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NSA Head Asks How To Spy Without Collecting Metadata

jfruh writes "NSA Director Keith Alexander, testifying before the Senate this week, got weirdly petulant, asking his critics how he was supposed to do his job without collecting metadata on American communications. 'If we can come up with a better way, we ought to put it on the table and argue our way through it,' he said. 'There is no other way that we know of to connect the dots.' He also implied that major U.S. tech companies might have greater capacities than his organizations, and that they should help him out with new ideas."

3 of 509 comments (clear)

  1. Headline should have read by kjshark · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "NSA Director Keith Alexander, testifying before the Senate this week admitted he's not qualified to protect us from terrorism." He said " I have a limited imagination and can only come up with one illegal solution to the problem". This is despite the fact that many terrorist plots have been discovered without violating rights, and his spying solution has failed to stop others. All he has is a hammer so every problem looks like a nail.

    --
    The difference between truth and fiction is that fiction has to be plausible.
  2. Framing by Guppy06 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Asking for "a better way to do X" presumes that X should be done to begin with.

    "Help us find a better way to torture prisoners!"

    Naturally the Senate didn't challenge him on this presumption just as it didn't hold him accountable for lying to them to begin with.

  3. Re:Bingo. by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The left feared tyranny under GWB, and the right fears it under BHO, the problem is, both are only partially correct.... They hate the other guy's tyrant, but do not rightfully fear their own.

    This, IMO, is the most sadly hilarious thing in American politics today.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."