NSA questions

My questions about NSA relate more specifically about what IS legal and what is not...

What I do know so far is that there are several types of targets:

• foreigners completely outside US, either only in one country, or between 2 countries
• outside US but are US citizens
• inside US but not a US citizen 
• or between US citizen and a foreigner

So those are the basic relationships, though there may be other combinations as well.  Now there are the laws that NSA uses, discussed more here.  A good beginning to what I was trying to understand is explained here and here, explaining briefly 215, 702 and EO 12333 collections.

But my questions still relate to the 60 Minutes piece, specifically regarding the "example" about the "pirates" discussed here, especially from what I see, NSA ONLY cites EO 12333 as their authority.

Executive Order 12333, originally issued 4 December 1981, delineates the NSA/CSS roles and responsibilities.

and here too McClatchy article on EO 12333

Gen. Keith Alexander, the NSA director, has ratified that impression, saying that the majority of NSA data is collected “solely pursuant to the authorities provided by Executive Order 12333.”

So my questions are along these lines:

• What can legally be done under these laws, and others, for US citizens and foreigners??

1. 215
2. 702
3. EO 12333
4. FISC

Does a search on a target, either US or not, go through each of the above laws or only one or 2 laws depending on the type of search, email, phone, etc??

FROM 60 MINUTES "report" on NSA---many criticized everything, but  especially THIS

 

What would a typical legal search look like? or put another way, what should or would this search look like legally, versus what NSA is actually doing??
What should this search look like legally versus what NSA has been doing illegally??

""Strange that NSA contact-chaining tool demo'd for #60Minutes shows multiple EO12333 authorities only, no 215""

see my tweets in response ""why did they only show foreign metadata?? cant they collect content legally?"" and asking @ashk4n for more explaination why this is a bad example of putting americans' minds at ease

I have been reading NSA documents again, and getting SOME answers, but would still like more specific answers...

NSA Business Records (BR)  link here

NSA Business Records Slideshow link here

NSA Office of Deputy General Counsel (Operations) link here



New York Times Op-Ed by Senators Wyden, Udall, Heinrich  link here regarding 702 specifically

Our bill would prohibit the government from conducting warrantless “backdoor searches” of Americans’ communications — including emails, text messages and Internet use — under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Wyden, Udall, Heinrich letter to Solicitor General Verrilli regarding 702 collection link here

In addition to authorizing the collection of communications to and from foreign,overseas targets, the FISA Amendments Act also has been secretly interpreted to authorize the collection of communications that are merely about a targeted overseas foreigner.

This form of collection allows the government -- through the "upstream"' collection under Section 702 -- to collect any communication whose content includes an identifier, such as an email address, associated with an overseas foreigner who may be a foreign intelligence target.

tens of thousands of emails between law-abiding Americans are likely being collected -- even though these Americans are not actually communicating directly with a foreign intelligence or terrorism target. As FAA collection was intended to target persons "reasonably believed to be located outside the United States," and targeting procedures were intended to "prevent the intentional acquisition of any communication as to which the sender and all intended recipients are known at the time of acquisition to be located in the United States," 

NSA 60 minutes

CBS 60 Minutes and the NSA link

Ok so there was a lot WRONG with the piece here, and it was easily criticized by everyone except obvious NSA defenders, but my key question was related to the metadata collection of the "pirates".

Metadata has become one of the most important tools in the NSA’s arsenal. Metadata is the digital information on the number dialed, the time and date, and the frequency of the calls.  We wanted to see how metadata was used at the NSA.  Analyst Stephen Benitez showed us a technique known as “call chaining” used to develop targets for electronic surveillance in a pirate network based in Somalia.

Stephen Benitez: As you see here, I'm only allowed to chain on anything that I've been trained on and that I have access to. Add our known pirate. And we chain him out. 

John Miller: Chain him out, for the audience, means what?

Stephen Benitez: People he's been in contact to for those 18 days.

Stephen Benitez: One that stands out to me first would be this one here. He's communicated with our target 12 times.

Stephen Benitez: Now we’re looking at Target B’s contacts.

John Miller: So he's talking to three or four known pirates?

Stephen Benitez: Correct. These three here. We have direct connection to both Target A and Target B. So we'll look at him, too, we'll chain him out. And you see, he's in communication with lots of known pirates. He might be the missing link that tells us everything.

