CIA, FBI Launch Manhunt For WikiLeaks Source (cbsnews.com)

An anonymous reader quotes CBS: CBS News has learned that a manhunt is underway for a traitor inside the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA and FBI are conducting a joint investigation into one of the worst security breaches in CIA history, which exposed thousands of top-secret documents that described CIA tools used to penetrate smartphones, smart televisions and computer systems. Sources familiar with the investigation say it is looking for an insider -- either a CIA employee or contractor -- who had physical access to the material... Much of the material was classified and stored in a highly secure section of the intelligence agency, but sources say hundreds of people would have had access to the material. Investigators are going through those names.
Homeland security expert Michael Greenberger told one CBS station that "My best guest is that when this is all said and done we're going to find out that this was done by a contractor, not by an employee of the CIA."

Comments

In Soviet USA...

[PopeRatzo]

...phone roots you.

Re:In Soviet USA...

[elrous0]

In Soviet USA, contractor got contract on *you*.

Re:In Soviet USA...

[K. S. Kyosuke]

And in Soviet Russia, you hunt the CIA.

Re:In Soviet USA...

[Anonymous Coward]

In Soviet USA, contractor got contract on *you*.

I worked as a contractor for around four years before they said the contractors must all go, right now. I got on full time at another part of the company, though had I not been looking around at the time, I may not have.

Personally, other than being the first to be laid off, I preferred the contract labor job.
1) Much better pay.
2) No performance reviews that make you seriously look for other employment every time. Basically it all seems an excuse to put you at "average" and give you a joke raise. Actual results seem meaningless, though good powerpoint slides seem to have value, even if the workers with such slides fail to ever really realize all the crap they are shoveling.
3) Less mandatory training.

Sure you get stuck with your contract company benefits, but they weren't that bad. I'm still tempted to go back to it. The main problem is you seldom wish to give up a sort of stable (well not really, there are always layoffs, though it is a hiring trend lately.), job for one that may not work out. But back to the main point, why should the contractors be more likely to give up classified information? If they are like I was, they are probably getting paid better. That is likely to make them more loyal, and heck, they probably don't have to deal with the full amount of company process crap.

This nonsense that the contractors are obviously more crooked annoys me. They are just people working to make a living. Nothing about them makes them more likely to have a grudge against a company. In fact, contractors may actually have a better attitude. They may not have been there long enough to be truly jaded.

Of course some of the things released could be interpreted by those who still have a moral center as things that ought not exist. It might be different if our government was led by people we really trust, but really, we have an orange short fingered vulgarian leading us along the nature trail to hell, in 3d, no less. You combine general distrust with the government, often for valid reasons, plus the government having all these tools to invade privacy and such, well it might be enough to cause concern.

I think much of their work is likely necessary, but we must be cautious. It is fine, just, and proper for our leaders to have a stand on, well pretty much anything. That is their job. If they think an election in a country should go to or against a candidate, they can say so and explain it, with truth. All that being said, we should never generate fake news or do like the Russians did, nor should we do any underhanded tactics to change leadership in countries. Now, I'd seriously consider possibly hacking the Russians to expose actual truth as a response, but I'd do it evenhandedly, and then probably stop if we ever got evidence the Russians have stopped. As with most things there are exceptions but they should be very rare, and imo, should still try to portray only truth, if at all possible.

Re:In Soviet USA...

[Anonymous Coward]

And there is always a subcontract within a contract. It's the dining contractors problem, Alien Matryoshka style.

First post.

[Anonymous Coward]

My comments on the leaks are:

Hahaha! Haha ha ha hahaha! Hahaha!! Ho ho hahaha! Hahahaha!

Poetic justice feels good.

Re:First post.

[Anonymous Coward]

Poetic justice indeed.

They thought the Internet and the smartphones and facebook was great - tracking everybody, just about no privacy left anywhere. And people were even *getting used* to no privacy. A spy's dream world . . .

But no privacy cuts both ways. No privacy for corporate/political secrets. No privacy for NSA secrets. People are used to "no privacy" . . .

Patriot

[amiga3D]

They should look for someone that believes in the US Constitution as it was written, not re-interpreted. That'll be their boy. Someone appalled at how the CIA has been allowed to run amok and trample all over the freedoms guaranteed by that document.

Re: Patriot

[fortfive]

Isn't it funny how so many iriginalists lose their principles when it comes to the fourth, fourteenth and first amendments?

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

There's just too much money in it for everybody. Funnily enough, this was all predicted by Pres. Eisenhower (who was a war general, a hawk, and a Republican to boot): In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

How much is a trillion US$ which we spend on defense each year?
Well, pick a guy at random, and give him $1,000,000. This kind of cash he could put in the bank and never work again a day in his life (4% yearly returns is 40k)... Or you could buy a house next to the Obamas. Or send your kid, and every kid down the block to college. Or buy about 5000 AK-47 rifles on an open market.

Pick another 1000 people, and give each one of them a million USD. Now do that 1000 times over. And repeat every year...
A million people get a free million every year... This is fucking insane. For this kind of money, the CIA/NSA will say your grandmother is hostile nation, is evil, and hacked the elections.

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

So find someone that believes you have no privacy since the constitution does not ever say privacy. Reading in privacy rights is "reinterpreting" the document. Expanding the listed classifications is "reinterpreting" it.

As the most originalist Justice, Justice Thomas, has said (dissent quoted in full),

"I join Justice Scalia’s dissenting opinion. I write separately to note that the law before the Court today “is uncommonly silly.” Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 527 (1965) (Stewart, J., dissenting). If I were a member of the Texas Legislature, I would vote to repeal it. Punishing someone for expressing his sexual preference through noncommercial consensual conduct with another adult does not appear to be a worthy way to expend valuable law enforcement resources.

Notwithstanding this, I recognize that as a member of this Court I am not empowered to help petitioners and others similarly situated. My duty, rather, is to “decide cases ‘agreeably to the Constitution and laws of the United States.’ ” Id., at 530. And, just like Justice Stewart, I “can find [neither in the Bill of Rights nor any other part of the Constitution a] general right of privacy,” ibid., or as the Court terms it today, the “liberty of the person both in its spatial and more transcendent dimensions,” ante, at 1."

So do you have privacy rights to computer data? Not by the words in the constitution. The framers wouldn't have known anything about computers or metadata or things like that. It's impossible that you can prove their intent to cover those things. We read them in, because they appear to fit the listed classifications. But that doesn't mean the framers intended to cover those things only that we think that they would have covered those things. That's either modified originalism (they didn't know about these things, but they would agree with me therefore they intended that), living constitution (these things appear to create a general right to privacy, so it does), or psychic powers like clairvoyance to speak with the framers who are dead.

People need to get over themselves. All interpretation of the constitution requires guessing or interpretation. The framers didn't agree on everything while they were alive, so I doubt any of us could come up with some super M-Theory of constitutional interpretation that all the framers would agree with. To, me, the 4th Amendment appears to create a general right of privacy, but Justice Thomas is right. There is no privacy clause in the constitution. Reading one in means either I can either base my argument on appeal to authority (the framers agree with me even though I can't prove it), or that I think the works grant a right of privacy, or I'm psychic.

I'm psychic.

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

Or in other words...

Michael Greenberger: "my best is guess is that, whether an actual CIA employee or a contractor, we'll say it's a contractor to keep the CIA's dwindling morale from sinking any lower"

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, it will be a contractor. Employees are too compartmentalized. Ohhh contractors are cheaper, and with big lead firms wanting money, they have to hire people who can deliver - who if they have passion probably fit the joker card. Suspect they have affinity with PowerPoint.
As they are waiting 3-4 years to drip feed, and know counter counter things, it going to be near impossible to find the leak from their end.

Hence the tantrum of bugging Journalists and the press (and congressmen) to nail the other end - even though dead drops or passes of a 128Gb micro SD card is so easy or can go through the mail, or physically swallowed. Yeah, they know using a removable media will light up switchboard central unless they write their own OS code. One speculates the new security measures will drastically decrease productivity.

On the bright side, some journos are going linux standalone , and treat their windows and internet as bugged. It seems the only way to fix this is to rotate contractors out or pray someone gets careless.

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean someone who wraps themselves in the flag and apple-pie while selling the Ruskies the plans to kill Aunt Maud? There is a word for that kind of person, and the kind of person advocating that - both are traitors.

