Last man standing: McMaster for NSA? – Foreign Policy (blog)


Foreign Policy (blog)
Last man standing: McMaster for NSA?
Foreign Policy (blog)
I think Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster will be the next national security advisor. Like Vice Adm. Bob Harward, General David Petraeus reportedly has withdrawn over the issue of being able to bring in his own staff. And Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, the acting ...

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Last man standing: McMaster for NSA? - Foreign Policy (blog)

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NSA Split From Cyberwar Command Inevitable, Says Former Official – The Intercept

A former senior official at the National Security Agency says the planned split between the nations digital spying outfit and its offensive cyber military arm will happen, though likely not for a while.

Prior to the election in November, the outgoing Obama administration had moved to split the NSA, which is focused on espionage and intelligence gathering, from U.S. Cyber Command, which can conduct offensive military operations in cyberspace. Since assuming office in January, however, President Donald Trump has struggled to fill key government positions, like the national security adviser, making any immediate bureaucratic overhauls unlikely.

I think everybody says its inevitable, John Chris Inglis, the former deputy director of NSA, told The Intercept during an interview in San Francisco.

The question is whether you do that now or you do that in a year or two, he continued.

Inglis spoke to The Intercept following a speech he gave on combatting insider threats, entitled How to Catch A Snowden, at the RSA Conference, one of the largest annual cybersecurity events. Inglis was at the NSA in 2013 when Edward Snowden leaked a massive trove of documents to journalists on the surveillance programs.

Currently, the two agencies are under one roof and one dual-hatted director: Adm. Michael Rogers, who has also suggested an eventual split between his agencies. Theres been a heated debate about the benefits and downsides of separating the two entities as Cyber Command grows and develops its parallel mission. Figures like Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., are vehemently against separating resources between espionage and attack in the digital space at least in the absence of clear policies from the White House.

Though Inglis tells The Intercept he believes the split is bound to occur, he says that President Trump and his White House have other fish to fry right now.

A separation in the coming months, especially with NSA Deputy Director Richard Ledgett retiring in the spring, might induce instability, Inglis said. And while Adm. Rogers has reportedly been no stranger to controversy and bad reviews facing sinking morale during a major NSA reorganization he doesnt appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

In the meantime, Cyber Command is still maturing. It was first formed under Gen. Keith Alexander and Ingliss leadership in 2009. Cyber Command in still early days needed the NSA, Inglis said. But the split makes sense in the long run, he argued.

The more they stay in that relationship, the less Cyber Command will need NSA, the more theyll be held back by NSA, and the less NSA will need Cyber Command, Inglis said. Its for both of their benefit to essentially give them on scene leadership that can focus entirely on what theyre supposed to do as agencies that are nominally independent but complimentary.

If that split were to happen, it might open the job of NSA director up to a civilian leader.At one point during the Obama administration, Inglis was regarded as a top candidate for the NSA job under the restructuring, though theres no indication hes currently under consideration.

Inglis tells The Intercept he would, if asked, accept a job in the Trump administration in a heartbeat.

Inglis is currently a managing director at Paladin Capital Group, a private equity firm that invests in companies around the world. He started as a computer scientist in the NSA, then worked in signals intelligence, and rose to become deputy director. He spent 41 years in the Department of Defense, nearly 30 of them at NSA.

Inglis would be a superb selection and it is no surprise that he would be willing to serve his country regardless of who was in office, Susan Hennessy, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former attorney at NSA, wrote in an email to The Intercept. He is trusted and respected both at NSA and within the government generally.

Describing the current situation as a tumultuous period, Hennessey said that the number of people qualified to lead the NSA is small. Inglis is one of the few people who would top anyones list for that role, Republican or Democrat, she added.

Having not been offered something, it would be inappropriate for me to say I want a job, especially if that job is now held by somebody, Inglis said, laughing.

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NSA Split From Cyberwar Command Inevitable, Says Former Official - The Intercept

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First Read’s Morning Clips: Harward Turns Down NSA Job – NBCNews.com

TRUMP AGENDA: Harward turns down NSA job

Retired Navy Vice Adm. Robert Harward has turned down an offer to become President Donald Trump's national security adviser.

From the Washington Post last night: "Former national security adviser Michael Flynn denied to FBI agents in an interview last month that he had discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country's ambassador to the United States before President Trump took office, contradicting the contents of intercepted communications collected by intelligence agencies, current and former U.S. officials said. The Jan. 24 interview potentially puts Flynn in legal jeopardy. Lying to the FBI is a felony offense. But several officials said it is unclear whether prosecutors would attempt to bring a case, in part because Flynn may parse the definition of the word "sanctions." He also followed his denial to the FBI by saying he couldn't recall all of the conversation, officials said."

NBC: "The creation of a 9/11-style commission to investigate Russian interference in the presidential election has won bipartisan support, according to a senior Democratic lawmaker. In an interview with MSNBC's Chris Hayes, Rep. Elijah Cummings said that such a committee was necessary 'to really get into how all of this happened, what was the relationship between the Trump campaign and the Russians, and try to figure out how to make sure that this does not happen again.'"

NBC News confirms that Mike Dubke, the founder of Crossroads Media, will be the White House communications head.

NBC's Ali Vitali wraps yesterday's press conference.

The New York Times: "[H]is 77-minute news conference was dominated by an extraordinarily raw and angry defense of both his administration and his character. At times abrupt, often rambling, characteristically boastful yet seemingly pained at the portrayals of him, Mr. Trump kept summoning the spirit of his successful campaign after a month of grinding governance to remind his audience, again, that he won."

The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump told aides Thursday morning that he wanted to have the press conference because "my message is being filtered."

The AP goes there on historical comparisons, with this headline: "Remember Nixon? There's history behind Trump's press attacks"

The Washington Post reports on the "logistical nightmare" and high costs of the Trump family lifestyle.

"Donald J. Trump redrew the electoral map with his rousing economic nationalism and evocation of a lost industrial age. It was a message that drew many union members to his cause. And now it is upending the alliances and tactics of the labor movement itself," writes the New York Times.

Trump is planning a new immigration order next week, writes the Wall Street Journal.

Don't miss POLITICO's interview with Mark Sanford, who is not holding back about the president of his own party.

The Washington Post asks: "If Trump can't arrange his own meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus, how does he unite the country?"

No, Trump's election victory was not "the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan."

CONGRESS: Paul Ryan's tough tax-reform sell

POLITICO writes that Paul Ryan is having a tough time selling his tax reform plan to fellow Republicans.

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First Read's Morning Clips: Harward Turns Down NSA Job - NBCNews.com

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Trump Today: Retired Lt. Gen. Kellogg 1 of 4 candidates for NSA – SFGate

By Bill Hutchinson, San Francisco Chronicle

President Trump is considering reaching back into a pool of retired military generals to replace Michael Flynn as national security adviser.

Trump tweeted Friday that retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg is among four candidates for the to take over for Flynn, who resigned Monday after giving a briefing to Vice President Mike Pence on his pre-election conversation with Russias U.S. ambassador that the president considered unsatisfactory.

