Breaking: Intelligence Chief Declassifies (Some) Phone Data Program Details

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

https://twitter.com/AP/status/342831134591299585

The Associated PressVerified account
‏@AP
BREAKING: Intelligence chief declassifies phone data program details, says public must understand limits

INTELLIGENCE CHIEF BLASTS NSA DOCUMENT LEAKS
By JOSH LEDERMAN
— Jun. 6 10:49 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The director of national intelligence is trying to set the record straight after leaked documents revealed information about two top-secret intelligence-gathering programs.

James Clapper says the disclosure of an Internet surveillance program is "reprehensible" and a document leak about a phone records program could cause long-lasting and irreversible harm to the nation's ability to respond to threats.

Clapper says articles about the programs contained inaccuracies and omitted key information. He's declassifying some details about the authority used in the phone records program because he says Americans must know the program's limits.

Those details include that a special court reviews the program every 90 days. He says the court prohibits the government from indiscriminately sifting through phone data and queries are only allowed when facts support reasonable suspicion.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/intelligence-chief-blasts-nsa-document-leaks

---

http://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/191-press-releases-2013/869-dni-statement-on-activities-authorized-under-section-702-of-fisa

DNI Statement on Activities Authorized Under Section 702 of FISA

Thursday, June 06, 2013

June 6, 2013

DNI Statement on Activities Authorized Under Section 702 of FISA

The Guardian and The Washington Post articles refer to collection of communications pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. They contain numerous inaccuracies.

Section 702 is a provision of FISA that is designed to facilitate the acquisition of foreign intelligence information concerning non-U.S. persons located outside the United States. It cannot be used to intentionally target any U.S. citizen, any other U.S. person, or anyone located within the United States.

Activities authorized by Section 702 are subject to oversight by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the Executive Branch, and Congress. They involve extensive procedures, specifically approved by the court, to ensure that only non-U.S. persons outside the U.S. are targeted, and that minimize the acquisition, retention and dissemination of incidentally acquired information about U.S. persons.

Section 702 was recently reauthorized by Congress after extensive hearings and debate.

Information collected under this program is among the most important and valuable foreign intelligence information we collect, and is used to protect our nation from a wide variety of threats.

The unauthorized disclosure of information about this important and entirely legal program is reprehensible and risks important protections for the security of Americans.

James R. Clapper, Director of National Intelligence

[elleng]

1. 'The director of national intelligence is trying to set the record strait

after leaked documents revealed information about two top-secret intelligence-gathering programs.

James Clapper says the disclosure of an Internet surveillance program is "reprehensible" and a document leak about a phone records program could cause long-lasting and irreversible harm to the nation's ability to respond to threats.

Clapper says articles about the programs contained inaccuracies and omitted key information. He's declassifying some details about the authority used in the phone records program because he says Americans must know the program's limits.

Those details include that a special court reviews the program every 90 days. He says the court prohibits the government from indiscriminately sifting through phone data and queries are only allowed when facts support reasonable suspicion.'

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/intelligence-chief-blasts-nsa-document-leaks

[MotherPetrie]

2. And we should believe a fucking word he says -- why?

[midnight]

4. I second that question....

[cstanleytech]

8. I bet though that he is not lying about congress reviewing the program because if

he tried to lie about that they would have his butt in a sling for trying to throw them under the bus if it turned out that they never did review it.
Other than that....sigh....its hard to believe them I know and I have my doubts as well.
What I really dont understand is why the guy is so pissed or pretending to be pissed that someone revealed that the program even exists because for years we have been seeing and reading stories about how the feds were in bed with the phone companies so its not like its a shocking new development.

[LovingA2andMI]

9. Me thinks he's trying to save his J---O---B!

And real talk, B.O.'s administration is spinning in the wind on controlling this story right now.

Here's a clue for them -- Americans don't like being spied on when they have done NOTHING wrong!

[John2]

20. I don't

think he is trying to save his job at all, and it isn't the obama Administration trying to spin anything. As a matter of fact, it is the other way around, with the corporate media and rightwing Republicans.