John Miller: What happens in this space when a number comes up that's in Dallas?

Stephen Benitez: So If it does come up, normally, you'll see it as a protected number-- and if you don't have access to it, you won't be able to look.

If a terrorist is suspected of having contacts inside the United States, the NSA can query a database that contains the metadata of every phone call made in the U.S. going back five years.

THIS is how most of the articles and commentary are described----metadata, collection, surveillance etc, but from what I know about the NSA and Snowden revelations, there are the rules that they follow and what they are legally allowed to collect, link NSA is legally allowed to collect emails from Pakistan for example, so my question when I saw things like this tweet criticizing NSA for showing EO 12333 searches versus 215, I got confused, asking "why are they only collecting foreign metadata?? arent they legally allowed to collect content?? and what laws (215, 702, EO 12333) SHOULD they be using, and what does each law legally allow, besides the "secret law" interpretation that Snowden and others are upset about?

I really would appreciate an answer, for me and everyone else confused by this.

A Guide to NSA Laws

So I wanted to collect sources here about the relevant laws that NSA uses to collect intelligence---what the actual laws say, and the "Secret Laws" interpretations revealed in the Snowden Documents.

The Snowden Documents are available on many sites
The Guardian Snowden Documents
EFF Snowden Documents
ACLU Snowden Documents

ACLU explainer about NSA spying under Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (and Court) FISA/FISC link

Brennan Center for Justice Fact Sheet link

Senator Ron Wyden's section on "Secret Laws" how NSA and FISA secretly reinterprets PATRIOT ACT and FISA link

Senator Wyden at Center for American Progress in July 2013 link here   SPEECH PDF


NSA ONLY cites Executive Order 12333 as their authority link, NOT the Patriot Act, and HERE they define their mission to collect

Collect (including through clandestine means), process, analyze, produce, and disseminate signals intelligence information and data for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes to support national and departmental missions;

What Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) says about EO 12333 and NSA link here

McClatchy article link here

Documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden suggest that less than half of the metadata the NSA has collected has been acquired under provisions of the USA Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the two laws that have received the most attention for permitting NSA programs.

Gen. Keith Alexander, the NSA director, has ratified that impression, saying that the majority of NSA data is collected “solely pursuant to the authorities provided by Executive Order 12333.”

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/11/21/209167/most-of-nsas-data-collection-authorized.html#storylink=cpy

Patriot Act section 215 and FAA section 702
ACLU on FAA (FISA Amendments Act 2008) link

Patriot Act Summary by Senator Leahy's office link

Leahy Patriot Act reforms, USA FREEDOM ACT link

Senator Wyden's Letter to fix errors in NSA "Fact Sheet" on 215 and 702 link here

ACLU on 215 (FBI authority, NOT NSA authority) link here

ACLU "Myths" Fact Sheet on 215 link

Reid Report (Joy Reid) blog on 215 and 702 link

PATRIOT ACT section 215

Sec. 215. Access to records and other items under the FISA. Both the House and Senate bills included this provision to remove the "agent of a foreign power" standard for court-ordered access to certain business records under FISA and expands the scope of court orders to include access to other records and tangible items. The authority may be used for an investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities or to obtain foreign intelligence information not concerning U.S. persons. An investigation of a United States person may not be based solely on activities protected by the First Amendment. Narrower than original Administration proposal, which would have removed requirements of court order and the "agent of a foreign power" showing.

FISA Amendment Act Section 702 link

SEC. 702. PROCEDURES FOR TARGETING CERTAIN PERSONS OUTSIDE THE UNITED 
              STATES OTHER THAN UNITED STATES PERSONS.

Just Security Blog article on 702 link

Section 702 is the statutory authority for the PRISM program, which involves warrantless collection of communications contents via targeting non-U.S. individuals or entities reasonably believed to be located abroad.

Section 702 authorizes warrantless acquisition of communications—including Americans’ communications—if at least one party to the message is overseas, and the target—that is the person or entity about which the government wants information—is a non-U.S. person.

NSA definitions of acronyms NSA website

INTERCEPT - The acquisition of electromagnetic signals, such as communications, radio or radar, using electronic equipment or other means for the purpose of gathering intelligence information on foreign entities. The material collected itself is sometimes referred to as "intercept."

