Considering the pro-NSA nature of the source, the Wall Street Journal, late tonight, has published an unusual story, titled: "New Details Show Broader NSA Surveillance Reach." At the very least, the article represents a propagandized concession in response to public clamoring for greater knowledge regarding the vast extent of the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance programs. Citing multiple unnamed sources, today's WSJ lead provides yet another confirmation (above and beyond Edward Snowden, and the media surrounding his revelations), albeit via an NSA-centric narrative, which definitively verifies much of what NSA whistleblowers William Binney, J. Kirk Wiebe, Thomas Drake, Russell Tice, AT&T senior technical specialist Mark Klein, and New York Times reporters Eric Lichtblau and James Risen, as well as many others, have been providing in reports to the public for the past 12 years.
From the perspective of this blogger, today's WSJ article by Siobahn Gorman and Jennifer Valentino Devries is somewhat of a milestone. Essentially, it provides the public with a veritable "verification from the status quo" (concerning previously-reported facts) from the top of the mainstream media's food chain in our current news cycle; to the point where, IMHO, many of the media outlets and pundits that have been going out of their way to discredit these brave whistleblowers' stories, over many months and years past, will have little choice from this point forward but to acknowledge these inconvenient truths about our inverted totalitarian state as being....wait for it...reality! (Naturally, in the WSJ's version of "reality," their "facts" are peppered with government assurances of "effective oversight" which, in and of itself, has been proven in recent reports on this massive story to be patently false.)
From the larger excerpt, farther down...
What is new in the Journal's report?
Previous reports have indicated that the NSA's surveillance of telecommunications lines in the U.S. focuses on international gateways and landing points. Other reports have indicated that surveillance of the U.S. telecom network was used to gather only metadata under a program that the NSA says ended in 2011.
The Journal reporting demonstrates that the NSA, in conjunction with telecommunications companies, has built a system that can reach deep into the U.S. Internet backbone and cover 75% of traffic in the country, including not only metadata but the content of online communications. The report also explains how the NSA relies on probabilities, algorithms and filtering techniques to sift through the data and find information related to foreign intelligence investigations...
Of course, when all's said and done, we are talking about the status quo's stenographers (and their absurdly overdue attempt to mollify a very ill-at-ease public) over at the
Wall Street Journal. In their eyes, per the article, our government's trampling of its citizens' Fourth Amendment rights and press freedom(s) is, simply:
"...the profound transformation of personal privacy in America."
New Details Show Broader NSA Surveillance Reach
Siobahn Gorman, Jennifer Valentino-Devries
August 20, 2013, 11:31 p.m.
Programs Cover 75% of Nation's Traffic, Can Snare Emails
WASHINGTON—The National Security Agency—which possesses only limited legal authority to spy on U.S. citizens—has built a surveillance network that covers more Americans' Internet communications than officials have publicly disclosed, current and former officials say...
(NOTE: When I last checked it, the story links will bypass the
WSJ's paywall; but I cannot guarantee they will remain functional. The
WSJ could shift them around at any time. The graphic is provided via a link from Zero Hedge.)
Here's a link and an excerpt to an accompanying piece from the reporters, currently running on the WSJ blog...
What You Need to Know on New Details of NSA Spying
By JENNIFER VALENTINO-DEVRIES and SIOBHAN GORMAN
Wall Street Journal Online
August 21st, 2013 8:10PM
...New Details Show Broader NSA Reach
Although the system is focused on collecting foreign communications, it includes content of Americans' emails and other electronic communications, as well as "metadata," which involves information such as the "to" or "from" lines of emails, or the IP addresses people are using.
At key points along the U.S. Internet infrastructure, the NSA has worked with telecommunications providers to install equipment that copies, scans and filters large amounts of the traffic that passes through.
This system had its genesis before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and has expanded since then.
What is new in the Journal's report?
Previous reports have indicated that the NSA's surveillance of telecommunications lines in the U.S. focuses on international gateways and landing points. Other reports have indicated that surveillance of the U.S. telecom network was used to gather only metadata under a program that the NSA says ended in 2011.