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah....they misspelled "patriot" as "traitor" for some weird reason...

Re: Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

did it occur to you that i is right next to o and it is one of the most common typos?

Re:Patriot

[hey!]

They should look for someone that believes in the US Constitution as it was written, not re-interpreted.

Correction: they should look for someone who believes he believes this.

Re: Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

The man was a true patriot, no question.
Funnily enough, if you speak to scientists or military guys privately, many of them would actually agree that this is a problem, that their "complexes" are out of control. In the military, over 90% of the guys are highly cynical and resent the whole situation.

But when they are placed in a group of their peers, this is not coming out. I am really puzzled why publicly they would say one thing, while privately they believe something else.

Re: Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

you are a fucking idiot

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyone notice how they're going all out on an American patriot who warned the American people about how our government is spying on us, but declined to prosecute Hillary Clinton, who failed to protect classified information and in fact let foreign governments get access to incredibly sensitive documents that put US lives at risk?

Re:Patriot

[Solandri]

They should look for someone that believes in the US Constitution as it was written, not re-interpreted.

So someone who believes the Federal government should only be involved in national defense, and not in education, environmental protection, labor protection, farm subsidies, health care, retirement funding, communications (including Internet), roads and highways, regulation of banks and the market, etc.

Feature creep or cherry-picking the principles you feel are worth defending. Pick your poison.

Someone appalled at how the CIA has been allowed to run amok and trample all over the freedoms guaranteed by that document.

Actually the CIA for the most part isn't bound by the Constitution. The CIA's mission is to protect American interests abroad, where the Constitution doesn't apply. The corresponding TLA organization who operates within the U.S. is the FBI. One can argue that from a moral perspective the CIA should be operating abroad by the same principles they are purportedly defending at home. But there's no such legal requirement. And mathematically that seems to be an ineffective strategy (tit for tat turns out to be one of the best strategies in the iterative prisoner's dilemma, whereas always being nice consistently results in being taken advantage of).

Re: Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

Let him continue probably the most interesting comment today. People are so sick of tribes and tribal code that a comment like this raises to the surface

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

like der trumpenfuhrer did at sea-of-lakes?

Re:Patriot

[quonset]

There is no privacy clause in the constitution.

That's because Thomas, like Scalia, is an idiot. They both claimed to be "originalists" which, if they were to follow that meaning, would clearly mean the right to privacy which is covered under the 9th Amendment. The one which says, "We can't list every single right the people have so we're making this catch-all amendment to cover things. Just because we don't list it in this document doesn't mean you don't have it."

When the crown was routinely going through people's correspondence, or barging into homes and seeing what was there, how could one not understand the Founding Fathers wanted the people to both be secure in their homes and possessions as well as have the right to privacy in their lives?

The Constitution is a restriction on the government over the people. To not grasp that one's privacy is inherent in that limitation renders ones intelligence in doubt.

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

So do you have privacy rights to computer data? Not by the words in the constitution.

Yes, by the words.

Effects, bitches.

Re:Patriot

[StormReaver]

The biggest Traitors to the United States are on the Supreme Court, in the White House, and in Congress. Everyone who has exposed their sabotage to the Constitution is a Patriot and an American hero.

Re: Patriot

[TWX]

The military-industrial complex is a lot like Congress. Everyone agrees there's a problem, but no one is willing to acknowledge that their personal bit of it has a problem or that they bear any responsibility for it, and many think that despite the problem, their little piece is good.

Re: Patriot

[AutodidactLabrat]

Who said they had any principles to begin with?
I give you Rehnquist in Bush v. Gore

Re:Patriot

[AutodidactLabrat]

House next to the Obamas.
Where do you live?
Out here on the left coast, that's a rebuild of a 1960's tract house in Pacoima
(O.K., I'm exaggerating. But a 1 million dollar house isn't even a hillside out here)

Re:Patriot

[TWX]

Some would argue that the US Government is bound by the Constitution, wherever the US Government acts, and thus agents of the US Government are either subject to prosecution by the US courts whenever they violate the Constitution wherever they may be in the world, or else they are not acting on behalf of the US Government and are therefore bound by local law and subject to local prosecution.

After all, we already have rules of war that our military is supposed to follow when deployed overseas, and there have been plenty of cases when military personnel have been prosecuted for violating those rules. Why should civilian government actors be any different?

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

...citation needed...

Re: Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

That person was Seth Rich and he's dead.

Re:Patriot

[dryeo]

So find someone that believes you have no privacy since the constitution does not ever say privacy. Reading in privacy rights is "reinterpreting" the document. Expanding the listed classifications is "reinterpreting" it.

So what is the point of the 4th amendment if not to protect privacy?

Re:Patriot

[dryeo]

So someone who believes the Federal government should only be involved in national defense, and not in education, environmental protection, labor protection, farm subsidies, health care, retirement funding, communications (including Internet), roads and highways, regulation of banks and the market, etc.

A couple of the above clearly come under the interstate commerce clause. Then there is the postal clause and the question about when the post becomes electronic. It's a shame you Americans refuse to keep your Constitution up to date.

Actually the CIA for the most part isn't bound by the Constitution. The CIA's mission is to protect American interests abroad, where the Constitution doesn't apply.

And this is the problem with America today. The Constitution obviously applied to the federal government (expanded with the 14th to all government) and the rights, except political rights such as voting, apply to "The People", not just Americans nor do those rights disappear just because someone is not in the country. Same with the restrictions, Congress is banned from creating laws limiting speech, not just limiting American speech, and all these laws about secrecy are also obviously an infringement on the 1st.
Yet keep seeing that too many Americans don't care that their government is infringing rights all over the world. Murder is murder whether it is an American citizen or not.

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought they had "trusted" systems that would log every file access and modification on their file systems. Therefore it would be simple to know which account accessed every single file on a live server. But it would be safer just to clone a backup tape or drive.

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm in absolute agreement.

"We the People" is not defined by race, gender, or physical location. That the US Government sees itself as "above the law" is an indication that our Constitution has not been applied properly.

Re: Patriot

[justthinkit]

I am really puzzled why publicly they would say one thing, while privately they believe something else.

In the last election, Republicans were orders of magnitude quieter (and less violent) than Democrats. Because they didn't fancy their cars being keyed, etc.

The control systems are maintained not because people don't understand them, but because they are afraid to speak out against them.

Re:Patriot

[amiga3D]

Exactly! Any power not explicitly given to the Federal government in the Constitution was reserved to the States and the People.

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

Indeed. I hope this witch hunt of theirs fails miserably and that actual patriots who believe in the Constitution continue to expose their massive wrongdoing.

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

That's because Thomas, like Scalia, is an idiot. They both claimed to be "originalists" which, if they were to follow that meaning, would clearly mean the right to privacy which is covered under the 9th Amendment. The one which says, "We can't list every single right the people have so we're making this catch-all amendment to cover things. Just because we don't list it in this document doesn't mean you don't have it."

You're quite correct. One other thing though which also made Scalia an idiot and continues to do so for the statist police cheering right wingers on the Court: the Constitution may not need interpreting (I don't think it needs much if any) but the language it's written in does. Specifically it is necessary to know that at the time it was written, saying you wanted some privacy was polite speak for needing to go to the bathroom. That would have been a ridiculous thing for them to have written into the Constitution. They did just fine with the 4th Amendment as written. That half the Court can't read and law enforcement considers the Constitution and obstacle to be overcome rather than an ideal to be upheld is an entirely different problem.

Re:Patriot

[Marful]

When the crown was routinely going through people's correspondence, or barging into homes and seeing what was there, how could one not understand the Founding Fathers wanted the people to both be secure in their homes and possessions as well as have the right to privacy in their lives?

It's like people forgot about how in the weeks prior to the battle of Lexington and Concord, the Red Coats were stopping everyone traveling, detaining them without cause and searching all of their possessions, luggage, papers in the hopes of finding documents pertaining to the rebellion or weapons / supplies that could be used to support them.

THAT is why we have a fourth amendment. And it is DIRECTLY related to privacy. And anyone claims to be an "originalist" and denies this, isn't an originalist.

Also, this finger pointing to these phony "originalist" as being authentic pro-constitutional people is a gross straw-man argument.