It was with Benghazi, the IRS,the AP story, and now this. With the exception of Benghazi, none of this stuff is new information, and was well known during the Bush Administration. The Patriot ACT expanded the powers of the Federal Government to spy on Americans. The Press went along with it during the Bush Administration and defended it. Most of these intelligence officers, were the same intelligence officers under the Bush Administration. Many of them are career people in the Intelligence field and past from one Administration to another.

The Patriot ACT allowed the Government to monitor Banks, emails and phone calls under the Terrorism Act. There has been a long going Debate ever since the Patriot ACT was placed into Law under the Bush Administration about Civil Liberties versus the need for National Security and what Americans were willing to give up. The Press did not raise this stink under the Bush Administration, nost commentary was usually on the side of supporting the Right. The claim is this dropped out of the Blue, and this information was not known. The information has long been in the public, even among College students, taking classes about Homeland Security and preparing a career to work in this field. Learning about the new Patriot ACT statute, is one of the main courses. So what the corporate media, Rand Paul or anyoneelse claims, is Bullshit. None of it was created or started under the Obama Administration. If they want to call anybody corrupt, then start with themselves. Congress, the media, Courts, and the Adminstration would be all corrupt, because they all went along with it. The Obama Administration just renewed it, because they all would have accused him of being weak on Terrorism. So this is just political gamesman ship, to hide what they are doing on other issues. Issues like Domestic Policy and trying to sneak this country into another War, under our noses.

[markiv]

28. because they would never lie, about something like this

LOL

[SugarShack]

3. Only "long-lasting and irreversible harm to the nation" from leak is to the belief we are the U.S.!

IT's all been a fraud folks!

[Grassy Knoll]

5. As Usual, HEHEHEHE........

[brentspeak]

6. Clapper wants us to believe that the problem is the leak

rather than the government spying on its own citizens.

[GoneFishin]

10. Yep.

+1

[jtuck004]

7. How can I make sure you are afraid if I can't keep what I tell you to be afraid of a secret? n/t

[JoeyT]

11. "Americans must know the program's limits"

Yeah, now that some bastard went and told us it exists, which was none of the peasantry's business, thank you very much, he's going to be kind enough to let us know some of the limits. If he's telling the truth, which I wouldn't bet on.

Thank goodness a special court reviews it every 90 days. I mean sure you aren't allowed to know how they review it or if that court even exists, but you should trust us because we're not lying to you anymore, promise! We're all about transparency now that we've been caught out!

[marions ghost]

13. Exactly......

[Purveyor]

12. Oh yeah...I 'believe'. It is Intelligence Chief Clapper after all. LOL. spit. eom

[Fearless]

14. Got himself in hot water and is trying to back pedal.

Too little, too late. It's unconstitutional.

[blkmusclmachine]

15. LIES

[PSPS]

16. Allow me to translate this nonsense

James Clapper says the disclosure of an Internet surveillance program is "reprehensible" and a document leak about a phone records program could cause long-lasting and irreversible harm to the nation's ability to respond to threats.

Translation: James Clapper says the disclosure of an Internet surveillance program is embarrassing and a document leak about a phone records program could cause long-lasting and irreversible harm to the nation's top 1%.

Clapper says articles about the programs contained inaccuracies and omitted key information. He's declassifying some details about the authority used in the phone records program because he says Americans must know the program's limits.

Translation: Clapper says articles about the programs contained inaccuracies and omitted key information which would have infuriated Americans more than they already are. He's declassifying some made up theory about the fabricated authority used in the phone records program because Americans must not know the program's real intent and capabilities.

Those details include that a special court reviews the program every 90 days. He says the court prohibits the government from indiscriminately sifting through phone data and queries are only allowed when facts support reasonable suspicion.

Translation: Those details include that a special court rubber stamps renewal of the program every 90 days. He says the court really doesn't care or even monitor if the government indiscriminately sifts through phone data and queries are always allowed under the pretext that there is some kind of suspicion of something. After all, we're a nation of laws, not men. Just ask Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld ... oops, I have a meeting. Bye!

[a2liberal]

17. When he says it makes America less safe

what he actually means is that it makes his fascist vision for America less safe/secure

[brett_jv]

18. Wow, I feel like I'm on Free Republic ...

Just because the guy reporting was named Greenwald and the paper was the Guardian everyone is acting like the information contained in the article was carried down by Moses himself.