Photo: Susan Walsh, Associated Press

Acting National Security Adviser Keith Kellogg waits for the arrival of President Trump at the top of the steps of Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Md., Friday, Feb. 17, 2017.

Acting National Security Adviser Keith Kellogg waits for the arrival of President Trump at the top of the steps of Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Md., Friday, Feb. 17, 2017.

Trump Today: Retired Lt. Gen. Kellogg 1 of 4 candidates for NSA

Leaked information on the phone call between Flynn and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak indicates they discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia, the Washington Post reported.

General Keith Kellogg, who I have known for a long time, is very much in play for NSA - as are three others, Trump tweeted.

Kellogg joined Trump on Air Force One Friday as the president traveled to Charleston, S.C., for an event at a Boeing plant.

Following the resignation of Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, Trump named Kellogg his acting national security adviser. Kellogg has been serving as chief of staff on the National Security Council.

Kellogg, 72, served more than 30 years in the Army and was director of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq following 2003 invasion of the country.

Kelloggs name emerged as Flynns replacement a day after former Vice Admiral Robert Harward turned down Trumps offer take on the post, which does not require a Senate confirmation hearing.

The Chronicle has published several articles on Flynns resignation. Here are some links:

Trump Today: President says Russian phone call leaks un-American

Trump Today: President says Flynn resigning not the real story

Trump knew Flynn misled WH weeks before ouster: officials

Bill Hutchinson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: bhutchinson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @bill_hutchinson

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Trump Today: Retired Lt. Gen. Kellogg 1 of 4 candidates for NSA - SFGate

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Life imitates Akira: the NSA’s fear of psychic nukes – MuckRock

February 17, 2017

Agency wondered if ten psychics could cause a chain reaction that would cause a city to become lost in time and space

A classified government document opens with an odd sequence of events relating to parapsychology has occurred within the last month and concluded with an alarming question about psychics nuking cities so that they became lost in time and space. If this sounds like a plot out of science fiction, it is - but its also a NSA memo from 1977.

The first event raised by the NSA note is a CIA report which mentioned KGB research into parapsychology. According to this, the KGB used hobbyists and non-governmental researchers to talk to western scientists. This allowed the KGB to collect useful information without putting themselves into a position to accidentally leak confidential information to westerners. According to the NSA note, this tactic yielded high grade western scientific data.

The next event described by the NSA note was what appeared to be a Russian provocation, though exactly what sort was a matter of some debate. In June 1977, an American journalist was detained in Russia for receiving a Soviet paper on parapsychology. The paper allegedly documented PSI (i.e. psychic) particles within the living cell, allegedly providing a physical basis for parapsychology.

This struck American intelligence as being a form of entrapment, though the goal was uncertain. Some thought it was an effort to provoke radio chatter which the Soviets could trace to get a better idea of the U.S.s interest and activities. Another theory was that it was simply a warning to the West to stay away from sensitive Soviet research. A third theory was that it was a double-think ploy to pretend interest in a clumsy manner to make us think that this was really just a deception to trick the West into believing there was interest when there really was none. While this last theory might sound paranoid, this is how denial and deception operate - and its something that Russian counterintelligence has long excelled at.

The section concluded with a note that there had supposedly been a successful demonstration of telekinetic power in a Soviet military sponsored research lab, and the alleged discovery of a new type of energy perhaps even more important than that of Atomic energy.

The third event was the apparent postulation by some physicists along with the famous evolutionist, Teilhard de Chardin that the universe was more of a great thought than a great machine. According to this view, the unified field on ground of reality is awareness. The note cited telekinetic experiments and postulated that awareness focusing could produce a new form of energy that moves or perhaps alters matter.

The report cited British scientists experiencing poltergeist phenomena after testing Uri Geller. Objects allegedly left the room, some of which apparently reappeared later. Supposedly, this didnt surprise unnamed scientists who found it no harder to believe that objects could disappear and reappear than it was to believe in the detected particles emerging from energy and dissolving or disappearing back into energy.

From these premises, two types of telekinetic weapons were hypothesized: a telekinetic time bomb and the equivalent of a psychic nuke that could dislodge a city in time and space.

The first involved a member of the command and control staff being kidnapped and subjected to trauma that would allow him to be suggestively programmed to develop telekinetic effects under stress at work. The theory was that when an emergency situation arose and the officer was subjected to stress, objects would begin to move and disappear independently and communications would become impossible.

The second hypothetical weapon was even more elaborate and potentially terrifying. Citing a prediction of a massive change which will alter the direction, time, space and energy-matter relationship of our world, the note wondered what would happen if a group of psychics were brought together. If ten people who were evidencing disruptive telekinetic phenomena were brought into one area, would it cause a chain reaction, causing much matter to reverse direction and sink back into a sea of energy or be displaced in time and space? The memo concluded by wondering if such an event reach a critical mass and affect an entire city.

By an interesting coincidence, the Philadelphia Experiment hoax bears some superficial resemblance to the theorized weapon in the NSA note. According various versions of the hoax, the USS Eldridge was temporarily rendered invisible or transported through time and space. The incident is even listed on NSAs webpage of paranormal topics that they dont have records on. However, there were other papers prepared on the perceived potential of weaponizing psychic abilities, some of which will be explored later. For now, you can read the NSA note below:

Like Mike Bests work? Support him on Patreon.

Image via Somethings Out There

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Life imitates Akira: the NSA's fear of psychic nukes - MuckRock

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Judicial Watch Planning to Sue FBI, NSA, CIA for Flynn Records – Breitbart News

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The group filed Freedom of Information Act requests for the records weeks ago but are planning to sue by next week for the records if they do not receive anything by then.

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Judicial Watch filed the requests with the FBI, NSA, CIA, and Treasury Department, according to the groups Director of Investigations and Research Chris Farrell.

The group is aiming to find out whether there was ever a warrant allowing the U.S. government to wiretap Flynns phone calls, and if so, who requested it and why.

If you have a warrant, attached to the warrant 99 percent of the time, there is an affidavit, a sworn declaration normally by a law enforcement officer or senior official, said Farrell.

Such a warrant could be classified, depending on the case, he said.

A wiretapped phone call between Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak was leaked to the Washington Post and revealed in a Feb. 9 story.

The leak, which took place in December, contradicted public assertions by Vice President Michael Pence that Flynn had never discussed sanctions with Kislyak, and led to Flynns eventual resignation on Monday.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA)highlighted this week that such wiretapping would only be legal if intelligence agencies obtained a warrant or happened upon the conversation while investigating a foreign official.

Nunes speculated that its pretty clear that there was no warrant.

Its pretty clear thats not the case, he said. Im pretty sure the FBI didnt have a warrant on Michael Flynn To listen to an Americans phone call you would have to go to a court, thered be all that paperwork there. So Im guessing that doesnt exist.

Nunes said even if it was inadvertent, there is a process that masks the Americans identity.

And if you were going to unmask it, it seems like you would immediately go get a warrant, he said.

Farrell, a former Army counterintelligence officer and adjunct professor at George Mason University, said that a warrant would only be requested or granted if the agents in question suspected Flynn of criminal activity.

The Trump administration has denied that Flynn broke any law.

