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Core Secrets: NSA Saboteurs In China and Germany

Posted by timothy on from the state-vs-man dept.

Advocatus Diaboli writes with this snippet from The Intercept: The National Security Agency has had agents in China, Germany, and South Korea working on programs that use "physical subversion" to infiltrate and compromise networks and devices, according to documents obtained by The Intercept. The documents, leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, also indicate that the agency has used under cover operatives to gain access to sensitive data and systems in the global communications industry, and that these secret agents may have even dealt with American firms. The documents describe a range of clandestine field activities that are among the agency's "core secrets" when it comes to computer network attacks, details of which are apparently shared with only a small number of officials outside the NSA.

6 of 228 comments (clear)

  1. They really need to pardon Snowden... by Karmashock · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... so he'll not feel inspired to keep leaking.

    I'm all for the leaks when it concerns stuff the NSA does against civilians. But against foreign governments? The point of the NSA is to do that sort of thing. And anyone that thinks these other governments aren't doing the same thing back are kidding themselves. The US is just walking around with their fly down until they get Snowden home. And he can be brought back at any time for the low low price of just pardoning him. Do that, admit fault, have a national/international discussion about it, and then as part of that he stops.

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
    1. Re:They really need to pardon Snowden... by dbIII · · Score: 4, Insightful

      With respect - Snowden dumped the documents with journalists so "The US is just walking around with their fly down until they get Snowden home" doesn't apply. The fly is down until there's nothing left in the pile worth releasing as news whether anything happens with Snowden or not.

  2. Pardons are for the guilty. by jcr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Snowden is a whistleblower. He deserves our thanks, and an apology from everyone who's demanded that he be prosecuted.

    Using classification to cover up billions of felonies is something the American people should never tolerate again.

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    1. Re:Pardons are for the guilty. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Exactly. He needs to keep his leaks to what the NSA does wrong... not what they do right.

      1. If the government doesn't want broad unofficial leaks, then they should have a functional and safe channel for internal whistleblowing.
      2. Snowden offered the NSA a chance to vet the material. They refused. So it is silly to now complain that it wasn't vetted.
      3. Loyalty is a two way street. Citizens should be loyal to their country. But countries should also be loyal to their citizens.

  3. Re:well duh by krigat · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Rethink what you are saying. "It's against the constiution, but it's their job, so it's OK."

    So if, let's say, a hired assassin would kill someone from you family, would you say "well, it's against the law, but it was his job, so it's OK"? I doubt it...

    If the NSA's job is to sabotage allies, then they've a wrong job. Period.

  4. While I will agree with that.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Physical subversion of foreign intelligence assets is CIA territory, not NSA. While that certainly IS a way to perform Signal Interception, I'm cautiously optimistic that is outside the scope of their charter.

    There's a reason these powers were supposed to have been segregated between multiple branches of the government/military and not just consolidated all under one roof. One of those reasons was accountability to their constituents, the other being so they couldn't use this to subvert the rule of law.

    Now that neither is true, we need to look long and hard at what steps to take to suitable resolve this dilemma while not letting outside forces dominate our internal and international landscapes.