Whistle-blower Had to Fight NSA, LA Times to Tell Story

My quote…Fascism is like a fog that comes in the night which you will not see until the light of morning, at which time you will have no idea of its duration.
ERGO

Will the U.S.Government now pay him WHISTLE BLOWER MONEY?seems that the people in Government can’t tell anyone what there illegal plan is SO they run over us lie to us FOR WHAT!
SPENDING RIGHTS TO OUR TAX MONEY!

So the media is now responsible for the cover up of information.
Call it Un-News.
Interesting… I guess there’s a first time for everything, eh?
======================
“Those that don’t read the news are un-informed. Those that do read the news, are mis-informed”
… Mark Twain

It only takes something like this to give weight to all conspiracy theories

This is another reason why the world do not trust this moron that the supreme court has installed in the white house, a long time ago my father once told me “When you’re dumb, you’re dangerous, and the occupants of the white house are a very dangerous bunch, lets hope the change in the election of late…would stop these war hungry men from starting world warIII.

how about prosecuting this guy???

I also work in the telecommunications industry.
Contrast this story with the apparent resurgence of a monopolistic setting of the telecommunications industry and the aggressive A&M activity of AT&T. Makes one wonder whether the recent FCC rulings weakening CLEC footprints across the USA is due to sound fiscal reasoning by the FCC or ease of controlling and monitoring communications by the NSA. Orwellian for sure – of course only those doing something wrong should worry. Big government is our friend.

Scott,
It took only 19 to bring down the two towers of the World Trade Center and to destroy a huge section of the Pentagon. I have no problem with the government monitoring emails until they find the others.

No more secrets as they say. They read your mail, videotape you like 60 times a day, your creditcard information, and now all your internet traffic. Don’t think there is much left. Way to go big goverment supporters. Can’t wait to see if the democrats take over. Then we can be watched and fed along with everyone else.
YEAH.

These comments read like a horrible cliche. “He must have something to hide!” “He just hates our government!” “Anyone who doesn’t want to help our government must be a terrist! [sic].”
It’s somewhat sad to see Americans indulge themselves in such petty fear over an inconsequential group of homicidal maniacs. More people die from drunk driving than terrorism in the US, easily.
What’s most humorous is the cowards who wrap themselves in bravery and act like the brave thing to do is give ourselves over to nanny government, when in fact they’re the ones crying themselves to sleep over a 1/1000000 chance of terrorism actually ever affecting them.
I guess I’ll indulge in a cliche myself – “if we go on like this, the terrorists have already won.”

You people scare me.
You are afraid of rag-tag groups of people who want us dead, so you are fine with letting us be monitored…”because I have nothing to hide”?
We went for 40+ years, with thousands of nuclear missles pointed at us, without desecrating our liberty as we have done since 9/11. I’d rather risk another strike that hurts my countrymen, than to smother my liberties, which would kill my country.
That power to monitor won’t go away…it will only solidify, and spread…and remember, the same power that the Repubs use now, the Dems can use later. Do you think they won’t use it for internal monitoring of ‘unamerican activities’? Who defines that?
Sigh…I guess a free country doesn’t necessarily yield a love for freedom.

Mark,
You took the words right from my mouth. Being a 23yr conservative male nothing in this world scares me more than the way this country is going.

They believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly; for I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear from me: and enough, too, in their opinion.
-Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Rush, Sept. 23, 1800

I find it totally odd that everyone is so trusting of the same government that has lied and caused the deaths of many innocent soldiers, treats it’s veterans like crap and financially supports all types of people instead of its own. Our freedoms stem from people who left opression and tyrants, not to be followed up by another form of it. I agree, some things are necessary but we could be spending money on more productive things than spying on internet traffic.