Both Nunes and Farrell said the leaking of the phone call is illegal and harmful to national security.

Farrell said the contents of the call would be considered raw intelligence, typically handled in a SCIF, or a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility an enclosed area in a building used to process types of classified information.

All activity and conversation inside a SCIF is restricted from public disclosure.

It seems that certain government officials were either reading that out loud to a reporter or giving them copies of it Farrell said.

That theyre conveying that information to reporters in order to embarrass or smear General Flynn or people in the Trump administration is treasonous, he said. Its a crime its a national security crime. The FBI should presently be hunting down the likely suspects.

Farrell also said the leak compromised COMINT, or communications intelligence, a subset of SIGINT, or signals intelligence.

It appears that these various officials that are reportedly so concerned about national security that they are recklessly making COMINT disclosures, he said. They are compromising sources, intelligence, and methods.

The irony is rich, he said.

Democratic lawmakers and officials in the Obama administration blame Russia for hacking into servers belonging to the Democratic National Committee and top Hillary Clinton aide John Podesta and leaking them to Wikileaks.

The hacks prompted intelligence investigations, which concluded that Russia was responsible. Trump dismissed suggestions that Russias involvement helped him win, and criticized the intelligence community, setting up a contentious relationship that has continued throughout his first weeks in office.

Farrell said he believes embedded political operatives within the various agencies and departments are likely responsible for the leaked Flynn call.

Youve got political appointees who converted to civil service slots, he said. Theres a legion of Sally Yates out thereat lower levels or at different departments and agencies who are either overtly or subversively attempting to undermine not just Gen. Flynn and aiming at President Trump.

Its an incremental attack. They will try to pick off one by one people close to the president. I refer to this as really as a soft coup, he said.

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Judicial Watch Planning to Sue FBI, NSA, CIA for Flynn Records - Breitbart News

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Democrat invites Trump to tour NSA after he called it ‘un-American’ – Washington Examiner

A Maryland Democrat has invited President Trump to tour the National Security Agency to become better acquainted with its mission and workers, after Trump questioned the intelligence community's loyalty to the American people amid a series of leaks.

In a letter to Trump, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger wrote Thursday he thinks it's "critical" for the president to witness the work of the "dedicated men and women do every day to protect our soldiers on the battlefield, as well as everyday Americans" who work at NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Md., which is in Ruppersberger's district.

Responding to intelligence agency leaks that led to the resignation of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn on Monday, Trump criticized the integrity of the Federal Bureau of Intelligence and the NSA, calling them "un-American" and suggesting that "they act just like Russia."

"I am confident this will give you a new understanding and appreciation of the essential services provided by our intelligence workers," Ruppersberger wrote. "As commander in chief, it is imperative you avail yourself the opportunity to experience the mission of the NSA up close and personally."

Subscribe today to get intelligence and analysis on defense and national security issues in your Inbox each weekday morning from veteran journalists Jamie McIntyre and Jacqueline Klimas.

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The president is also reportedly looking to hire billionaire investor Stephen Feinberg, a co-founder of Cerberus Capital Management, to lead an investigation into the leaks, according to a report.

Ruppersberger said he found these reports "alarming."

"Today's report that you plan to assign a friend with almost no national security experience to review our intelligence agencies is simply the colloquial straw that broke the camel's back," Ruppersberger wrote. "If you follow through with this effort, I fear it will greatly damage our intelligence community's required independence and stifle the exchange of sensitive information that may conflict with your policy positions."

Top Story

Nearly half of D.C.'s food industry workers are estimated to be foreign-born.

02/17/17 12:00 AM

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Democrat invites Trump to tour NSA after he called it 'un-American' - Washington Examiner

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Merkel testifies on NSA spying affair – Deutsche Welle

German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared as a witness at the final hearing in the three-year existence of the parliamentary committee charged with investigating the 2013 NSA scandal. Although she admitted to technical and organizational mistakes, she parried suggestions that she knew or should have known about widespread American and German spying on allies at an early stage of the affair.

Merkels testimony was particularly anticipated not just because of her position as chancellor, but because of her high-profile statement in 2013: "Spying among friends - that simply isnt done."

The chancellor, appearing relaxed, began with a 25-minute statement full of self-quotations from 2013-15. In it she tried to prove that she had consistently come out against intelligence surveillance of allies in the wake of the Snowden leaks in 2013. She also sought to show that she had only gradually learned about the extent of the NSAs spying on Germans and the German foreign intelligence service BNDs monitoring of German allies, which emerged after journalistic inquiries in 2015.

She said that she had complained to then US President Barack Obama about the US spying in 2013 and insisted that US intelligence services operating on German soil follow German law.

"Were not in the Cold War any more," Merkel quoted herself as telling Obama.

Merkel said that the situation had been made more complicated by the complex and constantly evolving nature of surveillance technology.

"There are always some contradictions between freedom and security, and a balance must be maintained," Merkel said.

Merkel downplayed the importance of so-called "handygate"

The cell phone affair

The conservative chairman of the committee Patrick Sensburg was far less aggressive in his questioning of Merkel than he had been grilling high-ranking chancellors office leaders on Monday. One main thread of his queries had to do with alleged NSA eavesdropping on Merkel's cell phone.

Speaking without notes other than her opening remarks, Merkel said that it was never proven that the American intelligence service had listened in on her conversations. She added that she had received assurances from Obama that her phone was not tapped and wouldnt be in the future.

When asked why she didn't have her cell phone forensically examined, she said that she didnt want to give additional insights into her communication habits. She said it was easier for her just to procure a new device.

Deficits or something more?

The Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Greens sought to suggest that Merkel had violated her own principle that allies shouldnt spy on one another by failing to pursue the matter vigorously enough with Washington and to ensure that similar practices by BND were discontinued.

Merkel says she didn't know until 2015 that the BND spied on allies

In response to Merkel's insistence that she only gradually learned about the BND's use of so-called selectors, computer search terms, aimed at European political leaders and businesses, Christian Plisek of the SPD asked: "Is it responsible to demand things of intelligence services abroad, when youre not sure what our own ones are doing?"

When Plisek asked if she had inquired about where the BND got information it passed along to her, Merkel replied tersely: "I dont need information about sources of information."

Merkel said that her assertion that "friends" should spy on one another was a statement of political belief and not an assertion that Germany didnt run surveillance on allies. When pressed why it took until March 2015 for the BND to discontinue using certain controversial selectors, the chancellor blamed "technical and organizational deficits."

"You say that it cant be that friends spy on one another and yet the BND did precisely that over years," objected Andr Hahn of the Left Party. "And that was just down to 'technical and organizational deficits?'"

Merkel denied any deeper knowledge of German surveillance practices before 2015 and any responsibility for mistakes made by her subordinates. She said that she as chancellor set policy targets and trusted others to see that they were met.

Few tense moments

The mood at the hearing was fairly congenial

Konstantin von Notz of the Greens suggested that talk of a no-spy agreement between Germany and the US in 2013, which ultimately yielded no results, was a strategy to blunt the political damage of the NSA affair. Merkel denied that thiswas the case.

