Imagining an Ideal NSA
In the second part of their appearance on The Real News Network, Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges and 30-year former NSA official and whistle-blower William Binney grapple with the question of what, exactly, NSA policy should be.
In the second part of their appearance on The Real News Network, Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges and 30-year former NSA official and whistle-blower William Binney grapple with the question of what, exactly, NSA policy should be.
Binney responded first:
There were two main issues. One was to do–one was to show or to do a focused collection of information on targets that were really important for international crime or other types of terrorism and things like that. Those kinds of focused target collection are possible, and we in fact had achieved that in a previous program that was killed, but that’s the kind of thing they need to really get rid of all of this bulk collection, because all that does is add more data that’s not relevant to anything.
Hedges added:
Well, [the agency should target] those who have committed crimes, which would include Clapper lying to Congress and the American public, the president, they have to be held accountable. There have to be repercussions for the gross violation of constitutional rights that have been carried out by those in charge of our security and surveillance apparatus and those political figures who have lied on their behalf. And if there are no repercussions, if we cannot reestablish the rule of law, then there will be no control.
Hear the rest of Binney and Hedges’ comments in the second part of the exchange below, and see the first half here.
— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.
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