Somehow this quote from the interview by Thomas Drake, a former senior executive of the NSA and a decorated Air Force and Navy veteran[1], carries a bit more weight for me than the widely trumpeted blatherings of Dick Cheney[2], winner of five draft deferments[3]:<p><i>I actually salute him. I will say it right here. I actually salute him, given my experience over many, many years both inside and outside the system. Remember, I saw what he saw. I want to re-emphasize that. What he did was a magnificent act of civil disobedience. He's exposing the inner workings of the surveillance state. And it's in the public interest. It truly is.</i><p>[1] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Andrews_Drake" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Andrews_Drake</a><p>[2] <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2013/0616/Dick-Cheney-Edward-Snowden-a-traitor-who-likely-spied-for-China-video" rel="nofollow">http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2013/0616/Dick-Chene...</a><p>[3] <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/01/politics/campaign/01CHEN.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/01/politics/campaign/01CHEN.h...</a>
I feel bad for Drake, he was facing federal charges and nobody seemed to notice. 89% of federal cases are plead before trial and of those that go to trial 90%+ are found guilty, that is how much the odds were stacked against him. He got nowhere near the attention that he deserves[1[]<p>William Binney is an absolute hero. I have absorbed everything this guy has ever said or done[2]. He was not only employed at the NSA, but he was a director who <i>designed</i> the software that is being used right now to dragnet all the communications. It is difficult for anybody - congressman, president, republican voter, etc. - to argue that what the NSA is doing is fine when the guy with all the technical details and design of the program says it isn't. That he is against what is happening is a big deal and needs more attention.<p>This video is on the front page of USA Today, so these guys and the topic is starting to get the recognition they deserve.<p>[1] The New Yorker did a great feature on him called 'The Secret Sharer' - good for background <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/23/110523fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all" rel="nofollow">http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/23/110523fa_fact_...</a><p>[2] Search YouTube for Binney - he was the keynote speaker at the 2600 HOPE conference last year - a presentation that everybody must watch. Apparently Snowden decided to go the route he did after watching Binney in Laura Poitras' "The Program" for the NYTimes: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/opinion/the-national-security-agencys-domestic-spying-program.html?_r=0" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/opinion/the-national-secur...</a> Potras is the same person who was the first journalist Snowden contacted.
> <i>Binney: Part of his job as the system administrator, he was to maintain the system. Keep the databases running. Keep the communications working. Keep the programs that were interrogating them operating. So that meant he was like a super-user. He could go on the network or go into any file or any system and change it or add to it or whatever, just to make sure — because he would be responsible to get it back up and running if, in fact, it failed.</i>
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> <i>So that meant he had access to go in and put anything. That's why he said, I think, "I can even target the president or a judge." If he knew their phone numbers or attributes, he could insert them into the target list which would be distributed worldwide. And then it would be collected, yeah, that's right. As a super-user, he could do that.</i><p>I have a feeling that the NSA deals with access control just like the rest of us...very poorly. Even more egregious is that Snowden was a contractor...if we're going to leave open the possibility of the NSA targeting us at their whim, can't they at least do that in-house?
I couldn't stop watching this video. It is the most riveting thing I've seen since the Snowden interview itself. It's a pity they broke it up; you have to scroll down the page to get all the pieces. But I highly recommend watching the entire thing if you're interested in this story. It packs a wallop and it's... pretty damn convincing. Every one of the four interviewees is deeply impressive, each in a distinct way. It is hard to believe that they don't know what they're talking about. More striking than that, though, is what good people they all seem to be.<p>I'm surprised that USA Today put this out and I hope they do more like it. The contrast with typical news pap could not be stronger.
Interesting that he now calls Snowden a traitor for the China-specific intel turned over, while supporting him broadly otherwise. Pretty much the same line I'd draw (although I think he should have gone to IG/Congress rather than the media, but with the threat of going to media if no action taken. It's possible he went to IG/Congress already, but I don't think so.)
Most of us had heard about Binney before, but the other guys back up many of the same claims.<p>Binney's take on what they'll do to Snowden.<p>"Binney: First tortured, then maybe even rendered and tortured and then incarcerated and then tried and incarcerated or even executed."
<i>Sentenced to a year of probation and community service, Drake was stripped of his security clearance. He now works at an Apple retail store.</i><p>I hope they have him employed as a Genius.
Hobbes would be saying "No, no, I meant about the size of a very large whale,. Big enough to keep random individuals from running amok and spoiling things... This is more like Cthulu."
On topic, the best critique I have read of the failed hope that is Obama: <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/15/broken-promise-barack-obama" rel="nofollow">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/15/broken-promise-b...</a>