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Schneier: Break Up the NSA

Posted by Soulskill on from the but-leave-the-door-open-to-a-reunion-tour-in-twenty-years dept.

New submitter BrianPRabbit writes "Bruce Schneier proposes 'breaking up' the NSA. He suggests assigning the targeted hardware/software surveillance of enemy operations to U.S. Cyber Command. Further, the NSA's surveillance of Americans needs to be scaled back and placed under the control of the FBI. Finally, he says, is 'the deliberate sabotaging of security. The primary example we have of this is the NSA's BULLRUN program, which tries to "insert vulnerabilities into commercial encryption systems, IT systems, networks and endpoint communication devices." This is the worst of the NSA's excesses, because it destroys our trust in the Internet, weakens the security all of us rely on and makes us more vulnerable to attackers worldwide. .... [T]he remainder of the NSA needs to be rebalanced so COMSEC (communications security) has priority over SIGINT (signals intelligence). Instead of working to deliberately weaken security for everyone, the NSA should work to improve security for everyone.'"

5 of 324 comments (clear)

  1. since when is the FBI a spy agency? by alen · · Score: 4, Informative

    the FBI is a federal police force, not a spy agency that collects intelligence

    1. Re:since when is the FBI a spy agency? by SJHillman · · Score: 4, Informative

      "By law, the CIA is specifically prohibited from collecting foreign intelligence concerning the domestic activities of US citizens. Its mission is to collect information related to foreign intelligence and foreign counterintelligence. By direction of the president in Executive Order 12333 of 1981 and in accordance with procedures approved by the Attorney General, the CIA is restricted in the collection of intelligence information directed against US citizens. Collection is allowed only for an authorized intelligence purpose; for example, if there is a reason to believe that an individual is involved in espionage or international terrorist activities. The CIA's procedures require senior approval for any such collection that is allowed, and, depending on the collection technique employed, the sanction of the Director of National Intelligence and Attorney General may be required. These restrictions on the CIA have been in effect since the 1970s."

      Of course, that's from the CIA's website, so it's exactly what they want you to think...

    2. Re:since when is the FBI a spy agency? by cold+fjord · · Score: 4, Informative

      the FBI is a federal police force, not a spy agency that collects intelligence

      The FBI's current mission statement:

      Our Mission

      As an intelligence-driven and a threat-focused national security organization with both intelligence and law enforcement responsibilities, the mission of the FBI is to protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats, to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States, and to provide leadership and criminal justice services to federal, state, municipal, and international agencies and partners.

      You might want to follow the link and read the rest.

      --
      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
  2. Maybe you missed the memo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    FBI dropped "law enforcement" as one of their primary duties not long ago. They consider themselves a national security organ now:

    http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/01/05/fbi_drops_law_enforcement_as_primary_mission

    1. Re:Maybe you missed the memo by cold+fjord · · Score: 4, Informative

      They added it back.

      --
      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