Tony Fullman is a middle-aged former tax man and a pro-democracy activist. But four years ago, a botched operation launched by New Zealand spies meant he suddenly found himself deemed a potential terrorist — his passport was revoked, his home was raided, and he was placed on a top-secret National Security Agency surveillance list.
The extraordinary covert operation, revealed Sunday by Television New Zealand in collaboration with The Intercept, was launched in 2012 after New Zealand authorities believed they had identified a group planning to violently overthrow Fiji’s military regime.
As part of the spy mission, the NSA used its powerful global surveillance apparatus to intercept the emails and Facebook chats of people associated with a Fijian “thumbs up for democracy” campaign. The agency then passed the messages to its New Zealand counterpart, Government Communications Security Bureau, or GCSB.
One of the main targets was Fullman, a New Zealand citizen, whose communications were monitored by the NSA after New Zealand authorities, citing secret evidence, accused him of planning an “an act of terrorism” overseas.
But it turned out that the claims were baseless — Fullman, then 47, was not involved in any violent plot. He was a long-time public servant and peaceful pro-democracy activist who, like the New Zealand and Australian governments at that time, was opposed to Fiji’s authoritarian military ruler Frank Bainimarama.
Details about the surveillance are contained in documents obtained by The Intercept from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. More than 190 pages of top-secret NSA logs of intercepted communications dated between May and August 2012 show that the agency used the controversial internet surveillance system PRISM to eavesdrop on Fullman and other Fiji pro-democracy advocates’ Gmail and Facebook messages. Fullman is the first person in the world to be publicly identified as a confirmed PRISM target.
At the time of the spying, New Zealand’s surveillance agency was not permitted to monitor New Zealand citizens. Despite this, it worked with the NSA to eavesdrop on Fullman’s communications, which suggests he is one of 88 unnamed New Zealanders who were spied on between 2003 and 2012 in operations that may have been illegal, as revealed in an explosive 2013 New Zealand government report.
In response to questions for this story, the NSA declined to address the Fullman case directly. A spokesperson for the agency, Michael Halbig, said in a statement to The Intercept that it “works with a number of partners in meeting its foreign-intelligence mission goals, and those operations comply with U.S. law and with the applicable laws under which those partners operate.”
Antony Byers, a spokesperson for New Zealand’s intelligence agencies, said he would not comment “on matters that may or may not be operational.” The country’s spy agencies “operate within the law,” Byers said, adding: “We do not ask partners to do things that would circumvent the law, and New Zealand gets significant value from our international relationships.”
Photo: Phil Walter/Getty Images
Unexpected Twist
Fullman was born in Fiji in 1965 and emigrated to New Zealand when he was about 21. He became naturalized as a New Zealand citizen and spent most of his working life in the country, including more than 20 years in various roles at the government’s tax department, where he was based out of offices first in Auckland and later in the capital city of Wellington.
In his spare time, Fullman worked as an amateur boxing judge and referee and helped out once a month at a Wellington soup kitchen run by a Christian charity. Between 2001 and 2003, he attended graduate school, earning two masters degrees: one in public management, the other in information systems. And in 2009, he decided to return to Fiji after he was offered a job as chief executive of the Fiji Water Authority.
The move back to Fiji, however, led to a dramatic and unexpected twist in the course of his life — partly due to an old childhood friend.
Fullman (left) and Mara having dinner in Fiji, December 2005.
Photo: Tony Fullman
“Weekends we would go fishing or go up to his mother’s farm, help out on the farm,” Fullman recalled in an interview with The Intercept. “We spent a lot of time together. He was like a brother to me.”
When Fullman left Fiji for New Zealand in his early 20s, he kept in contact with Mara through phone and email. And by the time Fullman returned to Fiji in 2009 to take the water authority job, Mara had become a powerful military officer, serving as the Fijian army’s chief of staff.
But the political situation in Fiji was now highly unstable, and Mara was at the center of some of the tensions. The country had experienced three military coups between 1987 and 2006 that were rooted in ethnic and religious divisions. Following the latest coup in 2006, which had brought authoritarian ruler Bainimarama to power, the military government and police were accused of systematically cracking down on freedom of speech and arresting critics and human rights defenders.
Mara was dissatisfied with the leadership and, in May 2011, he became embroiled in a high-profile dispute with the Bainimarama regime. He was accused of plotting to overthrow the government and charged with uttering a seditious comment. He was hauled before a court, where he was threatened with imprisonment for allegedly uttering the words, “This government is fuck all.”
Mara was freed on bail while the case against him remained ongoing. But he was concerned about the prospect of ultimately receiving a lengthy jail term. He decided to take a drastic course of action — and fled Fiji, escaping on a boat to nearby Tonga.
Following Mara’s dramatic getaway, Fullman was questioned by the Fijian military. It had found records of phone calls between him and Mara dated from shortly before Mara had left. Facing potential punishment over allegations that he helped Mara escape, Fullman decided that he too would have to promptly leave Fiji.
The NSA surveillance file shows a photo of Fullman that he uploaded to Facebook.
Source: NSA
NSA Spying
By 2012, Fullman had moved to Sydney, Australia, where he was living with his sister and her family. Alongside Mara and other former Fiji residents, he was working with a group called the Fiji Movement for Freedom and Democracy, which was campaigning against the Bainimarama regime.
In early July 2012, Fullman and Mara traveled to New Zealand, where they held meetings with some of the group’s supporters in Auckland. The meetings appear to have attracted the attention of New Zealand’s spies — and culminated in an extraordinary sequence of events: Fullman’s home was raided, his passport revoked, and both he and Mara were put under top-secret NSA surveillance.
Ratu Tevita Mara pictured in a video made for the pro-democracy campaign.
Source: Youtube
At the time, the New Zealand government had been keeping close tabs on the political situation in Fiji, which consists of some 333 small islands located about a three-hour flight north of Auckland. Fiji has historically maintained strong trading and tourism links with New Zealand, but the relationship had soured in the aftermath of the 2006 military coup. The New Zealand government expressed its opposition to the Bainimarama regime’s takeover, placing sanctions on Fiji and calling for the restoration of democracy. By mid-2012, however, relations between the countries were beginning to thaw. New Zealand government officials were openly discussing the possibility of ending the sanctions, in part because they may have been concerned that Fiji seemed to be moving closer to forming an allegiance with China and other Asian nations.
At 7am on July 17, 2012, about a week after Fullman had returned to Australia from the trip to New Zealand, a team of more than a dozen Australian security agents and two Australian federal police detectives arrived at his sister’s home in Sydney looking for weapons and other evidence of the suspected plot.
They seized computers, phones and documents from the premises and confiscated Fullman’s passport on behalf of the New Zealand authorities. Teams of New Zealand Security Intelligence Service officers and police simultaneously raided Fullman’s former apartment in the Wellington suburb of Karori and the homes of at least three other Fiji Freedom and Democracy movement supporters in Auckland, seizing their computers and other property.
The same day that the raids took place, New Zealand Minister of Internal Affairs Chris Tremain signed a notice canceling Fullman’s passport. The notice said the minister had canceled the passport based on secret details provided by the Security Intelligence Service: “The majority of [the] information is classified but in summary I have good reason to believe that … you are involved in planning violent action intended to force a change of Government in a foreign state; and you intend to engage in, or facilitate, an act of terrorism overseas.”
Fullman was baffled by the allegations, which he denied, and sought legal advice to challenge them. At the same time, unknown to him, he had also entered onto the radar of the world’s most powerful surveillance agency: the NSA.
Between early July and early August 2012, New Zealand spies appear to have requested American assistance to obtain the emails and Facebook communications of Fullman and Mara, including from a “democfiji” email address used by Fullman to organize events for the campaign group, whose slogan was “thumbs up for democracy.”
