Senator Bob Corker Says NSA Should Be Spying On More Americans, Not Fewer

from the say-what-now? dept

Wed, May 13th 2015 12:36pm — Mike Masnick

Senator Bob Corker, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, appears to now be calling for the NSA to spy on more Americans, rather than fewer, arguing that the metadata collection program that is currently being debated in Congress is so small that he considers it negligent.

"It's almost malpractice," Corker said at a breakfast for reporters hosted by The Christian Science Monitor. "That's the best word I can use to describe the amount of data that is being collected."

Corker, who said the NSA's data collection needs to be "ramped up hugely", was reacting to a closed-door briefing that national security officials held Tuesday to brief senators on federal surveillance programs....

[....]

"I think there was an aha moment (Tuesday) for people on both sides of the aisle when we realized how little data is being collected.... It's beyond belief how little data is part of this program, especially if the goal is to uncover terrorists."

Now, this is the same Senator Corker who originally was quite disturbed when he first heard about the very same program after it was leaked by Ed Snowden (suggesting he was completely unaware of it prior to it leaking, despite being a Senator). Back in June of 2013, he sent an angry letter to the President about how such "broad collection" raised "extremely serious concerns."

But now he thinks the NSA should actually be spying on more Americans? It sounds like the NSA briefing that was just given to Senators was designed to really ramp up the fear-mongering.

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Filed Under: bob corker, metadata, nsa, section 215, surveillance

42 Comments

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David, 13 May 2015 @ 12:40pm

Almost makes you wonder...
If Corkers briefing was on what the NSA knows about his particular meta-data?
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 12:51pm

Re: Almost makes you wonder...
Indeed - I suspect nothing "impresses" a politician more than being told who they've been talking to, who they visit, and where they spend their money - during the off hours.
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leehb9 (profile), 13 May 2015 @ 12:52pm

Well, he's sure got the right name....
He is definitely a Corker!
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 12:57pm

That's ok, I believe Bob Corker should be groveling for forgiveness from more Americans.

Guess we're both gonna be disappointed.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 12:59pm

The NSA needs to collect more data. Clearly, their current approach isn't doing anything to stop the daily terror attacks on US soil.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 1:02pm

Right words, wrong implications.
> we realized how little data is being collected

From the NSA dictionary:
"collected" - data which has been seized from the internet and subsequently reviewed by an agent.

See also emptywheel.net.

So in the NSA's terms, "we need more people to watch you all".
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 1:05pm

Maybe he was persuaded to come around.
Perhaps at the briefing members were handed dossiers with their names on them.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 1:16pm

I didn't know there was such a thing as "more" than literally all of something?
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 1:27pm

It sounds like the NSA briefing that was just given to Senators was designed to really ramp up the fear-mongering.

Either that, or a certain Senator just received a big fat check from the military industrial complex.

Take your pick.

These members of our government are vile. That have nothing but absolute contempt for all of us.
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You are being watched (profile), 13 May 2015 @ 1:39pm

His complete turn around is more likely him being blackmailed than anything else. Nothing like the NSA collecting all of your data to know what you've been up to in order to put you in place.
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limbodog (profile), 13 May 2015 @ 1:45pm

Wait, what?
So it has nothing to do with going after suspects, it's just going after enough people? That's what matters?
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Whoever, 13 May 2015 @ 1:51pm

Perhaps the NSA "impressed" him ..
and by "impress", I mean found something potentially damaging in his own personal communications.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 1:53pm

Or in the closed door meeting the NSA showed Senator Corker his web browsing history....
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John Fenderson (profile), 13 May 2015 @ 1:54pm

Re:
"That have nothing but absolute contempt for all of us."

What truly amazes me is that political insiders have been telling us about this fact for much longer than I've even been alive, and yet so few people really seem to believe it.
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AnonCow, 13 May 2015 @ 2:00pm

Someone should remind Corker and the rest of the Senate about the oath they took:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States..."
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 2:03pm

Don't worry about this data-collection, it's not even enough.
It sounds like he's trying to convince people that the NSA isn't collecting large amounts of data.
Saying they collect so little that it's not even enough, so little that you shouldn't worry about it.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 2:07pm

Re:
I didn't know there was such a thing as "more" than literally all of something?
Although NSA's collections far exceed their Constitutional authority, their purported lawful authority (which itself claims to exceed their actual Constitutional authority), and basic good sense, they are not collecting everything. Supposedly, they are not bulk recording the content of purely domestic calls, nor bulk recording e-mail that manages to remain entirely safe from EO12333, nor having much luck getting bulk access to encrypted data. They may collect some communications from those categories, but they would love to have all of the communications in those categories. They do far more than they are Constitutionally allowed to do, and far more than is sane to do, but they do not do everything yet.
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sigalrm (profile), 13 May 2015 @ 2:07pm

Re: Wait, what?
It's not about going after enough people.

It's about going after potential terrorists. Which can be easily defined as "Everyone on the planet who doesn't work for the NSA
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 2:09pm

I wonder what the NSA has on this guy. Gay boyfrind? Raped a minor? Visits hookers often?
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sigalrm (profile), 13 May 2015 @ 2:11pm

Re:
Or what he _thinks_ they have on him.
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sigalrm (profile), 13 May 2015 @ 2:14pm

Re: Re:
"My politician is honest. It's all the others that are crooks".

