Category Archives: NSA

Republicans have long supported the sweeping surveillance capabilities of the NSA and have insisted theyre vitally important to national security. But with their man Trump caught up in multiple scandals that may involve intelligence services targeting his communications, privacy is suddenly a top priority.

The NSAs Prism and upstream data collection programs first hit the public consciousness when Edward Snowden fled the country and revealed extensive details about the agencys enormous powers to intercept foreign and domestic communications. The programs fall under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act which is up for renewal at the end of the year. Just last week, officials from the Trump administration said that the White House supports the clean reauthorization [of Section 702] and the administration believes its necessary to protect the security of the nation. But that may have changed.

Devin Nunes is the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee. He was part of the Trump transition team and has reportedly developed a close relationship with the president. He also is one of the few members of congress that seems to take Trumps allegation that Obama illegally wiretapped him seriously. Asked today about the renewal of Section 702 in the midst of continued intelligence leaks about Trump and Russia, Nunes said, I think its very problematic.

Many people feel that the investigation of the Trump campaigns relationship with Russia should be handled by an independent commission, rather than the House intelligence committee. Nunes has fought back against that suggestion. They can say whatever they want, but at the end of the day, I hold the gavel, theyre in the minority and were going to do what we want to do, he told CNN. We are not going to give up that jurisdiction to anyone else as long as Im here.

Nunes absolute refusal to acknowledge the growing body of evidence that Trump and his team have repeatedly lied about contacts with the Russian government has led to the impression that he is acting as a shield for the administration. And now, he thinks that the NSAs ability to surveil foreign powers and any American communications that might come up in that surveillance might be a problem. He elaborated at todays press conference:

Ive expressed this concern to the IC [intelligence community]. We have sent them many followup questions as it relates to intelligence thats been collected. And we expect prompt answers. I think we also expect unprecedented answers from them of the information that were going to be asking for.

Democrats have typically agreed with Republicans that the NSA programs are necessary and that doesnt seem to have changed. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, told the Guardian today that Section 702 has been a far more impactful and important counterterrorism program and tool. But, That doesnt mean though that we shouldnt explore whether there are ways to improve any of the protections in existing law or whether there are any changes that we need to make to the structure of the program.

No one knows how many American citizens communications have been caught up in the NSAs net at this point. In 2014, The Guardian found tens of thousands of Americans emails were intercepted under one program. Lawmakers have shown little concern. Maybe Trumps relentless self-interest will finally result in something good being done about this egregious overreach. More likely hell find a way to make it more horrible, if not through intent, through incompetence.

[The Guardian]

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Republicans Starting to Think the NSA Has Too Much Surveillance Power - Gizmodo

Section 702 permits the NSA to collect communications and associated data from targets it reasonably believes to be non-Americans overseas suspected of contact with a foreign power. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

The escalating feud between Donald Trump and US intelligence is now putting the top 2017 legislative priority of the intelligence agencies at risk.

At the end of the year, a broad legal authority permitting sweeping surveillance is set to expire. The National Security Agency considers the authority, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), pivotal to fighting terrorism and stopping espionage. Civil libertarians consider the measure the wellspring of the NSAs Prism and upstream mass communications-data collection unconstitutional.

The typical balance of power on Capitol Hill over surveillance is such that opponents of renewing Section 702 face strong political headwinds. The measure was reauthorized with minimal challenge in 2012.

Now the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee has thrown reauthorization into question after extensive leaking about Trump and Russia that the president and his Capitol Hill allies have blamed on the US intelligence community.

Asked at a Tuesday press conference about the renewal of section 702 in light of ongoing leaks concerning Trump and Russia, Devin Nunes said, I think its very problematic.

He continued: Ive expressed this concern to the IC [intelligence community]. We have sent them many followup questions as it relates to intelligence thats been collected. And we expect prompt answers. I think we also expect unprecedented answers from them of the information that were going to be asking for.

First passed in 2008 to give legal cover to George W Bush-era warrantless surveillance, Section 702 permits the NSA to collect communications and associated data from targets it reasonably believes to be non-Americans overseas suspected of contact with a foreign power, even if they are in communication with Americans. The surveillance does not require a court order specifying its targets, purposes, or time frame; only the reapproval of the attorney general and the director of national intelligence.