The NSA’s documents contain a “priority list” that names the two men as “Fiji targets” alongside their Gmail addresses and an account number identifying Fullman’s Facebook page. The documents indicate that the NSA began intercepting messages associated with Mara’s accounts on about the July 9, 2012 and on August 3 started spying on Fullman’s messages. The agency also obtained historic messages from the two men dating back to the beginning of May 2012.
A slide from a leaked NSA document about PRISM, published by the Washington Post in 2013.
Source: Washington Post/NSA
To conduct the electronic eavesdropping, the NSA turned to one of its most controversial surveillance programs: PRISM. The agency uses PRISM to secretly obtain communications that are processed by major technology companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Yahoo, as the Washington Post and The Guardian first reported in 2013.
Almost all of the more than 190 pages of intercepted Gmail and Facebook messages from Fullman and Mara is headed “US-984XN,” the code for surveillance that is carried out under PRISM. The pages reveal that the legal justifications NSA cited for the surveillance were selected inconsistently. Most of Fullman’s emails and Facebook messages were obtained as “foreign government” targets, while others such as his bank statements and Facebook photographs were collected under the category of “counter-terrorism.”
The classification markings on some of the files — “REL TO USA/NZ” — make clear that the intercepted communications were to be released to New Zealand spies. In one of the files showing Fullman’s intercepted emails and Facebook chats, the NSA explicitly noted that the intercepted material had been forwarded to its New Zealand intelligence counterpart, the GCSB. (New Zealand is a member of the Five Eyes, a surveillance alliance that also includes electronic eavesdropping agencies from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.)
The NSA collected Fullman’s bank records. (Reproduced here with Fullman’s consent.)
Source: NSA
The NSA surveillance, however, produced no evidence of a plot. The intercepted messages contained personal information and typical Facebook chit chat. The NSA collected Fullman’s bank statements, which were attached to his emails and showed his visits to a coffee shop, a pharmacy, and purchases at a shoe store. There was correspondence about Fullman working to establish a tourism venture on an island in Tonga, emails about a birthday party, many communications about the Fijian pro-democracy group’s blog posts, and details about alleged abuses committed by Fijian military officials. There were discussions about an unwell mother and a young relative with a confidential health problem. A top-secret intelligence document even reproduced a photograph of Fullman’s silver Mitsubishi station wagon alongside details of its precise location. But there was not a single hint of any plans for violence or other clandestine activity.
It would soon become clear that there was no evidence to support the New Zealand authorities’ suspicions. And gradually, their case would fall apart.
On 16 April, 2013, the internal affairs minister, Tremain, wrote again to Fullman. Contrary to the earlier notice he had issued, Tremain now said that “based on advice” provided by the Security Intelligence Service, there were “no longer national security concerns” about Fullman. The cancellation of his passport was lifted “without requiring an application for a replacement, or payment of a fee.” The change of position followed Fullman initiating legal action against the New Zealand government in the Wellington High Court two months earlier.
The NSA intercepted Fullman’s discussions about an unwell mother and a young relative with a confidential health problem.
Another of the pro-democracy members whose home was raided during the operation was former Fiji sports minister and then-grocery store owner Rajesh Singh. After his home was searched by police and security agents, Singh complained to New Zealand’s inspector general of intelligence and security, Andrew McGechan, who questioned the officers involved and reviewed the investigation. His report said the Security Intelligence Service had applied for a domestic intelligence warrant “against a number of individuals” because of “suspicions of a plan to inflict violence.”
But McGechan identified neither unlawful behavior by Singh nor evidence of the supposed terrorist plot. His May 2014 report said: “There is nothing in the issue of the Warrant itself or in the questions and answers that followed … which comes even near to approaching proof of criminal activity or participation in terrorism.” He noted that “no police activity has resulted, or charges been laid.”
The Intercept asked Fullman if he or Mara had ever heard of — or been involved in — discussions about overthrowing or assassinating Bainimarama. Far from denying it, he said that sort of talk happened frequently within Fijian pro-democracy circles. However, he said it was just angry ranting, when the alcohol was flowing, something completely different from real plans.
“People would say things like, ‘Please can we just hire the Americans to send one drone to Fiji to get rid of those bastards’, or ‘Let me go back to Fiji and I’ll just get a knife and stab him!’” Fullman said. “It’s venting. It’s our way of maintaining sanity — we just sit and bitch about everything. We don’t want violence. We want something where there’s control, a planned approach. More to the effect where it’s the people who protest and say, ‘Enough is enough. This is wrong. We want to go back to the old constitution and have elections.’”
The New Zealand security agency may not have recognized the difference between eavesdropped venting and an actual plot, prematurely launching its raids and broad secret surveillance operation without any clear evidence.
Four days after the raids on Fullman and his fellow campaigners, New Zealand foreign minister Murray McCully traveled to Fiji for trade talks. Fullman believes that the timing was no coincidence — and that the raids targeting the pro-democracy group were used by the New Zealand government as a bargaining chip to curry favor with the Bainimarama regime. “The minister can go to Fiji and say, ‘look we saved you, let’s be friends again, let’s start talking about how we can help each other again’,” Fullman says. “It was part of the frame up.”
No charges were ever brought against any of the Fiji campaigners, yet the ramifications of the case are still felt. Fullman says he gets pulled out of airline queues for security searches every time he travels, and he has had trouble finding work since news reports following the raids in 2012 linked him to a Fiji assassination plan. He told The Intercept that he was never notified that his private communications had been monitored by New Zealand with the help of American counterparts at the NSA — possibly illegally — nor did he ever receive an apology or compensation for his treatment.
As he recalls the saga, there is no anger in Fullman’s voice, only disappointment. Since the affair, he has not felt like returning to live in New Zealand and plans to stay in Australia for the foreseeable future. “To be betrayed by your own country, it’s really hard,” he says, letting out a sigh. “It puts a sour taste in your mouth.”
Documents published with this story:
What an incredible waste of resources, time, and money! We are facing climate devastation, and instead of honoring citizens working to participate in government, our only means of making a civilized response, these wanabe Bonds get in the way with their idiotic, oppressive, arrogant, manipulation. This is our “leaders'” response to the crisis? It almost makes me glad to be old. However, I care about those who will inherit the result of their foolishness.
This was NOT a mistake. These were all deliberate acts. We’re called TIs….goes way beyond the likes of MKUltra and Contelpro…
There are, at least many thousands of us. And it often goes way beyond what is described here. Glad he could put a stop to it….because he initiated legal proceedings. I’ve tried to do that here but it was just blocked. And next to impossible to do when you have no papers. I have been in this position for over a decade now…not allowed to work, have a home or do much of anything. Still held in a prison of sorts….the only way out now seems to be death. I’ve tried every other possibility repeatedly.
This is the UK.
The Five Eyes seems like a clandestine group whose main purpose is to destroy individuals illegally and with malice. After all that is exactly what it is doing! How many laws were broken to harm this individual? How many constitutional protections of the many nations involved were thrown aside to get the wrong man? Playing with peoples’ lives is not cool and in this case at least, not beneficial to any nation’s national security, in any way!
it can get far worse than that, just another tiny example
http://jakemaverick.blogspot.co.uk/
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160815/06414335242/snowden-docs-show-nsa-new-zealand-spied-pro-democracy-activists.shtml
The documents published today make Tony Fullman the first confirmed target of the NSA’s PRISM FULL TAKE (see Bill Binney) surveillance.
Glenn describes how this type of information can be used against every American. If you’ve done something wrong they’ve got you. If you havent done something wrong they’ll frame you. Its time to print a list of domestic NSA targets.
https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/
“…Critically, the “targets” for this deceit and reputation-destruction extend far beyond the customary roster of normal spycraft: hostile nations and their leaders, military agencies, and intelligence services. In fact, the discussion of many of these techniques occurs in the context of using them in lieu of “traditional law enforcement” against people suspected (but not charged or convicted) of ordinary crimes or, more broadly still, “hacktivism”, meaning those who use online protest activity for political ends…”
The discussion of many of these techniques occurs in the context of using them in lieu of “traditional law enforcement” against domestic activists and/or politically active US citizens suspected (but not charged with or convicted) of ordinary crimes.