The sheer asinine comments of those willing to let the government run their lives is a testament to the sedentary ‘see, hear, speak no evil’ drones of middle america. It’s preposterous to allow things like this happen ‘because we want to protect you’
Protect you from what? Terrorism? What’s Terrorism to you may be free speech to most..Terrorism to you may be worshipping what god you want to choose to most…Terrorism to the guy doing the Big Brother may be an ordinary way of life to most. The point is that giving up little freedoms to a faceless ‘mothering’ is a true real terror. Little freedoms add up and then big freedoms begin to erode.
And to the people who say ‘he should not be sticking his nose in’ I got three words for you – The Pentagon Papers. Look it up and find out why sometimes ‘sticking your nose in’ is needed.
‘For your own good’ is NOT an answer to impeding on what people bled for today, yesterday, and inevitably the future.

The actions of this administration since 9/11 has been suspect at the very least. We have opted out of the Geneva Convention and theatened war with the Netherlands if an American were brought up on charges and we have detained the usual suspects for five years or more without access to family, lawyers or any due course guaranteed under a democracy.
How are we suppose to trust those who went to war under the guise of promoting democracy, yet deny them the benefits of democracy?
Anyone can be considered a terrorist at any given moment, including those who criticize the administration or the war.
The words ‘National Security’ is being used as a rationalization as it was during the Nixon administration to cover up that administrations crimes against the American people. Then, covert spying on American citizens were rampant, especially those who criticized the Viet-Nam war or the Nixon administration. Sound familiar?

Gosh …. and all this time I thought it was “Loose lips sink ships.”

As someone who works in the IT field, I can tell you first hand that 1) The government does not care what the average joe does on the internet and 2) The government does not have the resources to capture everything on the internet, at this point in time it is impossible. That amount of data (even per minute) exceeds the limitations of mass storage and would call for warehouses full of drives/tapes etc (and that might only capture 1 days worth of information).

Why it it so easy to picture Klein and Jane Fonda in the same picture??????????

Who can you trust these days?

Lane, it also took only 19 people to rollback over 200 years of rights. What happened to the motto, Live Free or Die? It’s only valid if there is no risk of harm? What have we become in this country? Why not check in to some government controlled town and never leave? It’s like people are afraid to live, afraid of their shadow? You are move likely to die driving home tonight!

Anyone who thinks that this type of blanket surveillance is OK has a serious reading comprehension problem. I would advise all of you to re-read the Constitution of the United States of America. You may find that you are entitled to certain rights that the Bush administration has blatantly ignored. Also note, that nowhere in the document does it say “Void in times of war”.

Erm i’m from England just reading this via a link on another site and I am really really shocked at how readily most of the people posting here are happy to just lose their civil liberties. Have you learned nothing from your useless government yet? I mean our isn’t much better but at least everyone here realises that. It’s INSANE how many of you seem to be just regurgitating all that’s been fed to you through the media and politicians. I used to love America but i really must say i’ve never found a country so at odds with the image it promotes. Land of the free? Or land of the watched? I never really equated freedom with the ability for someone to eavesdrop my entire life. Please get rid of your moron in power – we’re trying to do the same.

As one who has been in communications for over thirty years, both in and out of the military, I can assure you that domestic electronic intercepts dealing with “subversive” (defined by those in power at the time) communications has been effectively been going on since the capability existed to filter out the unwanted (private citizen) communications. Basically, this began when NSA (or was it the FBI?)bought their first Cray computer. This is continuing still today. It has also transcended presidencies from both parties. When somneone releases information they should reasonably know is classified (such as a telephone company employee telling a suspected criminal that the police have a wire tap on his phone), that violates laws. In the case of my example, it would be a local or state law. In the case of national security , it violates federal law. Whether you decide the information should be made public is not an individual’s choice to make. There are procedures to challange the security classification. If you violate the law you should be held accountable. If the government is taking precautions to filter out the undesired information before it reaches humans (which they are), they have not violated your privacy. If you are contacting or contacteed by known/suspected terrorists (whether you know it or not), you can expect to have your conversation intercepted (just as you would expect if you contacted a suspected criminal and the FBI or local police had a wire tap on them). I think what most americans really object to is who has the authority to authorize the intercepts. When dealing with highly sensitive information, secrecy demands the authority be kept close hold. The NSA is the proper authority when dealing with the global war on terrorism. Whether you agree with the concept of attempting to stop terrorist attacks or not is another matter.

