Director of the National Security Agency, Gen. Keith Alexander, and additional panel guests testify before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence this morning. The hearing will cover NSA data collection programs and the extent of the damage caused by recent leaks.
Watch live streaming video below, and follow this post for continuing updates.
Follow below for a collection of relevant tweets.
Gen Alexander: In order to target someone, they can't be a citizen or a permanent resident & must be outside of the U.S. #NSAhearing
— David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) June 18, 2013
Minimization is a wonderful thing; until a corrupt admin decides to ignore it. Where have we seen that before? #NSAHearing #IRS #TCOT #TGDN
— Old Man yells at Cloud ☁️ (@SteveInRTP) June 18, 2013
James Cole says metadata isn't covered by the Fourth Amendment because of Supreme Court case from 1970s. Today's SCOTUS might disagree.
— EFF Live Tweets (@EFFLive) June 18, 2013
If you are watching Deputy AG James Cole at NSA hearing, @marcambinder has a good "minimize" primer here: http://t.co/MvnCsFHr96
— David Chalian (@DavidChalian) June 18, 2013
https://twitter.com/AntDeRosa/status/347001846994448385
After hearing PBO on Charlie Rose and today's House NSA hearings so far, I feel more comfortable with disclosed programs #detailsmatter #p2
— Reji Nath (@RejinathR) June 18, 2013
So far, what I'm hearing jibes completely with my tng & SIGINT experience with #NSA
— John Schindler (@20committee) June 18, 2013
https://twitter.com/BlogsofWar/status/347006573572411393
https://twitter.com/BlogsofWar/status/347008647890624513
https://twitter.com/joshuafoust/status/347008426217443328
This love fest hearing is the strongest possible evidence that this committee is helplessly captured by the NSA. Is this "oversight."
— ARL Public Policy (@ARLpolicy) June 18, 2013
In other observations, apparently a gallery visitor resembles a particular celebrity…
https://twitter.com/apblake/status/347000150650150912
https://twitter.com/WickedSmaaaht/status/347000124515438592
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Comments
IT’S ONLY PHONE NUMBERS!!! Is NSA not aware of the reverse phone number look up on the internet? takes 3 seconds to find out the name and address associated with a number.
Inglis did a great job quoting the law. I’m still not convinced they follow it. At this point though, I’m not sure it’s possible to convince me because of record of lies already presented in these hearings so far.
New & Improved Headline, with 100% more accuracy:
NSA Director Lies To House Intelligence Committee
Is anyone monitoring to make sure the NSA Director keeps his hands on top of the table in the hearing room at all times? (So he can’t place a bug underneath).
“NSA Director Testifies Before House Intelligence Committee”
Wow, there IS “intelligence” in the House? Who knew..
John Bolton has a useful article on Snowden in the GUARDIAN: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/18/edward-snowden-leaks-grave-threat. The Binney et al. whistleblowers similarly expressed concern with the disclosures on intelligence gathering methods on China (see http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/06/16/snowden-whistleblower-nsa-officials-roundtable/2428809/).
Snowden crossed the line. It makes one wonder if he either is, or is aspiring to be, an agent for China. Fueling the crisis over trust in government clearly aids China.
Still, his disclosures on US citizen data collection show a shocking and secretive loss of privacy on a massive scale. The government gathers and saves the universe of communication data, and “promises” (scout’s honor) not to look inside without a secret warrant. You know, like the warrant application assuring judges that journalist James Rosen was a criminal. When any of us act up, what stops the government from executing similar secret warrants against you or me?
And all of this surveillance is a reaction to a terror threat that while real, is blown way out of proportion with respect to the freedoms it steals from us.
NSA: “Hey, all we do is collect phone books….er, with the names and addresses redacted. It’s a critical terror fighting tool.”
Terrorist: “Rats! The NRA has my phone number…FAILED AGAIN!”
Given that the administration has been caught lying under oath repeatedly; what basis do we have to take his unsupported claim? Or any unsupported claim? Trust Us has a pretty short shelf life when the government routinely operates outside the law and Constitution.
Subotai Bahadur
Ohh NO!! The NSA is LEAKING it’ OWN CLASSIFIED DATA on PUBLIC TV!!! Where’s the outcry????
Somehow it all came off a little too well scripted and all tied up with nice neat bows…. pay no attention to the crazy man who just wanted attention, nothing to see here you sillies, just move along…. I wonder how our host would feel about this testimony if these were witnesses against his client.