If you thought the resultant fallout from the Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks disclosures would end US spying on allies, you thought wrong.
Recent leaks prove otherwise.
US Intelligence Leak Recap
April 10: US scrambles to trace source of highly classified intel leak
Classified documents that appeared online, with details ranging from Ukraine’s air defenses to Israel’s Mossad spy agency, have U.S. officials scrambling to identify the leak’s source, with some experts saying it could be an American.
Officials say the breadth of topics addressed in the documents, which touch on the war in Ukraine, China, the Middle East and Africa, suggest they may have been leaked by an American rather than an ally.
Reuters has not independently verified the authenticity of the documents. Some giving battlefield casualty estimates from Ukraine appeared to have been altered to minimize Russian losses. It is not clear why at least one is marked unclassified but includes top secret information. Some documents are marked “NOFORN,” meaning they cannot be released to foreign nationals.
April 14: Airman Charged in Leak of Classified Documents
Airman First Class Teixeira appeared in a Boston courtroom on Friday morning, handcuffed and wearing a beige prison uniform. He was charged with two separate counts related to the unauthorized handling of classified materials and faces a maximum sentence of 15 years if convicted.
April 15: Leaked documents reveal more Chinese spy balloons
“A U.S. official speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence said the government naming convention for such balloons is alphabetical, from A to Z,” the Post said. “It appears that the balloons are named after notorious criminals, including Tony Accardo, James “Whitey” Bulger, and Donald Killeen.”
It was also disclosed that the leaked classified documents had been online in some form since December and were posted to multiple platforms.
April 16: Lindsey Graham slams Marjorie Taylor Greene for defending leak of classified documents
“[Jack] Teixeira is white, male, Christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime. And he told the truth about troops being on the ground in Ukraine and a lot more,” Greene, a member of the Homeland Security Committee, said on Twitter following Teixiera’s arrest Thursday. “Ask yourself who is the real enemy? A young low level national guardsmen? Or the administration that is waging war in Ukraine, a non-NATO nation, against nuclear Russia without war powers?”
Document Leaks Indicate Extent of U.S. Electronic Snooping
With the above recap out of the way please consider Document Leaks Indicate Extent of U.S. Electronic Snooping
The powerful eavesdropping program that enables some of that intelligence gathering is due to lapse at the end of the year. To persuade Congress to renew the program, Biden administration officials had been debating whether to declassify intelligence formally to show how the tool protects the U.S. The alleged leaker might have forced the issue.
The haul from U.S. electronic eavesdropping, as shown in the leaked documents, is shockingly broad: South Korea’s National Security Council and North Korea’s weapons programs; United Nations deliberations over Ukraine; Russia’s military, its defense firms and the Wagner Group, the private military contractor; the Mossad, Israel’s spy agency; Iran; Colombia, Nicaragua and the Ivory Coast.
“This is such a vivid illustration of the technological capabilities of the U.S. government in this area,” said Glenn Gerstell, former general counsel at the National Security Agency, which conducts electronic eavesdropping and code breaking.
One of the U.S. government’s primary eavesdropping tools is Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. Set to lapse at the end of the year if Congress doesn’t reauthorize it, the program allows the NSA to target communications of non-U.S. citizens that traverse U.S.-owned platforms such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. Surveillance under Section 702 is supervised by a special foreign-intelligence court, which approves the rules the program operates under but doesn’t approve each individualized surveillance target.
Not all signals intelligence is collected under Section 702. The U.S. government also uses techniques such as gaining backdoor access into foreign telecommunications networks, and has specialized planes, drones and satellites that collect signals as well.
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Turner (R., Ohio), recently told The Wall Street Journal that the Section 702 authority is “incredibly important for the overall tools that we have in the intelligence community.”
But there remain “clear and established abuses of FISA that cause enough concern among both sides of Congress that during this renewal period, it’s appropriate for us to take the issue as to how FISA can be reformed to lessen those abuses,” Mr. Turner said.
While the Central Intelligence Agency and its human spies often garner the headlines, the NSA is widely believed to be the largest intelligence agency in staff and budget. Those numbers are classified. By some estimates, 60% or more of the material in the president’s daily intelligence briefing is based on signals intelligence.
Lessen Not Eliminate Collection Abuses
Please note the goal is not to eliminate abuses but to lessen them.
And it’s no secret that the NSA wants backdoor access into Google and Apple including iPhones.
Google and Apple are not even allowed to discuss such requests.