What I don’t understand is…in the 90′s the woods around Idaho and Arkansas were full of guys in camo, stashing weapons and following a cultish affiliation to thier fantasy that the “government” was coming with black helicopters to impose World Domination on them. Fifteen years later we are in fact much closer to that dangerous outcome, but now these same conspiracy theorists are slapping flags on their vehicles, are glued to FOX news and are the first to say that we must support our government right or wrong. Let me rephrase that; they see no evil, thier Fearless Leader is always right and the government should be allowed to do what it wants in all cases because they have our best interests in mind. Really? What has this government done for you lately? Think for yourself. Stop being so scared. Develop a little backbone and protect your rights!

If you’re innocent, why do you need rights? :)

I am in favor of surveillance that is monitor by both sides of the political spectrum.
Unfortunately, the current Cheney Administration* is using this surveillance to gain an information edge on their political opposition to create smog screens for the American People and continue their personal agenda.

tim – “If the government is taking precautions to filter out the undesired information before it reaches humans (which they are), they have not violated your privacy.”
So Tim, if an automated machine opens all my mail, scans it, then searches it for keywords before turning it over to an NSA goon, it is not violating my privacy? If a robot comes into my home, sniffs for bombs, photographs everything, then scans it for suspicious objects before turning it over to an NSA goon, it is not violating my privacy? If we are innocent we have nothing to fear (except rendition to a country that practices torture).
When my wife calls her mother overseas and the NSA records this conversation without a warrant, or when she exchanges emails with her overseas sister and the NSA opens the email and scans it without a warrant, you can be damn sure this violates the Bill of Rights regarding unreasonable searches. The terrorists have won.

It is not in the NSA’s charter to operate within the borders of the United States unless authorized by the FISA court system.
The Bush administration their his pet Alberto Gonzalez decided to allow intelligence gathering without the consent of FISA, effectively removing the safe guards that protected the liberties of Americans.
I applaud the whistle blower spoke of in this story because it shines a light on the depth at which the neo-con’s will go to in order to consolidate power to the executive branch.
Even with FISA it is hard to know how much abuse we have in the intel gathering system within the US. I’ll take all the whistle blowers I can get.

Amazing. A lone individual makes a decision to stand up for the basic civil liberties of millions – and folks here want him tried, arrested, audited, drawn, quartered, and branded a traitor.
I salute Mark Klein for doing the right thing.
May the folks here never have to face the tragedy of losing the rights they are so ready to hand over…
Perhaps you folks aren’t old enough to remember Shamrock or Minaret, but it bears some repeating: our track record ain’t the greatest on this one.

All you people are “INGNORANT BUFFOONS.” While our civil liberties are stealthly being taken away and slowly eroding by our criminal government, “WE” citizens of the U.S.A sit twiddling our thumbs. Someone stated we are at “WAR!” I don’t remember the United States of America declaring war on anybody! Congress passed a resolution giving President Bush the authority to initiate offensive measures on terrorists. Any yet, we have not captured UBL. Is it that hard to catch one man. Why would the US government need to see what I surf on the internet?

Mr. Ross,
It’s good to see you are now on the Klein story, but your piece neglects to mention that Wired News published a large chunk of Klein’s documents in May 2006.

“If the government is taking precautions to filter out the undesired information before it reaches humans (which they are), they have not violated your privacy.”
What??? It is NOT the government’s right to filter information to me! As an American I have the right to decipher for myself what I chose to read and then agree or disagree with.
They are talking about monitoring our conversations. If I choose to discuss the idiocy of baby bush with my mother online, keywords in the conversation are going to get flagged. Stopping me from talking about and congregating with others to talk about how stupid our current president is is my right as an American—NOT the right of selected individuals holding a government job!

Pete, you hit the nail on the head!

