NSA Officials: Obama pretending he knew nothing about spying -- anger among intelligence community
27 replies, posted
[URL]http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131029/10145025051/nsa-officials-livid-that-white-house-is-pretending-it-didnt-know-about-spying-foreign-leaders.shtml[/URL]
[quote]. We already noted how NSA people were freaking out about [URL="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131028/18152925045/nsa-officials-admit-were-screwed-now-after-feinsteins-statement.shtml"]Feinstein's statements[/URL] (though, some believe this is just for show), but the [URL="http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-77965005/"]grumbling over the President's statements[/URL] is getting much louder as [B]NSA officials recognize that it appears the President is positioning the NSA as a rogue agency, rather than one carrying out his orders. [/B][I][B] Professional staff members at the National Security Agency and other U.S. intelligence agencies are angry, these officials say, believing the president has cast them [/B]adrift as he tries to distance himself from the disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that have strained ties with close allies. [/I] In particular, they say [B]the claims that the President didn't know about spying on foreign leaders is hogwash. [/B][I] Precisely how the surveillance is conducted is unclear. But if a foreign leader is targeted for eavesdropping, the relevant U.S. ambassador and the National Security Council staffer at the White House who deals with the country are given regular reports, said two former senior intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in discussing classified information.
Obama may not have been specifically briefed on NSA operations targeting a foreign leader's cellphone or email communications, one of the officials said. "But certainly the National Security Council and senior people across the intelligence community knew exactly what was going on, and to suggest otherwise is ridiculous."
[B]If U.S. spying on key foreign leaders was news to the White House, current and former officials said, then White House officials have not been reading their briefing books. [/B][/I]
The ramifications here may be serious, as the intelligence community apparently views this as President Obama completely throwing them under the bus: [I] [B]Some U.S. intelligence officials said they were being blamed by the White House for conducting surveillance that was authorized under the law and utilized at the White House.
"People are furious," said a senior intelligence official who would not be identified discussing classified information. "This is officially the White House cutting off the intelligence community.[/B]"[/I][/quote]
Nice one. I'm sure there are now about a dozen more pissed off NSA employees ready to blow the whistle on the intelligence gathering.
That was a great idea there, 'bama, now that "rogue agency" is gonna turn on you.
This is going swell, just swell.
Well to be honest, what [B]DID [/B]they expect?
They're the universally most loathed agency, so being used as a scapegoat shouldn't surprise them.
To be honest, the CIA and NSA's track record as of late has been shitty at best.
Its why the DoD has been fighting with CIA so the military can handle their own intel gathering. The CIA uses really shakey methods and sources. NSA isn't any different.
But won't worry, we're still after Snowden!
[QUOTE=Swilly;42700677]To be honest, the CIA and NSA's track record as of late has been shitty at best.
Its why the DoD has been fighting with CIA so the military can handle their own intel gathering. The CIA uses really shakey methods and sources. NSA isn't any different.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, but see the public is paying attention to the NSA more than the CIA, and now 'bama is chuckin them under the bus to save his ass.
[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;42700734]Yeah, but see the public is paying attention to the NSA more than the CIA, and now 'bama is chuckin them under the bus to save his ass.[/QUOTE]
why do you keep calling him that
it doesn't even take less time to type
[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;42700734]Yeah, but see the public is paying attention to the NSA more than the CIA, and now 'bama is chuckin them under the bus to save his ass.[/QUOTE]
Yeah but see, the CIA used to do the same shit as the NSA.
Actually to a worse degree.
[QUOTE=Cone;42700802]why do you keep calling him that
it doesn't even take less time to type[/QUOTE]
'MURRICA, thats why.
I dunno. Wasn't aware it even mattered.
Little bro and I jokingly pronounce it as Oh-Bay-Muh.
So how long before another blow of the ole whistle?
[editline]30th October 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=Swilly;42700843]Yeah but see, the CIA used to do the same shit as the NSA.
Actually to a worse degree.[/QUOTE]
But the CIA isn't in the news 24/7 right now, the NSA is.
[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;42700847]
But the CIA isn't in the news 24/7 right now, the NSA is.[/QUOTE]
I know.
Newsflash. Politicians are whores.
[QUOTE=Swilly;42700883]I know.[/QUOTE]
So then you're agreeing with me?
Ohh, how wonderful the sound of everything related to the NSA going to shit is. Even if our own citizenry is unable to do anything about the NSA, the rest of the world is thoroughly fucking them up by the hour.
[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;42700911]So then you're agreeing with me?[/QUOTE]
I'm agreeing with you, and then also saying nothing will change.