“…The title page of one of these documents reflects the agency’s own awareness that it is “pushing the boundaries” by using “cyber offensive” techniques against people who have nothing to do with terrorism or national security threats, and indeed, centrally involves law enforcement agents who investigate ordinary crimes…”
The persecution of domestic activists and/or politically active US citizens centrally involves law enforcement agents who investigate ordinary crimes.
“…it is not difficult to see how dangerous it is to have secret government agencies being able to target any individuals they want – who have never been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crimes – with these sorts of online, deception-based tactics of reputation destruction and disruption…”
Je Suis Tony Fullman. “Its time” (2013s as good a year as any) to release a long list of 4th amendment protected US based domestic NSA targets.
Its time…
PLEASE GIVE US 50 AMERICAN TONY FULLMANS RYAN G. GLENN G.PIERRE O.
These documents make Tony Fullman the FIRST CONFIRMED TARGET of the NSA’s PRISM surveillance. Additionally as Bill Binney has indicated all along it “Full Take” which is all of Tony Fullmans CONTENT as well as his metadata.
https://theintercept.com/2015/06/22/controversial-gchq-unit-domestic-law-enforcement-propaganda/
https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/
FROM GLENN HIMSELF: “…these documents reflects the agency’s own awareness that it is “pushing the boundaries” by using “cyber offensive” techniques against people who have nothing to do with terrorism or national security threats, and indeed, centrally involves law enforcement agents who investigate ordinary crimes”
“…, these surveillance agencies have vested themselves with the power to deliberately ruin people’s reputations and disrupt their online political activity even though they’ve been charged with no crimes, and even though their actions have no conceivable connection to terrorism or even national security threats…”
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160815/06414335242/snowden-docs-show-nsa-new-zealand-spied-pro-democracy-activists.shtml
“New Zealand’s intelligence agency asked the NSA for assistance in digging up info on Fullman and keeping him under surveillance. The documents published today make Tony Fullman the first confirmed target of the NSA’s PRISM surveillance.”
And to think we thought we didn’t live in a Orwellian society.
Very interesting read. Thank you.
“..Byers said, adding: “We do not ask partners to do things that would circumvent the law..” (of physics, which allows us to vacuum up everything we want, in order to serve the interests of undemocratic forces.)
Was an NSA server hacked? Edward Snowden thinks so
https://twitter.com/i/moments/765526666374443009
https://twitter.com/Snowden
Only one?
I just find this invasive treatment of an innocent man and how they took his life from him is so dreadful and it’s my own country.
I best leave it there whilst I still can type without lauding into expletives about rotten John Key and his heinous government
NSA tools are being auctioned online and Intercept is not aware of it. This is what happens in any organization where people rise up and become incompetent.
But even that is not real news. The really bad news is this – China launches world’s 1st quantum communications satellite. It means that the Chinese folks will become totally opaque while every terrorist has full access to our emails and data.
James Clapper must be immediate clapped in jail for extreme incompetence, and Obama can join him there once he vacates the White House so that he continues to reside in public funded accommodation like the general BLM folks.
Interesting. I didn’t know quantum technology was being used in this way. I currently work for a company that uses it quite differently.
Suffice to say, our quantum technology has both spying and military drone applications.
It figures.
https://theintercept.com/snowden-sidtoday/3008508-dne-dni-and-cne-repost/
The link above is SID from December 30, 2003. Please note how the author defines DNE, CNE and DNI
to summarize, the NSA is ‘Extracting’ intelligence (DNE) in the formats of Fax, Emails, Messages (Note that this is different than emails. Obviously, this could incorporate Texts as I believe it does), images & documents. Also note that this is being done with ANY device on the digital network including your smartphones.
If you want to know if you are being subjected to this sort of data extraction as I know I am being subjected to, find yourself a Motorola Droid phone, version 1 o r 2. The earliest hardware available. Switch your hardware device to this model.
If you experience compete battery drain occurring within 15-20 seconds, this is not a device malfunction. It is your data being extracted. The program being used sucks up your battery juice when the extraction occurs.
You will not be able to tell if you are being violated in this manner with later models. Suffice to say, software developments are usually made backwards compatible for so many hardware versions. When bugs are identified, they are eventually corrected.
Also note the second paragraph, 2nd sentence. The data collection effort IS NOT limited to computers. it can be against ANY SYSTEM OR DEVICE.
This includes your smartphone phones.
I must inform a friend of mine who has started a job at a correctional facility in NZ.
He was advised to turn off his mobile phone and leave it in his vehicle.
They did say that due to security reasons if he left his phone on the battery would be drained but I think your correct its to capture his data.
Thank you :)
You can pretty much call it what you want, but these NSA people are the enemy of the people IMO. My Dad lives right next to a senior DEA agent and he spills the beans all the time – it’s easy once he gets a few drinks in him (easy as pie). I cannot believe what I’ve heard, especially what he saw in Afghanistan on tour with the CIA for 2 years! Yeah, I know it all. Juicy material and total corruption abound.
America’s “Humanitarian War” against the World
[“The following text is a point by point thematic summary of Prof. Michel Chossudovsky‘s presentation at the Science for Peace Conference, Academy of Sciences, Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur, 15-16 August 2016
Introduction
Historically, science has supported the development of the weapons industry and the war economy. “Science for Peace” indelibly requires reversing the logic whereby commissioned scientific endeavors are directed towards supporting what President Eisenhower called “The Military Industrial Complex”.
What is consequently required is a massive redirection of science and technology towards the pursuit of broad societal objectives. In turn, this requires a major shift in what is euphemistically called “US Foreign Policy”, namely America’s global military agenda.
Military Affairs: The Current Global Context
The world is at a dangerous crossroads. The United States and its allies have launched a military adventure which threatens the future of humanity.
Under a global military agenda, the actions undertaken by the Western military alliance (U.S.-NATO-Israel) in Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Pakistan, Palestine, Ukraine, Syria and Iraq are coordinated at the highest levels of the military hierarchy. We are not dealing with piecemeal military and intelligence operations. Major military and covert intelligence operations are being undertaken simultaneously in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia and the Asia Pacific region.
The current situation is all the more critical inasmuch as a US-NATO war on Russia, China and Iran is part of the US presidential election debate. It is presented as a political and military option to Western public opinion.
The US-NATO military agenda combines both major theater operations as well as covert actions geared towards destabilizing sovereign states. America’s hegemonic project is to destabilize and destroy countries through acts of war, support of terrorist organizations, regime change and economic warfare.
U.S. and NATO forces have been deployed in Eastern Europe including Poland and Ukraine. In turn, military maneuvers are being conducted at Russia’s doorstep which could potentially lead to confrontation with the Russian Federation.
The U.S. and its allies are also threatening China under President Obama’s “Pivot to Asia”.
The U.S. led airstrikes initiated in August 2014 directed against Iraq and Syria under the pretext of going after the Islamic State are part of a scenario of military escalation extending from North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean to Central and South Asia…”]
Read the entire article…http://www.globalresearch.ca/americas-humanitarian-war-against-the-world/5539814
Additional section of above article…
[“Kill the Russians: The New Cold War is no longer Cold
A former CIA Official is calling for the “Killing of Russians”. The US media and the the State Department applaud: “]
CBS News, Charlie Rose
how many years have those with access to the snowden files been sitting on proof that entire emails and attachments were available from prism, and not ‘just’ meta data ?
why wasn’t this published when it would have really mattered
Justice always matters for those who have been treated poorly. To think otherwise is fatalistic reductionism. I would prefer to place the onus on the responsible parties. To expect the press (even the independent press) to be able to bare the truth kind of misses the point (though it is important); whats more important is that the injustices never should be permitted in the first place. Need checks and balances, less proliferation, and a way out from the system we let get to this point. How? I have no idea. But that doesnt mean we shouldnt try.
i don’t disagree, and i didn’t mean to overly critical, but this would have have completely shut down nsa/media claims that only meta data was being accesses.
