Category Archives: NSA

Army General Keith Alexander.

DOD/NSA

New financial disclosure documents released this month by the National Security Agency (NSA) show that Keith Alexander, who served as its director from August 2005 until March 2014, had thousands of dollars of investments during his tenure in a handful of technology firms.

Each year disclosed has a checked box next to this statement: "Reported financial interests or affiliations are unrelated to assigned or prospective duties, and no conflicts appear to exist."

Alexander repeatedly made the public case that the American public is at "greater risk" from a terrorist attack in the wake of the Snowden disclosures. Statements such as those could have a positive impact on the companies he was invested in, which could have eventually helped his personal bottom line.

The NSA did not immediately respond to Ars requests for further comment.

The documents were obtained and published Fridayby ViceNews as the result of a Freedom of Information Act request and subsequent lawsuit against the NSA brought by Vice Newsreporter Jason Leopold.

The 60 released pages, which cover a period from 2008 through 2013, document that as of 2008, Alexander had as much as $50,000 invested in Synchronoss, a cloud storage firm. Synchronoss provides services to major mobile phone providers, including AT&T, Verizon and others.

He also had as much as $15,000 invested in Datascension, a "data gathering and research company." Public trades in the firm were suspended by the Securities and Exchange Commission in August 2014 due to "a lack of current and accurate information" about it.

Pericom, a semiconductor company that also has made hardware for "DVR solutions for the CCTV security and surveillance markets," also appears in his portfolio, with investments up to $15,000 appearing as of 2008.

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Former NSA director had thousands personally invested in obscure tech firms

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MojoKid writes One of the downsides to the news cycle is that no matter how big or hot a story is, something else inevitably comes along. The advent of ISIS and Ebola, combined with the passing of time, have pushed national security concerns out of the limelight until, that is, someone at the NSA helps out by reminding us that yes, the agency still exists and yes, it still has some insane policies and restrictions. Earlier this year, the Federation of American Scientists filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the NSA. The group was seeking information it thought would be relatively low-key what authorized information had been leaked to the media over the past 12 months? The NSA's response reads as follows: "The document responsive to your request has been reviewed by this Agency as required by the FOIA and has been found to be currently and properly classified in accordance with Executive Order 13526. The document is classified because its disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security." The NSA is insisting that it has the right to keep its lawful compliance and public disclosures secret not because the NSA is made of evil people but because the NSA has a knee-jerk preference and demand for secrecy. In a spy organization, that's understandable and admirable but it's precisely the opposite of what's needed to rebuild American's faith in the institution and its judgment.

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NSA To Scientists: We Won't Tell You What We've Told You; That's Classified

NSA Orlando/NAWCTSD Leadership Update Week of Oct. 6, 2014
The skipper talks about the Navy #39;s birthday and the Central Florida Navy Ball in this week #39;s update.

By: NSA Orlando

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NSA Orlando/NAWCTSD Leadership Update Week of Oct. 6, 2014 - Video

NSA=NAUGHTY SPYING ANIMALS!
WE THE PEOPLE MUST STAND AGAINST TYRANNY AND THE CORRUPT GOVERNMENT! NOW!!! FREEDOM HAS NEVER BEEN FREE!

By: Justin Key

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NSA=NAUGHTY SPYING ANIMALS! - Video

Gen Michael Hayden : The NSA collects all data
Gen Michael Hayden admitting that the NSA sits on fibre even between Google data centers, collecting everything it can.

By: jamie rishaw

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Gen Michael Hayden : The NSA collects all data - Video

Tor Project #39;s Andrew Lewman - NSA and GCHQ agents #39;leaking Tor bugs #39; - Truthloader
Tor Project #39;s Andrew, Executive Director and the guy responsible for all the operation, answers Truthloader #39;s questions on what it #39;s all about, who they #39;re f...

By: Truthloader

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Tor Project's Andrew Lewman - NSA and GCHQ agents 'leaking Tor bugs' - Truthloader - Video

INFORMUCATE: NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY (NSA)
Informucate Fast Facts Videos cover thousands of topics, with more added daily.and if you like our videos, you will love our unique take on the news at http://www.informucate.com.