Notz also asked Merkel to name the reason why the former president of the BND Gerhard Schindler went into early retirement in 2015. The chancellor refused to do so, but said that she was happy thatGermanys foreign intelligence service was able to make a "new start."

The committee succeeded in highlighting mistakes madein the BND and to a lesser extent in the chancellors office. But it didnt uncover evidence of any massive misdeeds by Merkel or her associates.

In a break in the testimony, Plisek told reporters that he believed that chancellor didn't know about the practices within the BND when she made her "friends don't spy on friends" remark, although he did add that she seemed to have erected a "protective wall" around herself to keep from knowing more than she absolutely had to.

Although Merkel appeared to grow slightly more irritable as the hearing wore on, none the questioners managed to provoke her into an unmeasured response. Indeed, during the break she joked with reporters as though at a social event rather than a parliamentary investigative hearing.

Merkel's testimony ends the main investigative work of the committee, which was formed in March 2014. It now has until the second half of June to file its final report on the NSA-BND spying affair.

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Merkel testifies on NSA spying affair - Deutsche Welle

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EXCLUSIVE NSA Whistleblower: Agency ‘Absolutely’ Tapping Trump’s Calls – Breitbart News

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Binney was an architect of the NSAs surveillance program. He became a famed whistleblower when he resigned on October 31, 2001 after spending more than 30 years with the agency.

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Asked whether he believes the NSA is tapping Trump, Binney replied: Absolutely. How did they get the phone call between the president and the president of Australia? Or the one that he made with Mexico? Those are not targeted foreigners.

Binney further contended the NSA may have been behind a data leak that might have revealed that Michael Flynn, Trumps national security adviser, allegedly misled Vice President Mike Pence and other Trump administration officials about the contents of his phone calls with Russias ambassador to Washington.

Regarding Flynns case, Binney stated of the NSA:

If they werent behind it, they certainly had the data. Now the difference here is that FBI and CIA have direct access inside the NSA databases. So, they may be able to go directly in there and see that material there. And NSA doesnt monitor that. They dont even monitor their own people going into databases.

So, they dont monitor what CIA and FBI do. And theres no oversight or attempted oversight by any of the committees or even the FISA court. So, any way you look at it, ultimately the NSA is responsible because they are doing the collection on everybody inside the United States. Phone calls. Emails. All of that stuff.

He was speaking on the podcast edition of this reporters talk radio program, Aaron Klein Investigative Radio, broadcast on New Yorks AM 970 The Answer and Philadelphias NewsTalk 990 AM.

During the interview, Binney referred to a 2008 report referencing two NSA whistleblowers who said they worked at the agencys station in Fort Gordon, Georgia and were asked to not only monitor phone calls of U.S. citizens but transcribe them.

Utilizing data provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden, the Guardian and Washington Post in June 2013 released a series of articles reporting that the NSA was collecting the telephone records of millions of Americans.

Prior to those reports, National Intelligence Director James Clapper claimed on March 12, 2013 during an open session of the Senate Intelligence Committee that the NSA was not wittingly collecting data on Americans.

Not wittingly, Clapper said when asked whether the NSA was spying on U.S. citizens. There are cases where they could inadvertently, perhaps, collect, but not wittingly.

During the interview, Binney charged that the NSA was over-funded and out of control.

He offered recommendations for how he says Trump can reign in the agency:

He can order that they put a filter on the front end of all their collection that eliminates any U.S. citizens anywhere in the world unless they have a warrant for it. If they dont, then he has to put people in jail if they violated.

So, I mean, thats the way to do it. The other way is to cut their budget. I mean they are given too much money anyway. When they are given too much money, they get to do wild and crazy things. And this is wild and crazy. Violations of the Constitutions 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments.

On Wednesday, Trump singled out the NSA and FBI in a series of tweets about Flynns case as well as reports in the New York Times and Washington Post claiming further contacts between Trump advisors and Russia.

The Times on Tuesday seemed to be quoting from intercepted phone calls to report on alleged contacts between Trump campaign aides and Russian intelligence agents.

The Times reported:

Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald J. Trumps 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election, according to four current and former American officials.

American law enforcement and intelligence agencies intercepted the communications around the same time they were discovering evidence that Russia was trying to disrupt the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee, three of the officials said.

Aaron Klein is Breitbarts Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, Aaron Klein Investigative Radio. Follow him onTwitter @AaronKleinShow.Follow him onFacebook.

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EXCLUSIVE NSA Whistleblower: Agency 'Absolutely' Tapping Trump's Calls - Breitbart News

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DNC Hackers Are Using Apple Mac Spyware Code From FBI Surveillance Vendor, Claims Ex-NSA Researcher – Forbes


Forbes
DNC Hackers Are Using Apple Mac Spyware Code From FBI Surveillance Vendor, Claims Ex-NSA Researcher
Forbes
Earlier this week, malware said to belong to the Russian group behind the hack of the Democratic National Committee, known as APT28 or Fancy Bear, leaked online. Though novel both for its targeting of Apple Macs and iPhone backups, the surveillance ...

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DNC Hackers Are Using Apple Mac Spyware Code From FBI Surveillance Vendor, Claims Ex-NSA Researcher - Forbes

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NSA ups the ante on domestic spying – PJ Media – PJ Media

This story, from the Jan. 12, 2017, edition of the New York Times, was little-remarked upon at the time, but suddenly has taken on far greater significance in light of current events:

In its final days, the Obama administration has expanded the power of the National Security Agency to share globally intercepted personal communications with the governments 16 other intelligence agencies before applying privacy protections.

The new rules significantly relax longstanding limits on what the N.S.A. may do with the information gathered by its most powerful surveillance operations, which are largely unregulated by American wiretapping laws. These include collecting satellite transmissions, phone calls and emails that cross network switches abroad, and messages between people abroad that cross domestic network switches.

The change means that far more officials will be searching through raw data. Essentially, the government is reducing the risk that the N.S.A. will fail to recognize that a piece of information would be valuable to another agency, but increasing the risk that officials will see private information about innocent people.

One of the central questions behind the Mike Flynn flap that should have been asked but largely wasn't is: who was wiretapping the general? The answer, we know now, was the National Security Agency, formerly known as No Such Agency, the nation's foremost signals-intelligence (SIGINT) collection department.

Once compartmentalized to avoid injuring private citizens caught up in the net of the Black Widow(as we all are already) and her technological successors, the NSA was suddenly handed greater latitude in what it could share with other, perhaps more politicized bodies of the intelligence community. Why?

Let's call the roster of the bad guys:

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch signed the new rules, permitting the N.S.A. to disseminate raw signals intelligence information, on Jan. 3, after the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr., signed them on Dec. 15, according to a 23-page, largely declassified copy of the procedures.

Previously, the N.S.A. filtered information before sharing intercepted communications with another agency, like the C.I.A. or the intelligence branches of the F.B.I. and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The N.S.A.s analysts passed on only information they deemed pertinent, screening out the identities of innocent people and irrelevant personal information.

Now, other intelligence agencies will be able to search directly through raw repositories of communications intercepted by the N.S.A. and then apply such rules for minimizing privacy intrusions.