[QUOTE=Swilly;42700934]I'm agreeing with you, and then also saying nothing will change.[/QUOTE]
...Oh.
Well okay then.
[QUOTE=Swilly;42700677]To be honest, the CIA and NSA's track record as of late has been shitty at best.[/QUOTE]
Unless 'as of late' means the 80s and 90s, you're talking about information that isn't yet declassified, so how could we know?
I hate to sound like a broken record since I've brought it up before, but the Iranian Hostage Crisis rescue depicted in Argo was the perfect example. At the time everyone said the CIA was useless and the Canadians of all people were the ones that saved our people. Decades later it was revealed that it was the CIA that did it in the first place, and let the Canadians take sole credit to keep it secret. There's undoubtedly a lot more going on than the public is aware, and I don't really think anyone here is in a position to speculate.
This gets better every day.
[QUOTE=catbarf;42701150]Unless 'as of late' means the 80s and 90s, you're talking about information that isn't yet declassified, so how could we know?
I hate to sound like a broken record since I've brought it up before, but the Iranian Hostage Crisis rescue depicted in Argo was the perfect example. At the time everyone said the CIA was useless and the Canadians of all people were the ones that saved our people. Decades later it was revealed that it was the CIA that did it in the first place, and let the Canadians take sole credit to keep it secret. There's undoubtedly a lot more going on than the public is aware, and I don't really think anyone here is in a position to speculate.[/QUOTE]
I think you just watched the movie Argo and didn't actually look that up.
Also what do you mean "of all people"?
[QUOTE=catbarf;42701150]Unless 'as of late' means the 80s and 90s, you're talking about information that isn't yet declassified, so how could we know?
I hate to sound like a broken record since I've brought it up before, but the Iranian Hostage Crisis rescue depicted in Argo was the perfect example. At the time everyone said the CIA was useless and the Canadians of all people were the ones that saved our people. Decades later it was revealed that it was the CIA that did it in the first place, and let the Canadians take sole credit to keep it secret. There's undoubtedly a lot more going on than the public is aware, and I don't really think anyone here is in a position to speculate.[/QUOTE]
The film is horribly inaccurate, what are you on about.
[QUOTE=Thlis;42701355]I think you just watched the movie Argo and didn't actually look that up.[/QUOTE]
Good for you. How about the Iranian coup d'etat in 1953, support of Mobutu Suse Seko in Zaire, or Saigon Military Mission? Oh, except if I use those as examples, nobody knows what I'm talking about. It's a fact that whatever an intelligence agency is up to, unless they screw up so badly that their involvement is obvious (Bay of Pigs) or do so well that it's revealed for PR (Neptune Spear), you won't see the details for decades.
[QUOTE=Thlis;42701355]Also what do you mean "of all people"?[/QUOTE]
Not a US agency, not the US military, actually a whole separate country doing our job for us. At the time it was actually considered something of an embarrassment.
[editline]30th October 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=Adman;42701728]The film is horribly inaccurate, what are you on about.[/QUOTE]
Uh, yeah, no kidding, it's Ben Affleck in typical Hollywood fantasy. Nothing I said is based on the movie, though, I only pointed out that it's a movie because it took [I]thirty years[/I] for it to become well-known. How long do you suppose it'll take for operations from the 2000s to be public?
I love how Obama pretends to know nothing about anything. He'd rather say, "IM AN INCOMPETENT PERSON, I DIDN'T KNOW" rather than admit he knew.
Did Obama really know that much tho?
Surely it wouldn't be that hard to keep things from him.
Baby image macro goes here.
Also, would you expect him to release information like that?
[QUOTE=Pepsi-cola;42704030]Did Obama really know that much tho?
Surely it wouldn't be that hard to keep things from him.[/QUOTE]
He isn't completely oblivious to the things going on in the intelligence community under his administration.
[QUOTE=Starpluck;42700397]Nice one. I'm sure there are now about a dozen more pissed off NSA employees ready to blow the whistle on the intelligence gathering.[/QUOTE]
Here comes that transparency and openness that you were promised, guys! :v:
[QUOTE=S31-Syntax;42700847]'MURRICA, thats why.
I dunno. Wasn't aware it even mattered.
Little bro and I jokingly pronounce it as Oh-Bay-Muh.
So how long before another blow of the ole whistle?
[/QUOTE]
I thought you were doing it as a sign of disrespect to Obama, and I know a lot of other people might infer the same. I took your argument much less seriously because of it.
[QUOTE=Grimhound;42700886]Newsflash. Politicians are whores.[/QUOTE]
sadly none of them are $5 love you long time one's :(
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