Greenwald's Partner Detained at Heathrow

The White House received a head's up on Britain's retaining Glenn Greewald's partner as he connected through Heathrow Airport

"At the moment anybody can be stopped under this power. There is no need for the police to believe they are a terrorist or to suspect they are a terrorist. The only reason they can talk to them is in order to determine whether they are a terrorist.

"It seems to me there is a question to be answered about whether it should be possible to detain somebody – to keep them for six hours, to download their mobile phone – without the need for any suspicion at all. I hope at least it is something parliament will look at." -- David Anderson QC, independent reviewer of terrorism legislation

This is what a monster wave of retaliation looks like.  British officials refused to say whether they shared the contents of the detainee's electronic devices with U.S. officials.  Given our two countries long history of collaboration, I expect U.S. officials have full access.  Corporate livelihoods are at stake.

Trust the NSA's Internal Reviews

The NSA issued a document on August 9, 2013 supporting President Obama's recently reiterated remarks.  The document closed with typical boilerplate corporate legal language:

NSA personnel are obligated to report when they believe NSA is not, or may not be, acting consistently with law, policy, or procedure. This self reporting is part of the culture and fabric of NSA. If NSA is not acting in accordance with law, policy, or procedure, NSA will report through its internal and external intelligence oversight channels, conduct reviews to understand the root cause, and make appropriate adjustments to constantly improve.

These statements sound great until one explores their use. The NSA's culture and fabric had their leader lie to Congress, the oversight channel, on phone record metadata collection.

In the corporate compliance world language like this is generally used to shift blame for wrongdoing onto the lowest level.  It's also a method for keeping whistle blowers inside, where the company can "manage" the situation.  Frequently, the reporting employee is minimized, shunned or retaliated against.  System problems, rooted in greed or dysfunctional leadership, are ignored and the reporting individual is ostracized. 

When whistleblowers go outside, the company must act in a public way to discredit and destroy the leaker.  I predicted such shortly after Edward Snowden went public.  While the truth teller is hounded, lying leaders remain unscathed.

Update 8-15-13:  WaPo reported on abuses revealed from the NSA's internal reviews.

President Obama on Snowden: Know or No?

HuffPo reported President Obama's contortions on NSA domestic spying.  Before branding Edward Snowden "no patriot," he offered::

"Unfortunately, rather than an orderly and lawful process to debate these issues and come up with appropriate reforms, repeated leaks of classified information have initiated the debate in a very passionate but not always fully informed way," President Obama said. "But given the history of abuse by governments, it's right to ask questions about surveillance, particularly as technology is reshaping every aspect of our lives."

First of all, there is no legal way for issues to be identified to even debate.   Second, it's not history at all.  President Obama is the latest serial abuser.   It's current practice under his Constitutional watch, or lack thereof.

But despite his embrace of reforms, the president had little sympathy for Snowden when asked if the former government contractor could be characterized as a "patriot" and "whistleblower."

"No, I don't think Mr. Snowden was a patriot," Obama said. "The fact is, Mr. Snowden has been charged with three felonies."

What happened to innocent until proven guilty?  This is but more horse hockey from America's latest Chief Executive. 

There is no legal way to have Obama's "healthy debate."  The American people are expected to silently comply. 

Freedom vs. Security According to PEW

"Few See Adequate Limits on NSA Surveillance Program" - July 26, 2013

1776 vs. 2013

The Government-Corporate Monstrosity offers this fresh message from Booz Allen Hamilton's Chairman and CEO:

The most significant news of the past quarter was the abhorrent actions of former employee, Edward Snowden, who had worked at Booz Allen for less than 10 weeks. I spoke to all of our employees at a townhall meeting the week following his announcement that he had leaked highly sensitive national security information. I'd like to share with you something I said to our people that day. I told our employees, Mr. Snowden was on our payroll for a short period of time, but he was not a Booz Allen person and he did not share our values. We cannot and will not let him define us. That is the most important message I can convey. You define us. The work we do for our clients defines us.

Now in that regard, we continue to do everything possible to support our clients' mission and the United States government's law enforcement investigation. Within the firm, we're being vigilant and are supporting our employees, especially those working with the intelligence community. And on a personal note, I've been touched by the words of support from those in the business community and especially from our clients, showing that our long-term clients know the kind of company we are.