Just keeping chipping away at democracy, and what are you left with?
Those surveillance tools are a wonderful thing for the spooks, they make it easier than ever to build dossiers against your political opponents. And anyone who thinks that these tools are just being used against terrorists has a screw loose. All you have to do is change your definition of terrorist. Are you against the status quo? Uh-oh, you’re a potential terrorist! Remember when Ashcroft said “If you’re not with us, you’re against us”? That utterance speaks volumes.
The world is MUCH less safe with the Bush/Cheney dynamic duo in charge. Boy, that Iraq/Oil thing was a good idea;-)
Up next, WWIII starts in Iran.
(American nutjobs vs. Iranian nutjobs)
Haven’t you heard, Iran has WMD!
Don’t worry, the corporate media are on top of the story. They’ll uncover the truth just like they did in Ira….oh never mind.

I agree with you Seeker. What many of these people do not understand is this system can easily be used to blackmail somebody. Lets say that some congressman or reporter or group is causing problems to the administration. All they would have to do is to order the NSA to filter and look for any information dealing with these entities and record there conversations, URL’s they visited, and any sources secret phone numbers that they have called to get information. Also if we want to admit it or not, people say and do private things that they don not want other people to know about.
If anything look in your personal closet and ask yourself, are you willing to have your life an open book for anybody to see or use. Some will say they don’t care, but in reality what they are saying is that nobody will find out about my secrets because it will not happen to me but to someone else.
Yea, keep Dreaming.

They who would give up essential liberties for personal safety deserve neither. –Thomas Jefferson
Get a grip! Did the colonists quiver in fear at the mere thought of the Redcoats? Did our parents and grandparents hide under the bed during the Cold War? America has faced foes before and will again.
This generation is ready to chuck our proud history of freedom to save their own butts.

Thank you Mr. Klein. I am not surprised at what you uncovered.

The average citizen is not likely at risk from this latest unconstitutional invasion by the Bush administration.
What this does however just as the private citizen phone record collection did is provide administration officials access to information that could be used to the advantage of the administration’s many corporate friends.
Libby’s conviction today is the tip of the iceberg with the corruption in this white house.
Impeachment should have begun long ago, for many offenses, hopefully the new congress will have the courage to do the right thing.

THANK YOU MR. KLEIN.
just an analogy.
if some E.T.’s took over our country to free us from this ‘oil maffia’ who stole 2 elections, the little group supporting the spying, ‘in the name of security’, would be hiding home behind their mommies, ‘in the name of security’; YOU, me and most true americans will be out to expell the invaders: we believe “THOSE WHO GIVE AWAY FREEDOM FOR SECURITY DESERVE NEITHER”.
second point.
i have nothing to hide, BUT, the more they know about you the easier to manipulate you (and enslave you). you know there is a dpt. of propaganda in the white house?
MR. KLEIN CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE THE GUTS TO FACE GOLIATH.
THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP TO PROTECT OUR FREEDOM AND OUR CONSTITUTION.

This guy is a technician, not an engineer. He has no idea how a larger telecom network is configured, he only knows how to plug in a patchcord. San Francisco is one of the locations where the US telecom network connects to international trafic. The NSA had their splitter connected on the SDH side, not the SONET side. NO DOMESTIC WIRETAPING LAWS WERE BROKEN. The only crime was the NSA guys leaving documentation out for an idiot technician with an agenda to get access to them and the NY Times & Nightline not doing their homework to find out the truth.

I see two problems here: the first is the electorate confusing the Republican Party with conservatism. Unlike the Republican Party, conservatism begs for smaller, less obtrusive government that doesn’t attack its own people or foreign countries that have done nothing to us. The Republicans, on the other hand, are money-grubbing pigs. As they screw over the financially less fortunate, they have to be authoritarian to keep the peace. Government and cancers grow until they are forcefully stopped.
The second problem is equating what’s going on here with fascism. Most fascists couldn’t have cared less what others thought–provided they weren’t perceived as a threat to the ruling class. It was the communists who were obsessed with thoughtcrimes. It is not enough to accept Big Brother; You must LOVE Big Brother….