SIGINT - Signals Intelligence - Information which contains communications intelligence (COMINT), electronics intelligence (ELINT), and foreign instrumentation signals intelligence (FISINT), either individually or in combination, however transmitted.

EO 12333, from The FBI v. The First Amendment by Richard Criley (1990) link A History of the Authors

Page 11 The "Thought Police" are still with us

After the 1976 public exposures of the FBI's flagrant abuses of constitutional rights, changes were made.  Congress broadened the purview of the Freedom of Information Act to include CIA and FBI documents.  Guidelines drafted by Edward H Levi, Attorney General in the Ford Administration, imposed restrictions on FBI investigations in First Amendment areas. William Webster, a federal judge, was appointed FBI Director with a mandate to carefully supervise FBI operations.

Early in the Reagan Administration, however, the President signaled a change in policy. He pardoned the only FBI officials ever tried and convicted of violations of constitutional rights.* In 1981, he issued Executive Order 12333, authorizing the CIA and FBI to engage in secret political spying to combat foreign "terrorism" on US soil.  In 1982, EO 12356 gave almost unlimited discretion to government officials to classify and withhold documents from the public. In 1983 Attorney General William French Smith issued new FBI guidelines, rescinding many of the restrictions imposed by Levi.

* FBI Officials W. Mark Felt and Edward Miller, who had authorized illegal break-ins in the investigation of the Weather Underground, were indicted in 1978 and convicted.  President Reagan issued the pardons without examining the trial records. (Kenneth O'Reily p. 291 "Hoover and the Un-Americans" 1983)


Audio/Video

Podcast Michael Hayden "explains" sections 215 and 702 and why its "no big deal" link
I made some comments about Hayden's podcast here and here

Podcast Barton Gellman responds to Michael Hayden link

Gellman and Hayden together, the "steel cage death match" video

Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel.net) explains NSA surveillance video

NSA Whistleblower Thomas Drake on 3 most important Snowden disclosures video FULL EPISODE, Snowden whistleblower award in Russia

BBC news "overview" of Snowden allegations video

A Simple Matter of G-d and Country

I recently saw a Holocaust movie called ""A Simple Matter of G-d and Country""  Movie website

For the majority of Germans, it had always been a simple matter of God and country...Jews believed in the wrong God, and they lived in the wrong country.

Opening frame of the movie is this quote, which as always with me relates perfectly to today's struggles with National security, protest, privacy and individual rights.

People still free must decide how much freedom is worth, how many lies they will live by, how far they will acquiesce while their neighbors are destroyed. The choice is always there.                                                                                                                           Terrence Des Pres

RIP Nelson Mandela, Madiba

Nelson Mandela fought for equality under a racist government in South Africa.

Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa credited with ending apartheid there, died Thursday in South Africa. He was 95 years old. Mandela was revered worldwide for leading the anti-apartheid movement and not letting his nearly three decades in prison shake his determination.  link

FAIR on Nelson Mandela
http://www.fair.org/blog/2013/12/06/nelson-mandela-and-nonviolent-resistance/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nelson-mandela-and-nonviolent-resistance


""3 Things you don't want to know about Nelson Mandela""
http://thebackbencher.co.uk/3-things-you-didnt-want-to-know-about-nelson-mandela/

Mandela's terrorist activities with ANC

Operating through a cell structure, the MK agreed to acts of sabotage to exert maximum pressure on the government with minimum casualties, bombing military installations, power plants, telephone lines and transport links at night, when civilians were not present. Mandela noted that should these tactics fail, MK would resort to "guerilla warfare and terrorism." Wikipedia

From ""What Terrorists Want"" by Louise Richardson
pg. 8 discussion of comparisons to IRA in Ireland and ANC in South Africa

In 1961, however, with all forms of political organization closed to it, Nelson Mandela was authorized to create a separate military organization, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). In his autobiography Mandela describes the strategy session as the movement examined the options available to them:

We considered four types of violent activities: sabotage, guerrilla warfare, terrorism and open revolution---Guerrilla warfare was a possibility, but since the ANC [since its creation in 1912] had been reluctant to embrace violence at all, it made sense to start with the form of violence that inflicted the least harm against individuals: sabotage.