Oops, my bad. Sorry. I meant to imply that I for the most part 1000% agree with you, dot, dot, dot, HOWEVER… Etc.
I was a bit tired. Come to think of it, I still am. Anyway, yeah. I would like both.
One thing that troubles me though: people probably wouldnt care all that much about a somewhat clinical story about some people who were in Fiji that they probably wouldnt be able to relate to. But that is jmho.
TI staff is paid to protect state criminals, not expose them.
They are American journalists, not journalists.
TI staff has a responsibility to protect state criminals of all pay grades, no matter who is attacked or how severely.
They are not journalists, they are American journalists.
Excoriating someone for their nationality is being just as exceptionalistic as the people I have seen you come out against. There are good and bad journalists in every country. For that matter there are good and bad journalists in the majority of publications. For that matter there are better ones and less good ones, just as there are better people and less good people in the world.
stan! the man! Who but you can rescue me, us, America from the great deception. Be a hero, eh pal? Help! Give us the lowdown. The dirty dirt. Save us!
Quick retraction to my earlier post : “I hate to break the news to all of you but it is perfectly legal to spy on foreign nationals who are trying to destabilize a government.”
I decided to google Fulman and a quick search revealed numerous other papers citing this story (so I guess it’s not just The Intercept and I can’t pin the blame on them entirely). Some of them coming to the same conclusion “apparently” from the hundreds of redacted pages released that there was no evidence . A quick search also revealed that most of the allegations against Mr. Fulman amounted to He said/She said on the part of newspapers regurgitating Fiji’s government leaders including BAINIMARAMA, who through another quick search online, I found out was a military leader who led a coup against a democratically elected government a few years back and won “fair” elections under his coupship (according to CIA.gov). Even thew New Zealand Herald (most NZ papers have been government-sided due to the biased nature of their involvement) said: “The operation was conducted between August and September 2012 but failed to produce any evidence of a plot to unseat the military government led by Frank Bainimarama.”
At which point, I realized I lacked serious background info on this whole saga. I will likely dedicate more time in the future to reading up on the background before posting…or at the very least, I’ll give it a shot. I got another job posting in the comments section at some other new startup, so you’ll have to forgive me…time hasn’t always been my strong suit. I will likely continue posting non-research based data in other comment sections and welcome your responses.
I also realize that my logic that the government probably has more evidence against Fulman is weak and illogical. I’m not sure why I said that, but I did. I understand and accept that’s it not really a strong argument. I mean, that type of argument can be used to make anyone look guilty. I’d just have to say, “Perhaps they have more data and they’re not sharing it.===guilty” I guess because I like to give authoritative figures/organizations the benefit of the doubt. You have to think about it logically. Government = ALWAYS telling the truth and Good + Government usually has some extra data they’re hiding –> leads to GUILTY for anyone the Government claims is a bad guy, Besides, I know a guy who knows a guy who said they actually have credible data against Fullman, I just can’t share it online with you guys because its a matter of national security,
One of the more blatant problems with NSA’s justification of these programs is that they really are not very useful for catching professional spies or clever terrorists. The claim that they could have been used to prevent 9/11, for example, is highly dubious.
This is because spies are trained to “hide in plain sight”, for example CIA mole Aldrich Ames and FBI mole Robert Hanssen. They construct plausible cover stories and fake lives, and even if the NSA collects every phone call and bank record and text message, it’s all part of that story. This is also what the 9/11 hijackers did – posed as young wealthy Saudi playboys looking to become commercial airline pilots, a plausible cover story. They were not hanging out in Al Qaeda chat rooms.
What trips people like this up is human intelligence – like the Phoenix flight school instructor who felt something was wrong and tipped off the FBI, which resulted in FBI special agent Kenneth Williams sending a memo to FBI headquarters on July 10, 2001 – which was not acted on by the Bush Administration. That memo warned of “a coordinated effort by Osama Bin Laden to send students to the United States to attend civil aviation universities and colleges.” Why Bush and Cheney chose to take no action; well, that’s a question they should be asked, under oath. Along with a few other questions about Iraq WMDs. The Hague would be a good venue.
The point is, the NSA surveillance programs would not have helped – and also, the intelligence needed to stop the attacks was in the government’s hands months before 9/11 took place.
Similarly, the exposure of Ames and Hanssen was due to a Russian ex-Colonel, Alexander Zaporozhsky, who apparently sold the information to the U.S. government (and was later swapped to the US in exchange for Russian agents). This is another case where NSA mass surveillance would have been useless.
These facts, as well as this story about NSA involvement in a political situation in New Zealand, really shows that Snowden was right when he said, “These programs were never about terrorism: they’re about economic spying, social control, and diplomatic manipulation. They’re about power.”
The appropriate response to the Snowden revelations? A 50% cut in NSA’s budget seems about right; sure that will hit SAIC profit margins, but so what? Look at SAIC’s Trailblazer – hundreds of millions down a black hole with nothing to show for it? Retaliation against the Trailblazer whistleblower, Thomas Drake, who “went through the appropriate channels”? No different from any other bloated Soviet bureaucracy.
Great post!
But to be clear: Your example of the July 10, 2001 memo is not only proof that mass surveillance doesn’t work, even when there is an actual, pointed communication highlighting an apparent danger. The government was not able to take action. They couldn’t tell or were unable to respond to the information provided directly to them to take actions to stop 9/11.
So, if they cannot take a direct communication notifying them of a potential threat at face value, how can they infer and identify a threat when it’s opaque and disguised in millions upon millions of communications that are NOT coming directly to them?
A few thoughts after reading this. #1 – Context gets totally lost in these cases. This happens in the United States just like it happens elsewhere when you go looking for terrorists under every bush. Sometimes people say stuff online where they are not serious. Kind of like how Donald Trump made the comment about 2nd amendment people doing something about Hillary. Donald Trump is not literally calling for someone to assassinate Hillary Clinton. But a lot of times the CONTEXT is lost in translation. The online chat is kind of like 2 guys in a bar joking around that we would be better off without yada yada. And next thing you know they are seriously being investigated as legitimate actual threats when in fact they are just people using hyperbole.
2nd thought: Even if this guy was actually planning a violent overthrow of a military dictatorship to replace it with a democracy (which it sounds like he wasn’t and was only making a joking remark), but even if he was planning a violent overthrow then who are we the United States to try to stop him. By that logic were George Washington and John Adams terrorists since they engaged in a violent overthrow in 1776 to replace a dictatorship (monarchy) with a democracy?
amateur hour in local intelligence community
Osint is not to be trusted, Barbara Streisand. Its a big ol piggyback ride, here, Weekly!
Now we know how the Bush and Obama cowards have wasted the United States Treasury, when they were or were not unilaterally invading foreign counties for their capitalist stooges. They should be arrested and tried in a court of law for crimes against humanity. Trust your country now!? Now, more of the same treatment from #NeverHillary.
Well now we know how these massive spying programs are being used, and its not to keep people safe its to do the bidding of the state and multinational corporations, for trade and profit and its what we feared of how thease overly secret and overly broad programs would be abused!!!
the time and money spent on spying; the time and money the fbi spends on ginning up terror plots; the time and money spent on the unaccountable cia coming with crazy operations for political influence, is astronomical. largely it’s a waste of time.
close them all. reduce the military by 3/4. stop mucking around with the world and no one will have reason to do us harm.
more like costa rica and less like the soviet union. that’s how america should be.
precisely.
You nailed it. Same thing I’ve been saying for decades.
Of course this won’t happen without a revolution, because the massive U.S. military and security apparatus is needed to support the U.S. empire, which is used to make money for rich and powerful people. And those people aren’t giving up their money or power without a major fight.
I hate to break the news to all of you but it is perfectly legal to spy on foreign nationals who are trying to destabilize a government.
