Peter1469
11-26-2015, 02:01 PM
Why the CIA is smearing Edward Snowden after the Paris attacks (http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-1126-greenwald-snowden-paris-encryption-20151126-story.html)
Bodies were still lying in the streets of Paris when CIA (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics-government/central-intelligence-agency-ORGOV000009-topic.html) operatives began exploiting the resulting fear and anger to advance long-standing political agendas. They and their congressional allies instantly attempted to heap blame for the atrocity not onIslamic State (http://www.latimes.com/topic/unrest-conflicts-war/islamic-state-ORCIG000120-topic.html) but on several preexisting adversaries: Internet encryption, Silicon Valley's privacy policies and Edward Snowden (http://www.latimes.com/topic/crime-law-justice/crime/edward-snowden-PEOCVC000306-topic.html).
The CIA's former acting director, Michael Morell, blamed the Paris attack on Internet companies "building encryption without keys," which, he said, was caused by the debate over surveillance prompted by Snowden's disclosures. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) blamed Silicon Valley's privacy safeguards, claiming: "I have asked for help. And I haven't gotten any help."
Former CIA chief James Woolsey said Snowden "has blood on his hands" because, he asserted, the Paris attackers learned from his disclosures how to hide their communications behind encryption. Woolsey thus decreed on CNN that the NSA whistleblower should be "hanged by the neck until he's dead, rather than merely electrocuted."
In one sense, this blame-shifting tactic is understandable. After all, the CIA, the NSA and similar agencies receive billions of dollars annually from Congress and have been vested by their Senate overseers with virtually unlimited spying power. They have one paramount mission: find and stop people who are plotting terrorist attacks. When they fail, of course they are desperate to blame others.
Bodies were still lying in the streets of Paris when CIA (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics-government/central-intelligence-agency-ORGOV000009-topic.html) operatives began exploiting the resulting fear and anger to advance long-standing political agendas. They and their congressional allies instantly attempted to heap blame for the atrocity not onIslamic State (http://www.latimes.com/topic/unrest-conflicts-war/islamic-state-ORCIG000120-topic.html) but on several preexisting adversaries: Internet encryption, Silicon Valley's privacy policies and Edward Snowden (http://www.latimes.com/topic/crime-law-justice/crime/edward-snowden-PEOCVC000306-topic.html).
The CIA's former acting director, Michael Morell, blamed the Paris attack on Internet companies "building encryption without keys," which, he said, was caused by the debate over surveillance prompted by Snowden's disclosures. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) blamed Silicon Valley's privacy safeguards, claiming: "I have asked for help. And I haven't gotten any help."
Former CIA chief James Woolsey said Snowden "has blood on his hands" because, he asserted, the Paris attackers learned from his disclosures how to hide their communications behind encryption. Woolsey thus decreed on CNN that the NSA whistleblower should be "hanged by the neck until he's dead, rather than merely electrocuted."
In one sense, this blame-shifting tactic is understandable. After all, the CIA, the NSA and similar agencies receive billions of dollars annually from Congress and have been vested by their Senate overseers with virtually unlimited spying power. They have one paramount mission: find and stop people who are plotting terrorist attacks. When they fail, of course they are desperate to blame others.