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Biden wrote the Patriot Act. What do you Obama lovers have to say about that?
Obama sets plans to improve privacy in NSA surveillance
President Obama announced a series of moves on Friday to improve privacy protections within National Security Agency surveillance programs and better explain to the public how they operate
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...lance/2635735/Saying the nation deserves a "vigorous public debate guided by our Cons ution," President Obama outlined plans Friday to improve privacy protections within National Security Agency surveillance programs and to better explain to the public how the NSA operates.
"It's not enough for me as president to have confidence in these programs," Obama told reporters at the White House. "The American people need to have confidence in them as well."
While defending the programs in general -- it's "an important tool in our effort to disrupt terrorist plots" -- Obama said he also understands concerns about possible abuses of privacy.
Opening a news conference with a prepared statement, Obama outlined "specific steps that we're going to be taking very shortly to move the debate forward."
They include:
-- New talks with Congress to revise Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which governs NSA collections of telephone data. The goal would be to clarify the legal authority of the NSA, improve oversight of its actions and tighten restrictions on the use of information obtained by the Agency, all with the aim of improving public confidence in the programs.
-- Appointment of a civil liberties and privacy advocate to argue cases and challenge the government's position before the court that oversees the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The advocate position is designed to push back on government applications for warrants on telephone and/or Internet communications.
Obama said he has confidence in the special court, but there is legitimate worry that it "only hears one side of the story." A new "independent voice, in appropriate cases," can insure that "the government's position is challenged by an adversary," he said.
-- Declassification of more NSA and FISA court do ents to improve transparency. The Justice Department released a report on the legal rationale for NSA operations, while the NSA itself issued a statement detailing its authorities, how it collects information and what its restrictions are. Obama described these actions as something of a down payment on future transparency efforts, with the Justice Department and Director of National Intelligence working on disclosure reforms.
-- Appointment of a new high-level group of outside experts "to review our entire intelligence and communications technologies," Obama said. "We need new thinking for a new era."
The advisory group will release an interim report within 60 days and a full report by the end of the year, he said.
Obama said he welcomes the debate over NSA surveillance programs and that he is seeking the right balance between national security and privacy concerns.
Greenwald said this on national broadcast television — twice — as a weak and false excuse for why perhaps Snowden fled the country to Hong Kong and Russia. The longest sentence handed down in this “war on whistleblowers” was 30 months, which is currently being served by John Kiriakou who blew the whistle on CIA torture, and who was prosecuted for outing the names of CIA officers. Elsewhere, yes, Bradley Manning could face up to 90 years in prison, but he hasn’t been sentenced yet. Even if he received the maximum sentence, he would be the first and only leaker to be imprisoned “for decades.”
Biden wrote the Patriot Act. What do you Obama lovers have to say about that?
You know what Dan? Dog and pony show.
- Everything on that court is going to continue to be secret.
- Showing 'memos' describing the legal rationale means jack if they cannot be challenged (and they cannot, see: state secrets).
- This 'challenger' is simply going to be another 'independent' neocon. Same for "outside experts". Congress already has a "privacy" comittee and clearly they're ok with all this crap.
The solution to this is real easy and it's none of the things listed there: stop the dragnet surveillance. If they need to investigate an american, get a warrant, just like any other LE agency does, and investigate just that person.
This whole bootleg secret system of justice has to go, especially when it comes to Americans. It's a big you to the Cons ution (due process rights, privacy rights, etc).
So you're saying once Manning is sentenced two longest sentences for whistle blowing will be during Obama's administration? I think Snowden made the right choice. Actions speak louder than words, how is the closing of Gitmo coming along?
Obama and all you American en ies that voted for him.
lol at all the foreigners dancing in the streets when obama was elected and now turning on him.
But he was African American. That made him better than all other potential candidates in the USA and earn the Nobel Prize
lol nobel prize
ooooo, he's brown! He must be different! Hope and Change!
tbh, it's just mind boggling how the GOP couldn't come up with a just "passable" candidate the last election. It was just there for the taking.
Not that they would've done anything different, but they really need to get their together, because if the Dems start sensing there's no opposition, can only get worse.
Home run for the red team! Woooooooo
red team - 18
blue team -17
"middle class" Americans: 0
I disagree, if the Dems sense there's no opposition, there's a small chance they might actually be liberals again rather than the middle-right wing Clinton Dems who care more about winning elections than helping 'Murica.
"if the Dems sense there's no opposition"
There's nothing BUT Repug obstructionism.
Obama wants to revise the Patriot Act? Why not stop being a pussy and end the Patriot Act? Obama is a joke for liberals and civil liberties activists. Obama is a liberal Republican.
In all fairness, Barry can't end the Patriot Act... it's an act of Congress and it takes Congress to end it. But they won't.
...
Obama probably feels obliged to lie. Continuity, not change.
They'd never live it down if we found out what all they're done in the name of safety and protection. like a buddy of mine said earlier today, the main hope is that Congress will feel like they got pantsed. if the US Congress gets in a pique about it, some of the excesses could be rolled back. secret law, secret process and secret records mock the literal meaning of the word republic.
