Core Secrets: NSA Saboteurs In China and Germany

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.

Comments

They really need to pardon Snowden...

[Karmashock]

... 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.

Pardons are for the guilty.

[jcr]

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

Re:Pardons are for the guilty.

[ShanghaiBill]

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.

Re: the guy is a traitor, and so are the reporters

[Anonymous Coward]

My first instinct was to reply to you with a dismissive expletive - thus having shown in my reply as much critical thought as you did in your post.

But I realized that I too once came from the Stephan Decatur school, and should be gentle with a previous self. You see, as one grows older and the rose colored glasses begin to loose their tint, one realizes that one may be patriotic AND critical simultaneously. Couple that with the growing realization that the country which we love has almost certainly committed crimes against her own people, and it becomes a moral imperative for her citizens to wake from their stupor and attempt to regain the power over government and basic human freedoms so eloquently elucidated in our Constitution.

Did Snowden break the law? Certainly. Was the law Constitutional? Not if the Executive Orders were being used to shield malfeasance (and despite Tricky Dick's assert actions, simply because a President does it does not MAKE it legal). Should you, as a responsible citizen you loves his country stop to think on his own for once instead of making a knee jerk assessment? For the sake of the Republic, I hope so,

Re:well duh

[krigat]

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.