Money And Power: The Real Reason For The NSA Spying On Everyone
from the money-money-money dept
More than four years ago, we wrote about all the buzz that you were hearing about "cyberwar" was little more than an attempt to drum up FUD to get the government to throw billions of dollars at private contractors. We noted that Booz Allen Hamilton (yes, the last employer of one Ed Snowden) had hired former NSA director and also Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell as its Vice Chairman. He was the leading voice out there screaming about the threat of "cyberwar" getting on TV and having lots of opinion pieces in big name publications -- all of which mentioned his former government jobs, but almost none of which mentioned that his current employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, stood to make billions selling "solutions" to the government. And, indeed, Booz Allen has been raking in the cash on "cybersecurity."This is worth keeping in mind as you read this fascinating interview with NSA whistleblower, Bill Binney, in which he lays this out plain and simple. The real reason for all this NSA surveillance is about money and power. "Stop terrorism" is secondary. After pointing out that all of this data collection has been basically useless in stopping terrorism (as confirmed by multiple independent accounts of the NSA's activities), the interviewer asks Binney why the NSA keeps doing it:
So why do they keep doing it?As Clay Shirky famously noted years ago, "Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution." That appears to absolutely be the case here. It's why there's so much FUD. The NSA and the rest of the intelligence community has built up the threat to be this huge issue that requires huge dollars as well. And once they have the huge dollars and the giant staff, they have to keep that up. So they have to create a continuing problem for which they are the solution -- and since it's all (mostly) done in secret, you get this nefarious circle (as opposed to virtuous), in which more FUD is spread, more money flows in and everyone has to justify themselves to keep it all going.
Money. It takes a lot of money, you have to build up Bluffdale [the location of the NSA's data storage center, in Utah] to store all the data. If you collect all the data, you've got to store it, you have to hire more people to analyze it, you have to hire more contractors, managers to manage the flow. You have to start a big data initiative. It's an empire. Look at what they've built! Have you ever looked around all the buildings they've built up because of 9/11?
So that's what it's all about, expanding the budget for the intelligence community?
If you have a problem, you need money to solve it. But if you solve that problem, you no longer have the justification to get money. That's the way they view it - keep the problem going, so the money keeps flowing. Once you build up this big empire, you have to sustain it. ... Look at the influence and power the intelligence community has over the government. They [the government] are giving them everything they want, they're trying to cover up all their tracks and their crimes. Look at the influence and power they're gaining.
Whistleblowers like Binney and Snowden actually disrupt that circle and put a threat to the money flows.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: bill binney, contractors, cyberwar, lobbying, nsa, surveillance
Companies: booz allen
Reader Comments
The First Word
“Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Over a decade after 9/11 the only terroristic plots that were stopped were set in motion by law enforcement and intel agencies themselves. The real ones were not prevented (ie: Boston) so it's about time people start being replaced. Same with the cyberFUD, despite all the money thrown in major attacks leave just the pieces to be dealt with afterwards. This money could be better used actually benefiting the citizens.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I have been telling this to junior programmers for years: Program yourself out of a job just once and you will ALWAYS have one.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
If only that were true.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
And a really huge problem at that. Nobody in a business should be indispensable. If that's ever the case, the business is at risk.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
But remember: they really do, sincerely, believe that they ARE the good guys.
But Pol Pot and Adolf Hitler thought they were the good guys, too.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9wXq6oRBnI from Defcon 21. It talks about how the message presented by both sides, government vs hackers, has been misconstrued. You just have to look at the issue from both sides.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The majority follow the law?
That is an incredibly naive thing to say. Consider for example, that: [i] the U.S. war against Iraq beyond question was the most heinous of war crimes, a war of aggression; and the Uniform Code of Military Justice forbids everyone in the U.S. armed services from obeying unlawful orders. So how many officers refused to obey their orders to invade Iraq and bomb it back into the Stone Age? None that I ever heard of, not a single one.
Most people in government don't give a damn about the law; they just want to slide from one paycheck to the next until they retire (as enjoyably as possible the entire journey) and get as many pay raises along the way as they can. And only a tiny fraction are willing to blow the whistle when the agency's compliance with the law derails. Almost invariably, those few brave whistle-blowers suffer massive retaliation.