NSA interception of communications between Russian officials or suspected operatives and Trumps associates would not necessarily involve using Section 702. The NSA or FBI can acquire such communications under the terms of the original 1978 Fisa law. Because of a provision in the law about understanding the foreign-intelligence value of the intercepted communications, neither agency would necessarily have to purge references to Americans.

It is not only the NSA that values Section 702 ardently. The FBI director, James Comey, last year called the surveillance activities permitted by Section 702 far more important than the bulk domestic phone-records data program that Congress curtailed in 2015. The FBI is permitted to warrantlessly search through the NSAs hoards of foreign-focused data with few restrictions.

Last week, as the House judiciary committee began hearings over the expiring provision, the Trump administration told Reuters it favors Section 702 reauthorization.

We support the clean reauthorization and the administration believes its necessary to protect the security of the nation, an anonymous official said.

Trumps nominee for director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, testified that he agreed Section 702 is the crown jewels of US intelligence and the intelligence community also sees it that way, the entire community.

Throughout Barack Obamas presidency and the Edward Snowden leaks, the vast majority of national-security-focused Republicans embraced the measure without reservation, with Republicans on the intelligence committee leading the way.

Nunes himself has been a full-throated defender of Section 702. Last year, he and colleague Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia took point in opposing a civil-libertarian effort to block it through an amendment to a defense-spending bill.

Citing the then recent case of Orlando nightclub murderer Omar Mateen, Nunes and Westmoreland circulated a letter to colleagues claiming the loss of 702 would deprive the intelligence community of the authorities it needs to detect and stop terrorist attacks.

But since then, Nunes has become a crucial ally to Trump. Nunes served on Trumps transition team, a closeness that has raised questions about Nunes independence as his committee investigates Trump associates ties to Russia.

Nunes has ardently defended Trumps first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and implied without evidence that the intelligence agencies abused their surveillance powers in leaking accounts of Flynns December conversations with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, that proved to be his downfall.

Trump has blamed the intelligence agencies for the leaks, in particular the FBI and NSA, and his administration has suggested that career intelligence officials are in league with former Obama officials. He has recently taken to claiming, baselessly, that Obama ordered Trump to be surveilled, an act that would be illegal if true.

There is no evidence to support that claim of Obama ordering Trump to be wiretapped, a US official told the Guardian over the weekend.

But Nunes has given the accusation credence. His committee on 1 March added the possible leaks of classified information that Trump wants investigated to its inquiry on Russian measures to interfere with the 2016 election, which the intelligence agencies publicly assessed in January were for Trumps benefit.

Typically weve had great trust with our intelligence agencies, Nunes said on Tuesday.

And I continue to have that trust, but we have to verify, in fact, that all of the tools that are in place, that we oversee, are being used ethically, responsibly and by the law. And if anybody has abused those, we want to know about that. And thats part of the reason why its important for us to know whether or not, as some press reports have indicated, the Department of Justice or any other agency tried to get the warrant on anybody related to the Trump campaign or any other campaign for that matter.

Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said the authority under Section 702 would be preserved when asked by the Guardian on Tuesday about Nunes comments. But he did not rule out potential reforms to the law if necessary.

Section 702 has been a far more impactful and important counter-terrorism program and tool, Schiff said during a press conference on Capitol Hill.

That doesnt mean though that we shouldnt explore whether there are ways to improve any of the protections in existing law or whether there are any changes that we need to make to the structure of the program.

Schiff said the intelligence committee had been engaged in periodic briefings with members, given the law is poised to sunset this year. Should any questions come up in the same context that are pertinent to the Russia investigation, he added, they ought to be answered so members understand how the program works [and] that its conducted in a lawful way.

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Trump v US intelligence: growing feud puts NSA's legislative priority at risk - The Guardian

Central Tech is proud to announce the NSA CyberPatriot Team earned a spot as a national finalist in the CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Defense Competition. The competition will be held April 2-6, 2017 in Baltimore, MD.

CyberPatriot is an excellent opportunity for students to learn how to solve real world problems using real world solutions. CyberPatriot teams must learn to work together to overcome challenges that could not be completed by individuals, said Nick Gaunt, NSA instructor, Central Tech.

Central Tech was the only Oklahoma school to finish in the top twelve in their division and will move on to the national competition.