This is not expanding the substantive ability of law enforcement to get access to signals intelligence, said Robert S. Litt, the general counsel to Mr. Clapper. It is simply widening the aperture for a larger number of analysts, who will be bound by the existing rules.

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Emergency hearing sought to stop NSA ‘spying’ on Trump – WND.com – WND.com

President Donald Trump (Photo: Twitter)

Attorney Larry Klayman, the founderof Freedom Watch, is asking a federal court to hold an emergency hearing on the National Security Agency, alleging likely CIA spying on President Donald Trump.

In an emergency supplement filed Wednesday with the U.S. District Court in Washington, he saidthe NSA and likely the Central Intelligence Agency are continuing to violate the [Fourth] Amendment to the Constitution and related statutes.

Klayman charged the agencies spied onPresident Trump, the White House, his former National Security Adviser General Michael Flynn and others in his administration.

He is requesting an emergency status conference to determine how to proceed.

See Klaymans explanation:

Klaymans newest filing was an addition to his argument to the court that his original cases should not be dismissed, as the government wants.

Police State USA: How Orwells Nightmare Is Becoming Our Reality chronicles how America has arrived at the point of being a de facto police state and what led to an out-of-control government that increasingly ignores the Constitution. Order today!

His issue was the governments program to obtain and keep metadata from all cell phone calls in the country. He brought the first case several years ago.

Related story:

Flynn defiant: Intelligence leaks a criminal act'

While the media is focused on the so-called Russian election hacking scandal, it ignores the fact that our own government has committed the biggest violation of constitutional rights in American history, leaving the intelligence agencies free to continue their pattern and practice of violating the law in its intelligence gathering operations, Klayman argued against a dismissal.

As plaintiff Klayman argued in this court on Nov. 18, 2013, We have never seen in the history of this country this kind of violation of the privacy rights of the American citizens. We live in an Orwellian state.'

His argument continued, This court concurred, finding the almost-Orwellian technology that enables the government to store and analyze the phone metadata of every telephone user in the United States is unlike anything that could have been conceived in 1979.

The arguments this week came shortly after Flynn resignedas national security adviser over his conversations about sanctions with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. Then, on Wednesday, followed reports of the leaking ofinformation in the Trump administration.

Klayman argued that the district court, which already is well into an advanced position regarding chargesof government spying, should take up the issue. He pointed out that judges are allowed access to classified information behind closed doors and that the continuing unlawful conduct of the government defendants is highly destructive of our republic.

Klayman charged in a filing before the election: The intelligence agencies conscious disregard for the law has been ongoing for decades, and there is no reason to believe that, all of a sudden, they will begin to respect the constitutional right of plaintiffs, and all Americans. Indeed, even today, [then-]President-elect Donald Trump credibly accused outgoing CIA chief, John Brennan, who worked with James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, of leaking false news reports and classified information to the media in an attempt to undermine him.

Trumps statement at that time was: Outgoing CIA chief, John Brennan, blasts Pres-Elect Trump on Russia threat. Does not fully understand. Oh really, couldnt do much worse just look at Syria (red line), Crimea, Ukraine and the buildup of Russian nukes. Not good! Was this the leaker of Fake News?

WND reported on Klaymans case oneyear ago, when U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, who previously said the NSAsspy-on-Americans cell phone monitoring program likely is unconstitutional, helda status hearing.

The judge had noted the cases were at the pinnacle of national importance.

Klayman, at that time, said: Mass surveillance of the citizenry cannot be permitted when it is likely based on reasons that go far beyond catching terrorists. Indeed, as Judge Leon found on two occasions in issuing his prior preliminary injunctions, Obama and his agents at the spy agencies have not been able to cite one instance when the unconstitutional mass surveillance caught even one terrorist.

Police State USA: How Orwells Nightmare Is Becoming Our Reality chronicles how America has arrived at the point of being a de facto police state and what led to an out-of-control government that increasingly ignores the Constitution. Order today!

In Klaymans case, Leon ruled Dec. 16, 2013, and again Nov. 9, 2015, that the NSA program likely was unconstitutional, barring the government agency and Obama from conducting mass telephonic metadata surveillance over the plaintiffs.

The cases involve not only telephonic metadata mass surveillance, Klayman said, but mass surveillance of all Americans Internet and social media activity.

Klayman, at the beginning of the case, originally sued the NSA, Barack Obama, then-Attorney General Eric Holder and a number of other federal officials. Other defendants include NSA chief Keith Alexander, U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Judge Roger Vinson, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA chief John Brennan, FBI chief James Comey, the Department of Justice, the CIA and the FBI.

Plaintiffs in the case include Klayman, Charles and Mary Ann Strange, Michael Ferrari, Matt Garrison and J.J. Little.

Two of Americas influential civil-rights groups, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have sided with Klayman.

The data that the NSA collects, they explained in a brief, reveals political affiliation, religious practices and peoples most intimate associations.

It reveals who calls a suicide prevention line and who calls their elected official; who calls the local tea-party office and who calls Planned Parenthood.

The groups brief said the relevant fact for whether an expectation of privacy exists is that the comprehensive telephone records the government collects not just the records of a few calls over a few days but all of a persons calls over many years reveals highly personal information about the person and her life.

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Former NSA techies raise $8m for their data governance startup – The Register

Immuta, a data governance startup run by former US National Security Agency technicians, has announced the conclusion of its Series A funding round, pulling in $8m.

The funding round was led by Drive Capital whose partner Andy Jenks has been given a board seat with participation from Greycroft Partners and Conversion Capital. It brings the company to $9.5m in total funding.

Headquartered a short drive away from NSA offices in Fort Meade, Maryland, Immuta currently has 21 employees and is based in College Park. It was officially founded in October 2014, and first went to market in the summer of 2015.

Talking to The Register, Immuta CEO Matthew Carroll said the company aimed to answer the question: How do you have an environment in which to give data scientists the freedom to do what you want them to do, but also keep them in check?

Using Immuta, data scientists can create regulated and compliant data sandbox environments that combine disparate data sources from within and across organizations. The business claims that it supports every major structured and unstructured data source, on premises or in the cloud, including Amazon S3, SQL, NoSQL and Hadoop.

Regardless of that source, Immutas platform virtualizes the data to protect its integrity, and as a layer between the end user and the source, allows data owners to expose that data with discretion, also enabling data scientists to experiment with it without being concerned of their access rights.

Neither Carroll nor CTO Steve Touw would go into much detail about their work at the NSA, but said a lot of what were doing now is based on lessons weve learned from the trials and tribulations in government following the Snowden revelations.

Although customers in the public sector havent been announced, they are stated to include global financial institutions, telecommunications companies, and national security organizations, as well as case study user General Electric.

The startups commitment to government governance is visible in its origins and in the early hire of a chief privacy officer and legal engineer in the form of Andrew Burt, who formerly served in the FBI as special advisor for policy to the assistant director of the Fed's cyber division.

Immuta is solving one of the most acute problems that is stifling innovation at large, highly regulated enterprises. They have the teams, and the technology, but data access and usage regulations are holding back innovation, said Jenks. We invested in Immuta because their team and technology are bar none the best in the business.

