NSA's Former General Council Talks Privacy, Security, and Snowden's 'Betrayal'

blottsie writes: In his first interview since retiring as general council to the NSA, Rajesh De offers detailed insights into the spy agency's efforts to find balance between security and privacy, why the NSA often has trouble defending itself in public, the culture of "No Such Agency," and what it was like on the inside when the Snowden bombshell went off. He describes the mood after the leaks: "My sense of it was that there were two overriding emotions among the workforce. The first was a deep, deep [feeling] of betrayal. Someone who was sitting next to them—being part of the team helping keep people safe, which is really what people at the agency think they are doing—could turn around and do something so self-aggrandizing and reckless. There was also a deep sense of hurt that a lot of what was in the media was not entirely accurate. Questioning the motives and legality of what NSA employees were being asked to do to keep Americans safe—all within the legal policy construct that we've been given—that was difficult for the NSA workforce."

Comments

"Policy construct we've been given"

[DoofusOfDeath]

So as long as my boss tells me it's okay to torture people and routinely violate the Consittution, it's okay?

Fuck you, cowardly anti-democratic traitor.

Re:"Policy construct we've been given"

[boristdog]

I think a key phrase is "being part of the team helping keep people safe, which is really what people at the agency think they are doing"

So he admits they just think that they are helping keep people safe. Or that they have convinced the lower echelons that public safety is their goal, when higher-ups like him know better.

Re:"Policy construct we've been given"

[gweihir]

My grandparents on my mother's side where both part of some 3rd Reich organizations. They believed back then they were doing good and in hindsight never were sure they could have seen what they were really doing and supporting at the time they did it. Gave them a life-long extreme distaste for politics, because they realized it is easy to trick people into doing utter evil while they think that do good. The NSA workers that felt betrayed are lacking that insight, and they do so in a situation where finding out what it actually going on is much easier.

Re:"Policy construct we've been given"

[Tokolosh]

"Ve vere yust followink orders!"

Time to watch Dr. Strangelove again, which perfectly captures the atmosphere inside this little man's bubble.

Re:"Policy construct we've been given"

[painandgreed]

My grandparents on my mother's side where both part of some 3rd Reich organizations. They believed back then they were doing good and in hindsight never were sure they could have seen what they were really doing and supporting at the time they did it. Gave them a life-long extreme distaste for politics, because they realized it is easy to trick people into doing utter evil while they think that do good. The NSA workers that felt betrayed are lacking that insight, and they do so in a situation where finding out what it actually going on is much easier.

Remember, Goebbel's propaganda wasn't primarily used to fool other nations, but to fool the Germans themselves.

Re:"Policy construct we've been given"

[cold fjord]

The British have claimed the Falklands since 1690.

The Falklands are well outside of customary territorial waters for any country, let alone Argentina.

The people of the Falklands have voted to remain British in referendum.

Is your position based on anti-Imperialism rather than will of the inhabitants of the islands?

Re:"Policy construct we've been given"

[rtb61]

But, big BUTT here, the people at the NSA and people with university degrees, supposedly well educated and well informed people so the excuse but 'I'm stupid' doesn't really cut it. They knew they were breaking the law, every single last one of the lying asshats, they knew they were betraying their fellow citizens, there is no escape from that. What Snowden, was the one and only properly informed individual in the whole NSA including contractors, fucking bullshit. We are talking literally tens of thousands of co-conspiring criminals, obeying orders is no excuse, it is illegal to obey an illegal order and they are as guilty as the politicians who ordered them to do it.

Straw Man Detected... Legal !== Moral

[tomxor]

There was also a deep sense of hurt that a lot of what was in the media was not entirely accurate. Questioning the motives and legality of what NSA employees were being asked to do to keep Americans safe.

People who confuse or purposely use law as a synonym for morality are not to be trusted... The focus could not be more clearly on morality in this case.

Re:Policies are not safeguards

[ColdWetDog]

If you persist in this behavior we shall write you another stern letter.

Scary.

Rajesh De

[stox]

Your first and absolute responsibility is to the Constitution.

The NSA has failed miserably in that role.

Re:Policies are not safeguards

[gweihir]

It is just like all people that have been part of a truly large evil: Denial, misdirection, lies. They never want to acknowledge they did wrong.

Difficult for them?

[kuzb]

No, fuck all that crying. It SHOULD be difficult for them. Anyone with as much power as the NSA should have to account for every damn thing they do on domestic and friendly soil. Fuck the delusional workers who think they're doing the public a great service. It's time for them to wake up and understand that they're goddamn pawns in the game of circumventing democracy so the rich and powerful can stay rich and powerful.

The NSA broke the public trust in a major way, and they deserve all the criticism and skepticism they get.