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LA Times: Snowden Had 3 Helpers Inside NSA

Posted by samzenpus on from the join-the-gang dept.

retroworks writes "Three people at the National Security Agency have been implicated in Edward Snowden's efforts to copy classified material, including a civilian employee who resigned last month after acknowledging he allowed Snowden to use his computer ID, according to an NSA memo sent to Congress. The other two were an active-duty member of the military and a civilian contractor. The memo does not describe their conduct, but says they were barred from the NSA and its systems in August."

5 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. So, the NSA had good people too? by jkrise · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Nice to know... there are still humans around!

    --
    If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
    1. Re:So, the NSA had good people too? by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

      When right turns to wrong, resistance becomes an obligation.

      Dictatorships all over the world have to rely on people who "only do their job". Without them, no dictatorship in history would have been possible. Whenever you study the makeup of a dictatorship, you'll notice that the die-hard proponents are only a tiny minority. Most people follow either out of opportunistic motivations, because they fear the repercussions if they don't, because they were brainwashed long enough to believe the bull they've been fed or because they simply don't care and just want to be left alone.

      As for "elected government". The Soviet Union had an elected government. That's no hallmark of a government that is beneficial for its country. If you complain that they only had one party, I can only tell you that I fail to see the difference between having one party or two parties that are essentially insignificantly different in those matters that actually matter. Being allowed to choose which bully should beat you up is no choice, it's a false dilemma at best.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  2. The Saddest Part of the Snowden Revelations by rmdingler · · Score: 5, Insightful
    It remains to be seen if there will be any real change in the way governments are allowed to use surveillance with impunity.

    I watched a President pay lip service to reform and restriction, and I recall some initial outrage in the populace and the media...

    but if that's all there is, and this fades away as folks get back to their busy little lives, I am afraid the watchers will go back to work with a confidence reeking of our tacit permission.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  3. It's not about Snowden! by j-turkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This feels like a big fat smoke screen to me. This isn't about Snowden, it's about the federal governments wholesale wiretapping and warehousing of our personal data, an unprecedented overstep of policing and surveillance power. It's about secret FISA courts and undisclosed secret warrants that are rubber-stamped by appointed-for-life (unaccountable) federal judges in the name of national security. It's about a lack of oversight.

    Every time we make this about Snowden and how the data was collected, "they" win a little bit more.

    --

    -Turkey

  4. Re:climate of fear in NSA will drive out normals by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Clearly you haven't been exposed to the freak show that is the NSA.

    A man who walks around the OPS 2 cafeteria picking out uneaten food from the trash to save money and reduce food waste. A woman who keeps score of her bowel movements on the bathroom wall using smears of her poop (which admittedly I never saw for myself but female coworkers constantly complained about). A man who carries a thermometer who refuses to sit in a chair if it is above 98.6F so that he doesn't have to feel someone's body heat on his rear.

    To think they gave me such a hard time during my poly and background investigation.

    I can post many more examples. Working there (as a contractor) was an experience in the surreal. I couldn't handle it and left after a year and a half for NASA which is just a few miles down the BW Parkway. Much better (assuming my funding doesn't dry up... a different issue).

    And don't even get me started about the code quality of which I can't really comment on. One example being that a guy argued vehemently about framing every single line individually in a try-block.

    The only redeeming factor is that they really are motivated with the citizens bests interests in mind, and that is no shit (assuming you are American)... but somewhere things went horribly wrong and they diverged from that ideal. But that is the view from the bottom. I have no clue what the higher ups had in mind - but that said neither do you.