The Intercept is digging into the barrel of boring stuff that Snowden documents revealed. Put things in perspective, this is ONE person who got his house raided. Is this guy even in prison or is the author simply upset about a house raid on the other side of the planet?
Maybe it is legal in this country, but this story exposes vast powers of the NSA when they are using taxpayer money to spy on someone in another country who is writing letters to someone in a third country. NONE of those links have anything to do with US security. It is merely a case of overreach by a police state and spying of civilians that indicates an agency out of control of its own citizens.
This story didn’t expose anything. We already knew the NSA is wasting money going after people who aren’t likely a threat to us.
This story serves one purpose and one purpose only: to further your perception that America sucks.
Can you remember even one article here that says something positive?
Yes, we have some problems to work out. Yes, it’s a constant battle of good versus evil. Yes we can try harder to make our world a better place. No, I refuse to play the everything sucks game that is so enjoyed here in the comments section.
This is not a very useful PRISM through which to view reality. Rather, it’s a constant battle to maximize profits.
You miss the point of the article. Let me explain:
What’s under scrutiny here is the methodology/strategy of mass surveillance. It’s inherently stupid to look at billions of targets whereby you KNOW incorrect decisions will be made as highlighted by this article.
The strategy of Collect It All is inherently flawed and most likely dangerous as now much needed resources are being used to spy on people that don’t need spying on and those resources are not engaged in identifying legitimate targets.
How many examples will it take you before you realize the flawed strategy? Will you need your home raided before you accept the fact that this strategy is flawed?
Why is it only newsworthy if people or organizations screw up? Isn’t it comforting to know the NSA is on the job, crushing pro-democracy movements? Good news may be boring, but it is also a useful prophylactic against the despair caused by endless bad news.
I do appreciate your wit but you are barking up the wrong tree.
Define a pro-democracy for me, Benito. Go ahead, I dare you. That word is a time bomb like terrorism… it means whatever the definition writer wants it to mean.
Did you even google Tony Fullman? You are not even willing to entertain the possibility that this guy was worth spying on? How do we even know the local NZ police didn’t have other evidence to do the raid? Aren’t all of you assuming the NSA directed this?
Have fun with those questions people… at least one of us is asking them.
Democracy can be managed, but I’m not sure I trust Fiji to do so. In this case, pro-democracy simply means upsetting the status quo, and any lucrative business deals made with the current regime. If Mr. Fullman was supporting this process, he was obviously worth spying on.
New Zealand was involved first, since they obviously have the largest economic stake in Fiji. But the NSA was quite right to support them.
Even you cannot be so deluded to think there is ONLY 1 PERSON being spied upon illegally. Tell me you Not That Stoopid.
If so, I’m going to have to agree with Mona on her assessment of you intellect.
IF you need another victim of inappropriate government surveillance, you need not look far.
One of few differences between this person’s story and mine, is the fact that my home hasn’t been raided, yet. Emphasis on YET.
Also, I know I’m under surveillance. He apparently didn’t know.
How do you know your home hasnt been raided yet? If you are convinced you are under that much surveillance they may have black bag searched your place to get useful information.
When was the last time you checked for passive surveillance/bugs? Do you keep a fan or something against your windows to prevent eavesdropping that way (one way they can get at airgapped systems)?
Not advocating paranoia just saying it is something to consider.
I hate to break it to you, but I don’t want my taxpayer money spent on world-policing repressive nonsense, you authoritarian boot-licker.
Come on, do you ever post anything besides “this isn’t news?”
Your definition of “destabilize a government” seems to include peaceful democratic means of seeking a political transition – but let’s look at why the NSA really collects information on foreign nationals and especially politicians. Consider the role of the CIA in destablizing the Australian government in the 1970s over NSA spying, for example:
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/gough-whitlam-and-the-cias-forgotten-coup,7029
Now, if you want to claim this is all good for American national interests, fine, go ahead and say so – but then, I don’t want to hear any more bullshit about how America’s foreign policy is humanitarian and pro-democracy in nature, when it really operates in the same way and for the same kind of goals as the Soviet Union’s did.
or is the author simply upset about a house raid on the other side of the planet?
Come again? Are you now advocating that the genocide of Palestinians is something that the US should not be concerned about because it’s on the other side of the planet???
Who rescued the remaining Jews? Or would you rather have seen them murdered as well?
[“Following the latest coup in 2006, which had brought authoritarian ruler Bainimarama to power, the military government and police were accused of systematically cracking down on freedom of speech and arresting critics and human rights defenders.”]
Correction…
Following the latest US coup in 2006, which had brought authoritarian ruler Bainimarama…
ps…
Thank you for a respectable newsworthy article…I’m tired of the IT National Enquirer trash that has been presented lately.
…TI
There are many great people that work in government bureaucracies, including the NSA, but government bureaucracies function far better with LESS money.
When government agencies have too much money they “mission-creep”. For example: instead of a national security agency focusing on cases derived from legitimate probable cause evidence of a “past” crime (as the 4th Amendment mandates), when they have too much money in their budget, they may be investigating legal activities like Black Lives Matter or Occupy Wall Street protesters or Martin Luther King, Jr, during the 1960’s.
With too much money these agencies essentially devolve into the “Thought Police” instead of investigating real crime or real terrorism – trolling Facebook or The Intercept policing critics instead of real enemies.
“instead of a national security agency focusing on cases derived from legitimate probable cause evidence of a “past” crime (as the 4th Amendment mandates), ”
That’s the FBI, not the NSA. The NSA’s job is to protect American signals security and perform signals intelligence for foreign operations.
The point of discussing mission creep is to determine the specific missions of the different organizations, and keep them separate so that there aren’t conflicts of interest and separation of duties. For instance, the NSA undermining cryptographic standards for easier surveillance conflicts directly with their mission to protect American signals.
The NSA isn’t a law enforcement organization. The FBI is, so they should be the ones doing law enforcement. So the NSA getting involved in law enforcement is more of what “mission creep” refers to.
The NSA has a long history of spying on it’s own citizens, actively and passively, and sharing that information with other agencies like the FBI.
If memory serves me correctly, in the 1960’s the NSA was deeply involved in spying on a Baptist minister that preached non-violence and constitutional due process. The minister’s “crime” was he was legally advocating for voting rights for African-Americans. His name was Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. – he was neither a foreign enemy nor a criminal.
Recently, former FBI agent, Mike German, that specialized in terrorism, said that since 9/11 the NSA and FBI work very closely together. German said that since about 2005 the top FBI threat has been “Environmental Rights Activists” – although they have never killed anyone.
Yes, the NSA has a long history of mission creep.
If the NSA is violating the 4th Amendment rights of an American on U.S soil due to that citizen’s legal 1st Amendment exercise – that’s not just mission-creep but it’s subverting the American model of government itself.
Having said that, the low-level NSA order takers are the least culpable, it’s the top leadership at NSA giving orders that are most culpable – not the order takers.
Without real evidence of a crime or wrongdoing, where the accuser has legal risk of perjury, it’s creepy to be spying on any citizen in any nation. Why should we be spying on foreigners without real evidence of wrongdoing?
Complicated calculus.
“If everything must have a cause, then God must have a cause. If there can be anything without a cause, it may just as well be the world as God, so that there cannot be any validity in that argument. It is exactly of the same nature as the Hindu’s view, that the world rested upon an elephant and the elephant rested upon a tortoise; and when they said, ‘How about the tortoise?’…”
Book of Numbers. But why?
The NSA’s mission has creeped but so has the FBI/DoJ’s. One need only look at the shift in the FBI mission statement as written, where CT/etc replaced crime as its priority. Of course both of agencies have gotten voraciously out of control and seem to operate like they have no limits at all. It doesnt help that the industry for “security services” has grown either. In fact I would consider them pretty dangerous considering the fact that they operate without even the very lax standards the government is supposedly to be held to.
For instance, you can read the mission statements of the organizations on their website.