It's cognitive dissonance at enormous scale.
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John Fenderson (profile), 13 May 2015 @ 2:32pm

Re: Re:
"Supposedly, they are not bulk recording the content of purely domestic calls, nor bulk recording e-mail that manages to remain entirely safe from EO12333"

I'm not nearly as confident as you about this. I find it interesting that when they say they aren't doing these things, they never say they aren't doing these things at all, they only say that they aren't doing them under "this program".
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 2:36pm

Re: Re: Wait, what?
Your definition is too narrow. Since the Snowden incident, the NSA believes some of the people that work for it are also terrorists.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 2:44pm

Re: Re: Re:
Hence the qualifier "supposedly."
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 2:44pm

Idiots
Mass collection of 'ambiguous' data is obviously not enough...
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 2:49pm

When he says that he means he and his fellow war mongering power elite should exempt from any such programs.

Only the slaves and serfs need to be spied on to be kept in their place by their betters.
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sigalrm (profile), 13 May 2015 @ 2:57pm

Re:
Well, Field Manual 1984 states quite clearly that's how the proletariat should be handled.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 2:59pm

Re: Re: Re:
Yup.

Gallup's most recent (April) poll on Congressional Job Approval is only 15% approval. However reelection rates are apparently well over 80%.

At some point citizens are going to have to realize that they are part of the problem too.
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Anon, 13 May 2015 @ 3:24pm

Tennessee
Please, Techdirt, when you refer to an elected representative, give the state where they are from, like this:
Sen. Bob Corker (TN)
Give blame where it's due. People of Tennessee, have you lost your minds when you elected this guy?
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 3:31pm

Re: Tennessee
Lazy are we or under-educated?

It's not that hard to highlight any word, right click, and select search. Most browsers are capable of this.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 3:43pm

I actually agree. Compared to other organizations technology and programs, having knowledge of phone calls seems like an appropriate response.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 4:11pm

The United Fascists of America is doomed!
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J.R, 13 May 2015 @ 4:34pm

Is Corker a closet Communist or something? Seems like the kind of thing ex-KGB officer Tsar Vladimir [Putin} would want.
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Giles Byles, 13 May 2015 @ 4:50pm

"Supposedly, they are not bulk recording the content of purely domestic calls, nor bulk recording e-mail that manages to remain entirely safe from EO12333."

This statement seems naive to me. Are not domestic calls & e-mail carried via the very photons hurtling through the backbone that the NSA is so fond of siphoning out & forwarding to Bluffdale for archiving? What they're "recording" is raw bits along with some "metadata" to categorize it. They "collect it all." They don't need to differentiate right now. They like to think they can somehow sift through it later & find nuggets if there's a perceived need.

Not enough data? Mr. Corker probably doesn't understand what a fatpipe is, an ignorance he shares with a vast majority of the citizenry. Doesn't grok the basic concept of umpty-nine zillion modulated photons flowing down a toob. The populace at large certainly doesn't know––-& they don't want to know.

Hoovering photons ("legal" under 702) is probably the most egregiously treasonous of all the treasonous activities NSA engages in. But we don't talk about that. That discussion doesn't come up until 2017, I gather.

The only thing that saves us from tyranny at the moment is that they have accumulated more pure noise than they know what to do with & can't find ANYTHING. Must be like drowning in a grain bin.

& they're so preoccupied with blackmail, intimidation & corporate chicanery, they don't have time to deal with "terr'rism."

Tho I bet they have followed all the threads back to who hacked Sony. But they can't say anything because the party line involving NK is a big LIE.

Thanks, I had fun with this. I'll put my tinfoil gimp-mask back on now.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 4:59pm

Re: Re: Tennessee
you are just as apathetic as everyone else seems to be
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KRA, 13 May 2015 @ 5:38pm

Re: Almost makes you wonder...
My first thought
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jimb (profile), 13 May 2015 @ 5:49pm

Let's start with him...
I'm sure Sen. Corker has nothing to hide... so he should have no problem with the government and the rest of the country learning all about him. After all, privacy is overrated when it comes in the way of fighting "Terrorists". So perhaps we should let all of Sen. Corker's most personal information, financial, personal, health, employment, everything get out in public as well as in the hands of the government. After all, once the government has all our data its just one breach away from that kind of 'freedom and safety' for all of us.
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That One Guy (profile), 13 May 2015 @ 5:52pm

It may be my memory acting up, but I seem to recall that the NSA wasn't supposed to be gathering domestic data at all, and was solely supposed to be collecting foreign communications, as there are other agencies to deal with domestic concerns, hence why they always try and claim that any domestic data collected was purely 'accidental'.

Saying they should gather more domestic data then is a terrible idea for two reasons in that case, as it's acting as though they should be collecting domestic communications, as well as telling them to do so on an even greater scale than they already do.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2015 @ 9:16pm

Oh, put a cork in it.
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me, 14 May 2015 @ 4:40am

Bob Corker
Go screw
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Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2015 @ 8:06am

Re: Well, he's sure got the right name....
...but not the 'outstanding statement' definition. I'm sure you are referring to the 'open the bottle for the NSA' definition.
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John Fenderson (profile), 14 May 2015 @ 8:42am

Re: Re: Well, he's sure got the right name....
Hmm, I was unfamiliar with the "outstanding statement" definition of "corker", but looking it up I learned two things: yes, that's an accepted definition, and the people in my part of the country don't use that definition ever.

Around here, we use the Irish definition: an odd, unique, peculiar, special, etc. person. Not necessarily bad, though not good either.
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