With over 4,400 teams representing all 50 States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Department of Defense schools in Europe and the Pacific, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Hungary, this years competition was record-breaking. All teams competed in a series of online rounds hoping to secure a top twenty-eight finalist spot and a chance for an all-expenses paid trip to the competition.

We are thrilled to see both returning teams, who continue pushing for excellence in defending their titles, as well as so many new teams qualify for National Finals, said Diane Miller, Director, Global Cyber Education and Workforce Development Programs, Northrop Grumman. Year-over-year, CyberPatriot demonstrates that it is truly accessible to all, creating a much-needed diverse and highly skilled cyber workforce to protect and defend our nations systems. We are so proud to be part of this national imperative and wish the competitors all the best!

CyberPatriot, an education initiative established by the Air Force Association and presented by the Northrop Grumman Foundation, is a one-of-a-kind cyber defense competition designed to inspire students toward futures in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Other program sponsors include Cyber Diamond sponsors AT&T Federal and the AT&T Foundation, Cisco, Microsoft, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense; Cyber Gold sponsors Facebook, Riverside Research, Splunk, and Symantec; and Cyber Silver sponsors Air Force Reserve, American Military University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Leidos, and University of Maryland University College. For more information about the CyberPatriot competition; visit their website http://www.uscyberpatriot.org.

Central Tech would like to congratulate our CyberPatriot team and wish them well at national finals. For more information about Central Tech or the NSA program, visit CentralTech.Edu.

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Central Tech's NSA CyberPatriot Team Is Only Oklahoma Team Going To National Competition - Cleveland American

Two days after researchers exposed aNational Security Agency-tied hacking group that operated in secret for more than a decade, CIA hackers convened an online discussion aimed at preventing the same kind of unwelcome attention. The thread, according to a document WikiLeaks published Tuesday, was titled "What did Equation do wrong, and how can we avoid doing the same?"

Equation Group eventually came to light because of a handful of errors its members made over the years. One was the widespread use of a distinctive encryption function that used the RC5 cipher with negative programming constantsrather than with the positive constants favored by most developers. The nonstandard practice made it easier to identify Equation Group tools. Another mistake: failing to scrub variable names, developer account names, and similar fingerprints left in various pieces of Equation Group malware. A third error was the failure to renew some of the domain name registrations Equation Group-infected computers reported to. When Kaspersky Lab obtained the addresses, the researchers were shocked to find some machines infected by a malware platform abandoned more than 10 years earlier were still connecting to it.

It was this intrigue that set the stage for the online discussion about how CIA hackers could avoid the same pitfalls.

"As for what 'Equation' did wrong... All their tools shared code," one user, who like all the others was identified only by a unique identifier WikiLeaks used in place of a username, concluded on February 18, 2015, two days after the Kaspersky Lab findings were published. "The custom RC5 was everywhere. The techniques for positive ID (hashing) was used in the same way in multiple tools across generations."

The person continued:"The shared code appears to be the largest single factor is [sic] allowing [Kaspersky Lab] to tie all these tools together. The acquisition and use of C&C domains was probably number 2 on the list, and I'm sure the [CIA's computer operations group] infrastructure people are paying attention to this."

The person also suggested peers avoid using non-standard crypto functions, avoid using custom names in code, and scrub code clean of any PDB database information provided by Microsoft's Visual Studio debugger feature. The person wrote:

1. I would argue using custom crypto is always a mistake for two reasons. First, for the obvious problem described in the report. It makes your code look strange on deep RE inspection. Second, a custom routine greatly increases the odds you implemented the algorithm incorrectly and end up with a much weaker encryption scheme than intended.

2. Named kernel objects in general provide an easy signature for detection because it's usually a unique name. Using the same name in multiple tools is catastrophic.

3. This is PDB string, right? The PDB path should ALWAYS be stripped (I speak from experience. Ask me about Blackstone some time.). For Visual Studio user mode stuff, the /DEBUG linker switch should NOT be used. For drivers, it's a bit harder to avoid it, but a post-build step using binplace will strip the path information.

4. For other strings generally, yeah, search the binary for them. Don't use internal tool names in your code. It's less of a problem if leave-behind code doesn't have any exploit code in it.

