Tag Archives: Snowden
NSA Reform: When 293 Votes Is Not A Majority
Late this afternoon, I was informed that the only NSA reform measure to pass either chamber of Congress this year–the Lofgren/Massie amendment to the FY15 DoD approps bill–is being stripped out of that bill as part of the House-Senate deal … Continue reading
Udall, The Torture Report and The Pentagon Papers Option
Shortly after Colorado Senator Mark Udall lost his reelection bid to Rep. Cory Gardner, it began–first as conversations among civil liberties activists, then in media outlets, and finally Udall himself raised the possibility: on his way out of the Senate, … Continue reading
Surveillance Reform: House Mid-term Election Impact Update
While seven House races remain undecided, what we do know is that seven House members who voted for the Massie/Lofgren/Holt NSA surveillance reform amendment to the FY15 DoD appropriations bill were defeated on election night. They are Shea-Porter (NH-1), Garcia … Continue reading
NSA And “Turnkey Totalitarianism”
From the speech given at MIT yesterday by former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman: Mr. Snowden has brought home to us that, while we Americans do not yet live in a police state or tyranny, we are well … Continue reading
NSA Reform Legislation Update
I’ll withhold final judgement on the pending Conyers-Sensenbrenner bill until I see the bill text, but here’s a reality check based on the summary provided thus far by the bill’s authors and some accounts online: Conyers-Sensenbrenner would leave the Surveillance … Continue reading
Richard Cohen’s Edward Snowden Assessment, Revised
You can read his column here. Being both a former CIA analyst-turned-whistleblower-turned-Hill staffer, my background–and my sense of the history of these things–lead me to offer the following: The only traitors in this episode are executive branch officials who knowingly … Continue reading
The Drone Wars
Text of my remarks (as prepared) for the anti-drone war event sponsored by the BuxMont Chapter of the Coalition for Peace Action: The Drone WarsBy Patrick G. Eddington BuxMont Coalition for Peace ActionBuxMont Unitarian Universalist Fellowship,2040 W. … Continue reading
X-Keyscore, Or “How NSA Knows All About Your Blog Visitors, Your Emails, And Your Life”
From today’s edition of The Guardian: A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided … Continue reading
Some Whistleblower Resources From CRS
With the Manning verdict pending, I thought it might interest folks in what Congress’s research arm, the Congressional Research Service, has had to say about this topic: National Security Whistleblowers Survey of Federal Whistleblower And Anti-retaliation Laws Whistleblower Protections Under … Continue reading
Greenwald Repeats Claim NSA Analsyts Can Snoop Without Warrants
From The Hill, regarding Greenwald’s restated assertion that low-level NSA analysts can listen to To the phone calls or read the emails of U.S. Persons without a warrant: “These programs are, are very simple screens, like the ones that supermarket … Continue reading
Long Strange Journey 