Tim what part of FISA court to authorize wiretapping and the 4th amendment do you fail to understand? The NSA is not the proper body to decide whether Americans most basic constitutional rights to be violated, but rather the government must get a warrant to do surveillance on it’s citizens. As is in:
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
(4th Amendment to the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution)
So Mark Klein has done a great service to the American people exposing these unconstitutional activities by the NSA.

They are watching right now sipping coffee. Dont think there not.

Yeah, not surprised…NSA is a joke! Terrorist don’t communicate through cell phones…16 year old kids dealing drugs know better than to talk on cell phones…lol
We are dealing with intelegent terrorist, who were able to surpase the entire United States millitary to destroy the world trade centeres. Why would anyone not give enough credit to these people to not speak on cell phones about terrorist activities…OPEN YOUR EYES!!!!!! The NSA is a joke!

i think that this is what america is all about and remarks like “This guy sounds like another case os somebody sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong. I serioulsy doubt that 120 pages of documents outlining the methodology of a top secret government operation were just “left around” the office. Maybe he needs a good IRS audit or two…. or three…..” are both unpatriotic and uneducated.

Try reading Joe Conason’s book ‘It Can Happen Here’ to understand the kind of authoritarianism we’re all up against.

NSA – 1
Liberty – 0
It wasn’t the news story, but some of the comments that left me feeling sick and chilly inside. It is absolutely disgusting to see people justifying the secrecy of something that violates their privacy and civil liberties.
It -can- and -is- happening here, and the mindless, bovine-eyed justifications made by American citizens for the NSA’s surveillance is just one more reminder of WHY THEY ARE STILL GETTING AWAY WITH IT.

Wow, as usual, the same old lines I’ve heard over and over again. I love the “If you’re not doing anything wrong, you don’t have anything to worry about” one the most. That one was used in Germany in the 30′s and 40′s alot. Now, for the people that say that, you should not care when then Police stop by your house to do an inventory of your possessions, or just to see what your up to. Just invite them in, nothing to worry about, if your doing anything wrong. What is going on here? We have done exactly what the insane people of this planet wanted us to do, live in fear and terror. Checkmate and game over. Wait till Bush abolishes elections, cause its “wartime”…. Sheep.

I would like to take this as an opportunity to thank Mark Klein for having the courage to come forward. You can talk about him just wanting: “fifteen minutes of fame” but the truth is historically whistle-blowers are not lauded as hero’s and thrown ticker-tape parades.
If you want proof he didn’t do this for “fame” you don’t have to look any further than a lot of these terrible comments calling Mark un-American and unpatriotic. Rubbish there is nothing more American than trying to expose and fight the corruption that is destroying this country.
Way to go Mark!!!!

Just remember my neo-cons, If Hillary gets in in 08…SHE WILL HAVE ALL THIS SNOOP POWERS!! and who knows what all that info can/will be used for…think about it!

FACT:A TRUE REVELATION OF WHATS REALLY HAPPENED. Someone has exposed another someone doing something Illegaly. If we support lies, and untruths, their is nothing left of ANY freedom, much less Democracy in this country. I voluntered for the military, and was treated like DIRT because of a physical disability. What we are seeing today, is what has already been fortold: Men shall believe a delusion, to be true!! Just believe big brother, doesn’t anyone remember the dishonest lies by Nixon? What about “i’m innocent” Clinton, he lied also. When the TRUTH is withheld from you, there is always a reason. A BAD ONE!! What comes after lies, and dishonesty?? Only Worse things! Are you ready, America??