The person went on to say, "The 'custom' crypto is more of [an] NSA falling to its own internal policies/standards which came about in response to prior problems. The problems included misconfigured crypto implementations that were corrected by using a single, optimized library.

"Unfortunately, this implementation used the pre-computed negative versions of constants instead of the positive constants in the reference implementation," the person wrote. "I think this is something we need to really watch and not standardize our selves into the same problem."

Other suggestions included the use, when possible, of publicly available crypto libraries, such as Microsoft Encryption Libraries, OpenSSL, and PolarSSL; creating a warning that would be displayed when unique names are embedded in the final binary file; and using a tool that would scan binaries for any usernames used on the local network.

The thread is part of a cache of 8,761 documents and files that WikiLeaks said were "obtained from an isolated, high-security network situated inside the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence in Langley, Virginia." The discussion provides a fly-on-the-wall account of some of the reactions to what must have been one of the more embarrassing exposures of NSA hacking. It wouldn't be surprising if members of NSA hacking units are having discussions of their own speculating on the cause of Tuesday's leak.

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After NSA hacking expos, CIA staffers asked where Equation Group went wrong - Ars Technica

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Rep.Jim Himes stopped by Fox News Monday broadcast ofTucker Carlson Tonight todiscuss surveillance of Trump Tower, which President Trump claimedwas carriedout by the Obama administration during the 2016 election.

Only minutes into the interview, the Connecticut Democrataccused Carlson of mis-categorizing anysurveillanceperformed on private citizensas spying, when its really law enforcement. (VIDEO: Josh Earnest Wont Deny Trump Tower Was Surveilled By Obama Administration)

WATCH:

You used the word spying, and I dont know what that means, Himes, who sits on the House Intelligence Community, told Carlson. Is that what police do when theyre listening in on drug dealers and child molesters?

Yes, and sometimes its justified, and sometimes it isnt, Carlson responded. But lets call it what it is.

No, spying is when we go to Russia andtry to recruit Russiangenerals into giving us Russiansecrets, Himes countered. When law enforcement is listening to anybody, its law enforcement.

You can watch the entire interview below.

WATCH:

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Tucker, Jim Himes Spar Over Alleged NSA Surveillance [VIDEO ... - Daily Caller

CNN's Jim Acosta confronts Donald Trump at a White House press conference (screen grab)

Former NSA analyst John Schindler, who now is a national security columnist for the Observer, reported on Tuesday that his sources in the intelligence community believe that President Donald Trumps White House is colluding with Russian intelligence to target journalists.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Schindler revealed: Learned fm very reliable IC sources that Trump WH, w/help fm Russian intel, is targeting US journalists.

Learned fm very reliable IC sources that Trump WH, w/help fm Russian intel, is targeting US journalists. Rough road ahead. Get ready, peeps

John Schindler (@20committee) March 7, 2017

Although Schindler provided no additional details, its no secret that Trump has all but declared war on the media during his first 45 days in office. However, the president has embraced conservative media sources like Fox News, Breitbart and various right-wing blogs.

In one case, the White House tried to punish Politico reporter Alex Isenstadt by planting a false story accusing him of laughing at the death of a Navy SEAL. Trump has called the media fake news and an enemy of the people.

The fake news doesnt tell the truth, Trump told a group of conservatives last month. It doesnt represent the people, it doesnt and never will represent the people, and were going to do something about it.

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Ex-NSA analyst: Intel sources say White House 'targeting journalists' with 'help from Russian intel' - Raw Story

Considering the new administration has stepped up its ousting of immigrants, expressed its disinterest in pursuing civil rights investigations of the nation's law enforcement agencies, applauded asset forfeiture, and declared war on leakers, it comes as no surprise the White House supports a clean reauthorization of Section 702 surveillance.

The Trump administration does not want to reform an internet surveillance law to address privacy concerns, a White House official told Reuters on Wednesday, saying it is needed to protect national security.

The announcement could put President Donald Trump on a collision course with Congress, where some Republicans and Democrats have advocated curtailing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, parts of which are due to expire at the end of the year.

Section 702 has dodged reform efforts, thanks in part to the intelligence community's unwillingness to discuss anything about it. Repeated requests by representatives for the NSA to come up with an estimate of how many US persons' communications are swept up "inadvertently" have been met with shrugs and stalling. Five years after he was first asked, James Clapper promised to have something put together "soon." We're still waiting.

