Comment Blasphemy to Slashdot Orthodoxy, but.. (Score 4, Interesting) 80
To say NSA lied is not supported by the articles linked in the summary. We have enough to criticize NSA about without exaggerating the facts to fit our desire to believe it is a monolithically monstrous organization whose agents use the U.S. Constitution for toilet paper. And when we go beyond the facts, any legitimate criticism is diluted, because what we say is easily swept aside as a pile of prejudice from conspiracy theorists.
The BND didn't do its job of actually reviewing the selectors. Much like U.S. congressional and judicial oversight both failed to reign in controversial NSA programs. I can't help but wonder sometimes what the Americans at NSA think about all this. Call me heretical, but I bet at least some of them are motivated by a desire to thwart the next 9/11, and want to do so in the right way, too. But intelligence is a contact sport, and laws and executive orders are often ambiguous. So are they like the athletes that have to ratchet up the aggression until the officials start calling penalties before the limits are truly known?
The BND didn't do its job of actually reviewing the selectors. Much like U.S. congressional and judicial oversight both failed to reign in controversial NSA programs. I can't help but wonder sometimes what the Americans at NSA think about all this. Call me heretical, but I bet at least some of them are motivated by a desire to thwart the next 9/11, and want to do so in the right way, too. But intelligence is a contact sport, and laws and executive orders are often ambiguous. So are they like the athletes that have to ratchet up the aggression until the officials start calling penalties before the limits are truly known?
