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How the Pentagon Punished NSA Whistleblowers (theguardian.com)
10 years before Edward Snowden's leak, an earlier whistle-blower on NSA spying "was fired, arrested at dawn by gun-wielding FBI agents, stripped of his security clearance, charged with crimes that could have sent him to prison for the rest of his life, and all but ruined financially and professionally," according to a new article in The Guardian. "The only job he could find afterwards was working in an Apple store in suburban Washington, where he remains today... The supreme irony? In their zeal to punish Drake, these Pentagon officials unwittingly taught Snowden how to evade their clutches when the 29-year-old NSA contract employee blew the whistle himself."
But today The Guardian reveals a new story about John Crane, a senior official at the Department of Defense "who fought to provide fair treatment for whistleblowers such as Thomas Drake -- until Crane himself was forced out of his job and became a whistleblower as well..." Crane told me how senior Defense Department officials repeatedly broke the law to persecute whistleblower Thomas Drake. First, he alleged, they revealed Drake's identity to the Justice Department; then they withheld (and perhaps destroyed) evidence after Drake was indicted; finally, they lied about all this to a federal judge...
Crane's failed battle to protect earlier whistleblowers should now make it very clear that Snowden had good reasons to go public with his revelations... if [Crane's] allegations are confirmed in court, they could put current and former senior Pentagon officials in jail. (Official investigations are quietly under way.)
Meanwhile, George Maschke writes: In a presentation to a group of Texas law students, a polygraph examiner for the U.S. Department of Defense revealed that in the aftermath of Edward Snowden's revelations, the number of polygraphs conducted annually by the department tripled (to over 120,000). Morris also conceded that mental countermeasures to the polygraph are a "tough thing."
But today The Guardian reveals a new story about John Crane, a senior official at the Department of Defense "who fought to provide fair treatment for whistleblowers such as Thomas Drake -- until Crane himself was forced out of his job and became a whistleblower as well..." Crane told me how senior Defense Department officials repeatedly broke the law to persecute whistleblower Thomas Drake. First, he alleged, they revealed Drake's identity to the Justice Department; then they withheld (and perhaps destroyed) evidence after Drake was indicted; finally, they lied about all this to a federal judge...
Crane's failed battle to protect earlier whistleblowers should now make it very clear that Snowden had good reasons to go public with his revelations... if [Crane's] allegations are confirmed in court, they could put current and former senior Pentagon officials in jail. (Official investigations are quietly under way.)
Meanwhile, George Maschke writes: In a presentation to a group of Texas law students, a polygraph examiner for the U.S. Department of Defense revealed that in the aftermath of Edward Snowden's revelations, the number of polygraphs conducted annually by the department tripled (to over 120,000). Morris also conceded that mental countermeasures to the polygraph are a "tough thing."
But who will watch (or protect) the watchers? Crane started blowing the whistle in 2002, so if there was an effective process for investigating his reports, you'd think it'd have concluded 14 years later...
If the assistant inspector general supervising the whistleblower unit can't figure out how to safely be a whistleblower without getting hammered, then who can? Ironically, the image of a whistleblower is that the whistle immediately alerts everyone to an issue. How's that worked out for folks?
The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
When TPTB strikes, they make sure they cover everything
Not only they throw the book on the whistleblowers, they also make sure that those patriotic whistleblowers get their reputation totally ruined by releasing their 'wu mao' teams astroturfing their propaganda at online forum, such as this one on /. calling the whistleblowers 'traitors' and such
What TPTB of the United States of America is doing is getting closer and closer to that of the Chinese Communist regime
I came from China, I know how terrible fascism is, and unfortunately I am seeing the same thing happens here, more and more
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
This is what a lot of people don't get. Snowden had only two real choices: Go outside the system to reveal injustice, or keep his mouth shut.
The whole whistle-blower problem was brought to our attention decades ago. The powers that be promised "whistle blower protection". Some people accepted that... and still got screwed.
