Writing in Foreign Policy, Shane Harris labels Alexander the "Cowboy of the NSA," noting that he has the reputation of being able to "charm the paint off a wall."
"Today," he writes, "the agency is routinely scooping up and storing Americans' phone records. It is screening their emails and text messages, even though the spy agency can't always tell the difference between an innocent American and a foreign terrorist. The NSA uses corporate proxies to monitor up to 75 percent of Internet traffic inside the United States. And it has spent billions of dollars on a secret campaign to foil encryption technologies that individuals, corporations, and governments around the world had long thought protected the privacy of their communications from U.S. intelligence agencies."
Why all this official attention to so much detail? Is the danger that great and are there methods that accurate? Other experts question the underlying arrogance here and challenge the assumption that it leads to smarter policy outcomes.
Many intelligence vets say it is misguided and compromised by a focus on the trustworthiness of individuals while ignoring key political trends and what drives all the international anger at the U.S.
On my radio show this week, I spoke with Coleen Rowley, an FBI Veteran who became a post 911 whistle blower and who was focused on the culture of secrecy in a country where nearly five million people now have high security clearances.
What was once considered the "cult of intelligence,' has grown exponentially on an industrial scale.
Rowley's take is that more secret everything is, the less critical thinking there is---the very antithesis of what makes for useful and usable intelligence. The "Intelligence community" is now in the data processing business, not independent analysis, because if your conclusion is in conflict with the the conventional wisdom, you are danger of becoming suspect, even considered a potential Snowden.
In fact, former agent Rowley was one of the former intelligence officers who actually met Snowden in Russia. She was not only convinced of his sincerity but told me that his motive was not to bring down his "industry" but to reform it by using selective exposure.
The super spyboys have had a good run, but now the real world is bursting their bubble with pushback and ridicule. Something's gotta give and it will.
News Dissector Danny Schechter blogs at News Dissector.net and edits Mediachannel.org. His latest book is Madiba A-Z: The Many Faces of Nelson Mandela (Seven Story Press)
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