Not helping the matter is the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board's evaluation of the program. After finding the Section 215 phone metadata program both useless and illegal, it had very little to say about the NSA's internet backbone dragnet. The best it could offer was that it was likely legal and any collection of US persons' communications was probably "inadvertent." It agreed the massive collection program ran right up against the edges of the Fourth Amendment, but didn't cross it -- at least as far as it was willing to examine.

Unfortunately, there will be no follow-up arriving before the reauthorization period closes. The PCLOB is mostly dead and unlikely to be revived by an administration looking for a no-questions-asked rubber stamping of Section 702's five-year renewal. Given that the unanswered questions about domestic surveillance weren't answered in time for the 2012 renewal debate, it's highly probable the Director of National Intelligence's office won't be providing these numbers to Congressional representatives ahead of the December deadline.

Hopefully, there will be a more organized push back against a clean reauthorization. Thanks to multiple leaks, Congressional representatives should actually have some idea how much domestic surveillance occurs under this statute. It's more critical than ever that the program receive a detailed examination before the vote, considering the outgoing president gave more than a dozen federal agencies access to unminimized data/communications collected by the NSA.

And Trump himself has seen no reason to roll that sharing back, despite his antipathy towards much of Obama's orders and legislation. Ironically, his Saturday morning tweetstorm griping about the Trump Tower being "wire tapped" by Obama ahead of the November election. Once again, Trump has offered no proof of this claim, but even if taken at face value, it would be the byproduct of the Section 702 program he has stated he wants renewed with no changes. Communications with foreign persons is fair game under Section 702, even if the communications originate in the US. The FBI's acquisition of these communications (if that's what has happened) is specifically approved by the recent data-sharing program. Perhaps Trump might want to take a closer look at the program before attempting to shove it past inquistive legislators.

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Trump Administration Wants A Clean Reauthorization For NSA Surveillance - Techdirt

Judge Andrew Napolitano broke down the legal issues at play following the explosive allegation by President Donald Trumpthat President Barack Obama ordered a wiretap of Trump Tower during the presidential campaign.

Napolitano said much of the analysis in the last few days is "mixing apples and oranges," emphasizing that the FBI can obtain search warrants to look for evidence of crimes, while the NSA can obtain a warrant to investigate national security matters.

The Fox News senior judicial analyst said the NSA is allowed by law to capture "all digital information" within the United States and the president can obtain transcribed copies of those intercepted communications.

He added that the FISA statute states "the President of the United States can order surveillance on any person in the United States in conjunction with a certification filed by the attorney general."

"It's profoundly unconstitutional but it is legal because the statute says it," said Napolitano. "Think about this: if you're Barack Obama and you have the ability by making a phone call to hear what Donald Trump is saying, would you bother getting a warrant? Why would you get a warrant?"

Obama's spokesman said Saturday that no such order was ever given.

"A cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice. As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false," the statement read.

Shannon Bream asked whether Trump could access a surveillance order from the previous administration if it exists.

"I don't know that FISA would give him the orders, but he could get them from NSA," the judge explained.

Watch the judge's full analysis on "America's Newsroom."

Mark Levin: 'Donald Trump Is the Victim' in Alleged Obama Wiretapping Scandal

Former DOJ Lawyer: Lynch, Comey Could Have 'Intimate Knowledge' of Alleged Wiretapping

'You're Being Disingenuous!': Tucker Battles Dem Calling for Sessions Probe

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Judge Nap: Obama Wiretap Order Would Be 'Profoundly Unconstitutional But Legal' - Fox News Insider

A former top intelligence official-turned-whistleblowerat the National Security Agency says surveillance programs by the NSA could have been keeping tabs on the Trump campaign and that their intelligence could have been shared with other agencies.

William Binney, a legend at the NSA, laid out the case for warrantless wiretapping of Trump Tower and how other intel agencies like the CIA could have had access to the wiretaps.

Fox News national security correspondent James Rosen himself bugged by the Obama administration says Trump may be right:

ZeroHedge Blog:

Washington's Blog asked the highest-level NSA whistleblower in history - Bill Binney - whether he thought Trump had been bugged.

Binney is the NSA executive whocreatedthe agencys mass surveillance program for digital information, who served as theseniortechnical director within the agency, who managedsix thousandNSA employees.