Re:Patriot

[rtb61]

Reads to me like the buffoons are looking for someone who will spook easy by the publishing of a clearly PR=B$ story. Why the story because they don't have a clue and they are trying to force changes in patterns of behaviour. In the world of professional paranoia those least to trust are your own comrades in invasions of privacy, keeping secret what the public should no, in damaging democracy to feed the ego and greed of a minority, is betrayal of their own society to the detriment of all. The real traitors are the ones on public display giving speeches to protect their power and to seize more.

First that empty pompous speech like we have to listen to our employees, where those idiots forget who they are working for and are all whiny about being a pack of fuck ups. Now empty news stories, yes, they are on the hunt for spies, crooks, and traitors (except they ones they know about and control to enhance their own power and ego), yes because prior to this the fuckwits were on holiday for decades hunting no one. Saudis flying jets, Israelis celebrating buildings being destroyed, terrorists with US arms and munitions, incompetent government officials incapable of maintaining secrets, mass charity fraud behind the auspices of government, corporations corruptly controlling government agencies, wars for profit, supporting enemies and betraying allies, blind as fuck (incompetence as an excuse if failing and the corruption has become pretty public) to all that but Wikileaks is the problem because they expose that.

I think they are kind of stuck, raiding a whole bunch of employees houses and harassing their families, whilst it might produce results would further cripple morale, generate thousands of resignations and further damage their recruiting capabilities. They have become fearful and incompetent in their corruption, nepotism running rife, really crap political appointees all over the place, those idiot fuckers are using tactics straight out of hollywood movies thinking they will work, instead of just making them look like incompetent morons. Next up will be grabbing agents and contractors at random and interrogating them, enhanced interrogation, third world style, to match the third world style fools running the US.

Re: Patriot

[gl4ss]

but he is right you know.

cia pays for shit tools, randomly.

Re: Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

Raises what to the surface? Don't leave me in suspense.

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

Holy shit. A non-American with more knowledge and understanding of the underlying design and operating framework of US Federal Government than 90% of the people here. 99% if you only count "progressives." It's a shame that Congress began ignoring its own mandates right out of the gate. Its also a shame that too many factions electing Congress are eager to ignore those mandates if it furthers their own agendas.

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

*Just* the CIA?!?!? NO my brother, it's the entire godamned Government... all three fucking branches of it, and the elites who mingle within their halls!!!
Just like SkyNet, they have become self aware and have engaged self preservation and slavery mode since at least the 90's and absolutely without question ever since 2000. The do NOT give one single FUCK about you, at all. EVERY single word out of their mouths is a feelgood SCAM and a LIE. They are twisting and extorting you. And feeding you stupid fucking footballs sports, beer and shopping.
Their *entire* mission now is to subjugate and forever control their pest and opposition known as "we the people".
Wake up! Rise up!
Before it's too late.
When is too late... look at all the automated weaponry, police forces, tracking, surveillance, and datamining of YOU THE PEOPLE.
EVERY thing you DO, EVERY place you go, EVERY one you know and talk with and sleep with and do business with and church with, EVERY thing you own.
Almost everything is in place for them to be able to turn the switch.
You *MUST* stop it now... destroy it.

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a difference of doing the normal job and running amok. The act of doing something that may or may not violate your rights as a citizen or a human is different from the act of creating the tools that make it possible. Should the police be stripped from their guns just because they might shoot somebody dead? Or a hunter? Actually, when put like that it might be a good idea. I find it hard to understand why would somebody interpret the US constitution like a literalist reads his Bible. They are not members of the Constitutional Taliban or ISIS of the Founding Fathers after all

Re:Patriot

[houghi]

The right to privacy is a given, If you do not have that, all the other rights mean fuck all.

It is like the right to eat what you like. Just because it isn't written does not mean it isn't there.

On a side note: these rights only mean something if they are enforced. If they are not enforced they also mean nothing. How can they not be enforced? By not having any consequences if it is broken.

Re: Patriot

[endercase]

The tribal belief of anti-tribalism.

Re:Patriot

[Ol Olsoc]

Are you trying to say that if you had a clearance that you would sell the details of what you were working on to Assaunge or Putin? Or any other agencies tht offered you the money? Or would you give it away for free?

A simple yes or no will suffice. I'm really, really interested in the answer to that question. If you don't answer, I'll take that as a yes.

Re:Patriot

[Agripa]

It's like people forgot about how in the weeks prior to the battle of Lexington and Concord, the Red Coats were stopping everyone traveling, detaining them without cause and searching all of their possessions, luggage, papers in the hopes of finding documents pertaining to the rebellion or weapons / supplies that could be used to support them.

These days the Red Coats could make up probable cause after they arrest people, conduct terry stops, and use civil assets forfeiture.

"Stop resisting!"

Re:Patriot

[Anonymous Coward]

So find someone that believes you have no privacy since the constitution does not ever say privacy. Reading in privacy rights is "reinterpreting" the document. Expanding the listed classifications is "reinterpreting" it.

False. The Bill of Rights is open-ended, deliberately so, a clever move by James Madison to address the objection of the Anti-Federalists that any Bill of Rights would be incomplete. There is no need to "re-interpret" the document to assert any individual rights that the people choose to assert. The assertion of rights under the 9th and 10 Amendments (unspecified rights retained by the people, unspecified rights reserved to the people) does not require the re-examination of the semantics of any word or phrase in the document, since it is built-in - it's already there, and it's been there since the Bill of Rights was written.

The assertion of rights under the authority of an open-ended Bill of Rights is NOT in any sense a re-interpretation.

Further, by definition, rights retained by the people are retained by the people: no voting for a government official is required or relevant, since if government could decide what rights were retained by the people, there would no such rights - a contradiction.

I can find [neither in the Bill of Rights nor any other part of the Constitution a] general right of privacy

This statement is a violation of the judge's oath to uphold the Bill of Rights, a violation of the requirement of "good behaviour", and ALSO unethical practice of law.

That kind of thing happens a lot in the USA.

If you have corrupt politicians selecting judges, you'll get corrupt judges. It's not an accident that various Supreme Courts first upheld slavery, then upheld the infamous "Jim Crow" laws. The same processes that led to corruption in the courts responsible for those past rulings also leads to corruption in today's courts.

In general, the US legal profession does not want to recognize the open-ended nature of the Bill of Rights - and associations of lawyers make large campaign contributions to the politicians that select judges. The technical term here is "ethical conflict of interest" - the 9th Amendment, if it was recognized as being part of the Bill of Rights - would necessarily both a) greatly reduce the size of the current US legal code, and b) greatly reduce the need for the services of lawyers.

Politicians, in addition to being lawyers themselves, have additional conflicts of interest with regards to recognizing the authority of the 9th Amendment. Worse, there are other special interests out there - in addition to the lawyers - that would prefer the 9th Amendment simply didn't exist, and funnel their campaign contributions accordingly.

Nobody gets selected for high office that is going to rock the boat on legal ethics issues, and thus ANY rights arising under the 9th Amendment are liable to get short-changed.

So everybody in high office pretends the 9th Amendment (and part of the 10th Amendment) don't exist - it's an "Emperor's New Clothes" scenario.

Want to know why we have a broken patent system? Part of it comes down to the US government and US legal profession ignoring rights arising under the 9th Amendment. The same applies to copyright, to tax law, to property law, to contract law - in fact, to every major area of law. Even ordinary, everyday law like traffic law is affected - it's not legal for local governments to be laundering money from traffic fines into their budgets, because that frees up funds to pay the salaries of police officers, prosecutors, and judges - and hence violates both the right to ethical practice of law, and the right to ethical government - but many do it anyway. Illegal conduct is commonplace in US government, and on the part of the US legal profession.

Ethics problems in law are a cancer in the body of the US legal system - and they all involve violations of one or more rights arising under the 9th Amendment, or the 10th.

Re:Patriot

[TechnoJoe]

There should be a "Sad but True" mod. You'd have 1000 points.

there's actually no problem...

[Anonymous Coward]

The leaks are only metadata. The data stolen with the leaks is still secret.

Do not worry, CIA. The NSA has assured us that having our metadata stolen is nothing to be concerned over.

Let the Scapegoat hunt begin...

[Anonymous Coward]

Nuff said :-)

What are the odds?

[Cyberpunk Reality]

That they actually have a security breach rather than a "traitor".

Re:What are the odds?

[Anonymous Coward]

Significantly less likely than one of the thousands of people who have access leaking it.

Re: What are the odds?