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INFORMUCATE: NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY (NSA) - Video

Matt Olsen on the NSA and Edward Snowden (Oct. 8, 2014) | Charlie Rose
Matt Olsen, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, talks to Charlie Rose about the fallout from Edward Snowden #39;s leaks regarding NSA surveillance programs. Watch to find out...

By: The Charlie Rose Show

Link:
Matt Olsen on the NSA and Edward Snowden (Oct. 8, 2014) | Charlie Rose - Video

Longtime reporters who cover the NSA know that any time we ask the obstinate spy agency for information, were probably going to hit a brick wall. But who would have thought that trying to obtain information about information the agency has already given us would lead to the same wall?

Thats what happened when the Federation of American Scientists filed a FOIA request with the Defense Department (of which the NSA is a part) earlier this year seeking information about any authorized leaks of intelligence made to the media during the previous 12 months.

The response they got (.pdf) from the National Security Agency might well have come from Winston Smiths Ministry of Truth.

The document responsive to your request has been reviewed by this Agency as required by the FOIA and has been found to be currently and properly classified in accordance with Executive Order 13526, the letter read. The document is classified because its disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security.

Last year, Congress amended the Intelligence Authorization Act to require government officials to notify lawmakers whenever they disclose national security secrets to the media as part of an authorized leak. Under Section 504 of the statute (.pdf), the government official responsible for authorizing the disclosure has to submit to congressional intelligence committees a timely report about the disclosure, if the information is classified at the time of the leak or was declassified for the purpose of making the leak, and if the information being disclosed was made with the intent or knowledge that such information will be made publicly available.

There have been numerous authorized leaks over the years, including the controversial White House leaks about the killing of Osama bin Laden. There have been even more unauthorized leaks, howeverby government officials and workers. It makes sense for Congress to want to know when classified information has been leaked or declassified in order to distinguish official leaks from unauthorized ones. Lawmakers on the intelligence committees look silly when they tell reporters they cant talk about something, while government officials are freely yapping about the same topic behind their backs. They also look silly when they publicly call for a criminal investigation into a leak that turns out to have been authorized. And, of course, members of both parties in Congress want to know when the party in power in the White House might be authorizing leaks for political gain.

But once those leaks are made to the media and published, why shouldnt the public also be able to know when the information came from an authorized source or an unauthorized one?

Steve Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy, noted in his letter to the NSA appealing its response (.pdf) that It is well established that information, including classified information, that has been publicly disclosed on an authorized basis loses its exemption from disclosure under FOIA.

He has a theory, however, about why the NSA might not want to disclose what it has disclosed. He says that even though the statute refers to information that the leaker expects will be made public, the NSA might not want the public to know which information was part of an authorized leak because some might have been provided off the record.

I think its more likely that these disclosures were part of a negotiation with news organizations, he told WIRED. In that case, the disclosures in question were not actually published, rather they were part of a dialogue with a reporter perhaps in an effort to dissuade her or him from publication.

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NSA Mind-Bender: We Wont Tell You What Info We Already Leaked to the Media

By Trevor Mogg

(REUTERS/Francois Lenoir)

Representatives from some of the biggest names in tech had some harsh words to say about the US government surveillance scandal on Wednesday during a meeting examining the potential ramifications of the spying activities.

The special event in Palo Alto involved the likes of Google chairman Eric Schmidt, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith, and Dropbox representative Ramsey Homsany, Cnet reported.

The panelists put their views to Democratic senator for Oregon Ron Wyden , with Schmidt warning that the impact of the surveillance is not only severe and getting worse, but could even end up breaking the Internet.

Former NSA contractorEdward Snowden last year blew the lid off the governments surveillance activities, releasing official documents that showed surveillance of Web usersto be far more extensive than most people had imagined.

Global effects

During the meeting, the speakers focused on the global knock-on effects of the Snowden revelations, highlighting how some governments are seeking to make tech firms build data centers within their borders in a bid to improve security. If every country ends up following this path, the tech companies said, the costs would be astronomical and could ultimately damage the US economy.

Related:Googles Schmidt blasts NSA activities

Fallout from the NSA scandal has already hit American firms, including Verizon, which recently lost its contract with the German government over concerns linked to network security. Snowdens documents suggested that more than 120 world leaders were targeted for surveillanceby the NSA, with German leader Angela Merkel among them.

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Google's NSA fears