He was a 36-year NSA veteran widely regarded as a legend within the agency and the NSAsbest-everanalyst and code-breaker.

Binney also mapped out the Soviet command-and-control structure before anyone else knew how, and so predicted Soviet invasions before they happened (in the 1970s, he decrypted the Soviet Unions command system, which provided the US and its allies with real-time surveillance of all Soviet troop movements and Russian atomic weapons).

Binney told Washington's Blog:

NSA has all the data through the Upstream programs (Fairview/Stormbrew/Blarney) [background] and backed up by second and some third party country collection.

Plus the FBI and CIA plus others, as of the last month of the Obama administration, have direct access to all the NSA collection (metadata and content on phones,email and banking/credit cards etc.) with no attempt at oversight by anybody [background]. This is all done under Executive Order 12333 [the order whichallows unlimited spyingno matter what intelligence officials claim] ....

FBI would only ask for a warrant if they wanted to be able to take it into court at some point given they have something meaningful as evidence. This is clearly true given the fact the President Trump's phone conversations with other country leaders were leaked to the mainstream media.

In other words, Binney is saying that Trumps phoneswerebugged by the NSA without a warrant - remember, top NSA whistleblowers have previously explained that the NSA is spying onvirtuallyallof the digital communications of Americans. - and the NSA shared the raw data with the CIA, FBI and other agencies.

If the FBI obtained a warrant to tap Trump's phone, it was a "parallel construction" to "launder" improperly-gained evidence through acceptable channels.

As we've previouslyexplained:

The government islaundering information gained through mass surveillancethrough other agencies, with an agreement that the agencies willrecreate the evidence in a parallel construction so they dont have to admit that the evidence came from unconstitutional spying. This data laundering is gettingworseandworse.

So does it mean that the NSA spying on Trump Tower actually turned up some dirt?

Maybe ...

Binney has no direct knowledge of any surveillance of Trump Tower. What he has is a roadmap for how it could have been done. He also shows the likelihood that agencies could have used whatever information was captured by the NSA's information dragnet.

A couple of caveats. First, Obama's executive order allowing other intel agencies access to the NSA's raw data was signed after the campaign was over. That doesn't mean that any wiretapped information from the Trump campaign wasn't gathered or even shared by NSA. It means that it is less likely thatintelligence agencies hadaccess to Trump campaign phone and email records before the election.

Secondly, from what we know so far, the FBI was not operating under any warrants, nor were there any FISA warrants issued to spy on the Trump campaign. Again, this doesn't mean that it didn't happen. In fact, Binney's roadmap shows it's more likely that if surveillance occurred, it was done without a warrant. But if we're looking for hard evidence or a paper trail proving Trump's charge, we may never find it.

Astronomer Carl Sagan popularized the adage, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Sagan was talking about alien visitation of Earth and the fact that to date, solid "evidence" has been lacking. The same should hold true in politics. Accusing the former president of the United States of conducting a secret wiretapping program against an oppositionpresidential candidateis just about as extraordinary as it gets. So far, those who claim that the charges are true including the president are lacking solid evidence that the bugging occurred. What is offered as "proof" is more opinion and supposition than substantiation of facts.

But Binney's roadmap, along with what we know of surveillance during the Obama years, points to extremely troubling questions that Democrats cannot dismiss as "conspiracy-mongering." In this case, there were a will and a way. For the sake of the country, Congress needs to get to the bottom of the matter.

A former top intelligence official-turned-whistleblowerat the National Security Agency says surveillance programs by the NSA could have been keeping tabs on the Trump campaign and that their intelligence could have been shared with other agencies.

William Binney, a legend at the NSA, laid out the case for warrantless wiretapping of Trump Tower and how other intel agencies like the CIA could have had access to the wiretaps.

Fox News national security correspondent James Rosen himself bugged by the Obama administration says Trump may be right:

ZeroHedge Blog:

Washington's Blog asked the highest-level NSA whistleblower in history - Bill Binney - whether he thought Trump had been bugged.

Binney is the NSA executive whocreatedthe agencys mass surveillance program for digital information, who served as theseniortechnical director within the agency, who managedsix thousandNSA employees.

He was a 36-year NSA veteran widely regarded as a legend within the agency and the NSAsbest-everanalyst and code-breaker.

