I found it interesting that National Security
Agency spymasters pleaded ignorance in front of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court, saying they didn't understand their agency's activities
well enough to precisely describe them to the judges, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304200804579164083658333034 The Wall Street Journal reported.
Since Edward Snowden -- who I would call a traitor not a whistle-blower -- escaped with the digital equivalent of truckloads of NSA secrets, the agency
has seemed more feeble than omnipotent.
"I cannot help wondering if the
NSA is as powerful as its critics have claimed, why has it been so useless at
protecting its secrets," writes http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24707558 Mark Urban, the diplomatic and defense
editor for the BBC's Newsnight program.
Good point.
Despite its global eavesdropping
capabilities the NSA is apparently helpless in silencing Snowden and his
confederates.
No worm viruses have been unleashed against the computer systems
of newspapers that have revealed U.S. secrets. No applications for court orders
have been filed to block further disclosures. And – as far as is known – no
missions have been launched to retrieve the stolen material or silence their
owners, Urban writes.
Reaction comes only
after the damage is done: Bradley Manning being prosecuted and sentenced to a long
period of incarceration for providing classified material to Wikileaks, for
example. In contrast, according to Urban, British intelligence has been more
robust in its response to the exposure of secrets – watching as journalists destroyed
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/20/nsa-snowden-files-drives-destroyed-london computers at London's Guardian
newspaper, and searching http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/detainment-greenwald-partner-justified/2013/08/21/id/521545 the partner of Glenn Greenwald – one of Snowden
key enablers – at Heathrow Airport.
British
newspapers have widely ignored a "D-Notice" or Defense Advisory issued
to restrain publication of the Snowden material. American
authorities have not even bothered to try. "There have been no US legal
attempts to force journalists to destroy or turn over what they have," according
to Urban.
Meanwhile,
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif), one of NSA's most consistent
defenders on Capitol Hill, appears to have lost patience with the agency and is
calling for a "major review into all intelligence-collection programs,"
according to the Journal.
"We're really
screwed now," one NSA official told Foreign Policy http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/10/28/were_really_screwed_now_nsas_best_friend_just_shivved_the_spies magazine. "You know things are
bad when the few friends you've got disappear without a trace in the dead of
night and leave no forwarding address."
I'm not suggesting that the US security establishment does not need civilian oversight. And I am not convinced the Obama administration is managerially capable of providing that oversight. At the same time, friends of democracy need to be more careful in their criticism.
You don't want to go to the opposite extreme and make it impossible for the intelligence community to do what needs to be done.