Snowden had to have know the history of all that. He knew he had two choices. Be a mobster, or turn "states evidence" to the only state that won't screw him: The public at large.
Once again thanks to the "free press" we learn, yet again, that the government and elite live by one set of rules, and the rest of us live by another kind.
Shit like this makes me BELIEVE more in conspiracy theorys.
...but I have few hopes it will. It would be nice if those who utter all that stuff about:
* "real heroes don't run away to hide behind foreign powers"
* "he's a coward for not standing on his rights and facing justice"
* "he should have worked through the system and not broken the law, he's a criminal" ...would now shut up and even apologize. When the entity you are blowing the whistle on, itself breaks the law - fraudulently and unlawfully uses the colour of authority to protect itself from embarrassment rather than serving the public trust - then you can no longer depend on the justice system. They have more access to its levers than the whistleblower, so the justice system is not neutral, not blind, in his case.
They are captured, in effect, by the prestige of the institution, and the numbers. What is the court supposed to believe about a complex internal matter, the one whistleblower, or the Secretary, three Undersecretaries, four generals and five lawyers, all insisting that you are a crazed, grudge-bearing criminal?
Nothing prevents a large bureaucracy from abusing the simple fact that courts trust them, except the bureaucracy's own members' obedience to the law and fear of eventual exposure. That works, mostly, for the local Roads department, or even the State environmental department. With the NSA, it will never, ever happen; the NSA brass need fear no exposure, ever. Clapper's brazen perjury before Congress (without consequences) is proof that Snowden had to run.
in polite society its considered uncouth to execute your whistleblowers. Social execution, career execution, certainly. In this term the government already had what it wants from snowden and that is unconditional exile. Sure, having a warm body gives ample opportunity to crucify the enemy of your specific terms of freedom but if you already control major media outlets, so it doesnt matter what your enemy says. the NYT, CBS, NBC, you name it, they will all toe the line and kindly omit certain details if you ask them to avoid being 'unpatriotic' in your reporting.
Morris also conceded that mental countermeasures to the polygraph are a "tough thing."
much like countermeasures to the easter bunny are a "tough thing." the polygraph loses its mystic power once you expose it as firmly debunked pseudoscience in the realm of phrenology and tea leaf reading. The purpose of the test is to act as a chilling effect, nothing more.
Good people go to bed earlier.
In the atrocity against our constitution, bill of rights, law and common decency have been executed for their crimes.
Which is why these monsters will continue doing so, unimpeded, unchallenged.
Are you blowing the whistle to alert others of a rape in progress, or are you blowing the whistle to get raped by the very personnel you are trying to cry out against?
captcha: disguise
This is 10 years ago. 2006. It's 5 or less years after the 911 attacks.
Honestly, he got off easy. It doesn't pay the be the early bird whistle blower during a zealous military reaction from the US citizens AND the government.
You guys have to face some realities here. Back in 2005 you could probably get 50% of people to agree that mass phone record collection to fight terrorist was necessary.
Another hard truth is that the NSA overreach didn't actually do a lot of real life harm. It's nothing like reporting witnessing soldiers in Vietnam murdering civilians for sport. Even today people don't care much and that is quite predictable since you don't have evidence show how this program has harmed many Americans. You most just have examples of where people clearly broke the law and were punished too harshly. The Patriot Act was legal, keep in mind. The Supreme Court had multiple chances to rule on it and they didn't want to.
You don't really have a case here other than unethical behavior and normal overreach of power of a legal system as defined by congress and the courts, legal enough. Everyday police abuse is much further reaching and important than this kind of stuff. We should strive to prioritize our interest and time on issues we feel need to be resolved.
None of the NSA programs are top level priorities and for that matter nothing the DoD is even doing matters all that much. Top priorities for the US are corrupt election process, insane polarization, out of control health care costs. Even address Americans poor diet would be time better spent than worry about the NSA or DoD. All the wars and BS combined don't add up to even ONE YEAR of health care costs.. currently at 3.8 trillion.