Binney also mapped out the Soviet command-and-control structure before anyone else knew how, and so predicted Soviet invasions before they happened (in the 1970s, he decrypted the Soviet Unions command system, which provided the US and its allies with real-time surveillance of all Soviet troop movements and Russian atomic weapons).

Binney told Washington's Blog:

NSA has all the data through the Upstream programs (Fairview/Stormbrew/Blarney) [background] and backed up by second and some third party country collection.

Plus the FBI and CIA plus others, as of the last month of the Obama administration, have direct access to all the NSA collection (metadata and content on phones,email and banking/credit cards etc.) with no attempt at oversight by anybody [background]. This is all done under Executive Order 12333 [the order whichallows unlimited spyingno matter what intelligence officials claim] ....

FBI would only ask for a warrant if they wanted to be able to take it into court at some point given they have something meaningful as evidence. This is clearly true given the fact the President Trump's phone conversations with other country leaders were leaked to the mainstream media.

In other words, Binney is saying that Trumps phoneswerebugged by the NSA without a warrant - remember, top NSA whistleblowers have previously explained that the NSA is spying onvirtuallyallof the digital communications of Americans. - and the NSA shared the raw data with the CIA, FBI and other agencies.

If the FBI obtained a warrant to tap Trump's phone, it was a "parallel construction" to "launder" improperly-gained evidence through acceptable channels.

As we've previouslyexplained:

The government islaundering information gained through mass surveillancethrough other agencies, with an agreement that the agencies willrecreate the evidence in a parallel construction so they dont have to admit that the evidence came from unconstitutional spying. This data laundering is gettingworseandworse.

So does it mean that the NSA spying on Trump Tower actually turned up some dirt?

Maybe ...

Binney has no direct knowledge of any surveillance of Trump Tower. What he has is a roadmap for how it could have been done. He also shows the likelihood that agencies could have used whatever information was captured by the NSA's information dragnet.

A couple of caveats. First, Obama's executive order allowing other intel agencies access to the NSA's raw data was signed after the campaign was over. That doesn't mean that any wiretapped information from the Trump campaign wasn't gathered or even shared by NSA. It means that it is less likely thatintelligence agencies hadaccess to Trump campaign phone and email records before the election.

Secondly, from what we know so far, the FBI was not operating under any warrants, nor were there any FISA warrants issued to spy on the Trump campaign. Again, this doesn't mean that it didn't happen. In fact, Binney's roadmap shows it's more likely that if surveillance occurred, it was done without a warrant. But if we're looking for hard evidence or a paper trail proving Trump's charge, we may never find it.

Astronomer Carl Sagan popularized the adage, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Sagan was talking about alien visitation of Earth and the fact that to date, solid "evidence" has been lacking. The same should hold true in politics. Accusing the former president of the United States of conducting a secret wiretapping program against an oppositionpresidential candidateis just about as extraordinary as it gets. So far, those who claim that the charges are true including the president are lacking solid evidence that the bugging occurred. What is offered as "proof" is more opinion and supposition than substantiation of facts.

But Binney's roadmap, along with what we know of surveillance during the Obama years, points to extremely troubling questions that Democrats cannot dismiss as "conspiracy-mongering." In this case, there were a will and a way. For the sake of the country, Congress needs to get to the bottom of the matter.

Read the original here:
NSA whistleblower shows how candidate Trump could have been wiretapped - American Thinker (blog)

The CIA and Departments of Justice and Treasury are being sued by a prominent legal organization for their role in leaking highly classified material as part of an effort to undermine the credibility of former Trump administration National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, according to an announcement.

Judicial Watch, known for its role in exposing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, announced on Monday that it has sued several federal agencies for information related to Flynn's discussions with Russian officials before he officially entered the White House.

Flynn was forced to resign from the White House for apparently misleading President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence about the substance of these conversations.

However, theWashington Free Beaconand multiple other news outlets havereportedon a campaign by former Obama administration officials and loyalists to spread highly classified information in a bid to handicap the Trump administration.

In addition to Flynn, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House adviser SebastianGorkahave been the subject of multiple leaks aimed at jeopardizing their positions in the administration.

Click for more from The Washington Free Beacon.

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CIA, DOJ sued over leaks of classified info about former NSA Flynn - Fox News