[Anonymous Coward]

Seems like a Russian move though. Breach, then pretend to be from the inside and leak the data. Seed paranoia and destroy morale in the adversaries apparatus. That would fit into the narrative that's been pushed heavily by Democrats, no?

The administration has won

[Anonymous Coward]

In less than a decade, we've gone from identifying people as "whistleblowers" to labelling them as "traitors" in the mainstream news.

The war on truth has been lost. We are all defeated.

Re: The administration has won

[Anonymous Coward]

Political talk radio and a certain sexual predator that used to be a pundit on Fox News have doing so for decades. The Trump administration is the result of their crap for the last 30 years.

Re: The administration has won

[Anonymous Coward]

When was Bill Clinton a spokesperson for Fox News?

Free Speech is never the problem.

Re:The administration has won

[Anonymous Coward]

We are all defeated.

What are you talking about? We won. We consistently voted for this, over and over again. American voters wanted to defeat America, and the voters won. We killed our most hated enemy: America. That's a victory for the anti-American voter. It's time to celebrate! "FUCK AMERICA!" -- America

Re: The administration has won

[Anonymous Coward]

You have a short memory. Pentagon Papers and Daniel Ellesberg. Called a traitor and on Nixon's enemies list.

Re:The administration has won

[Anonymous Coward]

Even the liberal media turned against whistleblowers after one of them leaked stuff damaging to "their party".

Re:The administration has won

[Anonymous Coward]

The only reason the CIA stayed a secretive organization is it had the moral high ground with it's employee's and society. That was lost the moment we discovered the government attacking tea-party protesters with tax audits and law enforcement began engaging in parallel construction and property theft. Society no longer trusts the CIA, and most of them have no idea why an agency that has been rendered effectively impotent is even still being funded. If anything, all the information leaking out is a check on that un-checked power and at this point in time, they are finding their operations severely compromised.

This entire conversation boils down to certain rich folks think they can build some kind of American Royalty AKA the Establishment. What they are discovering is the harder they push, the bigger a mess they make. Of course Russia is going to turn the knife when they can. Lets be realistic here, Russia see's America investing in anti-ICBM technology, they know what kind of unchecked power that creates, they know what the danger is, of course they are going to interfere with elections and try to get people sympathetic to them elected. You'd think if they were behind spreading real socialism, e.g. Marxism, through the education system, they'd be involved in getting Hillary elected. But instead they, supposedly, supported Trump.

Trump is ultimately a blow-hard. Just the act of telling the illegal immigrants he's going to build a wall and deport them has significantly reduced illegal immigration. When Trump talks with silicon valley over H1B's, the discussion goes something along the lines of "Do you really want IT Folks getting fed up enough to unionize in the same way the BAR association, Master Electricians and Plumbers, and the entire Medical industry has?" and when they insult him after a comment, he says "Friends, this is coming from your president. I'm just the beginning of a much, much bigger problem for you. If I don't help these people, who's the next person they will elect?" Also, he happens to be right. We've got Silicon Valley corps with illegal agreements not to poach each-others employee's, we've got H1B's, god only know what else has gone on; what happens when the good will of the community is completely destroyed? Just that piece of the politics; threatening; is important. Laws and regulations can only solve so much.

Re:The administration has won

[geekymachoman]

>In less than a decade, we've gone from identifying people as "whistleblowers" to labelling them as "traitors" in the mainstream news.

We're not, the.. "mainstream media" are.

Re:The administration has won

[Anonymous Coward]

Even the liberal media turned against whistleblowers after one of them leaked stuff damaging to "their party".

+5 Insightful

Re:The administration has won

[Anonymous Coward]

The choice of "traitor" vs. "whistleblower" doesn't reflect a disagreement on the facts, just a difference of political opinion.
It's a lot like the classic choice of "terrorist" vs. "freedom fighter".
Would you use "whistleblower" for a government employee who releases secret information you think should remain secret about government activities you agree with?

MAN hunt? *triggered*

[Anonymous Coward]

Why the sexist presumption the leaker is a man?

Slashdot should be ashamed of itself.

Are we posting talking heads BS now then?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> (random dude) told (podunk affiliate) that "My...guess is...(something)."

So...the talking heads get quoted now too? What's the point of including this speculation?

Re:Are we posting talking heads BS now then?

[Anonymous Coward]

A simple failure of postmodernism. One of many.

Re:Are we posting talking heads BS now then?

[Anonymous Coward]

He's probably right though.
The CIA drones are too brainwashed. These kinds of guys would rape their own sister if ordered, and can never leak.
On the other hand, when technical competence is required, they got to bring in an outside contractor.

Re:Are we posting talking heads BS now then?

[Anonymous Coward]

I beg to differ. Case in point...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldrich_Ames

Re: Are we posting talking heads BS now then?

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps their strict hiring standards and lifestyle/attitude change requirements, coupled with the difficulty in finding technically competent candidates while also being on the low end of the pay scale has created a situation where it's basically all contractors and a bunch of technically ignorant managers?

Re:Are we posting talking heads BS now then?

[Anonymous Coward]

Humans put a lot of credibility in celebrities, officials, leaders, experts, sources, etc. So it enhances any article to sprinkle those in.

Proliferation of government contractors.

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe it has some downsides.

Re: Proliferation of government contractors.

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe. Or it could be an old timer who is burnt out. Or just like what is currently going on.

We've had a lot folks resign from the executive branch when Trump got into the whitehouse. Maybe some is planning on going out with some drama.

Traitor

[Anonymous Coward]

Traitor, funny wall to spell Patriot.

Mark my words, the USA will have civil war 2.0 electric bugaloo.

Re: Traitor

[Anonymous Coward]

Off to the salt mines with this one!

Trans Hunt

[turkeydance]

like last time

Contractor .. lol

[OzPeter]

Just before the name of the perp is going to be released, there is going to be a hurried meeting with HR in order to reclassify him/her as a contractor and then deny all knowledge of them ever being an employee.

Re:Contractor .. lol

[Anonymous Coward]

“A good scapegoat is nearly as welcome as a solution to the problem”

Re: Contractor .. lol

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't that SOP from the start? It's an old spy agency trope.

Theater?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would they announce and comment on an ongoing investigation? Smells like BS

Re:Theater?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah. Manhunt, more like scapegoat hunt

Re: Theater?

[Anonymous Coward]

Poor leadership coupled with outdated policies in an attempt to excuse incompetence/ignorance. Catastrophic failure? Call foul and start a witchhunt! There, all fixed now! Just a fluke folks!

Re:MAN hunt? *triggered*

[Anonymous Coward]

Playing the odds there, chances are better it was a man than a squirrel.

Why are they so concerned

[Anonymous Coward]

About some data being read by others?
They do the same to us all the time.
If they were innocent they would have nothing to hide.

I'M OVER HERE!

[Anonymous Coward]

Every American needs to fit this description to be American. Back when the only option to get Julian Assange safely through an Airline terminal by hundreds of extras to wear a cropped Madonna wig, everyone needs to stand-up and in one voice deliver their bag of urine to Washington D.C.

Re:I AM SPARTACUS.....

[PopeRatzo]

I AM THE EGG MAN.

Who? or which one?

[Anonymous Coward]

They are all criminals of some kind. Non-live pretaped debates are scripted.

Trump concealing the fact that he was one of the people who visitted Epstein Island over 20 times like Bill Clinton, they are friends not enemies, yet when The Clintons are all fingered for Pizza Gate then Trump shuts it down as non-law Fake News instead of a challenge of Fraudvover Wire Radio or Television statute in CFR or US codes.

The Onion is Fake News of which Trump himself enjoyed patronizing as much as any of the blonde bimbo performers or woman-beater Steven Segal.

Fellons calling the world criminals.

Government Security is an Oxymoron

[Anonymous Coward]

The CIA should have stored its records on Hillary Clinton's personal server where none of those people had access.

Re:Government Security is an Oxymoron

[Anonymous Coward]

Let it go. She lost, stop being a bad winner!

It's complicated

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Republican House Leader, Nunes received a document, it claimed Trump had been caught in dragnet surveillance of Russian agents in the US and abroad.
2. Nunes read that document in the Whitehouse, claiming it was a nearby security location. fellow patriot Republicans called bullshit.
3. The document came from Cohen-Watnick, a Michael Flynn man who works in the Whitehouse with sceurity clearance.
4. Nunes neglected to say it came from the Whitehouse and refused to name the source.
5. He presented it as third party confirmation that Trump had been spied on by the CIA, which in fact it came from the Whitehouse itself.

