The Glade 4.0

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/07/27/change-obama-website-deletes-promise-to-protect-whistleblowers/

Surprised there is no topic about him on here.

Your thoughts on the situation?

I don't think anybody can reasonably claim this administration is just doing what they think is best for America anymore. They're just a bunch of corrupt criminals.

In comic strips the person on the left always speaks first. - George Carlin

I think they are doing what they think is best for America. I just think either they are morons or they are so disconnected that they don't live in the same reality as the rest of us.

I think they are doing what they think is best for America. I just think either they are morons or they are so disconnected that they don't live in the same reality as the rest of us.

In comic strips the person on the left always speaks first. - George Carlin

Really? They can somehow rationalize that removing government corruption whistleblower protection is good for america? ("Removing" is the wrong word...because they never really provided it. But it was something they thought they were going to do, and have now changed their mind, because they've realized that the covernment is corrupt right to its core.)

In comic strips the person on the left always speaks first. - George Carlin

I didn't say care, I said doing what they think is best for. A janitor will do his best to keep an office building clean but that doesn't mean he cares about the people who work there.

I'll concede a slice of America. But I don't feel like they care much about me or folks like me.

I would be surprised if the following is uttered frequently at meetings:

"Wait, how will the upper middle class employed white Republican males feel about this?"

If Snowden really wanted to be a whistleblower, he should have followed one of the channels set up specifically for NSA whistleblowers. He can't claim ignorance of them, either, since the training on that stuff is at least annual...

(CNN) -- You've never heard of XKeyscore, but it definitely knows you. The National Security Agency's top-secret program essentially makes available everything you've ever done on the Internet — browsing history, searches, content of your emails, online chats, even your metadata — all at the tap of the keyboard.

The Guardian exposed the program on Wednesday in a follow-up piece to its groundbreaking report on the NSA's surveillance practices. Shortly after publication, Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former Booz Allen Hamilton employee who worked for the NSA for four years, came forward as the source.

This latest revelation comes from XKeyscore training materials, which Snowden also provided to The Guardian. The NSA sums up the program best: XKeyscore is its "widest reaching" system for developing intelligence from the Internet.

The program gives analysts the ability to search through the entire database of your information without any prior authorization — no warrant, no court clearance, no signature on a dotted line. An analyst must simply complete a simple onscreen form, and seconds later, your online history is no longer private. The agency claims that XKeyscore covers "nearly everything a typical user does on the Internet."

As The Guardian points out, this program crystallizes one of Snowden's most infamous admissions from his video interview on June 10:
Snowden's dad: Revelations 'shocking'
Dad to Snowden: Stay safe ... in Russia

"I, sitting at my desk," said Snowden, could "wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge or even the president, if I had a personal email."

While United States officials denied this claim, the XKeyscore program, as the public understands it, proves Snowden's point. The law requires the NSA to obtain FISA warrants on U.S. citizens, but this is pushed aside for Americans with foreign targets — and this program gives the NSA the technology to do so. The training materials claim XKeyscore assisted in capturing 300 terrorists by 2008.

The Guardian article breaks down how the program works with each activity, from email monitoring to chats and browsing history, and includes screenshots from the training materials.

The Guardian reached out to the NSA for comment prior to publication. The agency defended the program, stressing that it was only used to legally obtain information about "legitimate foreign intelligence targets in response to requirements that our leaders need for information necessary to protect our nation and its interests."

"XKeyscore is used as a part of NSA's lawful foreign signals intelligence collection system," the agency said in its response. "Allegations of widespread, unchecked analyst access to NSA collection data are simply not true. Access to XKeyscore, as well as all of NSA's analytic tools, is limited to only those personnel who require access for their assigned tasks ... .

"In addition, there are multiple technical, manual and supervisory checks and balances within the system to prevent deliberate misuse from occurring. Every search by an NSA analyst is fully auditable, to ensure that they are proper and within the law. These types of programs allow us to collect the information that enables us to perform our missions successfully -- to defend the nation and to protect U.S. and allied troops abroad."

XKeyscore is the second black mark on the NSA's record in the past few weeks. The Guardian's first story uncovered PRISM, a highly controversial surveillance program that reportedly allows the security agency to access the servers of major Internet organizations including Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, YouTube and Skype, among others.

Snowden's information led to a public outcry for transparency, and the U.S. government pushed to declassify more information about PRISM in an effort to paint a clearer picture about the program.

Snowden has been charged with espionage. He is currently holed up in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport while his request for asylum is under review by Russian immigration authorities, according to Snowden's lawyer.

Really? They can somehow rationalize that removing government corruption whistleblower protection is good for america? ("Removing" is the wrong word...because they never really provided it. But it was something they thought they were going to do, and have now changed their mind, because they've realized that the covernment is corrupt right to its core.)

Facism is not a school of thought, it is a racial slur.

I seem to recall the whistleblower act doesn't cover national security employees.

I seem to recall the whistleblower act doesn't cover national security employees.

Facism is not a school of thought, it is a racial slur.

You would recall wrong, then.

On Tuesday’s All In with Chris Hayes, former intelligence analyst Russell Tice shed some light on the harsh realities of being an NSA employee whistle-blower. Tice, who blew the whistle back in 2005 on the Bush administration’s wiretapping program, said:

“The Whistleblower Protection Act does not apply to the intelligence community. They’re exempt from it. And most people in the intelligence community don’t realize that. So, you can’t even go to the Office of Special Counsel because they’re exempt from that, too, and the merit system protection board. So even if you use the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act, the only thing that gives you is the right to go to Congress. It doesn’t–it doesn’t have any teeth there to protect you against retribution from the agency that you’re reporting abuse on.”

So when private contractors and other members of the National Intelligence community blow the whistle on the CIA or FBI, they are, according to Tice, oftentimes unwittingly faced with a different fate than federal employees of countless other government agencies. According to the U.S. Merit Systems Protections Board: ”Employees specifically excluded from coverage are those in the Government Accountability Office, the FBI, and various intelligence agencies.”

Except if they go to Congress. That's the proper authority in those cases.

Correct.

My comment was quite specific. That intelligence operatives aren't covered under the Whistleblower Act. I didn't say they were without any protection.

Facism is not a school of thought, it is a racial slur.