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Former NSA techies raise $8m for their data governance startup - The Register

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Former intel chiefs: Flynn destroyed by CIA/NSA hit job – TRUNEWS

Top former US intel officials say Michael Flynn was the victim of a disinformation hit job by the CIA, NSA, and National Security Council

(WASHINGTON, DC) National Security Advisor Gen. Michael T. Flynn (ret.) who resigned Monday was the victim of a hit job launched by intelligence operatives, Obama government holdovers and former Obama national security officials, according to former intelligence officials who spoke withThe Daily Caller News Foundations Investigative Group.

The talk within the tight-knit community of retired intelligence officers was that Flynns sacking was a result of intelligence insiders at the CIA, NSA and National Security Council using a sophisticated disinformation campaign to create a crisis atmosphere.The former intel officers say the tactics hurled against Flynn over the last few months were the type of high profile hard-ball accusations previously reserved for top figures in enemy states, not for White House officials.

This was a hit job, charged retired Col. James Williamson, a 32-year Special Forces veteran who coordinated his operations with the intelligence community.

Noting the Obama administration first tried to silence Flynn in 2014 when the former president fired him as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Williamson called Mondays resignation, stage Two of Kill Mike Flynn.

Former intelligence officials who understand spy craft say Flynns resignation had everything to do with a disinformation campaign and little to do with the December phone conversation he had with the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

They charge officials from Americas top spy counsels leaked classified government intercepts of Flynn and President Trumps conversations with world leaders and had cutouts friendly civilians not associated with the agency to distribute them to reporters in a coordinated fashion.

The issue of leaks was a prime topic for Trump when he tweeted Wednesday, Information is being illegally given to the failing@nytimes&@washingtonpostby the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?).Just like Russia.

Ive never seen anything like this before,Retired Col. James Waurishuk, who spent three decades in top military intelligence posts and served at the National Security Council, said in an interview with TheDCNF.Weve never seen to the extent that those in the intelligence community are using intelligence apparatus and tools to be used politically against an administration official, he said.

The knives are out, said Frederick Rustmann, who retired after 24 years from the CIAs Clandestine Service and was a member of its elite Senior Intelligence Service.

The intelligence communitys sprawling bureaucracy is organizing to topple the Trump presidency, Rustmann charged in an interview with TheDCNF.

I would not be surprised if Trump did not finish four years because of the vendetta they have out for him, he said, calling the move on Flynn just a mini-vendetta.

Williamson told TheDCNF in an interview, I truly believe its orchestrated and its part of an overall strategy. The objective is to piece-by-piece, dismantle the Trump administration, to discredit Trump. This is part of an overarching plan.

D.W. Wilber, who has over 30 years of experience in security and counterterrorism with the CIA and the Defense Department agrees.

It appears to me there has been a concerted effort to try to discredit not only General Flynn, but obviously, the entire Trump administration through him. He just happened to be the first scalp, Wilber told TheDCNF in an interview.

Williamson agreed, telling theDCNF, There are individuals who are well versed in information operations we used to call that propaganda. They know how to do it. Its deliberately orchestrated.

Retired Marine Col. Bill Cowan, who often interacted with the intelligence operatives in combat zones, believes Mike Pompeo, Trumps new CIA Director, must clean house. Otherwise,the administration will encounter four years of attacks.

The director, Pompeo, if he doesnt get a hold of the agency and its personnel, he can expect four years of this: clandestine, undercover disinformation, misinformation, psychological information to undermine this administration and this president, he told TheDCNF.

Charles Goslin, a 27-year old former CIA operations officer also believes that many insubordinate intelligence staff are working within the National Security Council within the White House.

With the NSC, I think thats where the leaks are coming from on calls to foreign leaders. Thats where they undermined Flynn to the point where he got hammered, Goslin told TheDCNF in an interview.

Goslin noted, When Trump came in, even though they were able to staff key NSC positions, for the most part its still staffed by previous administration holdovers and bureaucratic appointees.

I dont think they have any loyalty to the current administration, the former CIA operations officer said, adding, the NSC is going to be a hard one to fix.

All of the former intelligence officials say the rage against Flynn dated back to when the decorated general headed up the DIA. There he garnered a reputation to balk at the politicization of military intelligence in order to conform with President Obamas world views.

Flynn refused to downplay the threat posed by the Islamic State and other radical Islamic groups throughout his two-year reign at the DIA. He was fired after offering congressional testimony that was at odds with the Obama administrations posture on the Islamic threat.

Waurishuk, who interacted with Flynn as deputy director of the Special Operations Command and in other security matters, said Flynn was a straight shooter who always demanded accurate threat assessments and never bent to continue pressures of political correctness.

Waurishuk worked in military intelligence in the Obama administration. He told TheDCNF Obama officials know Flynn and they hate Flynn because he would call them out. So, this was their opportunity to wage what is a personal vendetta in some respects.

California Republican Rep. Devon Nunes, the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has promised to hold hearings on the leaking of classified information to reporters. Thedate has yet to beset for the hearings.

Daily Caller copy, TRUNEWS analysis

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Beverly Ann Beall, NSA worker and travel agent, dies – Baltimore Sun – Baltimore Sun

Beverly Ann Beall, a retired National Security Agency briefer and world traveler, died of cancer Jan. 14 at her Stuart, Fla., home. She was 78 and lived in Stevenson.

Born in Baltimore, she was the daughter of Mabel Councilman, a homemaker, and her husband, Avery Gordy.

She was a graduate of Southern High School and attended college courses through the federal government at the NSA.

She joined the NSA out of high school and worked there until her retirement. She then became a travel agent and worked in several agencies in the Baltimore area.

Mrs. Beall, who was known as Bebe to her family, was a member of Green Spring Valley Hunt Club, where she enjoyed golf and games of bridge. She traveled the world on cruises and hiked in jungles of Cambodia and Vietnam. She belonged to the Town and Country Garden Club and had an interest in orchids.

She took trips to Maryland and Delaware beaches, and enjoyed fishing and searching for sea glass. She also did needlepoint and played pinochle with family members, and enjoyed walking along the boardwalks.

"She was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside," said her niece, Carol Hearrell of Farmington Hills, Mich.

Mrs. Beall survived two husbands. Wade Allen Poole died in the early 1970s. Her second husband, Richard Olin Beall, died in 2013 after they had been married for 30 years. Mr. Beall was the son of Sen. J. Glenn Beall Sr.

Mrs. Beall had requested that no funeral be held.

In addition to her niece, she is survived by a daughter, Laura Poole Mathiesen of Annapolis; two stepdaughters, Margot Beall King of San Francisco and Charlotte Ashley Beall of Seattle; a companion, Allen Durling of Annapolis; four grandchildren; and other nieces and nephews.

Jacques Kelly

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Trump Is Engaged on Cyber Threats, Says Former NSA Head – Fortune

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly (L), National Security Advisor General Mike Flynn (C), and Keith Alexander wait for a meeting on cyber security in the Roosevelt Room of the White House January 31, 2017 in Washington, D.C.Photograph by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKIAFP/Getty Images

President Trump's early tenure has been marked by reports of slipshod cybersecurity practices, and dysfunction among the country's intelligence agencies. But behind the scenes, Trump has shown he is attuned to hacking threats, and prepared to defend the U.S. in cyber-space, according to the former head of the National Security Agency.