NSA – https://www.nsa.gov/about/mission-strategy/
FBI – https://www.fbi.gov/about/mission
CIA – https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/
And if the mission statements seem to conflict with their actions sometimes (loooootts of times) then that’s where mission creep comes in.
Every American official takes a supreme loyalty oath to operate within the boundaries of the U.S. Constitution – the “mission” has to operate within those legal boundaries as well.
If it is 100% foreigners on non-U.S. territory then that would probably be constitutional. If they are obtaining intelligence, from foreign agencies, on American citizens that would probably be unconstitutional and very disloyal.
Proper loyalty is the most important trait for anyone exercising extreme power in extreme secrecy with weak oversight.
Well, we’re obviously not sharing our information on their citizens for free.
Even though 100% of all NSA employees and contractors take a supreme loyalty oath to operate within the boundaries of the U.S. Constititution – which includes the Bill of Rights – most campaign contributors that employ members of Congress and state legislators support an “oligarchy” form of government (similar to Italy during World War Two). That’s why U.S. agencies target legal First Amendment exercises like Freedom of Speech or a pro-democracy group in another nation.
The bottom line: money talks. If we want to have James Madison’s form of government, we have to return to the Jimmy Carter era of public financing. The NSA and Congress only work for those that pay them CASH – if we want them to work for us, we need to be their employers!
@RB-the responsible critical decisions coming from responsible critical positions of authority are people known as bureaucrats and BAR members. BAR members occupy all 3 branches of government at all levels. No monopoly has ever had the power that BAR has now. This country is doomed until that is dismantled…
It’s time…
Let it go, C.
These documents published today make Tony Fullman the first confirmed target of the NSA’s Full Take PRISM surveillance.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160815/06414335242/snowden-docs-show-nsa-new-zealand-spied-pro-democracy-activists.shtml
AND that “Full Take” PRISM surveillance (Up and Down Stream) as Bill Binney defines it is any and all content from everybody in real time all the time in the hands of low level Fusion Center employees, local LEO’s and thin skinned elected and appointed officials and their private sector supporters 24/7.
It’s time to reveal an extensive list of domestic NSA targets TI. Right as I was targeted for implementing our government sanctioned city attorney approved law enforcement inclusive Homeland Security Disaster Preparedness discussion boards, scrbd sites, wordpress blogs an email lists were flooded with new users sporting muslim surnames. Our servers hijacked. The phones tapped etc. Archive sites manipulated and salted with unsolicited incriminating documents which when removed REPOULATED THEMSELVES.
Oh and of course all the usual destroy your family, career, reputation and future stuff albeit with no gangstalking or DEW component in my case (Hey Mona :-)
They are sabotaging, discrediting, sidelining and destroying the credibility domestic American activists across the board just like our compatriot Tony Fullman in New Zealand. Its time for TI to give us 50 American Tony Fullmans.
https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/
“…In fact, the discussion of many of these techniques occurs in the context of using them in lieu of “traditional law enforcement” against people suspected (but not charged or convicted) of ordinary crimes…The title page of one of these documents reflects the agency’s own awareness that it is “pushing the boundaries” by using “cyber offensive” techniques against people who have nothing to do with terrorism or national security threats, and indeed, centrally involves law enforcement agents who investigate ordinary crimes…it is not difficult to see how dangerous it is to have secret government agencies being able to target any individuals they want – who have never been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crimes – with these sorts of online, deception-based tactics of reputation destruction and disruption…”
Its time Glenn. Ryan. Pierre. Vet and release as big list of domestic NSA targets as is technically feasible.
This is to you specifically, CCH: if that happens, how do you believe people would respond? While I personally believe people dont change how they view things such as overreach without a whole lot of emotional response, your approach could easily backfire. If people believe in a system that powerful and pervasive they might be spurred to believe that resistance is futile and change is not possible. Terror makes people afraid to challenge power, especially when they believe it might not affect them as long as they act like good little supplicants. Obviously one problem is that nobody is perfect and the system uses and exploits this (and treacherously), including spinning their reasonings to fit any given situation. And since it is so easy to turn state power on anybody now, if people were to empathise, that empathy could be used to hurt the people who empathise too, and alienate them. I dont like the idea of surveillance being used to daisy chain people. Exposing oversteps is necessary. We agree there. But there is also a risk of alienating and hurting people a few rungs out to bear in mind. Or further alienating people already targeted by the surveillance state (a sort of scarlet letter/typhoid mary effect). If you cannot get out from under that level of surveillance you are left haunted by the notion that any relationship you might have exposes those people to precisely what you yourself despise (and rightly so) being subjected to.
Clearly the only solution is to do away with the possibility of that level of surveillance completely. But in trying to do so it behooves one to remember that attempting to change systems can sometimes strengthen them, not just weaken them. It is a very fine and difficult line to walk. Obviously it is worth trying but carefully (and arduously given their backbone access gives unimagineable advantages).
(Not a pocket)
“…(a sort of scarlet letter/typhoid mary effect.”
Honey, if you are targeted the way many of us are, you’re already scarlet-lettered, so let’s cut this sensitivity-to-targets bullshit.
Sure, there are people who would not want others to know, but the LEAST these guys can do is TELL THE TARGETS!!!!!!! People have a right to know if crimes are being committed against them. What if someone were stealing from your bank account and you didn’t notice, but your spouse noticed and decided to keep this information from you in order to save you the embarrassment of realizing that you are disorganized or not vigilant enough.
TELL THE FUCKING INNOCENT TARGETS!!!!!!!!!!
Test.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160815/06414335242/snowden-docs-show-nsa-new-zealand-spied-pro-democracy-activists.shtml
The documents published today make Tony Fullman the first confirmed target of the NSA’s PRISM FULL TAKE (see Bill Binney) SURVEILLANCE.
Glenn describes how this type of information can be used against every American. If you’ve done something wrong they’ve got you. If you havent done something wrong they’ll frame you.
https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/
“…Critically, the “targets” for this deceit and reputation-destruction extend far beyond the customary roster of normal spycraft: hostile nations and their leaders, military agencies, and intelligence services. In fact, the discussion of many of these techniques occurs in the context of using them in lieu of “traditional law enforcement” against people suspected (but not charged or convicted) of ordinary crimes or, more broadly still, “hacktivism”, meaning those who use online protest activity for political ends…”
The discussion of many of these techniques occurs in the context of using them in lieu of “traditional law enforcement” against domestic activists and/or politically active US citizens suspected (but not charged with or convicted) of ordinary crimes.
“…The title page of one of these documents reflects the agency’s own awareness that it is “pushing the boundaries” by using “cyber offensive” techniques against people who have nothing to do with terrorism or national security threats, and indeed, centrally involves law enforcement agents who investigate ordinary crimes…”
The persecution of domestic activists and/or politically active US citizens centrally involves law enforcement agents who investigate ordinary crimes.
“…it is not difficult to see how dangerous it is to have secret government agencies being able to target any individuals they want – who have never been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crimes – with these sorts of online, deception-based tactics of reputation destruction and disruption…”
Je Suis Tony Fullman. “Its time” (2013) to release a long list of 4th amendment protected US based domestic NSA targets.
Multiple choice, non-standardised?
Just kidding. God forbid people try to make that mean something too.
Sorry about the multiple postings folks. Mea Culpa..
Let me see if I have this right. The NZ government could not legally spy on their own citizens, so they got the NSA to do it. Of course, it’s not the first time, or the first country, where that has happened, or where members of the five eyes club have reciprocated. Supposing he was engaged in a plot to forcefully overthrow a military dictatorship in a third country – which evidently he was not – how exactly does that make him a terrorist? And a threat to the five eyes?
It should be clear to everyone at this point that the purpose of organizations like the NSA is to preserve and protect the status quo, except in those cases where their masters want the status quo changed. If this were a story of someone promoting democratic change in Syria, then the organs of state security would be offering arms and assistance. But for a mere two bit military dictator, the situation is different.
