Why the USA Freedom Act Is Both Desperately Important and Laughably Pathetic
How you analyze the bill depends on whether you think a baby step in the right direction is worth celebrating.
Dan Froomkin
Dan Froomkin is the former Washington Editor of The Intercept.
An outspoken proponent of accountability journalism, he wrote the popular “White House Watch” column at the Washington Post from 2004 to 2009. His career in journalism started in local news, and since then he has served as the senior Washington correspondent and bureau chief for the Huffington Post, as editor of WashingtonPost.com, and as deputy editor of NiemanWatchdog.org. He lives in Washington, D.C.
An outspoken proponent of accountability journalism, he wrote the popular “White House Watch” column at the Washington Post from 2004 to 2009. His career in journalism started in local news, and since then he has served as the senior Washington correspondent and bureau chief for the Huffington Post, as editor of WashingtonPost.com, and as deputy editor of NiemanWatchdog.org. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Contacts:
Posts:
Snowden Archive
How the NSA Converts Spoken Words Into Searchable Text
Top-secret documents show the NSA can automatically recognize the content within phone calls, generating easily searched transcriptions.
AP: Americans Strongly Support Different, Imaginary Drone Program
AP’s poll doesn't show, as the story claims, "broad support among the U.S. public for a targeted killing program begun under President George W. Bush and expanded dramatically under Obama." What it does show is broad support for a drone program that doesn't exist.
Nearly Two Years After Snowden, Congress Poised to Do Something — Just Not Much
NSA collection of U.S. telephone records could continue, but the agency would only get records matching "specific selector terms" it specifies.
Whistleblowers Back "Surveillance State Repeal Act"
The bill would completely repeal the 2001 PATRIOT Act, which the NSA cites as the legal basis for its bulk phone metadata collection; repeal the FISA Amendments Act, which ostensibly legitimizes Internet spying; and otherwise protect people's privacy.
The Word That Cannot Be Uttered (It's Drones)
If they cannot even say the word, how can they even begin to tell the truth?
Even NSA Chief Acknowledges Need for "Broad Discussion" About Cyberwarfare
Rogers likened cyberattacks to previous improvements in warfare. "Cyber represents change, a different technical application to attempt to achieve some of the exact same effects, just do it in a different way," he said. "Like those other effects, I think, over time, we’ll have a broad discussion in terms of our sense of awareness, both in terms of capabilities as well as limitations." That discussion is long overdue.
US Military Spending Still Up 45% Over Pre-9/11 Levels; More Than Next 7 Countries Combined
Despite a decline in military spending since 2010, U.S. defense expenditures are still 45 percent higher than they were before the 9/11 terror attacks put the country on a seemingly permanent war footing. And despite massive regional buildups spurred by conflict in the Ukraine and the Middle East, the U.S. spends more on its military than the next seven top-spending countries combined.
Booz Allen Wolves Offer Advice on Protecting NSA Henhouse
In a eye-popping bit of irony — even by Washington standards — a report despairing over the federal government cyber-brain drain was written by Booz Allen Hamilton, the giant "Beltway Bandit" government contractor known for regularly raiding the best and brightest.
