.

Originally posted here:
EXCLUSIVE NSA Whistleblower: Agency 'Absolutely' Tapping Trump's Calls - Breitbart News

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John Schindler, a former National Security Agency analyst and current columnist for the New York Observer, said Wednesday that the intelligence community will go nuclear against President Donald Trump.

The national security columnist also quoted a senior intelligence official telling him that Trump will die in jail.Now we go nuclear. [Intelligence community] war going to new levels. Just got an [email from] from senior [intelligence community] friend, it began: He will die in jail,' Schindler tweeted.

The Observer columnist has for months taken a strong stance against Trump. He recently wrote an article called The Spy Revolt Against Trump Begins. (RELATED: Rep King: Leakers In Intel Community Have To Be Purged)

This came after President Trump angrily tweeted about continued leaks to major media outlets. Information is being illegally given to the failing [New York Times] & [Washington Post] by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?). Just like Russia, Trump wrote. (RELATED: Journalists Go Nuts Over Rehashed New York Times Story)

Schindler received heat for his tweet suggesting a coup by the intelligence community.

ABC News chief foreign correspondent Terry Moran tweeted, If this source is for real, talk of a Deep State coup arent insane. [The president] will die in jail? Who do you think you are?

The former NSA analyst stood by his comment and said, Surprisingly, some US spies consider [the president] colluding with [Russian intelligence services] + Kremlin, [including] election theft, to be kinda treason-y.

Excerpt from:
Former NSA Analyst Claims Intel Community Will Go 'Nuclear' Against Trump - Daily Caller

Two quotes are associated with Angela Merkel's third term as chancellor. In the summer of 2015, when masses of refugees arrived in Germany, Merkel declared: "We can do this." The other famous statement she made referred to the revelation that the NSA had monitored her personal mobile phone: "Spying among friends - that is simply not done." If anyone searches the line in German on the internet, the Google results for the two lines differ greatly: There are about 1.6 million listings for the refugee policy quote and only 25,000 for the NSA scandal line.

The great difference unexpectedly, but clearly, reflects the perceived public relevance of the two subjects. Refugees still play a large role - in politics and in everyday life. The fact that intelligence agencies systematically spy on private lives has more or less become a topic for experts. The uproar over Edward Snowden's revelations, more or less, dwindled down within a year.

High-ranking witnesses

The German NSA inquiry committee has been meeting for the past three years. No one seems to be interested in its work unless high-ranking witnesses appear, like former foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier; the former head of the chancellery, Ronald Pofalla; his successor, Peter Altmaier, or the former president of the foreign intelligence agency, the BND, Gerhard Schindler. Now, Merkel will contribute to the evidence being taken by the inquiry committee. After that, the final report will be written and it will contain the statements and comments made by over 100 witnesses and experts who have testified. The report must be completed by the second half of June.

Altmeier, the head of the chancellory, already has the witness questioning behind him, unlike his boss, Merkel

The name Merkel will probably appear often in this enormous work. Nonetheless, German members of parliament do not expect much from the chancellor's testimony. Why would she know more about NSA activities than her specialists? Last Monday it become clear how little they allegedly knew about tapping the phones of allies when secret service commissioner Klaus-Dieter Fritsche; Altmaier and Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert, expressed their views on the matter.

How was Merkel's second most famous line meant?

The actual or staged unawareness can summed up in one line. Klaus-Dieter Fritsche said: "If you do not have any clues to ask about, then you do not ask." Yet many questions are still unanswered. Who knew - and when - that the BND, and not just the NSA, eavesdropped on allies? Why did the chancellery not know about it? After all, it is responsible for supervising Germany's foreign intelligence service. Merkel must prepare for these questions when she takes the witness stand at the inquiry committee. Above all, the members of parliament want to know what she meant by: "Spying among friends - that is simply not done."

Was it true indignation? Or was it a tactical move in the hope that the commotion would soon subside? The Social Democrats' chairman in the inquiry committee, Christian Flisek, suspects that Merkel had put up a "protection barrier" around herself in order to find out as little as possible about the behavior of intelligence agencies and that Fritsche was probably enlisted as her "personal firewall." However, Flisek had expected Merkel to make the NSA/BND affair a matter for the boss. The opposition also accuses the chancellor of lacking the will to solve the case.

Strbele at the first of many NSA investigation committee hearings in April 2014

Green Party member Hans-Christian Strbele is firmly convinced that "Merkel had a lot of information." On the one hand, he hopes for "truth, clarity and credibility" when she takes the stand before the inquiry committee. On the other hand, he expects flimsy answers to his questions and the questions of other parliamentarians "because we are in an election campaign." That is what Strbele suggested at the beginning of the NSA/BND affair a few months before German parliamentary elections in 2013. Merkel's then-head of the chancellery declared the whole affair to be over after a meeting of the Parliamentary Control Board for Secret Services.

From the opposition's point of view, he wanted to keep information about the actual scale of the spying activities out of the election campaign. Whatever the motives were at that time, it seems like things went Merkel's way. The affair will be remembered for that one line. Martina Renner, chairwoman of the Left Party in the inquiry committee, is annoyed. She has called it one of the greatest intelligence scandals with minimal consequences.

Go here to read the rest:
Germany's NSA inquiry committee under pressure - Deutsche Welle