 These fine distinctions were lost on the court in Rivonia that convicted Mandela and most of the ANC leadership in 1964 and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

Professor Peter Schwab, a noted authority on human rights, (and a professor of mine link) writes in ""Africa: A Continent Self-Destructs"" about the legacy of Mandela in championing peace, equality and justice not only in South Africa, but also in neighboring countries over the last 20 years.  But here is the quote (page 168) I want to reflect on, about the totality of US foreign policy in Africa and applicable elsewhere.

Rhetoric, lip service, and periodic trips to Africa where a president speaks of democracy and "feels your pain" do not make a viable and coherent foreign policy.......words by themselves are meaningless.

President Obama's trip to Africa earlier this year, portrayed by right wing media as a vacation, was a policy trip, but the policy was business link

Obama and other world leaders have made moving statements about Mandela's passing, remembering his momentous achievements during his life.  Obama has even said that it was Mandela's struggle and the movement to divest from South Africa in the 1980's that started his career in politics.

But as those who follow my posts know, I criticize Obama for his words compared to his actions.  And his words on Mandela came on the same day that there was a trial in California of the PayPal 14, internet activists who launched a denial of service attack on PayPal after the website stopped processing payments for Wikileaks.  article by Alexa O'Brien



Obama praised Mandela, saying link

"A man who took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice."

""took history in his hands"" means to me his terrorist acts of sabotage.  Mandela and the MK and the ANC resorted to bombs against a repressive government.  What about Chelsea Manning, who leaked documents in order to try and change the debate about US foreign policy and end wars???  Jeremy Hammond, who was upset about the privatization of intelligence and espionage that was used against anti war activists?? and Barrett Brown, a journalist who simply posted a link while writing about Jeremy Hammond's case???  Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, and others who are upset about the policy of the US since 9/11, the abuse of the Bill of Rights, labeling everyone a terrorist or possible suspect???

I want America to live up to its ideals and its documents promising us equal protection under the law, that all men and women are created equal, that people are secure in their homes, entitled to privacy, not accused of terrorism because they use Verizon, the internet, or know how to use computers.  I hope one day we can honor Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and others, like we honor Mandela today.  It is often those that governments prosecute who are the true heroes, and we need to remember that.

Hollywood and Obama's Foreign policy

My comments on Homeland (Showtime) Hostages (CBS)

article, ""CIA Does Hollywood""
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15905

article, ""Homeland and the Imagination of Homeland Security""
http://jacobinmag.com/2013/11/homeland-and-the-imagination-of-national-security/

The article from Jacobin particularly surprised me, and while I see their point, I do not agree with all of it.  I see these shows, especially Homeland (Showtime) and Hostages (CBS) as criticizing parts of Obama's policies, praising others, along with interesting guesses and fun dramas.  I see Homeland as a show against drones, not as the Jacobin article says, shows Obama's pivot to focus on lone, homegrown terrorists or recent converts to Islam ""If Obama’s policy involved a shift in focus onto the “homegrown” terrorist, Brody came to personify what happens to good Americans when they adopt Islam.""

The show began with a POW Nick Brody found alive after 8 years, returned home, who is secretly bent on killing the Vice President, who as former CIA chief ordered a drone strike on a school that killed the son of the terrorist that befriended him during his captivity.  Some obvious weirdness there, a soldier befriends his captor and terrorist and comes home to kill.  But two things stuck with me---one was the drone strike as Brody's motivation, killing the child he had grown fond of, and Two, even more amazing in a weird way, was his insistence that no, he was not a terrorist, but simply keeping his oath to ""protect and defend the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic""----WOW, taking the law into his own hands, with twisted logic, but still, wow.



Hostages on CBS is another show, which focuses on the storyline that the ""President has to die because of......""  when I found out in episode 4 that the story was about the NSA, and the president wanting to end and expose an unconstitutional program called ""Operation Total Information,"" which seems based on BOUNDLESSINFORMANT, my first thought was WHEN was this written, shot, filmed???!!!!!

this was either prescience or quick production after Snowden's revelations started in June.

but the fallout that occurs from these two ideas, drones in Homeland and NSA in Hostages (almost every plan to fix the problems just makes things worse) seems a critique of Obama's policies where they are wrong, NOT a Hollywood collusion to sell Obama's shift in policy as better than that of Bush.