I'd like to leave that subject behind now and talk about the things we can control. First and foremost, we're serving our clients with the highest-quality work and commitment to their mission. We're supporting our people and the communities in which we work and live, and are delivering value to our stockholders through effective management of the business and capital deployment choices. And we're making some exciting plans to recognize Booz Allen Hamilton's 100th anniversary year, which begins in January of 2014. 

Ralph W. Shrader - Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, President, Chairman of Executive Committee, Chairman of Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee, Chairman of The Board of Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp, Chief Executive Officer of Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp and President of Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp - made these remarks in today's Booz Allen Hamilton earnings call.

How far has the United States come since our founding?  Recall a more mature Thomas Jefferson turned down an inheritance that would've free his slaves, later putting those same slaves up as collateral for a huge loan. 

After 237 years the little people remain. 

"Don't Talk to Listed Terrorists" but Pentagon Won't Share List

The universal defense to the myriad of domestic spying programs is "If you're not talking with terrorists, we're not violating your privacy."  Operationalized, this turns into "if you're not connected to terrorists by three intermediary relationships, think Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon, we're not looking at you."  Those relationships could be as simple as someone reading a blog, Twitter feed or Facebook page.  HuffPo reported:

President Obama said again and again that the U.S. is at war with “Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their associated forces.” 

The Pentagon refused to identify with whom America is at war:

A Pentagon spokesman said revealing such a list (of associated forces) could cause “serious damage to national security.”

“Because elements that might be considered ‘associated forces’ can build credibility by being listed as such by the United States, we have classified the list,” said the spokesman, Lt. Col. Jim Gregory. “We cannot afford to inflate these organizations that rely on violent extremist ideology to strengthen their ranks.”

Americans are supposed to avoid people who know people who might talk to someone who "might be considered associated forces," but those groups are a secret.  And Americans can't look up on a public database and find when Congress declared war and on whom.  Does this make any sense?  Only in today's world of abysmal leadership, spin and hyper-complexity.

No Need for "Get Out of Jail Free"

The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald reported:

...the most powerful political officials cannot commit crimes or engage in serious wrongdoing. The only political crimes come from exposing and aggressively challenging those officials. How is it anything other than pure whistleblowing to disclose secret documents proving that top government officials have been systematically deceiving the public about vital matters and/or skirting if not violating legal and Constitutional limits?

The same applies to the most powerful private officials, specifically the big money boys, many of whom are private equity underwriters (PEU's).  The Carlyle Group somehow avoided a bad name for:

1.  Bilking Medicaid for unnecessary and/or poor quality dental procedures on kids.  - Church Street Health Management
2.  Bribing Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers, wife of Rep. John Conyers (D-MI).  -Synagro Technologies
3.  Twenty five patient deaths in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  -LifeCare Hospitals

Carlyle cofounders David Rubenstein, Bill Conway and Danny D'Aniello settled with the New York State Attorney General for $20 million to get out of a pension "pay to play" investigation.

Neither politicians, appointed officials or their financiers are held to account for their misdeeds, much less charged with crimes.  They're insulated and protected by fellow members of the Government-Corporate Monstrosity, Eisnehower's Military-Industrial Complex on trillions in federal steroids.

General James Clapper defended the Government-Corporate Monstrosity by vilifying Snowden and anyone who might show actual concern.  Clapper defended his three years as a Booz Allen Hamilton executive and his subsequent enrichment via the GCM.

(In 1995) Clapper worked as executive director of military intelligence programs for defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. In 1998 he moved on to Intelligence Programs director for SRA International, another government contractor.  In October 2006 Clapper was hired as chief operating officer for DFI Government Services, a national security consulting firm. DFI was soon acquired by Detica which was, in turn, bought out by BAE Systems. Also in October 2006, Clapper joined the board of directors of 3001 International, a prime contractor of the NGA that was acquired by Northup Grumman in September 2008.

The GCM has an all out war on whistleblowers, the public servant and private employee kind.  Whistleblowers face a monster wave of retaliation. The politically powerful, who lie with no conscience, face no consequences.  Image must be maintained at all costs.