Have any of you ever considered that maybe you just don't have all the facts, and that this whole thing actually isn't nearly as big a deal as y'all are making it out to be?

Personally, I dunno all the facts, so I'm withholding judgment until such time as I do.

One thing I know for sure though is if I wanted to read all this ^^^^ (everything above) I'd have gone to any number of right-wing websites, instead of DU.

[bowens43]

27. another apologist comes out of the wood work

The fact is this happening. Period . end of story

if dems do it its okay with you, fuck freedom, fuck the constitution, right?

[leveymg]

31. If you don't believe Greenwald, then read the Court Order. We know enough to make a judgement

Make your own judgement, here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022954138

[Tx4obama]

19. Here's a link to a new AP article: Jun 7, 3:17 AM EDT

US declassifies phone program details after uproar

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NSA_PHONE_RECORDS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-06-07-03-17-07

p.s. I haven't read it yet, so I don't know if there is additional new info or not.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. Shorter James Clapper: Ignorance is Strength

"I believe it is important for the American people to understand the limits of this targeted counterterrorism program" - but the rest of his message says it's much better if the American people believes it doesn't exist at all.

Now he claims that, although Verizon hands over all the information about all of its customers, "the court prohibits the government from indiscriminately rummaging through the phone data without evidence of a terrorist group connection". Well, I think we need written evidence of that, backed up by other sources, because we know the NSA has already been lying about not spying on domestic traffic.

[John2]

22. You are not going to do

anything about it because you are powerless. This nothing but a political charade by the Press. It is all targeted at the Obama Administration for ruffling their feathers. The information you claim and Clapper is going along with this charade is not new. The new guidelines have been taught in classes and even law courses for awhile. I don't know where people have been all these years, claiming ignorance. The reason this is political and targeted by the Press, is because they know rightwing republicans will solidly vote Republican regardless of any issues. It is targeted at Liberal groups, to soften up their support for Democrats in the mid term elections. They need issues against Democrats, so they can get more conservatives in congress for their rightwing and corporate agendas. Lets see how many Dummies will take the bait?

[BenzoDia]

23. Timing on this is pretty convenient with all the scandals lately.

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. 'Dummies'? With a capital 'D'? You're really going to bring in that FR term of abuse

for DUers into your argument?

How deep do you want to dig your hole?

This 'political charade' starts in The Guardian - a British left-leaning paper, that has been solid in its advocacy for Democrats in the USA, and, frequently, President Obama. If you think this has been "taught in classes", let's see how the ACLU reacted:

"From a civil liberties perspective, the program could hardly be any more alarming. It’s a program in which some untold number of innocent people have been put under the constant surveillance of government agents," said Jameel Jaffer, American Civil Liberties Union deputy legal director. "It is beyond Orwellian, and it provides further evidence of the extent to which basic democratic rights are being surrendered in secret to the demands of unaccountable intelligence agencies."
...
"Now that this unconstitutional surveillance effort has been revealed, the government should end it and disclose its full scope, and Congress should initiate a full investigation," said Michelle Richardson, legislative counsel with the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "This disclosure also highlights the growing gap between the public’s and the government’s understandings of the many sweeping surveillance authorities enacted by Congress. Since 9/11, the government has increasingly classified and concealed not just facts, but the law itself. Such extreme secrecy is inconsistent with our democratic values of open government and accountability."

http://www.aclu.org/national-security-technology-and-liberty/massive-nsa-phone-data-mining-operation-revealed

Your argument amounts to "talking about this will hurt the Democratic vote, so shut up".

[Historic NY]

36. Nothing to see here........

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Intelligence committee, said the government must gather intelligence to prevent plots and keep Americans alive. "That's the goal. If we can do it another way, we're looking to do it another way. We'd like to."

She said Congress is always open to changes, "but that doesn't mean there will be any."


The people complaining are the ones that bought their own guillotines (devices) of monitoring capability of tracking their every thought, movement or anticipated movement. The carry them 24/7 and are constantly communicating with them. Imagine all these companies selling devicies mostly made abroad giving up the data to the government. I'm aghast, the sometime monthy program of new releases to get people to buy into 2yr contracts. The other to sell assorted apps that aid tracking is so freely entered into by people. Some of the same people complain about EZ-pass being able to track ones movements, and how cops can track suspect or triangulate locations by using a cell phone. Who could have thought millions would buy into it.

