Monthly Archives: November 2014

Senator Udall visiting a wind power plant in Boulder in 2013.

Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) was one of just a few US Senators decryingwidespreadsurveillance even before the Snowden leaks. Udall hasbeen a sharp critic of intelligence agencies since then as well, asking for CIA Director John Brennan to resign after allegations emerged that the intelligence agency gained access to Senate files.

He won't be in office much longer.Udall lost his election last night against Republican challenger Rep. Cory Gardner. By 1:00am Eastern time, Gardner was ahead by six percentage points, with 87 percent of precinctsreporting. At that point, several news agencies called the election for Gardner.The Senateseat was one of several that flipped from Democratic to Republican control last night, causing Republicans to take control of theupper house.

Udall's positioning as a toughcritic of the NSA wasn't a big issue on the campaign trail, although in the final days ofthe election he did release an ad saying he wont tolerate overbroad government surveillance. But much of Udall's campaigning came across as out of touch, running an old playbook. Udall hammered his opponent on womens' issues in socially liberal Colorado, noting that Gardner supported a "personhood amendment" tolimit abortion and suggesting he wanted to ban some types of birth control.

That led to criticism that Udall was running a "one-issue campaign," with Colorado voters wanting to hear more about the economy and jobs.It was tough to paint the affableGardner as a radical, and when a Denver reporter jokingly dubbed Udall "Mark Uterus,"it stuck.

Gardner alsogota surprise endorsement from The Denver Post, which supported Udall six years earlier.

Supporters of Gardner point out that hevoted for a billin the House to block the bulk surveillance program, suggesting that there may not be much daylight between the candidates onthe surveillance. Still, given Udall'sposition as a longtime criticone on the Senate Intelligence Committee, no lesshis departure willbe a loss for those looking to rein in intelligence agencies.

"What Udall has is the institutional memory and the relationships in the civil liberties community, in the Democratic Party, and in the tech industry so that we dont have to start over again with someone new," the head of ACLU's Washington DC office told The Hill.

The otherlongtime NSA critic on the Senate Intelligence Committee is Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), who was not up for reelection last night.

See more here:
NSA critic Udall is sent packing as Republicans grab Senate

After the FBI and Britain's top spy agency criticized Silicon Valley for encrypting and protecting user data, Michael Rogers, director of the NSA, came to Palo Alto to make peace. "I am not one who jumps up and down and says either side is fundamentally wrong," Rogers told a crowd of students and professors at Stanford University on Monday. "I understand what drives each side to their viewpoint on this." He said that he understood FBI Director James Comey's desire for "some mechanism on the technical side" where, "using a legal framework," encrypted data could be accessed by the government.

He also claimed that the NSA did not know about or exploit the Heartbleed bug before news of it broke in April. When it comes to cybersecurity threats, Rogers said it was "unrealistic to expect the private sector to withstand the actions of nation-states," but equally unrealistic to "expect the government to deal with this all by itself." Rogers also tried to woo away computer science students from lucrative Silicon Valley jobs. "We are going to give you the opportunity to do some neat things that you can't legally do anywhere else," he said.

First published November 4 2014, 10:55 AM

Originally posted here:
NSA Head Makes Nice with Silicon Valley Over Privacy

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Washington (CNN) -- The scope and legality of the government's warrantless electronic surveillance programs was discussed Tuesday as a federal appeals court reviewed a lower U.S. court's injunction that would block collection of data from two plaintiffs who are suing

Activist Larry Klayman, an attorney who heads the group "Freedom Watch," filed suit last year based on published reports of wrongdoing from whistleblower Edward Snowden. The former contractor with the National Security Agency accused authorities of misusing some of the capabilities he observed, and acting without a judicial or statutory basis.

Klayman, using himself as an aggrieved party from the surveillance, used the lawsuit to accuse the government of conducting "a secret and illegal government scheme to intercept and analyze vast quantities of domestic telephonic communications," along with communications "from the internet and electronic service providers."

Tuesday he said he has the standing to bring the suit as a customer of Verizon, one of the companies known to be cooperating with warrantless surveillance. But when the appeals panel asked him for documented proof he had been targeted, Klayman said only that the broad scope of the surveillance made it likely.

The other plaintiff is Charles Strange, whose son Michael was an NSA cryptologist and Navy SEAL in Afghanistan in 2011 when he was killed in the downing of his helicopter by insurgents. The father told reporters he has been the target of secret intelligence gathering because he's been asking questions about the circumstances surrounding his son's death.

Both men late last year won a preliminary injunction that would have barred the government from collecting data on them, and it ordered authorities to destroy any data already gathered.

But the District Court judge immediately stayed his order pending the appeal that was heard Tuesday, because of "significant national security interests" that could be affected.

Justice Department attorney Thomas Byron, defending the government, asked the appeals court judges to reverse the injunction, saying a phone company's business records are not protected by the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches.

Byron said there was no documentation that any records gathered were "intrusively acquired." He said Congress passes laws to protect privacy, such as for hospital records and banking, and that the government's surveillance is constrained by the provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, with activities judged by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Original post:
NSA snoop case reaches appeal

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PALO ALTO (KCBS) We come in peace. That was the message delivered by the head of the National Security Agency (NSA) to a Silicon Valley crowd as the nations spy chief is searching for recruits.

The governments top cyber spy made a stop at Stanford University on Monday with a message that they wanted to mend fences with the tech community.

Admiral Michael Rogers, director of the NSA, spoke to about 100 students and professors and said he understood why there is mistrust of the government.

Many tech companies have increased encryption in the wake of the Edward Snowden release of classified documents that detailed the NSAs spying techniques. However, Roger stressed the importance of public and private partnerships in cybersecurity; the same message that he recently delivered to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

You cant start out by distrusting each other with, Hey, you cant trust the government because theyre big brother. Or, you cant trust the private sector because theyre all about money. That is not what is going to work, he said.

Rogers also encouraged Stanford Students to consider a career with the NSA, saying that they offer rewards that no benefits package from Google or Apple could match; with opportunities to do some neat stuff you cant do anywhere else.

Read this article:
NSA Luring Stanford Students; Claims Rewards Outweigh Any Google-Apple Benefits