Speaking at a breakfast in San Francisco on Tuesday morning, retired General Keith Alexander described a recent meeting at which the President discussed cybersecurity issues with members of his inner circle. According to Alexander, Trump's behavior shifted significantly once members of the media left the event.

The Presidents demeanor changed to what you would expect of a corporate CEO," said Alexander. "The part that struck me was he listened. He took what they said, restated it, went on to next thing and allowed everyone to talk."

The gathering reportedly included Trump, adviser Jared Kushner, Defense Secretary James Mattis, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, and others.

Alexander also said Trump's comportment in the meeting was "the president our nation needs to see," and expressed confidence Trump would be able to develop a comprehensive strategy to combat cyber threats.

The remarks come at a time of ongoing tumult among White House security staffmost notably the sudden resignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn on Mondayand are at odds with earlier news reports that portrayed Trump as sometimes cavalier about what he famously called "the cyber" in a presidential debate last fall.

On the question of Flynn's resignation, Alexander said he was not aware of what occurred behind the scenes, only stating he was sure the White House had good reasons to back the departure.

Alexander's assessment of Trump and cybersecurity is significant in part because as the former head of the country's top spy agency, he presided over a controversial set of intelligence gathering techniques that were exposed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013.

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In addressing the breakfast, hosted by the State of Maryland during the RSA security conference, Alexander also spoke about the challenge of balancing privacy and security, and the wisdom of "hacking back" against other countries.

The pervasive hacking conducted by countries like North Korea and China is a source of ongoing frustration for companies, and has led some to suggest the private sector should retaliate with cyber-attacks of their own.

Alexander, however, believes such retaliation is possible but ill-advised. Using Sony ( sne ) as an example, he explained could easily avenge North Korea's devastating attack of 2014 by "hacking back," perhaps with the discreet aid of U.S. defense contractors.

"Youd kick North Korea's buttwipe out their seven computers and we would be done with it," he said about a hypothetical Sony counter-strike. But heres the problem. North Korea assumes its a government attack and they escalate. They throw artillery into Seoul and we've started a land war on the Korean peninsula, even if it started with a company trying to protect themselves.

Instead of companies taking cyber retaliation into their own hands, Alexander instead argues it's the government's job to address these issues as part of its larger mandate to defend the United States. He said this should include assistance to build "cyber domes" across key industrial sectors, and "network speed" threat coordination between government and the private sector.

Cyber has become an element of national power," he said, alongside traditional diplomatic, military, and economic initiatives.

One of the most difficult cybersecurity tasks for the Trump administration will be how to address a new generation of device and communication tools that are all but impossible to spy on. Fueled in part by Edward Snowden's revelations, Apple ( aapl ) and other companies began introducing encryption features that can't be broken by law enforcement or even accessed by the companies themselves.

Last spring, encryption was at the heart of a hugely publicized court fight between Apple and the FBI, which sought access to a locked iPhone owned by a terrorist responsible for the San Bernardino massacre. (The stand-off ended abruptly after the FBI succeeded in unlocking the iPhone on its own account, but the issue is likely to return again soon in light of newer versions of the iPhone with even stronger security measures).

According to Alexander, the trouble with ubiquitous encryption is that terrorists can plan in perfect secrecy. Alexander cited a 2009 plot to blow up the New York City subway that was foiled after intelligence agencies intercepted an emailsomething that would not have been possible if the plotters had used today's encryption tools, he noted.

Any solution that gives spy services a window into encrypted communication is problematic, however, because it can involve weakening the overall security of a device or messaging service. Such an outcomeespecially in the form of a "back door" that lets law enforcement get around encryptionis fiercely opposed by the tech community, which points out any such back door will also be exploited by criminals or repressive governments.

Alexander acknowledged this tension, but did not offer a specific solution.

"Im not for back doors but I dont buy the fact we cant [have both privacy and security]," Alexander said. "We have to drive two groups together and force them to work on this. I dont think we should accept fact people die because were intractable."

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NSA So Worried Over Trump Russia Ties, They’re Hiding Info from Him – Huffington Post

David Pakman Host & Executive Producer, The David Pakman Show This post is hosted on the Huffington Post's Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and post freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

If you arent worried about relations between President Trump and Russia, now is the time to start paying attention. There are reports now that the NSA has been withholding information from the president over these concerns of Russian intervention.

This is truly stunning, considering Trumps recurring flip-flopping denial of how close he is to Putin. Its also unreal that a U.S. spy agency would be hiding certain information from the president.

Other agencies involved include the Pentagon, with one worker stating, There's not much the Russians don't know at this point. Since January 20, weve assumed that the Kremlin has ears inside the [situation room].

If this statement is true and the Russians are able to have a look inside the White House, this means that our national security has been compromised. On top of that, there was also the sudden resignation of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn over ties to the Russian Ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, before Trump even took office.

This is definitely a situation where the media needs to hold the president accountable, along with his cabinet. He said that he would keep us safe and Make America Great Again but so far has not kept this promise, especially if there is Russian intervention in the White House.

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NSA So Worried Over Trump Russia Ties, They're Hiding Info from Him - Huffington Post

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Ex-NSA contractor to face spying charges in federal court – Washington Post

A former National Security Agency contractor accused of stealing a massive cache of classified documents is scheduled to formally face new charges in federal court Tuesday in Baltimore.

Harold T. Martin III was indicted last week by a federal grand jury, accused of violating the Espionage Act by carrying out what officials say is the largest theft of classified information in U.S. history.

Martin, 52, was arrested in August at his home in Anne Arundel County, Md., where law enforcement officials recovered dozens of computers, digital storage devices and thousands of hard-copy documents that filled six bankers boxes. Prosecutors say Martin hid classified and top-secret information in the trunk of his car, his home office and an unlocked outdoor shed.

Martin is specifically charged in the indictment with taking and retaining a huge amount of classified material. He is not accused of trying to disseminate or publish the information.

Hes not Edward Snowden, Martins attorney James Wyda said during a detention hearing, referring to the former intelligence contractor who gave classified material on U.S. surveillance programs to the media.

Hes not someone who, due to political ideas or philosophical ideas or moral principals, thinks he knows better than everybody else and, hence, is compelled to release government secrets, Wyda said.

Martins attorneys have previously said he took documents home not to harm the United States but to get better at his job. Martin has a compulsive hoarding habit, his attorneys said, and was taking medication for attention-deficit disorder that was a trigger for hoarding.

Martin, who has been held in a detention facility since his arrest, first received security clearance on active duty in the Navy. He went on to work for seven private companies at various agencies within the intelligence community, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Cyber Command and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

He was a trusted insider, prosecutors said, working at the NSA from 2012 to 2015, where he was an employee of the intelligence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Martin was for some time in the NSAs elite hacker unit, Tailored Access Operations, which makes and deploys software used to penetrate foreign targets computer networks for foreign espionage purposes.

At the time of his arrest, Martin was enrolled in a doctorate program in information security management and doing research for his dissertation. He has an extensive background in computer security, including in the areas of encryption and secure communications.