We should follow the money and focus on the most inefficient processes first.. simple and effective. The sad reality is that we by far number one at military and cutting funding to a market we do so well at is hard enough, no less the ease at which fearmongers can drum up support against cuts.
Health care is hard enough because your fighting an industry moving 3.8 trillion per year and rising at about 10% a year. That's a network of corporations and businesses that wield more wealth than Germany or Russia. That's a dangerous amount of money at the worst and you should expect the hardest battle to reform health care that ANY nation has ever faced. No nation ever had even a multi trillion dollar health care industry before they reformed, no less almost 4 trillion.
While the DoD doesn't offer a great return, it's not nearly as plush of a target as our bloated healthcare system. Nor does spending the political capital pay off as much as investing your time into voter reform.
Snowden really hasn't change the people's opinion for the NSA or spying that much, the problem is that most whistleblowers are telling us things we already knew and did nothing about, like illegal torture, illegal prisons and illegal spying. Now that the 'need' for those thing has declined you're not going to have an easy time keep people's interest. which you barely had beyond the first couple weeks anyway.
Yeah, right. You seem to forget who runs this country.
Do you want a limo ride through Dealey Plaza?
But see: http://www.usnews.com/opinion/...
The corrupt are in all the institutions of power and influence. $ is worshiped above all else. Violence will near certainly be required to prevent global totalitarian rule by the Simon Bar Sinisters of the world. Most of you will love the velvet glove covering the steel hand that directs your lives from here out. Most of you will be happy to get your "mark" for the convenience, and look at those without one as a security risk. Almost nothing said by governments is to be believed. At this point it appears to be a case of just pulling back the curtain more on entrenched, institutionalized corruption globally than any "new thing" taking place.
Anyone on this planet with a thorough knowledge of Holy Scriptures sees events converging miraculously. Judgment is coming. Repent while it's fashionable...
When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law he tore his robes.2Kings22:11
"I came from China, I know how terrible fascism is, and unfortunately I am seeing the same thing happens here, more and more"
The U.S. government has killed an estimated 11,000,000 people since the end of the 2nd world war. Often contractor companies do the violence, or arrange more violence so that they can make more money and so the managers can get promotions. It's killing for profit.
Why the Vietnam war? The CIA and Vietnam. "... from June, 1954 to June, 1963, that is, until two years after Dulles left office (August, 1961) the CIA was absolutely and exclusively dominant in creating and carrying out the policies which led eventually to the Vietnam War."
"To the CIA too must go the credit for the creation of the secret police forces of Diemâ(TM)s brother Ngo Dinh Nhu which prevented dissent within Vietnam until it was too late to change things."
The intention of the U.S. financial community to profit from corrupt practices was well known long before the crash in 2008. In the Berkshire Hathaway 2002 Annual Report (PDF), Warren Buffett said this on page 14: "I can assure you that the marking errors in the derivatives business have not been symmetrical. Almost invariably, they have favored either the trader who was eyeing a multi-million dollar bonus or the CEO who wanted to report impressive 'earnings' (or both). The bonuses were paid, and the CEO profited from his options. Only much later did shareholders learn that the reported earnings were a sham."
The Iraq war made huge amounts of money for the Bush family and Dick Cheney: Cheney's Halliburton Made $39.5 Billion on Iraq War. That destruction will continue for decades: The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End.
is obviously Lynne Halbrooks. She got a promotion for this...per TFA "had recently been named the principal deputy inspector general". She now works for the lobbying law firm of Holland & Knight. Seems like she's also involved in helping cover-up the leaked info about a SEAL team member involved in the making of the movie "Zero Dark Thirty". A true PARTIOT (ACT), all-around. Hopefully for her she's got her thirty pieces of silver stashed away outside of US jurisdiction.
" if [Crane's] allegations are confirmed in court, they could put current and former senior Pentagon officials in jail. (Official investigations are quietly under way.)"
And the official investigations will be quietly covered up.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
"If you're not out of the building within 15 minutes, the guards will punish you, throw you to the federal agents outside as a suspected terrorist and then we will go to your home and take all your stuff you filthy, traitorous stapler thief!"