HopeDupe and change the lie?
you pretend to be a libertarian now, but your defense of the policies of GWB was full-throated.
change your tune much?
Guess it comes down to siding with Jimmy Carter on one side...
http://now.msn.com/jimmy-carter-says...ning-democracy
and Darth Cheney on the other....
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-...ance-programs/
....and now, this...
According to these statements, the administration provided key information to Congress that wasn't shared with all members.
Intelligence committee withheld key file before critical NSA vote, Amash claims
http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...e-justin-amash '<...>
Justin Amash, the Michigan Republican whose effort to defund the NSA's mass phone-records collection exposed deep congressional discomfort with domestic spying, said the House intelligence committee never allowed legislators outside the panel to see a 2011 do ent that described the surveillance in vague terms.
The do ent, a classified summary of the bulk phone records collection effort justified under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, was declassified by the Obama administration in late July.
The Justice Department and intelligence agencies prepared it for Congress before a 2011 vote to reauthorize the Patriot Act, and left it for the intelligence committees in Congress to make the do ent available to their colleagues.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentis...-denied-accessOn June 19, Grayson wrote to the House Intelligence Committee requesting several do ents relating to media accounts about the NSA. Included among them were FISA court opinions directing the collection of telephone records for Americans, as well as do ents relating to the PRISM program.
But just over four weeks later, the Chairman of the Committee, GOP Rep. Mike Rogers, wrote to Grayson informing him that his requests had been denied by a Committee "voice vote".
Over several decades, every real mass casualty "foreign" terrorist attack that has succeeded inside the US has been carried out by groups and individuals associated with CIA covert operations. In some of these, particularly 9/11, the NSA was conducting surveillance on some of the principal participants, but the FBI was prevented from accessing this data by another federal agency, the Central Intelligence Agency.
Consider this, for instance, about the hijackers who commandeered Flt. 77 on 9/11:\
.Court records from the trial of convicted co-conspiractor Zakaria Moussaoui shows the FBI was aware of NSA intercepts of Midhar and and his partner Nawaf al-Hazmi in the months leading up to 9/11, who went on to hijack Flt. 77 that slammed into the Pentagon. The pair had also met with the other principal 9/11 hijackers at various locations inside the US. Based in part on NSA wiretaps that were later withheld and suppressed, FBI agents had, in fact, located the pair inside the US in mid-2001, but the investigating agents were ordered to close their files after CIA refused to cooperate and pressured the Bureau to shut down several lines of field investigation that were focusing on the plotters
(FBI Director) Mueller's claims omit those key facts. The Director instead stated that Khalid al-Midhar was being monitored by intelligence agencies, but “they lost track of him,” Mueller said. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politic...tor-says-video
In each major terrorist attack that occurred here during the last twenty years, one or more of the perpetrators was known directly to the CIA and identified as a terrorist, yet they somehow managed to enter the US and carry out attacks. This is true going back to WTC '93, and includes 9/11, the string of Anwar al-Awlaki-related incidents (which included 9/11 and the Underwear Bomber), and the Tsarnaev brothers. In other words, almost all real terrorism that has caused civilian casualties in America in recent times has been carried out by "our" terrorists, or more accurately, individuals known by the CIA to be part of terrorist groups.
Let's look at the older Boston Bomber, Tamarlan Tsarnaev. Tamarlan was nominated by the CIA as a terrorist in the fall of 2011 after a Massachusetts triple-murder in which the older brother is now implicated in the killing of his closest friend. Nonetheless, while an active murder investigation was ongoing, Tamarlan was allowed to leave the country to travel to Russia and Chechnya where he met with Islamic militants, and then hastily returned when his local contact with the militants was killed by the Russian security forces. Yet, inexplicably, he was never stopped or questioned during these travels, despite being on three terrorist watch lists. Again, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was designated a terrorist at about the same time he is alleged to have been involved in a triple murder, but at the time whatever was known to the CIA was never turned over to Boston Police or the FBI. In addition, he was not stopped when he left or returned to the US, despite the fact that he is not a US Citizen and was listed on the watchlist: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...-database?lite
STEP 1: LIE TO CONGRESS ABOUT SURVEILLANCE
STEP 2: LEAD REVIEW OF SURVEILLANCE
Obama announced the creation of an "independent group" of "outside experts" to review privacy issues raised by the nation's surveillance programs during a Friday press conference. "We’re forming a high-level group of outside experts to review our entire intelligence and communications technologies," he said, adding that the group would "consider how we can maintain the trust of the people, how we can make sure that there absolutely is no abuse in terms of how these surveillance technologies are used."
A statement released by Clapper on Monday announcing the formation of the group does not discuss abuses, instead mentioning the risk of "unauthorized disclosure."
"The Review Group will assess whether, in light of advancements in communications technologies, the United States employs its technical collection capabilities in a manner that optimally protects our national security and advances our foreign policy while appropriately accounting for other policy considerations, such as the risk of unauthorized disclosure and our need to maintain the public trust," Clapper said.
Clapper recently apologized for making an "erroneous" statement to Congress after saying in a congressional hearing that the National Security Agency does not collect data on Americans.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_3748431.html
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