There are literally thousands of lawyers in the U.S. --- not working for government --- who specialize in suing the government using other statutes and the Administrative Procedures Act. Do you really imagine that the vast majority of people working in government spend so much as a solitary thought in their typical working day about "follow[ing] the law?"
If they did, all those administrative lawyers would have to switch the focus of their legal practices to legal issues not involving the government!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
The reply is simple: even if YOU are the good guys and we can trust you the next guys in charge may not be as good. If something is open for abuse it will be abused by someone at some point even if all the other people are "good".
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
> next guys in charge may not be as good
This is exactly what already happened after 9/11.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Also, police militarization
If crime is declining, they'll invent new crimes to enforce. If enemies start disappearing, they'll invent new enemies to spy on. It's all the same shit sandwich, no matter how you slice it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Weeee, . .
So sure! Let's give all this power to some trusted fellow American, and have ourselves another spin on the merry-go-round.
--
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
From the day we arrived on the planet, and took a blinking step onto the Internet,
There is more to see, than can ever be spied on, more to hack than can ever be done.
...
It's the circle of life, and it moves us all
sustained by terrorists, both real and false
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"Trust us, we are the good guys"
If someone says "we are the good guys", it USUALLY means that they are not!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: "Trust us, we are the good guys"
Don't listen to what they say, look at what they do.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: "Trust us, we are the good guys"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: "Trust us, we are the good guys"
trust me on this one.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: "Trust us, we are the good guys"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The new Soviet Union
For a while, they were trying to push China into that position, but the Chinese didn't play along (it's difficult to sincerely see your biggest customer as your enemy, even if you try).
9/11 was the answer to their prayers.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The new Soviet Union
I think the guys at the USG took the phrase "God helps those who help themselves" a little bit too seriously -.-
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: The new Soviet Union
I don't think people in the USG are that far gone.
(I've been wrong before, tho...)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
How far would they go?
I used to consider this fiction, but today I don't feel sure about anything. They have the power, the means, the motivation(money)and they don't seem to have any problems lying and inflicting harm and pain(torture).
I think this is a slight possibility, but all in all I think that I am more scared of this than any terrorist.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Bluffdale
Look at all this data we collected, it's stopped so many (of our own) terrorist plots! Oh, you want to cut our funding, maybe next time one of the (our) plots might go through... IWe dare you to call our Bluff [dale]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Misdirection
The real reason for the spying is that government, corporations, and plutocrats regard all of us as potential terrorists; an immediate danger to their power and control. As a result, they are willing to give unlimited money and power to NSA and others to keep an eye on us, which leads to the secondary money and power dreams of the NSA.
This should be apparent to anyone: It is clear despite denials and dissembling, that the NSA is far more interested in watching citizens, than it is foreigners. Most people either enthusiastically agree NSA has a right, or at least accept the need for NSA, to observer foreigners. So think about it: Why else does NSA expend so much effort to get around the laws protecting citizens from snooping?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
oh boy
It's hard to disagree with it, because it's so hard to know where to start. All the loose ends are neatly tied up into NSA Boo!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: oh boy
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: oh boy
There is absolutely no way you could be living on earth and truly believe the things you post here, save possibly a head injury. Since it is obvious you write as a contrary point to everything that is being shown to be true, I have to assume you are being paid to do so.
However, I sincerely hope that you post in this manner, because you secretly rebel against the machine and have decided the best way to spread the truth is to lie in a fashion that is obvious to all but your employers.
Again, I thank you for your public service - showing everyone just how dishonest the opposing arguments made by "official authority" really are.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Seek an increase in your global corporation's net profits and the ability to undermine the development of similar businesses in other countries? Sure, we can help you with that. Seek to change the status quo and bring righteousness to public office? No, no, see we can't have any of that. Oh, here we've stumbled across a long lost tryst of yours. Wow, those are some great pictures! Would be a shame if they became public, though. And here it seems that we've manufactured some financial malfeasance on your part because we can alter your bank records. Too bad you wanted to do so much for the people. So sad.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Same happens when a charity loses it's disease.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I'm not going to say
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
government spying reason revealed!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]