Various dignitaries have publicly claimed that the NSA is acting responsibly, legally, and in the best interests of the people, and that Snowden caused harm. Stories such as these confute this propaganda.
Here is an absolute that you can count on: the degree to which any agency operates without public accountability (and visibility) is the precise degree to which they are corrupt and harming the public.
Terrorists, they frustrate me and they are against us. Being mad at them is like being mad at the people in the loony bin.
The NSA is worse, they use secret terrorism , and they should know better.
I consider the NSA a bigger evil then normal terrorism.
there are NO protections. you will always be hurt.
wideband it anonymously. it's the only way to fly.
So we are still pretending these are real actual useful tools?
I think most "civil liberties experts" will publicly disapprove of Snowden after US government agents have told him what will happen otherwise.
Sweet Jesus, why don't they just get in a voodoo doctor to throw a few bones and cast a truth-spell?
Is no-one at all concerned that the world's supposed technological leader has a military who believe in such bullshit? And everyone was amazed when other countries were found purchasing bogus explosive detectors. This is equally money spent on a fraud that does not do what it claims to do.
WHat I'd like to know: does the NSA use domestic astroturfers, or does it contract with the 50 Cent Party?
I'm sure it's available for hire!
No farting in the new world order!
http://i.cubeupload.com/T6cyLu.png
This whole article is based on a flawed premise. Just because intelligence committees authorized those programs it does not make them constitutional or legitimate in any way. Moron.
Clinton is a square shooter
I understand MUCH better now why he's worried about that Hotline Bling. It could only mean one thing.
What about those blocking "Terrorist" sites, TPB, internet gambling sites, child porn sites, and so on and so forth?
Are they not firewalled????? Are they not WORSE than firewalled, since despite being legal in their country, the people running the sites will be chased by US provided bully boys paid for with "special status" treats.
China, at least, has very little desire, nor ability, to prosecute you worldwide.
If anything, the USA is WORSE than China. At least the Chinese government oppresses only their own people. Not everyone else.
But if it's a three person election - then Trump may very well win, regardless who the third person is. Lets say Bernie Sanders decides to run as an independent. While he lost on maths, the man got a LOT of votes, and even in the states where lost his margins were narrow. One could easily see him taking several states that would otherwise have gone to Hillary, and just one or two states could make all the difference. I would prefer Bernie over Hillary but right now I hope he drops out after the convention - because if he runs then Trump wins.
But would it be better to suffer four years under Trump, and then get a Democratic candidate that was closer to Sanders than Clinton? This is what those preferring to vote for the 'lesser of two evils', instead of the 'good, but unelectable' always miss: you can't push the party closest to your preferences closer to your preferences by voting for someone that's moving the party away from your preferences, even if the opposition is worse. You must be willing to lose in the short term to gain in the long term, or you'll just keep repeatedly losing in the short term while complaining that your vote doesn't matter. (not referring to the parent poster specifically)
The Democrats, for example, have no reason to move further left if all Sanders supporters vote for Clinton - if that happens, then as they see it, Clinton satisfied everyone fine! Maybe the next candidate can be even further right to pick up some Republicans! Whereas if they lose the election because of Sanders, the next candidate will have to move further left to capture those people they lost the previous election.
That's a bit simplified onto a single-axis system for the sake of example; at least some Sanders supporters would prefer Trump to Clinton. A two-axis system works better, but is less familiar to people.
Given the dismal approval ratings for both Trump and Clinton, a serious 3rd party is now a possibility. As a Libertarian leaning constitutional conservative, I have an innate distrust of the BIG THREE big Government, big business and big religion. If the Tea party didn't have the Evangelicals buried so far up their asses, they might turn into a real political party that I could support. On the other hand since Trump is 69 and Hildebeast is 68 and they are running for a job that turns calender years into dog years, who's running for Vice President may be most important.
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
This guy is not a "civil liberties expert". Well, maybe he is, in a sense of how you work around them...