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Dick Cheney Defends NSA Surveillance...Again

By Jeralyn, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Sun Jun 16, 2013 at 06:16:42 PM EST
Tags: Dick Cheney (all tags)
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Dick Cheney came out of the woodwork today to defend warrantless NSA surveillance.

The former No. 2 in the Bush administration defended the NSA's ability to monitor phone and email data, and labeled as a "traitor" the analyst who has admitted to having leaked details about the classified program.

He's concerned Edward Snowden will become a Chinese spy. Same old Cheney. Defending our rights under the Constitution was never his strong suit.

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    Dick Cheney Defends NSA Surveillance...Again | 28 comments (28 topical)

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    It's always interesting (5.00 / 2) (#1)
    by shoephone on Sun Jun 16, 2013 at 06:24:53 PM EST
    to hear war criminals opining about other people's behavior.

    Quite the guy (none / 0) (#23)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Tue Jun 18, 2013 at 11:45:29 AM EST
    .

    Quite the guy, defending Obama administration practice and policy.  All the more so considering the War on Terror is over.

    .

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    Not really (5.00 / 1) (#24)
    by Yman on Tue Jun 18, 2013 at 01:20:36 PM EST
    He has to defend it, ... or admit it was wrong when he and Bush started it.

    No idea what "War on Terror is over" is supposed to mean.

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    War on terror is over (none / 0) (#26)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Wed Jun 19, 2013 at 07:14:04 AM EST
    That is the reported position of the Obama administration.

    Link 1

    Link 2

    Link 3

    Link 4

    .

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    Semantic games (none / 0) (#27)
    by Yman on Wed Jun 19, 2013 at 08:00:55 AM EST
    They're simply calling it something else.

    But I understand the wingnuts are quite upset by this.

    Parent

    I'm sure the bulk of the (5.00 / 2) (#3)
    by Anne on Sun Jun 16, 2013 at 06:57:36 PM EST
    Fox news viewing audience was multi-orgasmic listening to Dick Cheney, but, seriously - who the hell is Cheney to call anyone else a traitor?

    "Came out of the woodwork," indeed...like the cockroach he is.

    Ugh.  

    That's rich... (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by kdog on Mon Jun 17, 2013 at 06:31:29 AM EST
    coming from Mr. Undisclosed Location.

    Snowden may have reneged on a non-disclosure agreement and/or secrecy laws, in defense of the Constitution...Cheney reneged on the Constitution.  Who is the traitor is right.  

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    I saw part of it.. (none / 0) (#16)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jun 17, 2013 at 11:53:48 AM EST
    But fainted due to the multi-orgasm strain...after all, I am over 75...

    ;-)

    But seriously, the conversation was about telephone numbers and the fact that they are public information, not about "telcon conversations" and Internet websites...

    Everywhere I turn I find some Talking Head or politician babbling without being specific. No wonder the public is confused.

    In the meantime, I remember this about what was going on back in Bush's day:

    Surveillance of telephones/emails/data of people OUTSIDE the US. The Demos made a big deal out of it because some calls might be switched via a "Gateway" switch inside the US. A call from Germany to Mexico may be switched in a Gateway switch in NYC to a number in Argentina.

    IF a number of a person inside the US was suspected of being a terrorist, say a number in Detroit is found on a terrorist's cell phone killed in Iraq, the NSA/FBI had up to 48 hours in which they could:

    a.    Do surveillance on the US number

    b.    Go to the FISA court and get a search warrant

    All of this was to SPECIFIC numbers. I know of no mass data collection such as we have now.

    Also, a 2011 review of the Obama administration's handling of public records requests under the Freedom of Information Act noted the many positive words from the president and his people about striving for a culture of disclosure. But the review came to this jarring conclusion when actions were measured against words: "Most indicators of openness have not even returned to the average for the Bush years, a period known for secrecy." The report was by OMB Watch, now called the Center for Effective Government.

    Link

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    The ifrastructure necessary... (none / 0) (#21)
    by unitron on Mon Jun 17, 2013 at 10:58:28 PM EST
    ...for what they're doing now wasn't only installed after Obama's first inaguration.

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    And Obama keeps on building (none / 0) (#29)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jun 20, 2013 at 09:27:27 AM EST


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    No one should be concerned about (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by scribe on Sun Jun 16, 2013 at 08:35:04 PM EST
    Snowden becoming a Chinese spy.  The Chinese have already hacked any defense contractor who might have had any information worth taking, hoovered it up, and left logic bombs in the contractors' networks.

    What ol' Deadeye is really worried about is the remainder of the >1000 slides Snowden is alleged to have taken, which will probably lay a trail of breadcrumbs right to Deadeye's lair.  Given the brouhaha that a mere dozen or so slides have set off so far, we can only imagine what other upheavals will come if/when the rest of those slides come out.  

    The NSA claims not only the ability (5.00 / 2) (#5)
    by Peter G on Sun Jun 16, 2013 at 08:37:28 PM EST
    but also the authority to listen to any phone call and to intercept any email of any American it chooses, according to Congressman Nadler.  And to have delegated that authority to low-level analysts. When Snowden was quoted as having said that, I assumed he had misspoken, that he couldn't mean what he said. I am flabbergasted. Any exercise of such claimed authority, it seems to me, would rather clearly violate both the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

    Peter, I agree (5.00 / 2) (#8)
    by Jeralyn on Sun Jun 16, 2013 at 10:08:11 PM EST
    and am also shocked, even though nothing much surprises me any more about the Government.

    But reading the CNET article where it was first reported, it seems Nadler has backtracked a bit and also is not talking about the PRISM program.

    I was going to write yesterday that all this posturing by Congress that they're upset over this sounds bogus. Only 47 of 100 Senators showed up for the briefing. The rest wanted to leave early for a long Father's Day weekend.

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    If Nadler is backtracking, (5.00 / 2) (#10)