Friday, January 17, 2014

Commentary And Analysis On President Obama's NSA Speech



Bottom Line: 5 Takeaway Messages On Obama's NSA Changes -- CNN

CNN) -- President Barack Obama talked in sometimes lofty, often technical tones Friday about changing how the government does its anti-terror snooping. That includes how it collects records on many of your phone calls, emails and online chats.

Here's what it all meant:

1. The public will get a voice before the secret intelligence court -- sort of

The way things work now at the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the government asks a judge in secret for permission to collect, say, phone records. No one gets to argue the other side.

Obama said he wants to open the court's doors to advocates from outside the government who can "provide an independent voice in significant cases."

Read more ....

More Comments And Analysis On President Obama's NSA Speech

Analysis on Obama's NSA Speech -- New York Times
Five big takeaways from Obama’s NSA speech -- Greg Miller, Washington Post
Everything you need to know about Obama’s NSA reforms, in plain English -- Brian Fung, Washington Post
Questions and answers about Obama’s new NSA rules -- AP
So What Did People Think of Obama’s NSA Speech? -- New York Magazine
Early reviews slam Obama’s surveillance overhaul -- Washington Times
Glenn Greenwald: Obama Speech A 'PR Gesture' -- Huffington Post
First Take: Obama's battle on U.S. spying just beginning -- Aamer Madhani, Detroit Free Press/USA Today
Obama's Still Spying No Matter What He Said -- Noah Feldman, Bloomberg
Here Is Obama's Plan to Reform NSA Surveillance -- The Atlantic
Obama NSA reforms: Why he can't win -- Peter Grier, Christian Science Monitor
This 1 sentence sums up Obama’s entire NSA reform speech -- Brian Fung, Washington Post

WNU Editor: I expect more commentary and analysis on President Obama;s NSA speech in the next day or two. As a result we will be regularly updating this post.

1 comment:

Intelligence.Architecture.Infrastructure said...


I still do not understand the objective. PPD-28 clearly states bulk data will be collected and merely personal information will be separated out and that personal information alone will require FISA Court approval if an analyst wants access. It says nothing about AI-cyberbots not having access to the bulk data. Nor does 'Phone' delineate from 'VOIP.'

That's like saying a security guard cannot look into the changing room where the naked woman steals the dress she's trying on, but the dress nevertheless has an electronic tag that will beep should she sneak past an electronic fence without a human eye involved.

Further, aggregated Metadata will be confined to 2-degrees of separation instead of 3-degrees of separation. Big Deal!

And that DNI has 1 year to say any of the changes is even feasible or worthwhile.

It is a no-brainer to move the data under NATO or CIA command, the same way Drones are moved away from Pentagon to CIA Command. For a couple of Billion dollars we can set up the data warehouse in Diego Garcia in Indian Ocean under CIA or NATO Command or AFRICOM which is really a no man's land in the jungle. No one will even know it exists.

Judging by the quality of analysis already I don't think I'm awaiting updates.