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NSA Has No Clue As To Scope of Snowden's Data Trove
krakman writes "According to a NY Times article, a 6-month internal investigation has not been able to define the actual files that Edward Snowden had copied. There is a suspicion that not all the documents have been leaked to newspapers, and a senior NSA official (Rick Ledgett), who is heading the security agency's task force examining Mr. Snowden's leak, has said on the record that he would consider recommending amnesty for Mr. Snowden in exchange for those unleaked documents. 'They've spent hundreds and hundreds of man-hours trying to reconstruct everything he has gotten, and they still don't know all of what he took,' a senior administration official said. 'I know that seems crazy, but everything with this is crazy.' That Mr. Snowden was so expertly able to exploit blind spots in the systems of America's most secretive spy agency illustrates how far computer security still lagged years after President Obama ordered standards tightened after the WikiLeaks revelations of 2010."
Snowden revealed the activities of the US in countries like France, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, and Britain.
Are you suggesting that those countries are enemies of the United States? Gimme a fucking break here.
No, France, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, and Britain aren't the enemies of the US. But some of the people in those countries are. Some of the people in those countries are terrorists. Some of the people in those countries are foreign spies from adversaries or enemy nations.
Part of the 9/11 attack came from a cell in Germany. There are still terrorists in Germany. German companies did big business with Saddam, and Iran. Germany has many spies from Russia, China, and Iran.
There have been multiple terrorist plots aimed at the US from people in Britain. MI5 assesses the threat as being extremely high, and they can barely cover it. Spying against Britain is at Cold War levels again. There is no shortage of Russians or other foreign agents.
Mexico has what is essentially a narco-terrorist fueled civil war going on, and it bleeds across the border into the US. Both violence and drugs flow north, along with about 10% of the population of Mexico into the US.
Brazil has admitted to spying on the US, and French agents have been discovered before. Brazil's navy has been teaching the Chinese navy about aircraft carrier operations. Brazil has aspirations of being a major power, and is trying to extend its reach. Brazil is a major hub for cybercrime along with Russia.
What can one say about the French? They have many fine and maddening qualities. They also have a rising tide of violence from their immigrant population, and growing extremism that is a threat to France and other nations. French companies are trying to get back into Iran. France has its fill of Chinese and Russian spies.
There are many reasons that nations spy on each other besides being an enemy. Although all of our nations are basically open, they are not necessarily completely transparent. Being able to understand your allies, the pressures they face, the practical considerations is important if you are going to engaged in coalition diplomacy such as is occurring with Iran, and Syria. The British government was recently deeply embarrassed by losing a vote over intervention in Syria, the first loss of that sort by a British government in a very long time. There is certainly more to know that if they are or aren't shooting at you.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
The US and allied intelligence agencies face that every day, and they always have. Maybe you haven't heard, but there is an entire world out there full of countries that engage in spying. The US, UK, CA, AU, NZ, FR, DE, NE, DK, NL, IT, SE, FI, NO, ES, PO, are all full of Russian and Chinese spies, many have Iranian spies, and spies from plenty of other countries.
People here keep making cracks about oil, but the truly inexhaustible resource appears to be narcissism..
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell