Keith Alexander: We Need More Spying In The Future Because All Of Our Previous Spying Has Only Increased The Number Of Terrorist Attacks
from the No-Such-Agency:-no-such-thing-as-'too-much-surveillance' dept
The New Yorker has published excerpts of a lengthy interview with retired NSA head Gen. Keith Alexander. Along with the usual defenses of the surveillance apparatus he ran for eight years (with his fiery "collect it all" attitude), Alexander makes the case for continued pervasive surveillance while admitting the last decade-plus of spying hasn't made the US -- or the world -- any safer.
[T]hink about how secure our nation has been since 9/11. We take great pride in it. It’s not because of me. It’s because of those people who are working, not just at N.S.A. but in the rest of the intelligence community, the military, and law enforcement, all to keep this country safe. But they have to have tools. With the number of attacks that are coming, the probability, it’s growing—Alexander says the world is less safe despite the NSA's nearly completely unchecked programs, but he still insists more spying will make us more safe. This follows shortly after Alexander rehashed the same, provably-wrong story that the nation's surveillance and investigative agencies simply didn't have enough "tools" to prevent the 9/11 attacks.
- I’m sorry, could you say that once more?
The probability of an attack getting through to the United States, just based on the sheer numbers, from 2012 to 2013, that I gave you—look at the statistics. If you go from just eleven thousand to twenty thousand, what does that tell you? That’s more. That’s fair, right?
- I don’t know. I think it depends what the twenty thousand—
—deaths. People killed. From terrorist attacks. These aren’t my stats. The University of Maryland does it for the State Department.
- I’ll look at them. I will. So you’re saying that the probability of an attack is growing.
The probability is growing. What I saw at N.S.A. is that there is a lot more coming our way. Just as someone is revealing all the tools and the capabilities we have. What that tells me is we’re at greater risk. I can’t measure it. You can’t say, Well, is that enough to get through? I don’t know.
And as for those ultra-scary terrorist attack numbers, a little context goes a long way. Marcy Wheeler at Emptywheel notes that these rising numbers are concentrated in the areas of the world where terrorist attacks are simply part of everyday life.
Although terrorist attacks occurred in 93 different countries, they were heavily concentrated geographically. More than half of all attacks (57%), fatalities (66%), and injuries (73%) occurred in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. By wide margin, the highest number of fatalities (6,378), attacks (2,495) and injuries (14,956) took place in Iraq.This isn't the US becoming less safe thanks to increasing terrorism. This is about areas of the world where the US has inserted itself -- via concentrated surveillance efforts, military intervention, drone strikes, etc. -- and managed to make the situation worse for the residents of those countries.
What Alexander points to as evidence that spying should continue unabated is actually an implicit admission that the War on Terror has been lost. This has been the nation's primary focus since 2001 and the number of violent acts only continues to increase. But Alexander feels these numbers point to a "failure" on the NSA's part -- but that "failure" is chalked up to a lack of "tools," rather than an admission that mass, untargeted spying is rarely useful.
Alexander bemoans the "harm" done by the Snowden leaks while simultaneously laying bare the failure of the US government to do anything more than exacerbate existing problems. He seems to think we're due for another attack. If the past is any indication, all the spying in the world won't prevent it. It didn't prevent the 2001 attack. And having every program in place, combined with a decade of technological advancements, didn't prevent the Boston Bombing.
If this seems worrying coming from someone who just exited the Head Spy job, just think about what this mindset means for Alexander's future endeavors. Here's Wheeler:
We shouldn’t be surprised that we’re losing a war fighting which Alexander was one of the longest tenured generals (though I don’t think he bears primary responsibility for the policy decisions that have led to this state). After all, last year, Alexander said that also under his watch, we had been plundered like a colony via cyberattacks. He seems to think he lost both the war on terror and on cyberattacks.
Which, if you’re invested in Wall Street, ought to alarm you. Because that’s where Keith Alexander is headed to wage war next.
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Filed Under: keith alexander, nsa, surveillance, terrorism
Reader Comments
The First Word
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Of course it hasn't made us more safe.
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terrorism goals
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Re: terrorism goals
The American Government is the #1 Terrorist that Americans need to be concerned with!
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The root equation for all government "speak"
Until this is changed... nothing will change.
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Evidence of likelihood of domestic attacks...
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First, previous spying has increased terrorist attacks? I want to know where. The moron who tried to set his underwear on fire? The moron who tried to turn his car into a bomb and then locked his car keys in his car, which he was caught when he tried to retrieve something from his car? The moron who tried to set his shoes on fire?
Second, the previous attempts in which his agency was caught spying on terrorists in the first place?
The whole of spying on someone is NOT TO GET CAUGHT DOING SO. If Keith Alexander's agency got caught spying, the it's obvious that his agency is not very good at it.
I repeat, Keith Alexander's agency spying on terrorists, they're not very good at it if they caught spying in the first place.
LOLS
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Then you send a missile to take out that target and instead take out a wedding party or a funeral possession that had nothing to do with terrorism. Or send a missile into a house that only innocents are there and kill them.
In an effort to cover your tracks you claim everyone over 16 years old is a terrorist whether they are or not.
When the UN decides to investigate over war crimes you refuse to provide that information from the drone cameras.
In the end the collateral damage you have created with people hating you for killing innocent victims turns into a recruiting theme for the terrorists.
Surely it's just spying that is causing an increase in terrorism, uh? We don't have to talk about how willingly blind the government is officially to the public about this.
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This is precisely what they want.
More NSA funding = more terrorism.
NSA and Al-Qaeda, sitting in a tree...
(There's a reason why, as we speak, the CIA is arming and funding Al Qaeda in Syria. They're courting another repeat of 9/11. All it will take to silence USGov's critics, and turn Americans into unquestioning patriots for a few more years, is another spectacular terror attack on US soil. Then the NSA and CIA will have free rein for another while, to expand their powers, until their momentum is once again undercut by the sheer number of atrocities they commit.)
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Who needs patriots?
Really, why aren't they going all-in? Sending hit squads to execute world leaders in broad daylight; declaring martial law and a new world order, that sort of thing. After all this time, what repercussions could they possibly still be afraid of?
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" - You see that rock in your yard?
- Yeah, I do.
- Have you ever had a death in your family since that rock was there?
- No, I didn't.
- See! That rock has been protecting you against the evils of the world all along!"
It's a BS argument with no basis in reality and no proof to back it up. If all of their spying would've worked, then we would see stopped terrorist plots in their documents. But we saw none.
Stop lying NSA. Nobody believes you anyway.
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Obviously less fire isn't working; ADD MORE FIRE!
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Re:
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Um...
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This is a TRUST issue, in the same vain as "if you have nothing too hide", well,"if you dont have the fucking tools"
Oh!Governments, treaties....if you have nothing to hide???
Works both ways, except, you hiding something affects a hell of alot more folks, you, with out a doubt, are a MUCH MUCH more higher priority in disclosing, it stupifies me that it is reversed, makes me godamn suspicious
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Why does Keith Alexander hate America?
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Fuck em' all !
Hope to see more Tech start overseas in more friendly Nations.Hope to see more Nations give the MAFIAA the two fingered salute too.
These spying supporters have told so many lies.And so many fools have ate those lies and come back for more food off the table of their masters.
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Re:
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That the policy in place (adding more surveillance) isn't working.
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Re:
Actually, I don't think this is so. I think it's even worse than that -- it seems to me that he's a True Believer.
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That we need to work on adding basic statistics to our education programs?
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Hey Keith?
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You just don't get it. If we put the last straw onto the haystack, it will break the camel's back and then Al Qaeda will have to walk.
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Who's bloody side is he on?
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Our Freedoms Are Safe Here In The USA
So don't sweat the small stuff. We can sleep safe at night, with that ultimate guarantor of our rights close at hand, under that pillow.
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Humph.
Well, drone attacks on sovereign ground with civil casualties certainly count as terrorist attacks, so I�expect a lot of those additional casualties to be directly accountable to U.S. killings.
Of course, those trigger sentiments that then result in combat activities against the U.S. state-driven terrorism, leading to further casualties for which the U.S. is ultimately responsible.
And the answer is to heap more manure on human rights and civility.
The U.S. has grown into a nation of savages.
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This article is just wrong
First, Alexander did not say that NSA had made no difference. In fact, he pointed dozens of cases where it had. The US was safer due to these programs.
Second, he demonstrated clearly how this program would most probably have prevented 9-11.
Finally, it would be preposterous to believe that such a program did not add to safety. If it is strong enough to worry people about privacy, then it is strong enough to detect terrorist plots. Contrary to fictional portrayals, terrorists aren't supermen or evil geniuses. They are, however, not completely stupid, which is why they have changed their encryption since Snowden let them know how they were being tracked.
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Re: This article is just wrong
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Re: Re: This article is just wrong
That's what the NRA has got to do with it. John Moore sides with Alexander because he's identified himself with the True Patriots - you know, the kind who cheerlead drone strikes, etc.
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