Going After the Leaker
Newsworthy Stories
“Each time these news outlets publish reporting on these docs — as we did — it’s an implicit admission that they are newsworthy, that the public should know about them.”
The Blatant Lies
“Reuters published an article claiming Russia was behind this leak, based on what “three officials” told them. These media outlets print whatever the US Security State tells them to, because that’s their allegiance”
Biden and Congress Want to Ban TikTok
Politico reports Biden and Congress Want to Ban TikTok
A few weeks ago it looked like the company’s days in America were numbered. President Joe Biden’s administration had just demanded that the Chinese-owned video app be sold or face an outright ban in the United States. That effort quickly drew support from Capitol Hill, and gained momentum after the remarkably bipartisan grilling of the company’s CEO last month — with lawmakers accusing TikTok of serving as a Trojan horse for Beijing to “manipulate America” and suck up reams of sensitive data on U.S. citizens.
The challenges that confront Washington as it works to rein in TikTok compound on each other. Between the company’s steep price tag, antitrust concerns and expected resistance from Beijing, almost no experts believe Washington will be able to force ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, to sell the app. If divestiture fails, the government will need new authorities from Congress to prevent getting laughed out of court when it attempts a direct ban — and there’s no guarantee lawmakers can get on the same page to grant those powers in time for Biden to use them.
Biden and Trump on Same Dangerous Page
In August 2020, Trump attempted to ban TikTok by executive order. A federal court threw out that effort within months. Now Biden wants the same thing.
What the hell is the US security threat?
Banning a popular communications tool is unprecedented. The genuine threat is not the app, the threat is loss of freedom of speech.
It’s happening.
Please note Montana Legislature Approves Outright Ban of TikTok
The legislation, which would also bar app stores from carrying TikTok, the wildly popular viral video app, was approved 54 to 43 in the last of two votes in the State House. The State Senate passed it in March.
A TikTok spokeswoman, Brooke Oberwetter, said in a statement that supporters of the bill had admitted they didn’t have a feasible plan for carrying out the ban.
Is that stupid or what?
“Democracy Dies in Darkness”
The Washington Post Slogan is “Democracy Dies in Darkness”.
To help ensure darkness, WaPo and the New York Times sought to expose the leaker.
Without a doubt that is the view of the Wall Street Journal as well.
Is the US or China a Bigger Security Threat?
The biggest security threat is backdoor hooks into Google, Apple, and other US technology platforms.
As admitted by House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Turner (R., Ohio), the goal is not to eliminate abuses but to lessen them. Yeah right.
And it’s no secret that the NSA wants backdoor access into Google and Apple including iPhones.
In addition to unwarranted snooping, the extreme risk in backdoor access is the possibility that a foreign government discovers a backdoor and starts utilizing it.
Who are the Heroes?
Julian Assange and Edward Snowden are heroes for disclosing what’s going on.
I don’t put Jack Teixeira in the same class because his intent was to impress the gaming community not to inform.
However, I do not support secret US military actions in Ukraine, spying on allies, backdoor threats, etc. We should be grateful for Teixeira’s disclosures.
This post originated at MishTalk.Com
Please Subscribe!
Like these reports? I hope so, and if you do, please Subscribe to MishTalk Email Alerts.
Subscribers get an email alert of each post as they happen. Read the ones you like and you can unsubscribe at any time.
If you have subscribed and do not get email alerts, please check your spam folder.
Mish
Between 1987 and 1989, IBM and Texas Instruments were thought to have been targeted by French DGSE with the intention of helping France’s Groupe Bull.[53] In 1993, U.S. aerospace companies were also thought to have been targeted by French interests.[54] During the early 1990s, France was described as one of the most
aggressive pursuers of espionage to garner foreign industrial and
technological secrets.[53] France accused the U.S. of attempting to sabotage its high tech industrial base.[53] The government of France has been alleged to have conducted ongoing
industrial espionage against American aerodynamics and satellite
companies.[55]
that the US is losing global influence as other powers align together
and win favor among nations not yet aligned.
originated from Katz v. United States and is a key component of Fourth
Amendment analysis. The Fourth Amendment protects people from
warrantless searches of places or seizures of persons or objects, in
which they have a subjective expectation of privacy that is deemed reasonable….” Cornell Law School.
interest in keeping her affairs from being known can be held liable for
that exposure or intrusion….” findlaw.com
Tic Tok is a tool used by the Chinese government to manipulate American morons into weakening the nation by various methods. It’s electronic, cultural poison.