
'60 Minutes': NSA Good, Snowden Bad - JumpCrisscross
http://www.thewire.com/national/2013/12/60-minutes-nsa-good-snowden-bad/356174/
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JumpCrisscross
> _The segment was presented by John Miller (who is rumored to be up for a
> "top counterterrorism or intelligence role" in the NYPD, which has a fine
> track record when it comes to not infringing on our civil liberties), who
> opened with:

Full disclosure: I once worked in the office of the director of National
Intelligence, where I saw firsthand how secretly the NSA operates.

Because as long as you tell us up front about your huge conflict of interest,
it's totally fine that you have one, right?_

I can understand if the NSA required questions to be pre-screened, and even
that Alexander was allowed to ask "for 'time outs' before he answers certain
questions." But why so openly compromise the independence of the interviewer?

~~~
na85
Most if not all western media outlets have become little more than propaganda
machines. There was a piece written about it recently by a Pentagon reporter,
who basically tried to couch the fact that they hero-worship government and
especially military officials in pseudo-intellectual excuses.

I'll try to find the link for you.

edit: Not the one I was thinking of but still _à propos_ :
[http://www.alternet.org/glenn-greenwald-why-do-mainstream-
jo...](http://www.alternet.org/glenn-greenwald-why-do-mainstream-journalists-
worship-military-officials)

------
h2database
I would rather put this in the term of

With or Without Integrity.

I am an American Citizen and I am proud to be one.

Can we stop with this good vs bad comparison. See this paper for reference to
the integrity I'm talking about:
[http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1511274](http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1511274)

What NSA doing is OUT OF integrity with their mission statements and values of
this country. Snowden however seemed to acted with integrity. More research is
needed.

Here is NSA's dedication to our nation:

NSA/CSS employees are Americans first, last, and always. We treasure the U.S.
Constitution and the rights it secures for all the people. Each employee takes
a solemn oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States
against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Where shall we go from here, other than calling something good vs bad?

~~~
fragsworth
> What NSA doing is OUT OF integrity with their mission statements and values
> of this country.

How can you trust that there are no nefarious forces at work here on the NSA's
part, when 1) there are many clear and obvious incentives for them to exist,
and 2) everything about the NSA and what it does is kept a secret?

~~~
h2database
I don't trust them now days.

Many man and woman of NSA truly think they are doing good for their country.

I also don't think by calling each other names like nefarious is going to help
the situation.

It that time they acted the way the world occurred (showed up ) must seemed
appropriated for that action. I don not think they they are sitting around the
table and talk about how to be evil.

I think we should grant amnesty much like what they did in South Africa for
people who are working for US government and know they are doing something not
in alignment with their and the countryøs values.

~~~
lukifer
Systems and institutions can be evil even if every single human involved in
them are upstanding citizens of good conscience. I think the general consensus
of critics is that most NSA employees are decent human beings who
(misguidedly) believe in their mission.

[http://omniorthogonal.blogspot.com/2013/02/hostile-ai-
youre-...](http://omniorthogonal.blogspot.com/2013/02/hostile-ai-youre-
soaking-in-it.html)

~~~
blahbl4hblahtoo
Misguided in thinking that a large nation state needs a signals intelligence
capability? They aren't the SS.

The NSA has overreached because after 9/11 congress demanded that they start
overreaching. The AUMF was sweeping in its breadth.

They will have to be reigned in...but the idea that what they are doing is
"evil"... if we aren't going to hold people accountable for torture it doesn't
make sense to call privacy invasion "evil".

------
devy
On one of the "chaining" screen of the NSA system, it looks like they are
using a graph database for analysis :)

~~~
meowface
I imagine a large amount of their work involves manipulating massive graphs
(people, computers, networks). Wouldn't be surprised if they have their own
proprietary graph database optimized for billions or more of nodes/edges.

------
blahbl4hblahtoo
Look, existing media outlets are incapable of certain kinds of criticism. Its
as unlikely that 60 minutes would take a anti-NSA stance as it would be to
take an anti-Army stance. Establishment players are just that...im not even a
100% Snowden backer... but expecting anti-establishment journalism form the
definition of the establishment is just going to give you indigestion.

~~~
groups
Look up the Pentagon Papers and Woodward and Bernstein (and Rathergate, though
that criticism was erroneous) for examples of established media sharply and
consequentially criticizing the US government.

The media /are/ capable of it, and they /used/ to do it.