I cannot remember the exact quote, but Ben Franklin said something like “If we give up our freedoms because of our fears we have lost”

As a very young adult, when I got my first paycheck and saw taxes come out, I thought there was something fishy about that. As a young fast approaching middle-aged woman when I compiled an Affirmative Action report, I was even more convined of a fishy world. Now, as an intelligent human being I know the world is fishy. I tried an experiment, just think of the majority of news you hear as the “exact oposite” of the truth and it makes more sense. We even now have phishing on the internet. Also, look at the skies for evidence of fishiness. God Bless all those that tell the truth. Thank you Mark Klein. Everyone continue to search and read use your open mind, that is the reason we have one.

well if anyone has bothered to remember september 11th theyd know there was an overabundance of information that the white house and world trade center were going to have planes crashed into them. its government incompetence not lack of ability to gather information that is the problem. also we have these things called warrants for people that are engaging in illegal activities.
those willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserve neither -jefferson

What is America when it no longer stands for what once distinguished her from other police state countries? What moral authority will the US have to lecture the world on upholding the rule of law and civil liberties when once model government constantly tramples on these rights? Yes, surveillance is key to national security, but only when its justified and does not undermine the rule of law.
The recent abuse by the FBI in the use of National Security letters only underscores the fact that domestic surveillance is not being used for the purposes it was intended for. Unfortunately the very effective brain washing mechanism of repetitive, unnecessary fear mongering has many failing to realize that America will never be the same nation it once was, if it abandons the principles it was founded on under the guise of being a police state. What next? Shall Americans have their mail screened as it would be in a prison setting so as to catch so called terrorists who resort to letter writing in lieu of email?

I have enjoyed reading the comments regards the acquisition of information by the NSA from the internet and personal phone conversations of the citizens of these United States of America.
I imagine very few of the correspondents who think this is justified ever remember that paragon of virtue, J. Edgar Hoover, who managed to remain in control of the FBI for so long by harnessing its power to accumulate information on the members of the congress whose task it was to oversee him and people like him. I would hesitate to use the term “blackmail” in reference to him and his activities, but others may not, especially those who were show his private files on their behaviour.
The Civil Liberties of a nation of free men and women are not to be removed at the whim of either a faceless bureaucrat or an elected official seeking to justify their own actions in the face of very warranted criticism.
Robert

Basically this guy is claiming that the government has set up the facilities to do what they have told the American people they are doing. There have been no terrorist attacks in the U.S. since 9-11. That is not a coincidence. The government doesn’t care that I am looking at porn sites, they are looking for terrorist. Let them do their job.

Impeachment…get Dick first. They’ll never tell us the truth, never. What they are doing with that NSA stuff smells bad.

These conservatives Burn the constitution then Kill a baby and drink its blood and say they did it to protect america. Im sure hitler thought he was a cool guy too.
Dracula was obviously one of these constitution burning types

Wow Amanda,
How can you call the people intent upon upholding the constitution the crybabies, when you openly admit that you would give up all right to privacy as long as all of those you love are safe? That is a statement of pure cowardice.
Let me ask you this, would you allow just one of the people on your friends and family list to be sacrificed if it would guarantee the safety of all of the others? How about two of them…or three…or?
The terrorists have won, like so many have stated above, when “citizens” will give up all rights for their own safety.
And sorry, I don’t trust you when you say that no one will come knocking at my door for saying something bad about Bush. Maybe they won’t, but if we continue on our present path, it won’t be too far in the future before this happens if you say something bad about the country’s leader. And you can trust me on that. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

It is disturbing how many respondants to this issue use the same warmaking, fearmongering propaganda to rationalize the erosion of the fundamental rights the government is suppose to protect. The government doesn’t GIVE us our rights, it is suppose to PROTECT them. They are said somewhere (gee, lets see what that was…) to be “inalienable”… they are recognized as fundamental to who we are as human beings– not privileges given to us out of the goodness of someone’s heart. All the militarisitc “you can’t handle the truth…” rhetoric is just the sound of the fear-driven and fear-driving voices trying to convince us that our rights as human beings (and the rights of Iraqis, and the rights of Somalis, and Moslems, and athiests, and Arabs, and {fill in the blank} are in fact alienable.
So this ‘whistleblower’ is sounding an alert to bring this to our attention. Shame on us if we make HIM out to be the problem.