
Additional FISA Documents Declassified - Varcht
http://www.odni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/191-press-releases-2013/964-dni-clapper-declassifies-additional-intelligence-community-documents-regarding-collection-under-section-501-of-the-foreign-intelligence-surveillance-act-nov
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pvnick

      The information released today includes a number 
      of internal NSA documents, training slides and 
      internal guidance, which demonstrate the care 
      with which NSA’s foreign intelligence collection 
      pursuant to Section 501 is run, managed, and overseen.
    

In other words, this selective declassification is not about being transparent
and open. It's propaganda designed to take some of the flak off the
administration. Not that there's anything inherently wrong or surprising about
that since it's the kind of thing we've come to expect from our politicians.
It's just that if I knew how different the Obama administration's actions
would be from what 2008 candidate Obama's rhetoric led my 20-year-old self to
believe, I wouldn't have donated money to him.

~~~
ConceptJunkie
> It's just that if I knew how different the Obama administration's actions
> would be from what 2008 candidate Obama's rhetoric led my 20-year-old self
> to believe, I wouldn't have donated money to him.

If enough people felt this way, things could be a lot better. I can forgive
someone who believed the rhetoric the first time, even though a lot of us
didn't. It's a lesson we all have to learn, and if the lesson is learned, the
mistakes aren't so bad.

Unfortunately, a majority of voters didn't think this was enough to prevent
them from re-electing him in 2012, nor I fear, from electing another person
just like him in 2016.

~~~
mikeash
It's not like the other realistic choice in 2012 would have been any better
about this stuff.

The root of the problem is that the majority of voters _like_ this stuff.
Americans are, by and large, terrified of terrorists (imagine that) and want
their government doing everything imaginable to stop it. Never mind that
terrorism is less dangerous than e. coli or sharks, it's an important issue to
a lot of people. That is what we need to change, not a few politicians.
Convince the public, and the rest will follow. Not that I have any clue how to
even start.

~~~
nitrogen
_Not that I have any clue how to even start._

Start with Hollywood. Perceptions can be changed through entertainment. It has
worked well to promote equal rights. Bit by bit, entertainment can acclimate
us to new ideas.

White House Down is an interesting example of a starting point:

    
    
      [spoiler alert]
    

Instead of the terrorists coming from the Middle East, they come from the
military industrial complex and secret service.

~~~
twoodfin
Because Hollywood's never had military contractors as bad guys before...

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mcphilip
I love how key definitions of terms are redacted for purposes of national
security. For instance, the definition of the term "associated" is redacted in
the training guides for establishing an RAS (reasonable articulable suspicion)
used to justify targeting of communication metadata.

~~~
MarkHarmon
Yeah, it's things like that make you wonder how much is redacted to preserve
some director's ass.

------
zts
Don't forget why these documents are being declassified. We have the EFF to
thank.

[https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/victory-government-
rel...](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/victory-government-release-more-
nsa-documents-and-fisa-court-opinions-response-eff)

------
dublinben
[http://icontherecord.tumblr.com/](http://icontherecord.tumblr.com/) Really?

I didn't realize that our intelligence services were using Tumblr as an
official communications channel now.

~~~
bradleysmith
> _Created at the direction of the President of the United States, IC ON THE
> RECORD provides immediate, ongoing and direct access to factual information
> related to the lawful foreign surveillance activities carried out by the
> U.S. Intelligence Community._

from the about us column. You could probably credit Obama's social media team,
or maybe the man himself. Interesting.

~~~
nashashmi
If you haven't noticed, Obama is big on taking advice from those around him.
The people who surround him are mostly young and new age. So tumblr is the way
to go.

Obama himself is a speaker, a talker, a rephraser. And a very articulate one.
His intelligence (or lack thereof) has never truly been revealed because he
never does the thinking.

------
hugogee
"The information could be used only for counterterrorism purposes." Am i
understanding correctly that all instances where parrallel reconstruction was
employed were in fact terrorist cases?

~~~
rubbingalcohol
Terrorism is anything the government doesn't like.

In all seriousness, how would we realistically ever find out which criminal
cases were hinged upon parallel construction of evidence? The whole point is
to conceal from judges and prosecutors (not to mention defendants) the true
nature of the evidence-gathering techniques used. This completely flies in the
face of due process of law, and I doubt anyone in government would willing own
up to specific examples.

~~~
wavefunction
This is true. There were a few anti-nuke protestors arrested about a year ago.
A catholic nun and some other folks committed to pacifism.

They were able to breach the security perimeter of a nuclear facility and
erect some home-made banners promoting pacifism. What happened to the
contractor that was supposed to be securing the site? Nothing.

[https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/05/15-7](https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/05/15-7)

They're being charged as terrorists under the full power of the law.

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MarkHarmon
Some of the comments in the pdf files are kind of funny.
[http://www.odni.gov/files/documents/1118/CLEANEDOVSC1205_L6A...](http://www.odni.gov/files/documents/1118/CLEANEDOVSC1205_L6A_storyboard_v18_Final-
Sealed.pdf)

Comment [a1]: Graphic of 2 terrorists sending email to each other, show email
indicating threat and containing a number without country code