The Journal reporting demonstrates that the NSA, in conjunction with telecommunications companies, has built a system that can reach deep into the U.S. Internet backbone and cover 75% of traffic in the country, including not only metadata but the content of online communications. The report also explains how the NSA relies on probabilities, algorithms and filtering techniques to sift through the data and find information related to foreign intelligence investigations...
Stating the obvious, while the
WSJ's article covers significant detail regarding the NSA's Internet-related surveillance, the newspaper actually reports upon sources and information (i.e.: statements referencing AT&T, Narus and Boeing) where whistleblowers, such as former NSA senior employeee
Bill Binney, have provided extensive information regarding the efforts of those firms to facilitate the NSA's domestic phone wiretapping/surveillance (
content) dragnet.
(As I've documented the matter within this community in many posts, the reality that there's a domestic phone content dragnet surveilling the country has been noted by approximately 12 reliable sources sine 9/11. Much more about this last topic in the second part of this two-part post. I've been working on this aspect of the story for quite awhile; and, it appears that at least a few in the press--while still beating around the bush on this story, despite numerous credible verifications of it--are beginning to push the proverbial envelope with regard to moving beyond simple inferences about these greater truths, too. )
# # #
Here are a few links to some of my recent posts documenting the rise of our surveillance state:
Greenwald on ABC: Low-Level NSA Analysts Read, Listen Via Database of "Trillions" of Emails, Calls (7/28/13)
Disturbing News on the Early Opening of the NSA's Utah Datacenter and the FBI (7/20/13)
Long before anyone ever heard of Edward Snowden, it was already time to fight the good fight (7/18/13)
Is America An Inverted Totalitarian State? Or, Is It On Its Way To Becoming One? (w/Poll) (7/11/13)
NYT: “In Secret, Court Vastly Broadens Powers of N.S.A.” FISC almost "...parallel Supreme Court" (7/6/13)
“Non-lethal,” Weaponized Drones Coming To A Town Near You. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (7/4/13)
NYT Lead: C.I.A. Inspector General’s “Report Finds Concerns With Ties to New York Police” (6/27/13)
Pyrrhic Insanity: The Full-Court Press On Snowden Intensifies; D.C. Goes Into Full Orwell Mode (6/24/13)
It's time we stopped mincing words... (Updated) (6/13/13)
"A Message From Your Friendly ECHELON/Total Awareness/Boundless Informant Surveillance System" (6/11/13)
A Stunning Lead In Sunday’s NYT: “How the U.S. Uses Technology to Mine More Data More Quickly” (6/9/13)
Guardian Releases New, Top Secret Docs On NSA Data-Mining Tool, “Boundless Informant” (6/8/13)
NYT: All U.S. phone metadata records monitored by gov’t for past 7 years, per Feinstein (Updated) (6/6/13)
“Breaking” News: DoJ, Holder Parse Emily Litella In Clarification On Rosen Prosecution (Updated) (6/3/13)
32 Minutes With Kafka and Orwell: “Naked Citizens” vs. The Naked Truth About Conspiracy Theories (5/29/13)
Done Deal: Our Government's Subpoenas For "Information" Are Little More Than Kabuki These Days (5/26/13)
How Many Former NSA and FBI Counterterrorism Employees Will It Take For This Story To Reach The MSM? (5/20/13)
Rolling Stone/John Knefel: "What's at Stake When the Department of Justice Seizes AP Phone Records" (5/19/13)
Reports On DoJ’s Seizure of AP Journalists’ Phone Records and the Shield Law (Part II of III) (5/18/13)
Reports On the DoJ’s Seizure of AP Journalists’ Phone Records and the Shield Law (Part I of III) (5/18/13)
2011 Gov’t Report Confirmation: DHS, Banks Gathered Key Intel On OWS From Daily Kos, Other Sites (4/4/13)
NYT Lead: U.S. Law Enforcement Made 1.3 Million+ Surveillance Requests Of Cell Carriers In 2011 (7/9/12)
NYT Lead: ACLU Documents Rampant, Warrantless Phone-Tracking By Police Throughout U.S. (4/1/12)
NYT's Orwellian Lead: AG Holder Officially Signs Off On "Total Information Awareness" For All (3/23/12)
Wired’s Mind-Blowing Scoop On “Stellar Wind” And The “Enormity” of U.S. Domestic Spying (3/17/12)