Another point: When dealing with paranoid organizations such as the NSA, CIA and FBI, it is never possible to prove oneself innocent, only guilty. Apparently once they start monitoring someone, the voyeuristic drive kicks in and is so strong that they simply cannot stop monitoring, even when the great mass of data collected shows not even a hint of wrong doing. They attempt to justify this obsession with the rationale that anyone could be, or could become, a terrorist. If that were true, they should be disbanded immediately because of the grave threat they would pose should they themselves become terrorists.
They try to create them. And if they cant then I bet theyd do anything — ANYTHING — to make it look like theyre the good guys. Rubicon is educational.
” If that were true, they should be disbanded immediately because of the grave threat they would pose should they themselves become terrorists.”
lol. spot on. There oughta be a law.
There is something very suspicious about this story as written. The spies already have so much data that they should have known this guy wasn’t a threat before they started the surveillance. And if they hated him in particular for his pro-democracy activities, they would NEVER have admitted being wrong, especially not after just two years, which is practically a blink of an eye by exoneration timescales. Which leaves me thinking that he wasn’t the real target in the first place, and his change in status was only an excuse for them to spy into any and all Fijian contacts he might ever have had. Which makes me wonder… how are they doing? Still feeling healthy, lying by the beach hanging out, or … not?
Good observation.
The population is catching on to the network of evil and those with a voice to further change are silenced.
Monsters like Feinstein want to silence lots of people, beat them into submission, threaten them, so the ones that possess her can keep running their game on America. They dont want equality.
Seeing will become a lot easier for you.
I think I must have pissed her off by accident, generally speaking, making a comment about the IoT. Freedom of speech isnt guaranteed anymore. Period. But I think that holds for her and most of the rest of them too. How free ARE our politicians (and I am not talking about money and pacs), anyway? They couldnt even analyze a torture report privately or find out the details of the things they themselves have to vote on (nor can they disclose things even if they want to… And if they do, what? They get a Clapper-like performance and very little real change.
Years hence, greedy selfish monsters like the ones who occupy wallstreet will gravitate to the spy monster and use it for their own gain by sabotaging the lives of others, murdering people who get in their way (framing not a problem with that kind of info resource, mossad gotta love it), and preventing people to be free from the criminal currency system that makes debt slaves of whole populations.
16: Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17: Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18: A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19: Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20: Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
she supported a coup which got a good person murdered and hundreds more.
she worships wallstreet
she adores netanyahu
she lies regularly
What would Jesus say?
I think when Jesus meets the professed good Methodist “Christian” Hillary Clinton at the Pearly Gates (she claims she carries her Bible with her everywhere along with her hot sauce) that Jesus will say, “Get thee away from me. I know Ye not.”
And standing behind Christ will be the hundreds of thousands of men, women, children and babies she has had a hand in slaughtering since being First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State.
Once President, especially after siccing the military on Syria, Ukraine and Iran (translates into Russia), Jesus might have the entire world’s population standing behind him when he tells Hillary he doesn’t know her.
I hope He tells he knows a place where that “hot sauce” will come in handy.
Pfffttt!
Jill Stein – 2016
Minnie Driver.
The soldier guarding the Fijian parliament looks nervous. He’s probably hoping nobody notices his weapon is devoid of an ammo clip! Reminds me of how the U.S. Army refuses to let its troops be armed on U.S. bases!
http://taskandpurpose.com/shouldnt-soldiers-carry-guns-military-bases/
One question, why do you believe that he was targeted by mistake? Just because the government(s) take an official public position of opposition to a dictator doesn’t mean they actually want the country in question to become a democracy, especially if there’s a chance the democracy will be less pliable than the dictator is (publicly or privately).
Well we can see how smoothly things will run when the U.S. gov decides to implement no fly no buy w/o due process… and restrict other rights. I’m sure tho, they’ll get it right more often than not.
Wasn’t Cheney on one of those lists?
Hacking the world is never the answer. Nor is overthrow. Sigh.
According to the US embassy in Fiji:
I assume ‘the marine environment’ means that Fiji has potential for offshore oil development. This fully justifies the involvement of the NSA in this case.
Oil is so passe*, benitoe. A single (1) blue fin Tuna sold at market a few weeks ago for well over $100,000.00.
*Argentina has the largest oil reserves in the world and you can’t buy a roll of toilet paper … there.
I suspect what captured the 5 Eyes Intelligence agencies attention, looking at the photo caption above (Democracy ~ No To Guns), was the potential terrorist demand of … “NO TO GUNS” part.
ps. you can’t be too careful with crazy people who believe … NO TO GUNS.
You are ignoring that the market value of Exxon-Mobil is considerably higher than Dongwon Industries (owner of Starkist).
Oil, not tuna, drives the world economy. As a result, the NSA is more interested in the world market for oil.
The fact that Venezuela (which I assume you are referring to, since it has the world’s largest oil reserves) has squandered its oil wealth is typical of many producing countries. The US prints paper dollars which are given to other countries in exchange for their oil. Since the most competitive US export, thanks to subsidies channeled through the military, is armaments, those countries exchange dollars for arms. Venezuela has failed to start any profitable wars against its neighbors, and so has missed out on benefitting from its oil wealth.
From The Petroleum Potential of Fiji (pdf file):
However, if you can link to a similar document on the Tuna Potential of Fiji, I would be interested to read it. You are certainly right, however, about pro-democracy activists being a bigger threat to profits than terrorists. Thus my conclusion that the NSA has its priorities straight.
Any of the readers or commenters on this story desire for me to stop reading The Intercept’s stories as extremely as the terrorist organization that perpetuates mass murder and rape in order to delude people into thinking and believing that if somebody hacked into their database and leaked (and eventually published) a myriad of documents regarding information that the general public is already aware of but hasn’t seen published by a news agency that some deity would blow up the planet in a millisecond because it didn’t think it was funny enough to not laugh about pretending to think it was funny enough to make a joke about and then laugh about pretending to do so so that they can start a nuclear war with China in ten or fifteen or twenty years that is the nsa? I certainly don’t.
As with all massively expensive “intelligence” gathering, the concept of a “cost/benefit ratio” does not exist. This would be comedy worthy of Inspector Clouseau except for the taxpayer money wasted.
What’s crazy is that after this has happened the New Zealand government has given explicit permission to spy on its citizens.
I have a theory about that. Who would go up against anyone with that much power? I doubt nz is alone in being terrified of the consequences of going outside of the range of an all-seeing eye.
Especially as they have the power to (and have in the past) cook the books.
This is pretty revealing, but at least the victim of this targeting was in a nominally democratic country and had some recourse to legal protections – but consider a similar pro-democracy activist in Bahrain or any other dictatorship:
https://bahrainwatch.org/ipspy/viewreport.php
“The IP Spy Files: How Bahrain’s Government Silences Anonymous Online Dissent”
While the NSA may or may not be directly involved, the private contractors who work for the NSA and other agencies seem happy to sell their expertise and hardware & software to these repressive governments with no questions asked, and no “Export License” interference from any of the Five Eyes governments.
When people like General Keith Alexander, James Clapper, James Comey, John Brennan and Michael Hayden look at the Bahrain government’s ability to crack down on dissent without any pesky constitutional restrictions, I’m sure their main emotion is envy.
twitter arrests?
https://bahrainwatch.org/ipspy/viewreport.php#arrests
gee. Hellery can be a real democracy advocate in the US and a participant in genocide outside the US.
Hellery to Netanyahu “Hey netty. wanna kill some more Palestinians and not take any heat for it?”
Netty:”I wouldn’t want to call it killing Palestinians but we do need to mow the lawn some more. Running out of space you know. What did you have in mind?”
Hellery: “As i am now your president, we have developed a plan to devastate syria real good but – we’re jus gonna hafta put our troops nearby in a safe place and we need some land, lots of it, to occupy for our bases and airfields – and Palestine is the best location. Can you help us with that?”
Netty: “Any time my dear. Your hands wash my hands.”
Hellery: “Always glad to wash your hands, Netty. Are you free any time next week?”