[BrainDrain]

24. I call BULLSHIT....

"James Clapper says the disclosure of an Internet surveillance program is "reprehensible" and a document leak about a phone records program could cause long-lasting and irreversible harm to the nation's ability to respond to threats."

The first line of defense whenever they get caught doing something they should not be doing. "National Security" my ever lovin ass.

You can quote Ben Franklin or anyone else till the cows come home. Doesn't matter. The FACT is, this is WRONG. Period. The. End. No excuses, no rationalizations, no BS reasoning.

If you can't protect this country without illegally spying on it's citizens, then you are an incompetent ass that needs to be fired.

[bowens43]

26. usual governemnt power grab bullshit. this has nothing to do with protecting us.

what is reprehensible is these assholes and those who agree with this type of tactic trying to justify the nullification of the 4th amendment to the Constitution.

[markiv]

29. Clap on, Clap off

great name, for someone who performs a function, on cue

[leveymg]

30. ????"only non-U.S. persons outside the U.S. are targeted, and (we) minimize the acquisition"????

How, Mr. Clapper, is that claim consistent with the fact of universal driftnet acquisition that specifically requires the telco to turn over information about all local telephone calls within the United States?

Practically no minimization occurs because almost none of the data collected is ever reviewed by an analyst. It all gets run through profiling software.

[Octafish]

32. ...and stored.

IBM pioneered the technology in Germany.

[leveymg]

35. That's the primary purpose of the Utah server farm. Mass storage.

You don't need that much capacity for analysis of a small group of suspected terrorists.

[struggle4progress]

33. Intelligence chief declassifies details of phone-records program after uproar over snooping

... Leaders of Congress’ intelligence panels dismissed the furor over what they said was standard three-month renewal to a program that’s operated for seven years. Committee leaders also said the program recently helped thwart what would have been a significant domestic terrorist attack ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/government-sweep-of-millions-of-citizens-phone-records-ignites-fresh-debate-over-surveillance/2013/06/06/4b1e0824-cf0c-11e2-8573-3baeea6a2647_story.html

[Sunlei]

34. congress has been voting FOR this stuff for years..which one of them leaked docs & told the R media

paid blitzers to make such a huge deal about this now? It should be public who these big leakers are.


I mean if Palin gets her yahoo 'email password guesser' 3 years in federal prison....the leakers should get life.

[okaawhatever]

37. It kills me that so many here are ready to believe what the press tells you over what a gov't

official tells the public on air, for the world to see, in perpetuity. The press didn't tell even basic details and instead took the hysteria approach to the info. Anytime something is leaked it is serious. Also, those documents were top secret/American eyes only. The fact that it was sent to a foreign paper is like a second slap in the face. I have no problem with whistle-blowing, but i'm not sure that's what happened here. Why wasn't just the program info leaked? By the time everyone figures out what the program is really about it will be too late and people will have already made up their minds about hating the government. The tea party wins, congrats folks.

[Hestia]

38. Oh please

1. The reason this was sent to an overseas paper is they still print news. I'm sure the whistleblower tried to get our MSM interested, but they yawned. Got to report on those Kardashani people (sp? really don't GAF how they spell it) and the daily poutrage instead.

2. With Pres. Obama's DOJ going after whistleblowers as foreign spies, can you blame anyone for going overseas to someone who will print the info?

3. Yes, we've all heard about the program, but never had any definite proof, which we now have with the court order. How do you fight without concrete evidence?

4. We can fight -- 1/2 darknet (which I no clue about) and 1/2 analog, i.e., face to face without Agent Mike getting word, which in the long run would actually be a good thing.

5. We are now officially facing what the rest of the world has faced for the last 40 years, ala Nixon and sadly Carter. "They" really do want to take over the world and will do anything do so.

6. Sorry, Kockbrothers teaparty doesn't win by any stretch of the imagination. But you keep on thinkin' that.

[bocephus0706]

39. stop it already

Chill out....what if they did not do that and there was another major terrorist attack...You cannot have it both ways. I much rather be safe. I have nothing to hide. They are not listening to my phone conversations....so what if they collect a bunch of numbers.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

40. Anyone who believes this man without reservation is a fool.