Do you remember the pee memos? They talked about a plan to get Trump elected with propaganda. And later on when it looked like he'd lose, the memos revealed the plan switched to claiming voter fraud to discredit the vote. We certainly had a lot of that propaganda here on Slashdot, and it also came out of Trumps mouth in co-ordination with that plan change.

Those plans have since been confirmed as real, yet another part of the intelligene briefing confirmed as fact:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-election-exclusive-idUSKBN17L2N3

Someone (...C-W) leaked the names of the sources for those pee memos to Putin, and he had those people arrested for treason. As a result Ruslan Stoyanov, Sergei Mikhailov and a few other (likely) US spies in Russia will die in jail.

Nunes did a deal. He insisted that CIA prevent these leaks (about Trump's various dodgy Russian connections), or he would block their security mandate budget. He's not really interested in seeing his friend Watnick in jail, he's more interested in preventing any more damaging Trump leaks. Look at this from his point of view, he claimed to have independent information, then a leak came out revealing he read it in the Whitehouse, then another leak revealed his source was from the Whitehouse, then another leak revealed it was a Flynn appointee.... he had to step down from the Trump inquiry because he was revealed as a liar. All due to leaks.

See, it's complicated.

Re:It's complicated

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL someone fell for a 4chan prank. You do know that the "pee memos" were something that was created on 4chan to see just how outlandish a rumor they could create that the media would still fall for, right?

The reality is that the Obama administration did, in fact, spy on Trump (we know this and we also know that Obama agents attempted to "unmask" Trump campaign workers), and that Clinton's email was so insecure the hack could have come from literally anywhere in the world but that the leaks to Wikileaks came from within her own campaign. Assange has basically confirmed that as much as he can without putting lives at risk of reprisals from the Clinton machine.

Re: It's complicated

[Entrope]

Obama personnel didn't just attempt to "unmask" Trump staffers who were mentioned in intelligence product. Susan Rice (among others?) actually did unmask them, so that she would know their names rather than anonymous identifiers similar to "US person number 4, an advisor to a candidate for national office".

Re:MAN hunt? *triggered*

[Anonymous Coward]

idiot

Nah, Mike Pompeo

[Anonymous Coward]

Mike Pompeo is CIA head appointed by Trump. He's trying to spin here the wikileaks source as being from the USA, trying to pin the blame on 'contractor' in friendly media. i.e. the FBI investigation into the Russian hacks, and the dump of that information to Assange, he's trying to sidetrack into a USA leak instead. Trying to pre-rule out Russia.

If he was investigating the leaks to Assange, he wouldn't be doing it in the press with a pre-assigned conclusion "i.e. contractor". He'd do it in secret and wouldn't tip his hand. So this is propaganda not investigation.

Re: Nah, Mike Pompeo

[Anonymous Coward]

Most rational comment. It does seem to reek of propaganda. However, it could also have the effect of causing the hypothetical mole to panic and flee or act in some other supposed spy theorized suspicious fashion.

Re: Nah, Mike Pompeo

[Anonymous Coward]

Or they're doing a clever psy-op and making it seem like they don't already know who the leaker is.

There's a very reasonable suspicion be that says the leaker was Seth Rich. He had motive, means, opportunity and was murdered under very suspicious circumstances.

That's a better lead than any other. So rather than let people reach that overwhelmingly obvious conclusion, they're pretending there's a better lead somewhere else.... Which they're isn't.

Re: Nah, Mike Pompeo

[Anonymous Coward]

Well if the Russians say it was Seth Rich, that's good enough for me.

Re:I AM SPARTACUS.....

[rholtzjr]

You are the egg man?
I AM THE WALRUS.

Logic and Reason, or lack thereof

[s.petry]

The 4th in particular is intended to protect Citizens, not protect the Government. The First amendment gives rights to whistle blowers, and as with the latter not to give protection to the Government. The 14th ensures that a State can not supersede the Federal Constitutional protections, so not relevant to the topic really.

The problem with people like you who belittle the Constitution as written, and who belittle people who believe that it was intended as written, is that you ignore all of the history that goes with the Constitution. You can find all of the wisdom in the Federalist and anti-Federalist papers (the latter not being what most people believe either). You must have a delusional belief that Government intrusion and abuse of power is something the founders never saw or thought about. As with the Federalist papers and the Constitution, history in this regard is your enemy. England was paying for information, paying informants, paying propagandists, jailing and killing people who spoke out publicly against the Crown's control, etc... The only difference between today and then is the medium, the methods and purposes are the same.

Your cute little pet names don't sway the arguments or change history.

Re:Logic and Reason, or lack thereof

[sg_oneill]

Your missing the point. Theres a hell of a lot of "Originalists" who always seem to be the first to suggest changes, want clauses revoked, or happy for weird exceptions to be allowed through if thats whats required to sync their idea of politics with the constitution as written.

How many republicans still demand prayer in school or creationionism in classrooms despite the plain languaged absolute prohibition of government religion in the first ammendment.

And yeah libs arent much better on this, but at least thats not inconsistent with the interpretive school of constitutional thought

Re: Logic and Reason, or lack thereof

[Zero__Kelvin]

The fact that you think there is a difference between protecting the citizens and the government (of the people, for the people, and by the people) shows how far off the rails we have gone. When the Constitution it's followed properly there is no difference. The fact that we often have to choose which is the now disparate groups is the problem in its entirety.

Re:Logic and Reason, or lack thereof

[TWX]

That's because when it comes down to it, everyone wants their own agenda, and simply makes claims about what they are to pander to who will enable them to make their agenda happen. This is why you have to look at the records of actions that people have taken in the past when evaluating the words that they say to you now. This is why it's probably a good idea for Federal office holders to have previous government experience, so that one can see how they've decided on matters in the past, as that will be the best indicator of how they'll decide in the future.

Re:Logic and Reason, or lack thereof

[mi]

England was paying for information, paying informants, paying propagandists, jailing and killing people who spoke out publicly against the Crown's control

Citations would've been most helpful here, but let's stipulate, it is all true.

So, in the 18th century Britain was already doing all of that. And in the 20th it did too — and we still regard Alan Turing's efforts as nothing but heroic and decisive in turning the war in the Allies' favor and saving thousands of lives.

Why, then, are so many folks — yourself included — denouncing Turing's descendants at CIA, NSA and their British equivalents in the 21st century? Yes, they could spy on their own citizens illegally and it, likely, does happen — including political opposition. But they do, unfortunately, have a vast number of legitimate targets and their secretive efforts continue to save lives... To sabotage all of their efforts because they could sometimes be abusive is like banning cars because some times people die in them.

It is most refreshing to have a mainstream media outlet call the "leaker" a "traitor", but, when he is found, we are likely to discover, that he was lead to these actions by the Western public's suicidal attitudes towards earlier traitors — Snowden and Manning.

Re:Logic and Reason, or lack thereof

[AutodidactLabrat]

Ahh, no
The 14th limits all powers, state, local etc.. from infringing in "equal rights, privileges and immunities"
Well, except for that idiotic electoral college
Because, you know, Scalia said so.

Re:Logic and Reason, or lack thereof

[AutodidactLabrat]

Not just no Government religion, no RESPECT for ANY establishment.
Black letter "Supreme law"

Re:Logic and Reason, or lack thereof

[Anonymous Coward]

I must ask - do you know what, a comma, is, or, how to use one? I also must ask - are you foreign or mentally disabled,

Re: Logic and Reason, or lack thereof

[Anonymous Coward]

AC, focussing on what's important since 2001.

Re:Logic and Reason, or lack thereof

[mattmarlowe]

There is no such thing as separation of church and state in the constitution. There is just a provision blocking the creation of a government run church, e.g. the founders didn't want a Church of the USA and in the same amendment, another provision preventing the government from interfering with citizens practicing religion.....afterall, many of the original colonists left Europe/England because of state run churches like the Church of England forced people to become members or prohibited the practice of other religions. These colonists were still very supportive of government and the church working in tandem, and religious values being imposed via law, and expected prayer to happen at school. They just wanted to be able to choose the religion and not have forced membership or have government interfere with their religion.

The fact that most American Citizens believe the constitution meant something completely different is more a result of who controls the instruction at public schools than the actual truth.

