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| Home Front: Politix |
| NSA Suspends Collecting Data, Worsens Intelligence Gap |
| 2010-04-23 |
| By Marc Thiessen The Washington Post reports this week that a “special federal court that oversees domestic surveillance has raised concerns about the National Security Agency's (NSA's) collection of certain types of electronic data, prompting the agency to suspend collecting it.' The Post added: “The data under discussion are records associated with various kinds of communication, but not their content. Examples of this ‘metadata' include the origin, destination and path of an e-mail; the phone numbers called from a particular telephone; and the Internet address of someone making an Internet phone call. It was not clear what kind of data had provoked the court's concern.' Republicans in Congress are complaining that the hold-up creates a dangerous intelligence gap. An intelligence official quoted in the article concurs, declaring: “Every day, every week that goes by, there's just one more week of information that we're not collecting. You sit there and say, ‘This is unbelievable that we have this gap.'' Apparently the NSA stopped gathering the information in December or January—which means we are now in our fourth or fifth month of the delay. The Democrats have long defended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court by arguing that it is not an impediment to the timely collection of intelligence. If it is true that we have now gone four to five months without collecting this intelligence information because of the court's objections, that would tend to undermine the Democrats' case. House Republicans say that the problem can be solved immediately with a technical fix to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but House Democrats are resisting. Writes the Post: “Some Democrats on Capitol Hill are confident, the officials said, that NSA Director Keith B. Alexander and the Justice Department can address the court's concerns without resorting to legislation. ‘I'm satisfied he's working as quickly as he can but at the same time making sure that he's doing it as thoroughly as possible,' said House intelligence committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas).' Message for Chairman Reyes: Four to five months is not “quickly.' |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #3 Needless to say, this will have an immediate and devastating effect on computer network defense. There must be dancing in the streets in Dearborn, MI. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-04-23 15:57 |
| #2 And hang the obstructionist Democrats who are responsible for the delay. If they pop a WMD that we dont catch due to this, Mr Reyes should be drawn and quartered in front of his wife and children. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2010-04-23 14:49 |
| #1 The judges have just crippled Traffic Analysis beyond all belief. Damned arrogant fools! Knowing who is talking to who, and when they do it is often times MORE important that the message being passed. I am furious beyond belief! Those judges should be shot after a trial for treason. They have actively endangered the safety and welfare of the nation. God Damned LAWYERS - hang the LOT of them! |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2010-04-23 14:46 |