The NSA's Oversight Arguments Have Fallen Apart:

[KoKo]

The mantra from NSA chief Keith Alexander has been constant from the start: We are subject to oversight from all branches of government. New details of the agency's privacy violations reveal just how hollow that defense is.

"We are overseen by everybody," Alexander told a hacker conference in 2012, drawing out the last word in the sentence. It is a claim he repeated at the end of last month, after the Edward Snowden leaks, to another such convening.

I think it’s important to understand the strict oversight that goes into these programs because the assumption is that people are out there just wheeling and dealing, and nothing could be further from the truth. We have tremendous oversight and compliance in these programs, auditability.

"I think this is a standard for other countries," he continued, "because we have the court overseeing it, we have Congress overseeing it, we have the administration, and I’ll go into all the different parts of the administration that oversees it."

In his first attempt to tamp down outrage over the NSA's behavior, the president last week announced an review panel tasked with assessing the government's intelligence tools.

But he already had a panel of intelligence advisors — one that, as Politico reports, Obama has allowed to wither.

The President’s Intelligence Advisory Board stood 14 members strong through 2012, but the White House website was recently updated to show the panel’s roster shrinking to just four people. …

“I’m sort of surprised because I follow this very closely. … Four people down from 14 — I can see why this is raising your eyebrows,” said Michael Desch, head of Notre Dame’s political science department and co-author of “Privileged and Confidential: The Secret History of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.”
“If this is as it appears, this is pretty remarkable,” Desch said. “The PIAB doesn’t look fully staffed. … This does look strange.”

Members of Congress pointed to the existence of advisory groups like this one in criticizing the president's announcement last week. (The roll-out of the new review panel has also been bumpy.) But the short version of the story is this: the internal checks-and-balances of the administration are skeletal.

Even the internal oversight improvement efforts of the NSA — also a part of the executive branch — haven't yielded much in the way of results. The Post:

Despite the quadrupling of the NSA’s oversight staff after a series of significant violations in 2009, the rate of infractions increased throughout 2011 and early 2012. An NSA spokesman declined to disclose whether the trend has continued since last year.

Only the NSA knows for sure. Even assuming no ill intent — as the president and members of Congress do — the argument that the NSA is subject to robust oversight has fallen almost completely apart. We once asked if we could ever know how and when the NSA violated the law. Without Snowden's leaks, perhaps even Congress wouldn't have.

And once you take away robust oversight from the legislature, the court, and independent members of the administration — Alexander's quote reads quite differently.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/08/nsas-oversight-arguments-have-fallen-apart/68419/

[jeff47]

1. So incidents from 2008 prove a 2010 law didn't work?

Did we put the FISA court in a Tardis or something?

(The change in the law in 2010 included much more oversight. Incidents from before those changes don't really illustrate that that law didn't work)

[HooptieWagon]

3. Article says violations increased in 2011 and again in 2012.

Pretty clear that whatever oversight reforms were instituted failed....most likely by design. And the administration continues to lie and coverup.

[jeff47]

4. And if you actually read the article...

Despite the quadrupling of the NSA’s oversight staff after a series of significant violations in 2009, the rate of infractions increased throughout 2011 and early 2012.

Hrm...I wonder what quadrupling the oversight staff might have to do with the number of detected violations.......

Almost like actually having a police force increases the number of speeding tickets issued. Doesn't mean there are more speeders. It means they're getting caught.

And the administration continues to lie and coverup.

Sure, as long as we keep blaming them for incidents in 2008, like the latest big WaPo article does.

Just like Ruby Ridge was Clinton's fault.

[KoKo]

5. It's now understaffed and down to four people... From the Article:

Why would it go from 14 to 4 this year?

The President’s Intelligence Advisory Board stood 14 members strong through 2012, but the White House website was recently updated to show the panel’s roster shrinking to just four people. …

“I’m sort of surprised because I follow this very closely. … Four people down from 14 — I can see why this is raising your eyebrows,” said Michael Desch, head of Notre Dame’s political science department and co-author of “Privileged and Confidential: The Secret History of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.”
“If this is as it appears, this is pretty remarkable,” Desch said. “The PIAB doesn’t look fully staffed. … This does look strange.”

[KoKo]

10. What do you think of the replies that tried to answer your questions?

They are Factual...

[David Krout]

11. NSA defenders pretend that Obama made some sort of kick-ass law that stopped abuses

I never understood how they thought this argument would work.

[woo me with science]

2. K&R

[Catherina]

6. "We are overseen by everybody," !!

[Puzzledtraveller]

7. K&R

[Wilms]

8. ^

[WillyT]

9. K & R !!!

[Logical]

12. Nice!! n-t