Re:Logic and Reason, or lack thereof

[aldousd666]

These colonists were still very supportive of government and the church working in tandem

Oh really? Which church was 'the church' that you speak of? Which religion was it even?

Re:Logic and Reason, or lack thereof

[Anonymous Coward]

Turing broke enemy codes in a war. People admire that, just like they admire soldiers who kills lots of enemy troops. Turings successes can be enumerated: convoys re-routed around known u-boats, destroyers routed towards the same u-boats. And the strategic, operational and tactical advantages of knowing enemy plans & movements in the land war. Apparently the war was shortened by a year or two - or at least avoiding nuclear war in Europe combined with an eastern block stretching all the way into France.

But the people who admire an efficient soldier, don't like serial killers even though they do much of the same kind of "work". By the same token, they don't like the agencies that spy on them instead of the 'enemies'. Can you enumerate NSA successes that justify the spending? Do you have a long line of terrorists and foreign agents that got caught thanks to the NSA?

Re:Logic and Reason, or lack thereof

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously? The provision is to further individual freedoms and prevent persecution. It was never intended to prevent the state from founding it's own religion, it has it's called the State. What is does is prevent the State from endorsing, or enacting a state religion, and religions from influencing people (in theory) from the pulpit. It doesn't matter what genocidal invaders wanted. Sure they'd love for church and state to push their agenda, and keep persecuting others. Zealots got murder and capital on their minds, who'd of thunk? I don't know what sorta weed you're smoking, but it may have been sprinkled with meth.
They founders were very much skeptical of the Church and the government, hence the provision. Your argument is nonsense, absent of critical thinking skills.

Re:Logic and Reason, or lack thereof

[Anonymous Coward]

"Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and public felicity...Let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." - George Washington, Farewell Address, 1776

Re:Logic and Reason, or lack thereof

[DerekLyons]

The problem with people like you who belittle the Constitution as written, and who belittle people who believe that it was intended as written, is that you ignore all of the history that goes with the Constitution.

The problem with people like you who worship the Constitution as written ignore all the history that goes with the Constitution - and make up shit from whole cloth to support your nutjob notions. You're no different from the airheads who believe that Nostrodamus could see the future and constantly 'discover' evidence to support it.

Re:Logic and Reason, or lack thereof

[Lord Flipper]

records of actions that people have taken in the past...

Wow. Just... wow.

Re: Logic and Reason, or lack thereof

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice ramble, cherry-tree.

So, what religion was it?

Re: MAN hunt? *triggered*

[Anonymous Coward]

Comrade, if target squirrel you borrow retired soviet cat assassin for fixing problem, yes?

Lesson for the DNC

[Anonymous Coward]

Inside job at DNC, not Russian snipe hunt.

Re: I AM SPARTACUS.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Dissident identified. Take him away, toys.

Re:I AM SPARTACUS.....

[wisnoskij]

I am the Milkman. My milk is delicious.

So sad....NOT!

[Anonymous Coward]

Boo hoo, their toys got exposed and now they got to make new ones to continue conducting their dirty shit.

Here is the thing: Not only do I hope they DON'T find the source of the leak, I also hope more of their dirty laundry us aired for the whole public to see. Also, I would love to see some
officials get caught commiting some severe corruption , bad enough that
they will be guarding their buttholes
for the next couple of decades and their friends can't even bail them out.
How does that sound?

Re: So sad....NOT!

[Anonymous Coward]

I would prefer if they would recall that we're all on the same side. Also, maybe stop getting involved in domestic politics, and stick to executing policy? Is that too hard?

Hilairious every time

[Anonymous Coward]

Yet again the CIA and FBI:

1. Invent sneaky new ways to spy on everyone else's secrets.

2. Keep all the details of their plans top secret.

3. React with fury and righteous indignation when said secret details are leaked.

Panic...

[Archtech]

"Now listen up, people. We are in serious trouble. Apparently an honest person has infiltrated our organization".

Re: Panic...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hahaha, zing!

Witch hunt

[Anonymous Coward]

The correct term is "witch hunt." A man hunt is when there is a fugitive on the loose and you have to find him. A witch hunt is what happens when you are looking for someone who isn't going to get a trial.

Re:Witch hunt

[Anonymous Coward]

^^^^ +1 This!

CIA?

[NormanHaga2580]

The CIA is rapidly becoming the CYA.

I've got 15 mod points ...

[CaptainDork]

... and not one goddam comment to use them on.

That surprises me.

Where is the observation that the fucking CIA has a special, tiny, secret cubbyhole where they store this shit and hundreds have access to it?

Apparently, the gubmint learned not one fucking thing from Manning and Snowden.

And, for fuck's sake, don't use the word "treason," when it's "espionage."

Treason has two major components that are missing in this context:

1.) A United States Citizen declaring war on the United States. Where's that goddam manifesto? The last time that happened was the Civil War when the Confederacy committed treason.

2.) Aiding the enemy. The United States does not have a list of enemies. The gubmint considered a list of enemies years ago, but it got complicated. There are guidelines, policies, procedures of law that go into effect for an official enemy.

Some of those enemies are allies of our allies. Also, "enemies" is a moving target. Also, any United States company who did any sort of business with an "enemy" would be charged with treason.

Obviously, America has morphed from a Republic to an oligarchy, and global business supersedes all other considerations.

The last list of enemies was World War Two.

Don't come at me with Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia.

We are not at war with any country.

We are at euphemistic police actions or peace-keeping with those countries.

Thank you very much.

I'm moving on to another Slashdot thread where some contributors need my help in getting the attention the readers deserve.

Re:I've got 15 mod points ...

[thegarbz]

hundreds

Yeah, seems like a pretty small number to me. I mean let's face it with the number of people who have security clearance to access classified information, combined with the population of the USA, combined with the massive military industrial complex that leads itself to many people being involved in national security, frankly I'm surprised the numbers isn't in the thousands.

Just working on one small project could easily get 20 people added to a particular access list. It's not uncommon for the number to be in the hundreds even in other countries where every other person isn't a government contractor.

Re:I've got 15 mod points ...

[CaptainDork]

Fuck you.

A traitor is one who commits treason.

Re:I've got 15 mod points ...

[CaptainDork]

The number is now in the billions.

Correct?

Re:I've got 15 mod points ...

[fuzznutz]

While your post was insightful, I would argue the following:

1.) A United States Citizen declaring war on the United States. Where's that goddam manifesto? The last time that happened was the Civil War when the Confederacy committed treason.

As the Confederate states voted to secede from the union, they could not be judged as technically citizens at that time, therefore not technically treasonous. Of course, if you follow then Lincolnian school of thought, the vote was illegal and therefore null-and-void. I guess it all boils down to your opinion of self sovereignty of the states prior to the Civil War.

Shelby Foote claimed that prior to the war, the terminology used to reference the US was the following: "The United States ARE" whereas after the war it changed to "The United States IS". I think this is a telling observation of the reasoning of the time.

Re:I've got 15 mod points ...

[Anonymous Coward]

That is why they are calling Wikileaks an intelligence agency... To add treason charges.

Re:I've got 15 mod points ...

[Major Blud]

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but this seems wrong based off the rest of your post:

1.) A United States Citizen declaring war on the United States. Where's that goddam manifesto? The last time that happened was the Civil War when the Confederacy committed treason.

This guy was convicted of treason in WW2, by aiding the Germans (who declared war on the U.S., who then returned it in kind).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Or how about Axis Sally?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Physical Access?

[Anonymous Coward]

How about electronic access?

Counter-productive

[Anonymous Coward]

The only lasting effect of this hunt will be further erosion of the quality of people that would consider working for CIA and related 'contractors'.

Only the obedient, authority-fearing, servile ones will continue to come in. Useful for beating people up, but little else. And that is greatest danger.

Oh boy well this will be fun.

[Narcocide]

I guess they've finally figured out what had been obvious to everyone else here for 20 years.

Nothing but traitors

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are they even allowed to continue after everything we know they've done? Shouldn't their vile methods be turned on them, their families threatened if they do not cooperate, just as they're so fond of doing to the citizens?

If there was any justice left in this country their datacenters would be bombed back to the hells in which they belong, and their directors sent to Camp X-Ray.

Re:Nothing but traitors

[Narcocide]

If there was any justice left in this country their datacenters would be [donated to furthering scientific research and education], and their directors sent to Camp X-Ray.

