Standards must stand as agents manufacture “wrongs” as they manufactured WMDs
Excerpt, editing, brief commentary by Carolyn Bennett
On grounds of “a self-certification” they believe serves the “national interest,” the United States National Security Agency (NSA) and the intelligence community in general focuses on getting intelligence” by any means possible.” Though originally tailored narrowly for foreign intelligence gathering overseas, the NSA increasingly focuses within the United States ─ specifically targeting communications of everyone. [Edward Joseph Snowden]
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| Pretext Manufactured evidence Breach of civil liberties, human rights, law, ethics |
BREAKDOWN USA
Insidious Creep
“The greatest fear I have regarding the outcome for America
of these disclosures is that nothing will change,” says American whistleblower Edward
Joseph Snowden.
“People will see in the media all of these disclosures. They’ll know the length that the government is
going to grant themselves powers, unilaterally, to create greater control over
American society and global society,” he said ─ “but they won’t be willing to take the risks
necessary to stand up and fight to change things, to force their
representatives to actually take a stand in their interests.
“In the months ahead, in the years ahead it’s only going to
get worse ─ until eventually there will be a time where policies will change
because the only thing that restricts the activities of the surveillance state
are policy.”
(Remember that nineteenth-century slavery was protected under policy and state laws upheld by federal lawmakers until new laws were written, old laws were changed, guarantees in the
U.S. Constitution upheld and progressive laws enforced.)
“Even our agreements with other sovereign governments we consider to be a stipulation of policy rather than a
stipulation of law,” Snowden said; “and because of that, a new leader will be elected and they will
flip the switch; pronounce that ─
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| Edward Joseph Snowden |
…because of the crisis, because of
the dangers that we face in the world, some new and unpredicted threat ─ we
need more authority, we need more power, and there will be nothing the people
can do at that point to oppose it. It will be turnkey tyranny.
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American technical contractor, whistleblower, former Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee and contractor for the National Security
Agency (NSA), Edward Joseph Snowden has released to The Guardian (UK) and The
Washington Post (USA) classified material on top-secret NSA programs including
the PRISM surveillance program.
Wikipedia
note: Edward Joseph Snowden: Born: June 21, 1983; Elizabeth City, North
Carolina, United States; Residence: Hawaii. Currently in Hong Kong; Nationality:
United States; Occupation: System administrator; Employer: Booz Allen Hamilton;
Known for PRISM whistleblower.
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| Robin Cook a mysterious death |
The Democracy Now program today aired an interview Glenn Greenwald had over the weekend with Edward
Snowden and the most poignant question/answer for me was addressed to the often-heard mantra:
“I don’t care if the government watches or listens in on my private actions and conversations” because
“I have nothing to hide” or “I’ve done nothing wrong.” This kind of response
has always irritated and baffled me on several levels: whose whimsy defines “wrong”;
societies exist as “societies” (diversities within a whole) by the protection of
and adherence to law, human rights principles and conventions, and ordinary
ethics. These standards exist and must exist so that all may live free, not as
license for any agent or agency or individual or head of state to do whatever pleases them. The preservation of domestic and global society (a reasonable knitting or coexistence of varieties of us) depends on adherence to rules of relations enshrined in law, human
rights principles and convention, ethical standards.
Surveillance manufactures “wrong”
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| U.S. against Iraq |
In his response, Snowden addressed the consequence of what heads
of state and rogue agents can and will do with a license to do whatever they
want to do. Greenwald asked, “Why should people care about surveillance?” Snowden
answered ─
…Even if you’re not doing anything wrong, you’re being watched and recorded.
“Storage capability of these systems increases every year, consistently by orders of magnitude; and it is getting to the point where you
don’t have to have done anything wrong.
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| Iraq U.S. shocked and awed |
“You simply have to eventually fall under suspicion from
somebody ─ even by a wrong call (consider tribes, factions, groups, gangs,
neighbors bent on revenge, my insert) ─
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| U.S. terrorizing Iraqis into the future based onmanufactured evidence: Nonexistent WMDs |
…and then they can use the system
to go back in time and scrutinize every decision you’ve ever made, every friend
you’ve ever discussed something with, and attack you on that basis, to sort of
derive (develop, create, conjecture, manufacture,
my insert) suspicion from an innocent life and paint anyone in the context of a
wrongdoer.
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| Daniel Ellsberg |
…‘there has not been in American
history a more important leak than Edward Snowden’s release of NSA material –
and that includes the Pentagon Papers, for which I was responsible 40 years
ago.’
Snowden has done an ‘incalculable’ service to his country. His
leaks might prevent America from becoming a surveillance state.
A Der Spiegel magazine article reviewing Snowden’s action was
titled ‘The New World-Improvers’ (‘Die Neuen Weltverbesserer’)
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| Edward Joseph Snowden |
At the same time, the United States National Security Agency
has asked the U. S. Department of Justice to conduct a criminal probe into
Snowden’s actions. The U.S. Select Committee on Intelligence chair Mike Rogers
said the whistleblower ‘should be prosecuted.’ Booz Allen Hamilton called Snowden’s
actions ‘shocking’ and ‘a grave violation of the code of conduct and core
values of our firm.’
Dragnet: reckless waste and abuse
“The NSA,” Snowden said in that interview with Greenwald, “specifically
targets the communications of everyone.
It ingests them by default.
It collects them in its system, and
it filters them, and it analyzes them, and it measures them, and it stores them
for periods of time ─ simply because that’s the easiest, most efficient and
most valuable way to achieve these ends.
(Valuable to whom, efficient for
whom – to say they are doing something to combat crises they have also
manufactured? My question)
While they may be intending to
target someone associated with a foreign government or someone that they
suspect of ‘terrorism,’ they are collecting your communications to do so.
Any analyst at any time can target
anyone, any selector anywhere.
“Where those communications will be picked up depends on the
range of the sensor networks and the authorities with which that analyst is
empowered,” Snowden said. “Not all analysts have the ability to target everything. But, sitting
at my desk, I certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone ─ from you or
your accountant to a federal judge, even to the president if I had a personal
email.”
Sources and notes
“‘You’re Being Watched’: Edward Snowden Emerges as Source
Behind Explosive Revelations of NSA Spying,” June 10, 2013, http://www.democracynow.org/2013/6/10/youre_being_watched_edward_snowden_emerges
Snowden has fled to Hong Kong, a special administrative
region that falls within the sovereignty of the People’s Republic of China.
Snowden has expressed hope of being granted asylum in Iceland. The U.S.
Department of Justice has classified Snowden’s involvement in the PRISM
surveillance program as a ‘criminal matter.’ Snowden fate remains unclear. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden
See also at Democracy Now
“Glenn Greenwald
on How NSA Leaker Edward Snowden Helped Expose a ‘Massive
Surveillance Apparatus,’” June 10, 2013, http://www.democracynow.org/2013/6/10/glenn_greenwald_on_how_nsa_leaker
“‘On a Slippery
Slope to a Totalitarian State’: NSA Whistleblower
Rejects Gov’t Defense of Spying,” June 10, 2013, http://www.democracynow.org/2013/6/10/on_a_slippery_slope_to_a
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