Assange stands by Edward Snowden as Ecuador's Correa reprimands consul

[ProSense]

Assange stands by Edward Snowden as Ecuador's Correa reprimands consul

WikiLeaks founder says 'there is no stopping the publishing process' as NSA leaker remains stuck in Moscow airport

Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, has warned the US government that no matter what it does to try and apprehend Edward Snowden, the revelations he has unearthed on secret digital surveillance of American citizens will see the light of day.

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Speaking to This Week on ABC news from the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he is fighting extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault allegations, Assange would not go into details. But he added: "Great care has been taken to make sure Mr Snowden cannot be pressured by any state to stop the publishing process."

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The Ecuadorean president, Rafael Correa, told the Associated Press on Sunday that Snowden was "in the care of the Russian authorities" and would not be able to leave Moscow's international airport without his US passport. In a comment that indicated the cautious response of Ecuador to the case, Correa reprimanded Ecuador's consul for issuing Snowden with a letter of safe passage that he is believed to have used to travel from Hong Kong to Russia.

To have done that without consulting the central Ecuadorean government was a "serious error", Correa said. In comments that will not encourage Snowden or his supporters, the Ecuadorean leader added that if Snowden had broken US laws he would have to assume responsibility, adding that the case was "not in Ecuador's hands".

- more -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jun/30/assange-snowden-ecuador-reprimands-consul

Ecuadoran President Ego Checks Ecuardoran Co-President Julian Assange
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/28/1219722/-Ecuadoran-President-Ego-Checks-Ecuardoran-Co-President-Julian-Assange

With Julian Assange Taking the Spotlight, Edward Snowden's Future Looks Grim
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023133609

[cantbeserious]

1. Details On PRISM Published By Washington Post

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023133554

[ProSense]

3. Thanks,

from the link (though it has nothing to do with the point of the OP) :

The top-secret PRISM program allows the U.S. intelligence community to gain access from nine Internet companies to a wide range of digital information, including e-mails and stored data, on foreign targets operating outside the United States. The program is court-approved but does not require individual warrants. Instead, it operates under a broader authorization from federal judges who oversee the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Some documents describing the program were first released by The Washington Post on June 6. The newly released documents below give additional details about how the program operates, including the levels of review and supervisory control at the NSA and FBI. The documents also show how the program interacts with the Internet companies. These slides, annotated by The Post, represent a selection from the overall document, and certain portions are redacted. Read related article.

New slides published June 29

Acquiring data from a new target

This slide describes what happens when an NSA analyst "tasks" the PRISM system for information about a new surveillance target. The request to add a new target is passed automatically to a supervisor who reviews the "selectors," or search terms. The supervisor must endorse the analyst's "reasonable belief," defined as 51 percent confidence, that the specified target is a foreign national who is overseas at the time of collection.

Obama: PRISM Doesn’t Apply To U.S. Citizens
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022965452

5 New Revelations About NSA Surveillance

—By Dana Liebelson

1) Surveillance Has Contributed to Thwarting More Than 50 Terror Plots Since 9/11

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2) The NSA Doesn't Need Court Approval Each Time it Searches Americans' Phone Records

NSA Deputy Director John Inglis said that 22 NSA officials are authorized to approve requests to query an agency database that contains the cellphone metadata of American citizens. (Metadata includes the numbers of incoming and outgoing calls, the date and time the calls took place, and their duration.) Deputy AG Cole also said that all queries of this database must be documented and can be subject to audits. Cole also said that the the NSA does not have to get separate Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) approval for each query; instead, the agency merely has to file a monthly report with the court on how many times the database was queried, and how many of those searches targeted the phone records of Americans.

3) 10 NSA Officials Have Permission to Give Information About US Citizens to the FBI

There are 10 NSA officials—including Inglis and Alexander—involved in determining whether information collected about US citizens can be provided to the FBI. It can only be shared if there's independent evidence that the target has connections to a terrorist organization. Inglis said that if the information is found to be irrelevant, it must be destroyed. If the NSA mistakenly targets an American citizen, it must report this to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

4) Other Countries are Less Transparent Than the US, Officials Say

Cole said that the FISA Amendments Act provides more due process than is afforded to citizens of European countries, including Germany, the U.K., and France. Alexander added that "virtually all" countries have laws that compel telecommunications firms to turn over information on suspects.

5) Fewer Than 300 Phone Numbers Were Targeted in 2012

NSA officials say that even though the agency has access to Americans' phone records, it investigated fewer than 300 phone numbers connected to US citizens in 2012. The officials did not provide any detail on the number of email addresses targeted.

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/06/5-new-revelations-nsa-top-secret-surveillance-programs

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023041631

[longship]

2. Here's an explanation that fits the reportage.

It is kind of amazing that there was apparently no contingency if whatever plans they had fell through.

I think Assange and his people thought that the Ecuadorian document from the counsel in London would get him to safety to SA. They had booked him passage via Moscow, then via Havanna to Quito. When he did not board the Havanna flight it might have been because they feared that Snowden would be apprehended there.

Now things truly fell apart and there was no Plan B. Once the travel document's validity was questioned by the Ecuadorian government, Snowden was done. With no valid passport he has no where to go, not even if Russia wanted to help him, which they apparently do not.

And nobody else is stepping up, not that they could do anything anyway while he's in transit limbo in Moscow.

The only way out would for a sympathetic country to send a courier with appropriate docs to Sheremetyevo's transit zone and figure out a way to deliver them to Snowden. Of course, this presumes that is where he is. But Assange may very well know Snowden's status as it is clear that they have been communicating. They still may be. If Assange can help broker such a deal, Snowden may still have an out.

This is all incumbent on Russia's patience in this affair. What press we have indicates that they are not happy with the matter, but are reticent to help bring things to a close quickly. At least they don't seem to be panicking. I am not sure we can say the same for Mr. Snowden.

I think we will know soon.

on edit: I didn't want to go out on a limb with wild speculation here. And I discount the report that Snowden got into an embassy vehicle because there should have been some confirmation from other sources. That is just not a credible report, IMHO. I am trying to stick to the reportage.

[ProSense]

4. Yup. n/t

[Major Hogwash]

5. Speaking of Assange, what are his future plans?

Does he intend to live the rest of his life in the Ecuadorean embassy in London??

That was a great master stroke of genius, wasn't it?

[ProSense]

6. Good question. n/t