"Done by 'a' contractor"

[Lost Race]

Ha ha ha. CIA's sooper dooper ultra mega topmost secret weapons weren't compromised by "a" contractor. They were compromised by dozens of contractors, possibly by all of them, and more than a few regular employees too. Most of them didn't publish on Wikileaks though. There's lots of fun to be had and money to be made with tech like that.

Yet another ignorant troll

[s.petry]

Well, except for that idiotic electoral college

Once again, a leftist/communist/progressive demonstrating a complete irrational ignorance of history. The reason for the Senate and Electoral college is to protect against tyranny by a minority of states with a higher population against a majority of states with less population. Why do you idiots continue to repeat propaganda when it's so easily disproved? Crack a damn history book instead of smoking it!

Re:Yet another ignorant troll

[ChatHuant]

The reason for the Senate and Electoral college is to protect against tyranny by a minority of states with a higher population against a majority of states with less population.

You're absolutely correct. Damn those tyrants in California for believing their vote should count the same as the vote of any other American. They need to learn that in America the rights don't belong to humans, and we're not all equal before the law. Rights belong to abstract constructs, like corporations or states or, if you're a republican, bank accounts.

To make this clear, what do you think about formalizing it? How about making the votes of people from highly populated states only count as 3/5 of the votes of real Americans? I'm sure you'll find good precedents if you crack open this history book you mention.

Re:Yet another ignorant troll

[Ichijo]

Damn those tyrants in California for believing their vote should count the same as the vote of any other American.

Virginia was able to procure two additional seats in the Senate, thereby increasing their electoral count by two, way back in 1863. What's stopping California from following their lead?

Or maybe California prefers things the way they are.

Re: Yet another ignorant troll

[Anonymous Coward]

I assume you mean West Virgina splitting off. Some of us support that for California. See the Five Californias movement.

Re:Yet another ignorant troll

[Anonymous Coward]

And there is RWNJ Petry, dibbling his insanity out over a thread again. What a useless fucktard you are, totally out of touch with reality, good job you and your fellow alt fact mob are a small minority, a puss filled pimple on democracies ass.

Re:Yet another ignorant troll

[s.petry]

You and people like you are the reason more and more people are despising the left. Anything right of Marx to you is "alt-right". Think again about who the nutjob is, moron.

Re:Yet another ignorant troll

[gwolf]

The reason for the Senate and Electoral college is to protect against tyranny by a minority of states with a higher population against a majority of states with less population. Why do you idiots continue to repeat propaganda when it's so easily disproved? Crack a damn history book instead of smoking it!

Funny how the USA is nowadays the only place in the world with such a retrograde, ridiculous electoral system. Most (democratic) countries had it during the 1800s, when travelling was so long and difficult, and there was a place for "electors". Every country without a brain-dead Congress looking just to perpetuate itself and offer a fake democracy when you have only a party duopoly went away to a true "one person, one vote" system.

Re:Yet another ignorant troll

[aldousd666]

This is not a comparison of apples to apples here. The constitution actually grants the STATES the right to pick the president by granting them a certain lot of electoral votes in proportion to their populations. How they decide to allocate them is up to the states. The 'popular vote' at a national level isn't actually a thing. It's only aggregated by statisticians, because really popular votes are only used by the states to help determine how they will allot their federally granted electoral votes, and really I do mean 'help determine' because not all of them electoral college members are required to vote with the popular vote, and nor have they ever been.

Re:Yet another ignorant troll

[fuzznutz]

You're absolutely correct. Damn those tyrants in California for believing their vote should count the same as the vote of any other American. They need to learn that in America the rights don't belong to humans, and we're not all equal before the law. Rights belong to abstract constructs, like corporations or states or, if you're a republican, bank accounts.

When I hear this kind of stuff, I cringe at the educational system and what it has wrought. If you harbor anger and disagreement with the Constitution as written, perhaps you should propose an amendment to alter or abolish the Electoral College. Then you can lobby the states to ratify your amendment. Good luck on that part though, because the remaining 48 states aren't that eager to turn presidential selection power over to California and New York.

Re:Yet another ignorant troll

[Anonymous Coward]

In the EU, the President of the European Parliament isn't elected by popular vote.
It's true that the EU isn't a fully sovereign nation, but the comparison is a lot closer than that between the USA and an individual EU member state.
The idea is that the President of the USA is elected by the states.
The original system of the US Constitution was one in which the federal government related directly only to the states, not to the people.
That's been weakened by the federal income tax and the popular election of senators, but it's not completely gone.

Re:Yet another ignorant troll

[AutodidactLabrat]

Wrong
It was created to get agreement from the Slave states.
Since the point of a rePUBLIC is for the PUBLIC to control who is in power...
Meanwhile, the 14th Amendment prohibits this kind of elevated "rights" for tiny states.
Did you get all your "history" from a rightwing spew site?
Here, learn something from an actual Historian, as reprinted in Time magazine.
Wow, talk about STUPID!

Hate for the CIA

[Tempest451]

Seems to be a lot of hate for the CIA. I wonder if anyone here has ever met someone that works at the CIA, FBI, NSA, or any DoD entity. Most are hard working people who could make more in the private sector, but chose to use their skills to defend their country. Most of the people who defend Slashdotters right to insult the job they do. The line between personal privacy and national security is the hardest to walk and defy anyone here to claim they know how to have both.

Re: Hate for the CIA

[Anonymous Coward]

That is easy - they reject the "balance" rhetoric and follow the Benjamin Franklin proverb about sacrificing liberty for security. If someone claims to be "protecting" you chances are they just want to control you.

Re: Hate for the CIA

[Anonymous Coward]

It's equivalent to the disregard some concentrate on local police, instead of the policies and culture that create the situations they find contemptible. Or consider the hate leveled towards individual soldiers and such during the peace movement of the 60s/70s. It's unfortunate, but it's part of the sacrifice you make when you swear an oath. 99% of the time, there is no reward or honor.

Does BAH still have CIA contracts?

[laughingskeptic]

They haven't had the best track record with their employees recently ...

Glad

[AndyKron]

I'm glad I don't work there. Witch hunts suck.

Re:Glad

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

If I worked there, I'd, as their computer guy, would be like, let's build an incorruptible and un-bypassable logging system of all access to all data, and exactly what was accessed, along with a physical process whereby the elected officials in Congress on the security committees would review it all. In this way, there could be no G. Gordon Liddy type "special" agents who misuse the data to advantage this or that political faction...

And I'd be quickly shown the door.

Re: Glad

[Anonymous Coward]

We've no use for intellectuals in this outfit. What we need is chimpanzees. Let me give you a word of advice... never say a word to us about being intelligent. We will think for you, my friend. Don't forget it.

Re:Glad

[Anonymous Coward]

Problem is, this system already exists. Remember when different versions of the same docs were created/worded slightly differently, depending on who accessed them, so the government could figure out just who was leaking this sort of thing?
But what happens when you don't like who is implicated?
Then it was clearly a contractor. Aren't contractors bad? emember when Repubs used to say we should contract out all the work of the evil big government? Now we have to weed out the contractors. My how times have changed.

Re:Glad

[Anonymous Coward]

Especially when polygraphs are involved!

Re:Glad

[Anonymous Coward]

Witch hunts suck.

Yet Easter egg hunts are ok? I'm seeing a huge double standard here.

Not a patriot at this point

[DeplorableCodeMonkey]

Someone appalled at how the CIA has been allowed to run amok and trample all over the freedoms guaranteed by that document.

The CIA has no domestic jurisdiction. Everyone crying "muh freedumbz" at the CIA misses the tiny little fact that the CIA is not the KGB and not going after domestic intelligence. That is the FBI's jurisdiction, and they would gut the CIA and wear their flesh like a coat before letting the CIA muscle in on their territory if the CIA actually even tried.

Re:Not a patriot at this point

[Anonymous Coward]

And if the CIA would keep their business to themselves and stop freely trading information with the NSA, FBI, and every other agency that sounds official you would be correct.

The NSA is also supposed to not be working locally, yet they're vaccuuming up every bit of data regardless of it's origin or destination. The NSA isn't supposed to be able to trade information very freely with the FBI or CIA at all either, yet from what we're given to understand it's pretty much a free for all in the information exchange department.

All three agencies need to be shut down. If there is still a reason for their purpose, those reasons could be fulfilled by new agencies with less muddy guidelines.