Many of the documents Martin is accused of stealing were marked top-secret and contained highly classified information, including the names of intelligence officers who operate undercover outside the United States, according to the 12-page indictment. Among other secret documents, authorities found an NSA anti-terrorism document related to extremely sensitive U.S. planning and operations regarding global terrorists, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors described the theft in court filings as breathtaking in its longevity and scale.

Harold Martin flagrantly abused the trust placed in him by the government by stealing documents containing highly classified information, Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement after the indictment was returned last week.

The charges against Martin carry a maximum prison sentence of 10 years for each of 20 criminal counts, according to prosecutors.

Ellen Nakashima contributed to this report.

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NSA adviser resigns amid controversy over Russia – News8000.com – WKBT

National Security Adviser Flynn resigns Related content

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Embattled White House national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned Monday night, an abrupt end to a brief tenure.

His departure came just after reports surfaced that the Justice Department warned the Trump administration last month that Flynn misled administration officials regarding his communications with the Russian ambassador to the United States and was potentially vulnerable to blackmail by the Russians.

"I inadvertently briefed the Vice President-elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian ambassador. I have sincerely apologized to the President and the Vice President, and they have accepted my apology," Flynn wrote, according to a copy of his resignation letter obtained by CNN.

"I am tendering my resignation, honored to have served our nation and the American people in such a distinguished way," he wrote. "I know with the strong leadership of President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence and the superb team they are assembling, this team will go down in history as one of the greatest presidencies in US history."

The move comes less than a month into the job, making him one of the shortest-serving senior presidential advisers in modern history.

Gen. Keith Kellogg will be the interim national security adviser, multiple sources tell CNN. He most recently served as National Security Council chief of staff.

A senior administration official said Kellogg, retired Gen. David Petraeus and former Vice Admiral Bob Harward are possible replacements for Flynn. Another senior official told CNN Tuesday that Harward is considered the top contender for the job.

Petraeus is going to the White House Tuesday, according to sources inside and close to the administration.

"He is making a run" for the job, one source said, but noted "he has a lot of baggage."

The sudden exit marks the most public display yet of disarray at the highest levels of the new administration, which has faced repeated questions over a slew of controversies and reports of infighting among senior aides during its first three weeks.

The resolution had been heading this way for three days, an administration source told CNN.

More than whether he really had a conversation with the Russians about sanctions, the key issue internally was whether he told the truth to Pence, the source said.

The White House concluded at the very least, Flynn didn't mean to mislead the vice president, but may have because he couldn't remember what he said to the Russians.

"Not remembering is not a quality we can have for the national security adviser," the source said.

An administration source said that Trump "hung in there" when it came to Flynn, but there was a "flood of information" that finally made it clear he had to resign.

Asked if Trump is disappointed, another administration official said: "He's moving on."

A pair of Democratic lawmakers -- Reps. John Conyers, Jr., top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and Elijah Cummings, top Democrat on the House oversight Committee -- sent a request for a "full classified briefing" on the circumstances surrounding Flynn to the Justice Department and FBI Monday night following Flynn's resignation.

"We in Congress need to know who authorized his actions, permitted them and continued to let him have access to our most sensitive national security information despite knowing these risks. We need to know who else within the White House is a current and ongoing risk to our national security," they wrote in a statement.

They added: "This new disclosure warrants a full classified briefing by all relevant agencies, including the Department of Justice and the FBI, as soon as possible and certainly before Thursday, February 16. We are communicating this request to the Department of Justice and FBI this evening."

The shakeup now leaves Trump without one of his closest and longest-serving advisers. Flynn had counseled Trump on foreign policy and national security matters since early in the 2016 presidential race.

Flynn was not able to definitively refute a Washington Post story late last week that his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak included communication about the sanctions. It is illegal for unauthorized private citizens to negotiate with foreign governments on behalf of the US.

The controversy intensified after the report put Vice President Mike Pence and several senior White House advisers in an uncomfortable position, as they had denied in TV interviews weeks earlier that Flynn discussed sanctions with the ambassador. Some administration officials said Flynn must have misled Pence and others.

"The knives are out," a White House official told CNN on Friday, noting that "there's a lot of unhappiness about this."

Many expressed concern at the idea that Flynn, a retired lieutenant general who headed the Defense Intelligence Agency, would discuss sanctions with a foreign official whose calls are regularly monitored by US intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

A US official confirmed to CNN on Friday that Flynn and Kislyak did speak about sanctions, among other matters, during a December call.

But after the call was made public, Pence told CBS News on January 15 that Flynn did not talk with Kislyak about the sanctions, which the Obama administration recently levied due to Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 elections.

"They did not discuss anything having to do with the United States' decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia," Pence told CBS News.

On Friday, an aide close to the national security adviser told CNN that Flynn could not rule out that he spoke about sanctions on the call.

The White House official blamed much of the outcry against Flynn on a Washington culture always in search of a scalp, but people within Trump's orbit did little to defend Flynn during appearances on Sunday news shows.

Stephen Miller, White House policy director, was asked directly about Flynn's future on a number of Sunday talk shows. Miller responded by saying he was not the appropriate official to ask.

"I don't have any answers today," Miller said in response to questions about whether Flynn misled the vice president. "I don't have any information one way or another to add anything to the conversation."

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NSA May Be Withholding Intel from President Trump – Mother Jones

This was the scene at Mar-a-Lago as news came in that North Korea had conducted a missile test. The public is all around. Classified documents are lying on the table. People are on the phone where anyone can overhear them. There is no operational security at all. This picture was taken by some random guest from a few feet away. Trump himself just looks bored by the whole thing. Facebook

John Schindler got a lot of attention over the weekend for his Observer article, "The Spy Revolt Against Trump Begins." Here's the bit that raised the most eyebrows:

A new report by CNN indicates that important parts of the infamous spy dossier that professed to shed light on President Trumps shady Moscow ties have been corroborated by communications intercepts....SIGINT confirms that some of the non-salacious parts of what Steele reported, in particular how senior Russian officials conspired to assist Trump in last years election, are substantially based in fact.

....Our spies have had enough of these shady Russian connectionsand they are starting to push back....In light of this, and out of worries about the White Houses ability to keep secrets, some of our spy agencies have begun withholding intelligence from the Oval Office. Why risk your most sensitive information if the president may ignore it anyway? A senior National Security Agency official explained that NSA was systematically holding back some of the good stuff from the White House, in an unprecedented move.

....Whats going on was explained lucidly by a senior Pentagon intelligence official, who stated that since January 20, weve assumed that the Kremlin has ears inside the SITROOM, meaning the White House Situation Room, the 5,500 square-foot conference room in the West Wing where the president and his top staffers get intelligence briefings. Theres not much the Russians dont know at this point, the official added in wry frustration.

"Inside" reporting about the intelligence community is notoriously unreliable, so take this with a grain of salt. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not. But just the fact that stuff like this is getting a respectful public hearing is damning all by itself. For any other recent president, a report like this would be dismissed as nonsense without a second thought. But for Trump, it seems plausible enough to take seriously. Stay tuned.

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