21% of the Database Query Errors in NSA Report Involved the Phone Internet Dragnet Database
Update: as Mindrayge notes, Marina appears in NSA slides as Internet, not phone metadata (and that's how Ambinder refers to it here). There are some oddities, then, but I am changing this post accordingly.
As I noted in this post, the May…
The Biggest Math Organization in the World Has a Simple Arithmetic Problem
In this post, I'm going to examine a claim made in the May 3, 2012 audit report of NSA violations. Through the magic of simple arithmetic, I'm going to show that the report misleads readers about why the number of incidents rose in the first…
Morally Depraved Obama Fails in Response to Egyptian Massacre
The New York Times headline for its story summarizing Barack Obama's statement yesterday on the violence in Egypt parrots the administration's hapless plea that Obama has few options in dealing with Egypt: "His Options Few, Obama Rebukes Egypt's…
All Three Branches Conduct Vaunted NSA Oversight!
Today, we learned this is what the vaunted Congressional oversight of NSA spying looks like.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who did not receive a copy of the 2012 audit [showing thousands of violations]…
As WaPo Was Letting Pincus Transcribe, They Were Fighting Administration on Gellman Story
On Friday, the President promised us more transparency on NSA issues.
Meanwhile, the WaPo was preparing this story on NSA issues from Barton Gellman.
Along the way, the Administration gave Gellman a 90-minute interview of unspecified date…
More Notice Problems in the 215 Dragnet White Paper
According to the 2009 Draft NSA IG Report, the telecoms asked for some kind of order for the telecom dragnet collection in 2005, just after the NYT revealed the illegal wiretap program.
After the New York Times article was published in December…
When the FISA Court becomes the Exotic Surveillance Shop
I'm still updating yesterday's post collecting everything we might know about the government's demand to Lavabit that led Ladar Levison to shut it down.
I'd like to consider the implications of Levison's hint that the order or warrant he…
"There are two more issues intelligence officials want noted"
Walter Pincus fancies his work to be about "reading documents" and finding the bits that everyone else has missed.
The way I’ve always done it is reading documents. I mean there is a huge amount of public material that’s put every day out…
Alexander Joel: Dragnet with a Human Face
For some reason, James Clapper's office decided it would be a good idea to tell the rest of the world that it has a Civil Liberties Protection Officer, Alexander Joel. Today, he introduces himself in a piece in McClatchy.
Before you read…
Administration's OWN White Paper Backs Claim Mike Rogers Did Not Share Dragnet Notice
I already made this point when I was the first person to point out that the House Intelligence Committee apparently did not share the 2011 notice provided by DOJ with members outside of the House Intelligence Committee.
But no one besides…
The Known Details on the Lavabit Demand
Ladar Levison's interview with Amy Goodman yesterday was his most extensive statement about the demand he got that led him to shut down his company. I want to pull the important tidbits from that interview and this one, with Forbes' Kashmir…
Dunford Demonstrates Futility of Military's Doublespeak on Afghanistan
Reuters is carrying a remarkable article today on an interview conducted with the current US Commander in Afghanistan, Joseph Dunford. I say the article is remarkable because it is a perfect embodiment of the extreme dishonesty the military…
If by "New" IG Investigation You Mean 1,155 Days Old
Shane Harris reads the DOJ IG Report on its civil liberties related work and reports that it is investigating the use of Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act.
The Department of Justice Inspector General, which has issued several critical reports…
The Two OLC Still-Secret Memos Behind the Cross-Border Keyword Searches?
Last week, Charlie Savage explained what this paragraph from the NSA's targeting document means.
In addition, in those cases where NSA seeks to acquire communications about the target that are not to or from the target, SNA will either employ…
The Clapper Review: How to Fire 90% of SysAdmins?
Yesterday, I noted it took just 72 hours from Obama to turn an "independent" "outside" review of the government's SIGINT programs into the James Clapper Review of James Clapper's SIGINT Programs.
But many other commenters have focused on…
Domestic Terrorists and the Dragnet Database
This is the first reference to actual alleged terrorists in the Administration's White Paper on the Section 215 metadata dragnet (there's one earlier reference to counterterrorism).
This telephony metadata is important to the Government because,…
Working Thread, Section 215 White Paper
I've already had some things to say about the White Paper the Administration released on its metadata dragnet program and will have several more formal posts. But I wanted to capture all my notes in one place.
Page 1:
telecommunications…
Mike Rogers Says 4 Briefings Recently Makes Up for Withholding Information before PATRIOT Act Vote
Here's House Intelligence Chair Mike Rogers' response to the White Paper's revelation, backed by Justin Amash's reports, that he didn't invite all members of the House to read notice of the Section 215 dragnet.
The House Intelligence Committee…
This Independent Technical Review Group Brought to You By the Booz Allen Hamilton Director of National Intelligence™
When Obama announced Friday the formation of a technical advisory group to review our SIGINT programs, I naively believed "outside" and "independent" meant "outside" and "independent."
Fourth, we’re forming a high-level group of outside experts…
65 2010 House Freshmen Re-Authorized PATRIOT with No Notice of Section 215 Dragnet
The White Paper claims that the Section 215 dragnet is legal, in large part, because Congress has twice extended the PATRIOT Act without changing the terms of Section 215. A key of part that argument rests on the Administration's claim that…