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NSA Officers Sometimes Spy On Love Interests

Posted by timothy on from the lives-of-others dept.

Jah-Wren Ryel writes "The latest twist in the NSA coverage sounds like something out of a dime-store romance novel — NSA agents eavesdropping on their current and former girlfriends. Official categories of spying have included SIGINT (signals intelligence) and HUMINT (human intelligence) and now the NSA has added a new category to the lexicon — LOVEINT — which is surely destined to be a popular hashtag now."

13 of 384 comments (clear)

  1. I am shocked shocked I tell you by DarkOx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Really is anyone surprised?

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    1. Re:I am shocked shocked I tell you by kthreadd · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Wasn't the oversight supposed to prevent this?

    2. Re:I am shocked shocked I tell you by jamstar7 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Really is anyone surprised?

      Wasn't the oversight supposed to prevent this?

      Didn't the FISA court just reveal a few days ago that they can't do proper oversight on NSA? And nothing from the House Intelligence Committee either...

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    3. Re:I am shocked shocked I tell you by rtb61 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Oversight. Don't you get it at all. You are being handed another charade. NSA is meant to secure and gather intelligence, not act upon it, it was never set up that way.

      You are being handed the "BIG LIE", what counts is what other agencies who received private information from the NSA, who had access to the electronic interception established by the NSA, did with that illegally obtained information. They are now looking to through out a few scape goats, a smoke screen to hide the others well beyond the confines of the NSA.

      How much information did the US Department of Homeland Security receive from the NSA. What was the nature of the information, who had control over it and what did they do with it. The NSA are a direct feeder of information into the CIA, again, what information was received, who had access and what did they do with it. Next up the FBI, how much were the FBI in bed with the NSA, why did the FBI allow agents of the NSA to freely break the law. What information did the FBI receive and what did they do with it.

      Now you would think it would stop there, but oh no, it get's far far worse. It is public knowledge the corporate security contractors had full access to the information being gathered under the NSA auspices. Private for profit individuals with total and full access to all the intelligence information, now what the hell did they do with that information and who else did they give it too. What politicians and their backers had access to what information, to leverage power.

      Now you are getting a pretty little song and dance about a couple of NSA agents being naughty, all the while else the NSA provided access too with out any control at all and no record of what they did and Uncle Tom Obama the choom gang coward pretending it all stops at the NSA's door. The intelligence gatherer and not at the CIA's, Department of Homeland Security, FBI's et al (basically the whole US military industrial complex and it's financing banks). Those are the organisations that act upon the information provided by the NSA, they were all in on it, they all knew it was going on and they all had access to the information.

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    4. Re:I am shocked shocked I tell you by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Informative

      According to TFA most incidents were "self reported", meaning someone failed a polygraph. Since polygraphs are bullshit we know a lot of times the criminal abusing this power got away with it.

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    5. Re:I am shocked shocked I tell you by arobatino · · Score: 5, Insightful

      According to TFA most incidents were "self reported", meaning someone failed a polygraph. Since polygraphs are bullshit we know a lot of times the criminal abusing this power got away with it.

      Not to mention that it's not in the NSA's self-interest to learn about these cases, since it makes them look bad. So they probably don't ask more than the most perfunctory questions in this area.

    6. Re:I am shocked shocked I tell you by ttucker · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm sorry, but this is bullshit.

      Where were you racist idiots when these programs were being started by President Bush? Seems to me that it was only when we got a black President that suddenly these things became a problem. And none of you folks ever bother to mention that these policies were started by the GOP. Most of us on the left never wanted these policies in the first place, but it's not like voting GOP would have offered a better situation. So, we mostly voted for somebody that was going to fix something. Which he did, DOMA is over, DADT is over, ACA passed and he hasn't started any pointless wars.

      But, unfortunately, he's staying the course on things that I would rather he not stayed the course on. But, you're a naive moron if you think that Romney or McCain wouldn't have. And in all likelihood they would be abusing it even worse.

      Yo dawg, I'm sorry, your, "I'm sorry, this is bullshit", is bullshit.

      Trying to paint everyone who does not like Obama as bigoted big establishment Republicans is a false dichotomy. Open your mind to this possibility, there are people that did not like Bush or McCain, do not like Obama, and would rather not have voted for Romney.

    7. Re:I am shocked shocked I tell you by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Another thing that's bogus about this - the statement that it didn't involve spying on Americans.

      So all of these NSA officers have foreign girlfriends and wives? Isn't that maybe a trifle problematic?

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  2. ctrl-c by suso · · Score: 5, Funny

    I had to do a SIGINT on previous girlfriends too.

  3. So ladies... by mwvdlee · · Score: 5, Funny

    So ladies, that boyfriend you have, the one with the steady career in government, who seemed to understand you like no man ever had before...

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  4. Its OK: Obama says you can trust Gov by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    No need to worry. US presidents don't lie. Especially not the Nobel Peace prize winning ones. So it's Ok. Because if you can't trust the government... Well then we really are really screwed.

  5. Fire them immediately by Tippler · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "administrative action or termination." ...OR termination? Every single one of them should have been fired at the least. If I looked up an ex girlfriend on the electronic medical record system I'm logged into right now, I would be subject to a $50,000 dollar fine and a year in prison even after being fired ( AMA HIPAA penalties page). This kind of abuse of access to privileged information similar to a HIPAA violation, except double illegal since most of the surveillance has no legal basis either.

  6. Still just a distraction from... by istartedi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Still just a distraction from STOCKINT. Follow the money. The first time I considered such massive surveillance, front-running market events was what came to mind. This is just like anything else in politics. Get people thinking about sex to distract them from the real crimes.

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