TPM Reader ML isn’t buying Simon’s arguments …

Ugh. I almost feel like Simon was trolling us all with his jousting match with a phalanx of straw men.

The first half of his tirade is against the person who thinks the NSA is listening in on our phone calls. I have seen precisely zero people argue this. The point has been that the metadata is problematic enough.

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The heavy equipment operator who was at work when that building collapse happened in Philly, which killed 6 and injured 13, was allegedly stoned.

I don’t agree with some of what’s implicit in it. But this timeline of expanding government surveillance law going back almost 40 years is very helpful. Prepared by Propublica.

In case you haven’t seen it, there’s been a dramatic new turn in the NSA/PRISM disclosures story. Working with Glenn Greenwald and the Guardian the leaker has revealed himself, fully. Name, photographs, a lengthy interview and a video explaining his decisions.

Whatever you think of his actions and the equities involved, you should take a moment to watch the video. His name is Edward Snowden. He’s 29 years old and seems, for lack of a better word, like a pretty normal or average 29 year old American man, perhaps slightly more hipsterish than some would expect from someone so deep inside the NSA. He describes a series of jobs as a computer technician and systems administrator in various parts of the US Intelligence Community over almost a decade, first inside the government and later as an embedded contractor. Read More

Having given some initial reactions to the Snowden revelation below, let me say a bit more about Snowden’s decision to go to Hong Kong. Read More

The Washington Post confirms that Edward Snowden was its source, too, for the Gellman/Poitras story this week on PRISM.

The spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released the following statement in response to the new reporting on NSA leaker/whistleblower Edward Snowden:

We have seen the latest report from The Guardian that identifies an individual claiming to have disclosed information about highly classified intelligence programs in recent days. Because the matter has been referred to the Department of Justice, we refer you to the Department of Justice for comment on any further specifics of the unauthorized disclosure of classified information by a person with authorized access. The Intelligence Community is currently reviewing the damage that has been done by these recent disclosures. Any person who has a security clearance knows that he or she has an obligation to protect classified information and abide by the law.

Justice Department spokesperson, on the self-unmasking of Edward Snowden:

The Department of Justice is in the initial stages of an investigation into the unauthorized disclosure of classified information by an individual with authorized access. Consistent with long standing Department policy and procedure and in order to protect the integrity of the investigation, we must decline further comment.

Does this fit?

I note that Booz Allen says that they have an employee named Edward Snowden who “has been an employee of our firm for less than 3 months, assigned to a team in Hawaii.” Read More

I don’t agree with his take. But some interesting thoughts on the Snowden story from James Fallows.

One point Fallows raises is the folly of creating a system that one dissenting or disgruntled employee can so easily upend. There’s a word for this in the intelligence world: compartmentalization. We don’t know yet just the breadth of access Snowden had. What he claimed in the video seems a little far-fetched. But clearly he had enough to release things that Intel Community finds very damaging. That’s another dimension to this story. Setting aside the issue of people who may leak to the press, intelligence agencies are always prey to counter-espionage. A lot of questions to be asked there.