For anyone that says, "But what will we do in the interim?" I'd like to point out that that isn't my fucking problem. If these agencies were doing their respective jobs without deliberately missing the point then there wouldn't be a need to shut them down - but there IS a need to shut them down, so we need to do it.

wow

[Pax681]

Homeland security expert Michael Greenberger told one CBS station that "My best guest is that when this is all said and done we're going to find out that this was done by a contractor, not by an employee of the CIA."

wow.. I GUESS he wasn't an expert in spelling then :P

well

[Anonymous Coward]

it seems cia nig.g.ers finally got all nig.g.erlicious

This is not news

[Anonymous Coward]

The fact that they're publicly announcing the witch hunt is a pretty good indication that they have no leads whatsoever. If they had a trail to follow, they would keep it secret as long as possible.

In Germany ...

[Zorpheus]

... they just don't collect all the sensitive information in one place. Maybe they work more effective in the US, with eveyrthing available on a click. But it is muc more save with actual people involved.

Re:In Germany ...

[AHuxley]

East Germany learned that after a massive data walk out. Every East German spy was on a list and West Germany got that list.
In the 1960's East Germany divided its information up into groups. The spy name if needed to warn them to escape, code words, the product all went to secure locations.
No staff member was allowed to put the parts together without in person supervision from the very top of the service.
No more data could walk out. Staff had product to work on, spies in the West knew their real names, warning networks and escape plan was secure.

The US idea was more about what a contractor could sell or rent to the US government. Fast data from global collection. Every interesting person had to have a bank account, fax, car phone, desktop computer, modem, email, use an online forum, smart phone, enjoy social media over the decades.
Interesting people stay in hotel rooms with a smart TV.
The next US idea was to pool all the data in plain text so it could be search over for decades. Everything was about the data, collection was cheap, sorting was cheap. Translation was getting better.
The problem was the US forget that first success in East Germany. Dont keep it all together in plain text.
The US issues is too many contractors all only understanding plain text as a policy so they can work on each others raw product.
If raw product collected globally is encrypted once it gets to the USA, no other contractor can bid to work with the encrypted data. Thats shutting out other party politically supported contractors with interesting ideas on how to translate, sort, index or work with raw data. Political support always allowed the contractors back in to plain text so they could bid for more mil, gov work.
Better just to secure the site, trust the contractors and have collection work with plain text. Every contractor can then bid for new work, sort, find data.

Too many contractors got hired in the last decade, low standards in data protection got to be policy, too many new private sector staff to do any real world background security work on.
Digital database look ups, short term internet log collection and a lie detector pass could see anyone try for US gov security access.
US staff wanting to join should have had their entire background walked by real US gov security. School, education, friends, family, faith, politics, protests, travel, languages, books, magazines, internet logs, parents should have been looked into per application. Applicants and their life story should have been interviewed in person, in every state until US gov security was sure the applicant was not a security risk.
Paper work in their town, city, state matched their life story? Do family and friends exist in the real world, not just as a list on a networked database in the same state?
Hire for the US mil or gov to ensure security. Contractors are not mil or gov as they are only thinking of the next job.

The UK and GCHQ faced most of the same issues. The UK fixed most of their staff issues by offering good wages and a real job to staff.
Once staff have the badge, could feel part of the system, have a good wage a esprit de corp sets in.
Staff can then plan their life, home, holidays, lifestyle based on a growing gov wage and job security with a good pension.

The US decided to go with more plain text collection, many more contractors, more random global collection, more overtime for contractors, more movment of new contractors to random locations and ever more contractors working on plain text.
Contractor profits are more important than security.

The final insight is from East Germany. East Germany did not like all its spy material been on paper so it went for a new digital for a list of spies to allow for rapid contact of many of its spies in the West. That would save time to issue complex commands that could be very time sensitive. The US security services found the East German digital master list and walked out with it.

The CIA tortures people and whole communities die

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently they call this a conspiracy which is little more than a means of discrediting it. Likely it is spread amongst actual conspiracy nut jobs to make rational people further distance themselves. The sad reality is it is likely true. It's common for people with PTSD to have been ordered to send down cruise missiles on targets which cause collateral damage to shore up those who may have heard the torture. We're not talking about just killing those who were tortured- but sizeable numbers of people nearby. The people being ordered to shoot them down realize something isn't right. They're being told things like there being caches of weapons of mass destruction. They know it's not true and end up with serious emotional conflicts. Apparently the government has also forced hundreds if not thousands of solders in Afghanistan and Iraq to sign statements via secret court orders to remain silent about atrocities they'd encountered and other illegal actions. The government is not afraid to order killings of our own soldiers who are or become uncooperative. It's called collateral damage, friendly fire, etc.

I'm not one who thinks 9/11 was a cover up. It's not that I don't think it couldn't have been. I just have no means (knowledge and skill) of evaluating either the proponents or the countervailing parties write offs. It seems plausible 9/11 could have been a government conspiracy. There is certainly evidence of governments putting ships and similar into positions where they'd get fired on in order to drag us into war and similar. They put people in danger to create outrage and make the argument for war. I'm just not about to say it was or argue to that end without some serious evidence getting leaked or similar. The reality is there are too many real government conspiracies that we have good evidence of. There is no need to make shit up or fabricate based on flaky evidence that may or may not show a conspiracy.

Check out http://www.freestateproject.org/ if you have time and http://www.freekeene.com/ to see what is going on in creating a society of liberty-minded activists. We've successfully formed a free society and community in New Hampshire and a lot is going on to change things at a local and state level. It's more difficult to target entire populations (through out New Hampshire) that are spread out and decentralized that are working together to end tyranny than it is to target people in a war zone. 5,000 people strong with 10s of thousand working on moving here. There does not need to be a dominate to have effective political control. What is needed is larger active political base than the competing view points. We have the loudest voice in New Hampshire already and it's getting a lot accomplished.

Re:I AM SPARTACUS.....

[Anonymous Coward]

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard. -PCP

Satanism is a religion too.

[Anonymous Coward]

Satanism is a religion too.

Not all 'religious values' are what you think they are.

        Cult: A small, unpopular religion.

        Religion: A large, popular cult.

They won't need to man hunt very hard

[Anonymous Coward]

because Mr Assange will protect his source. Just like he protected Manning.

Poor CIA people

[Max_W]

to watch and listen what usual (fat, skinny, old, etc.) people do and say before these Samsung TVs... It should be a strenuous and traumatizing job, as what is seen cannot be unseen.

The USA is fifty places.

[Anonymous Coward]

The USA is fifty places.

Until you really understand and believe this you will not understand or appreciate things like the Electoral College.

The closest comparison is the EU. And decisions by the EU ruling bodies or how they are elected/selected are certainly NOT one-person-one-vote.

Re:I AM SPARTACUS.....

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm your mailman.
I knock your knockers, I ring your bell,
Don't you think that I am swell,
I'm your mailman.
I can come, in any kind of weather.
Don't you know my bag is made of leather
I don't mess with doors or locks,
I just shove it in your box,
I'm your mailman.

I'll start looking...

[Anonymous Coward]

...in Malia's vagina.

Re:I AM SPARTACUS.....

[rholtzjr]

LOL, obviously this moderator has NO clue who the Beatles are.

misinformation

[Anonymous Coward]

why hack something when the manufacturer complies with your demands to modify the distributed closed-source source?

why does it matter if the leaker is a CIA employee

[Anonymous Coward]

Management should be equaly responsible whether the person doing the leaking is an employee or not. Lack of supervision or flawed process should not be excused because the perpetrator is a contractor although that seems to be a big reason management likes out sourcing so much because they are allowed to shed accountability.

The traitor in the White House!

[Anonymous Coward]

The traitor in the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and sitting behind the desk at the Oval Office in the West Wing. You cannot arrest him, you have to get Congress to impeach him. Good Luck!

Traitor to who?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not the American People.

Must be talking about the Intelligence Community...

It's called "CIA," not "The CIA"

[Anonymous Coward]

It's called "CIA," not "The CIA."

It's called "The FBI," not "FBI."

Submarines are boats. Ships are targets.

Get it right.

Butt hurt?

[Anonymous Coward]

Think the CIA is just a little butt hurt?

Which one?

[spkay31]

Is that the right CIA or the left CIA doing the manhunt? Don't tell me you believe there's only one.