The Scalp-Taking of Gen. Flynn

The Russia-gate prosecutors have taken the scalp of ex- National Security Adviser (and retired Lt. Gen.) Flynn for lying to the FBI. But this case shows how dangerously far afield this “scandal” has gone

Robert Parry
By Robert Parry
Retired Gen. Michael Flynn, left, introduces Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016, in Bedford, N.H. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Russia-gate enthusiasts are thrilled over the guilty plea of President Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn for lying to the FBI about pre-inauguration conversations with the Russian ambassador, but the case should alarm true civil libertarians. What is arguably most disturbing about this case is that then-National Security

Read Full Article

The Intercept’s Partisan Attack On WikiLeaks

However politically flawed, WikiLeaks has done humanity a service by exposing the Democratic Party as but another organ of the rich.

Danny Haiphong
By Danny Haiphong
People watch a video conference of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange outside the public university in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017. (AP/Manu Fernandez)

The Intercept emerged during the Obama era to provide a service to whistleblowers. Journalist Glenn Greenwald, for example, helped form the Intercept in the aftermath of the corporate media backlash to Edward Snowden's leaks about the massive surveillance machine possessed by the National Security Agency (NSA). The Intercept prided itself as a

Read Full Article

William Binney: the Struggles of ‘a Good American’

A new documentary tells the story of ex-NSA official William Binney and his fight to get the federal bureaucracy to accept an inexpensive system for detecting terrorists while respecting the U.S. Constitution.

James DiEugenio
By James DiEugenio
The former US National Security Agency employee William Binney arrives for questioning by the German parliamentary NSA investigation committee in Berlin, Germany, July 3, 2014. The committee was tasked with investigating the NSA surveillance activities included the tapping of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. (AP/Michael Sohn)

In my view, one could not find a better title for Friedrich Moser’s film about former National Security Agency technical expert William Binney than the one decided upon, A Good American. His life illustrates the cost some people pay when a person’s morality and professional ethics clash with a governmental bureaucracy that values neither. Friedrich

Read Full Article

Liberty Act Presents Another “Fake Fix” To Controversial NSA Spying Program

With vague language, loopholes, and glaring omissions, the proposed USA Liberty Act — ostensibly intended to check exposed NSA spying abuses — is a toothless tiger, leaving in place practices that are squarely at odds with Fourth Amendment constitutional protections for ordinary citizens.

Whitney Webb
By Whitney Webb
A reflection of the Department of Homeland Security logo in the eyeglasses of a cybersecurity analyst at the watch and warning center of the Department of Homeland Security's secretive cyber defense facility in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Ever since Edward Snowden helped reveal the true extent of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) massive spying program, U.S. politicians have attempted to “fix” the program’s gross violations of the Fourth Amendment with legislation. While some legislative efforts were “fake fixes,” others were well-meaning but have fallen short, as legislators

Read Full Article

Kaspersky Anti-Virus Software Caught Classified NSA Malware

Kaspersky’s anti-virus software automatically scraped powerful NSA digital surveillance tools off a computer in the United States.

Jason Ditz
By Jason Ditz
A sign above the headquarters of Kaspersky Lab in Moscow. On Monday, Oct. 23, 2017, Kaspersky Lab said it will open up its anti-virus software to outside review as it deals with security concerns. The company is making the move a month after the U.S. government barred agencies from using its software. (AP/Pavel Golovkin)

Russian anti-virus company Kaspersky Lab has been increasingly vilified in the US for acquiring classified US government programs. This has led to a full ban on Kaspersky software on federal PCs, and several retails dropping the wildly popular program. Kaspersky Lab’s own internal investigation into the matter revealed that was indeed the case,

Read Full Article

Newly Declassified Memos Reveal Extent Of NSA Spying Under Obama

New memos obtained by the ACLU via an FOIA request detail violations that occurred during the Obama administration which includes illegally surveilling people on U.S. soil.

ZeroHedge.com
By ZeroHedge.com
President Barack Obama, accompanied by, from left, Office of National Intelligence Director James Clapper, Vice President Joe Biden, and Secretary of State John Kerry, walks away from the podium after speaking at the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Va.,Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Back in May the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) found that the National Security Agency (NSA), under former President Obama, routinely violated American privacy protections while scouring through overseas intercepts and failed to disclose the extent of the problems until the final days before Donald Trump was elected president last

Read Full Article