Immigration Reform Now

The Senate passed the Gang of 8 Immigration bill back in June, but since then it has not been brought up by a vote in the House by John Boehner.  With less than 8 days left in the Congressional calender, it seems like it is dead this year. But it appears things may change soon.  Those protesting for immigration reform have been increasing the pressure for comprehensive reform.  Comprehensive reform went nowhere in 2007, and was last done in 1986. Articulate young protesters have approached Boehner at breakfast at a local diner, at his home early in the morning, and are occupying the mall in front of Congress, fasting since November 20th.  They have passionate intimate stories of being separated from their families, and are stuck in the American nightmare, hoping for a chance at the American dream.  All Boehner has said is he is trying to find a way to move on reform.  Conservatives have their lists of negatives for not embracing immigration reform---its a drain on economy, immigrants only vote Democrat, it awards illegal activity, will increase crime, and other reasons why they can't do anything on reform.

President Obama has his faults as well, breaking a promise to stop deportations of non criminal illegal immigrants.  He is approaching 2 million deportations, more than any other president.


Immigration reform will help children who were brought here through no fault of their own, will help those who see America as their only home, who did well in high school and are not allowed to go to college, who want to work here and pay taxes but are not allowed to.  Even Grover Norquist likes immigration reform as a way to get more money without raising taxes, because more people will be paying taxes at the current rate. He also amazingly criticizes the history of racist immigration policies.  It will help the debt and deficit, will not lead to an increase in crime (they are already here, crime won't increase if they're made legal).

Hopefully the House will act soon, as several political barriers are falling---registration for the 2014 election is over soon, so threats of being primaried from the right will either appear or not soon.  Too bad politicians these days care more about being reelected rather than serving the people they represent.

Serve the people's needs, and you will be reelected.  Your job is to serve the people you represent, not yourself.

We are a nation of immigrants, and they are our greatest strength.  It's time to keep our promises to them, and make the process of becoming a citizen in this great country possible.

REFORM IMMIGRATION POLICIES NOW!!!!!

hire of Rebecca Talent may be sign of hope for Immigration
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2013/1204/Is-Boehner-getting-serious-on-immigration-reform-New-hire-intrigues.-video

THIS AMERICAN LIFE story about the Morton Memos and Obama's policies  http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/498/the-one-thing-youre-not-supposed-to-do?act=1#play

http://prospect.org/article/los-infiltradores

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/07/obama-administration-not-deporting-many-criminals-immigration

Govt Bureaucracy vs Private Sector

I recently lost my job.

So now I am applying for Unemployment Insurance, and have been thinking, as I always am, about politics.

A million questions to verify who you are, what your current job situation is, make sure you are looking for new work, how and if you qualify and the terms in which you can lose your benefits.  First call this number, then that number, lots of steps for verification and compliance.  And you have to call every week to ask for the past week's benefits, and keep documents showing that you have been looking for work.

Unemployment insurance is something everyone who works pays into, and it is for those who have lost their jobs, not for those who quit or don't look actively for work.  Steps are taken to prevent waste fraud and abuse, and the maximum benefit you are allowed isnt even that much to live on.  But yes it's always better than nothing.


The GOP always complains that government bureaucracy is too burdensome and that any cure for any ailment whether its the economy or any other aspect of society is always to deregulate and cut taxes.  But in always attacking the long procedures of navigating through government processes, they of course fail to mention that the private sector has the same procedures, plus a profit motive as the bottom line, which does nothing to make the experience of dealing with it any easier, and it costs more and is as equal or more prone to corruption, waste, fraud, abuse etc.

Think of the Obamacare website, which is a marketplace for private insurance companies.  The website itself has problems because of government procurement procedures, technical glitches and policy changes right before the launch---initially the website would let you browse plans and then register later, but then the Administration said that people must sign up first, and then look around.

The change in policy caused glitches that lasted 2 months.

Now think of airline travel, hotels, credit cards, store return policies, insurance companies, etc etc.

Does anyone have pleasant experiences dealing with these private companies when something goes wrong?? Lost bags, canceled services, wrong transactions show up and you have to clear them, long lists of procedures to go through before a transaction can be done, and lists of reasons why they can't help you. And of course refunds always take several weeks, but new charges show up immediately.

Private sector companies are no better than the Government when it comes to laws that don't make sense, long lists of bureaucratic red tape to cut and steps to take before you get anything done.  GOP just likes corporate America.