We know we monitor taxy drivers, dont we? I wonder how they come up with their taxonomy. Who to watch, that is.
RG, I appreciate your writing but the site makes it difficult so I havent really been able to look up… have you done any interviews with taxy drivers in NY about their use (unwittingly or wittingly) for surveillance and informant purposes?
Thanks for providing more evidence that the NSA and all of the Five Eyes are ruining innocent people’s lives while being incompetent wasters of taxpayers’ money.
Waste is when you get nothing; they are getting absolute power and control. And at a bargain basement price.
(* we shouldnt let them.)
It seems to me they’re casting their net so wide and haphazardly as to be counterproductive and foolish (see: Collect It All), and although they certainly do greedily seek power and control, in many regards they’re evidently just acting out of panic and paranoia that they might be missing something – and to my mind any intimidating factor is lessened by the fact that they look utterly incompetent and annoyingly profligate with public funds.
I mean I cant totally argue with that. But that is the mask the “best” terrorists use because it is highly effective at keeping people in line and under control. The operative factor seems to be subordination of the populace. Chaos seems to do that (which is one reason I have never favoured any form of violent protest). Of course chaos used to be favoured by those without money; now it is favoured by people with more money to throw at it and a phenomenally warped viewpoint that the usa and her allies are the ones at a threat, when the truth is we ceased having any shot of ever being that as soon as we blew up the first city with a nuclear warhead. They look oncompetent and probably are but I am willing to bet the people pulling the strings know the art of war by rote and practice.
Incidentally I am not sure which I would prefer — the competent or the incompetent — having their finger on the button.
Yeah, I know what you mean. I’d prefer the endemic corruption of the system went with at least common sense or some dubious but at least sensible strategy, but it doesn’t seem to appear that way.
Corrupted by corporatism, militarism and imperialism, the establishment overdoes everything in the service of oligarchic interests – and this manifests as governmental misuse of human resources (the very best technicians and propagandists serve transparently elite purposes, for example), and evidently varying degrees of (in)competency from the people who ultimately calls the shots. This overdoing it can be seen in oversurveillance, overpollution and overkilling and overmeddling interventionism, as well as other excesses in various industries and compromised institutions.
The elite know as much about the extreme threat of overtoxicity and climate change as the rest of us, for instance – but that doesn’t stop them continuing to ruin stable situations *and* the shared planet with massive extraction of fossil-fuels (and wars to defend and transport them), so in my opinion the ruling class unfortunately can’t be said to be strategically wise (even if they have read Sun Tzu).
In my view they are dreadfully dangerous precisely because of their lack of integrity and self-control – and although this is well demonstrated by the establishment’s self-important hotheads currently ‘vying’ for president, it is also illustrated by the irresponsible corporatism of Big Energy and the banal evil behind the incompetently overzealous bureaucracies charged with surveillance and espionage.
I would like to see them charged with many things. Nuremberg.
It’s not incompetent. You do yourself and your cause a great disservice when you falsely assume that your opponents or enemies are stupid, and/or ignorant and/or incompetent.
The reasons for this operation were clearly laid out in the article, though they should have been emphasized instead of being just another set of facts in a long article. This was about trade, pure & simple. New Zealand was trying to get on the good side of Fiji’s dictatorship in order to maintain and increase trade, so it pretended to protect Fiji from a terrorist attack.
Perhaps you underestimate the level of immorality of the people who run national security operations for countries, but these people don’t care about the individuals whose lives they ruin or whom they kill; they care mainly about furthering the business interests of their countries’ businesses. So, we end up with stories like this one.
You appear to have understood my point. The incompetency doesn’t refer to causing unintended harm and being indifferent to it, rather it refers to the foolishness of wastefulness, paranoia and casting-too-wide-a-net that accompanies the immoral goals the elite pursues via bureaucracies and militarized corporatism. Note that as an example of incompetency the establishment is ruining the environment it shares with the rest of the world with reckless abandon. This is more than immoral; it is boneheaded.
They will destroy the Earth for money and power; they’re completely psychotic as far as I’m concerned. But I wouldn’t characterize them as stupid or incompetent. Instead, I’d say that they’re ultimately foolish and lacking in any spirituality or even morals.
“New Zealand was trying to get on the good side of Fiji’s dictatorship in order to maintain and increase trade, so it pretended to protect Fiji from a terrorist attack.”
Well said.
Which is to say that even if their goals make ‘sense’ to them ostensibly outside the ‘collect it all’ motif (as in the true motive for this espionage being “about trade pure and simple”), you clearly appreciate that the overzealous pursuit of said targets is obviously counterproductive and dangerous – thus incompetent and foolish in truth. Let’s not adopt the establishment’s parameters of so-called reason; the incompetency I’m highlighting is not in the execution of goal-pursuit but in the lack of common sense, informed foresight and moral thought behind the goals themselves.
I think we agree, see my previous post. But I think you are misusing the term “competence.” If you accomplish your goal — in this case to get more trade — then you’re competent.
Freedom of speech and protest are not actually a requirement for democracy. Neither is the God given right to life support and habitat. No, these necessities for goodness for human life are up for grabs. In the US, the citizens get to elect their destructors and whores for thieves and call it democracy. This is why Trump said democracy is a problem, because, without the primary enforcement of those human requirements, you become a slave to someone else.
The foundation of life support in the US is a criminal currency trap. It will destroy the country and if Hellery Clinton is elected, she will install the TPP Global Initiative which will destroy all civilisation on the planet. But Hellery – a racist who supports genocide in Palestine and wants to expand wars – really really doesnt give a damn. If that happens, people who say things like…
will immediately be recorded as subversives to the system of the criminal currency scheme that needs human wilderbeasts to work for the profits of the owners.
So if we, the people, are going to replace that which is killing us in so many ways, we the people need to convene and rewrite the Declaration of Independence and Constitution Meanwhile, we can complain by saying things like “This government is fuck all.”
The Australian and NZ security police forces are no better than the NSA in terms of spying on people they shouldn’t be. They just don’t have the toys the Americans do.
While I actually really dont know how I feel about reading these documents, I believe the link is not working correctly.
I appreciate this story.
The real issue here is that New Zealand is not paying up for the effort we make to keep them safe. This is their last few months of Obamacomfort. From next year they better pay us or they face their terrorists on their own.
Of all the sockpuppets that post here, you are only one of a few that would say that. It is shameful.
However it is becoming a subsidised haven for the wealthy who dont need any subsidy.
I was referring to the parts implying that (a) they would have a terrorist problem at all, (b) theyd have even the potential of one if the united states werent bombing and spying and torturing and droning and invading, as well as (c) that should pay the usa at all given those facts. That is extortion on top of terror, and do we really want any countries to have more surveillance?
That might be the worst comment I’ve ever read on here. Congrats?!
Are you being sarcastic? I will assume you are not. If you are not a troll, then I apologize.
In New Zealand, we have a very low threat of being attacked by terrorists (the last terrorist attack being decades ago, when a anti-nuclear protest ship, the Rainbow Warrior was blown up by french spies), yet we have joined with these “counterterrorism” agencies. We do not need this surveillance and I detest our participation in the program.
You must mean their pro-democracy activists.
FIJI??? “The extraordinary covert operation,”
How a bout a report on a “extraordinary covert operation,” on the Clinton Foundation. Showing how the NSA assists Hellary to launder bribes from foreign governments through her foundation!
What a shame the NSA didn’t seize Hillary Clinton’s passport for the crime of orchestrating the overthrow of Qaddafi which has led to a safe haven for ISIS and the rat line of weapons to the U.S. backed “rebels” (terrorists) in Syria trying to oust Assad and create yet another illegal “regime change” so ISIS can seize more territory.
Incredible double standards.
“How a bout a report on a “extraordinary covert operation,” on the Clinton Foundation. Showing how the NSA assists Hellary to launder bribes from foreign governments through her foundation!”
@The Intercept – Yes, how about it?
I’d read it