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The list of revelations that traitor Edward Snowden thankfully revealed to the public regarding the NSA’s use and misuse of their authority under the Patriot Act to fight terrorism continues to come to light. A further document, dated Oct. 3, 2012, discloses how the NSA specifically researched the pornography use of 6 “radicalizers” and planned to us the private information specifically to discredit them.
By radicalizers, they mean Islamic teachers who teach that some form of violent Jihad (AKA terrorism) was an appropriate response to frustrations with the West and with American political policy in particular.
Their tactic allows the use of “a previous SIGINT [signals intelligence, or interrupted communicate],” especially because an “assessment report on radicalization indicated that radicalizers appear to be particularly vulnerable in the area of authority when their private and public behavior are not consistent.”
In other words, exposing an opponent’s hypocrisy is certain to undermind his radical message. You have to be holy to wage a holy war!
The NSA further explained that “viewing sexually explicit material online” and “using sexually explicit persuasive language when communicating with inexperienced girls” is a sure way to undermine the seemingly moral authority such figures hold.
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This document was listed by the Director of the National Security Agency – “DIRSNA” — and explains their strategy, exemplifying its use on 6 specific radicals.
“Without discussing specific individuals, it should not be surprising that the US Government uses all of the lawful tools at our disposal to impede the efforts of valid terrorist targets who seek to harm the nation and radicalize others in violence” explained Shawn Turner, director of public affairs for the National Intelligence, to the Huffington Post on Tuesday.
After all, as Steward Baker, once general counsel for the NSA under the Bush administration, explained, “If people are engaged in trying to recruit folks to kill Americans and we can discredit them, we ought to. On the whole, it’s fairer and maybe more humane…dropping the truth on them,” than dropping bombs on them.
Yet this is exactly the sort of power that the NSA can abuse, which is why the public is justifiably outraged that innocent (although perhaps porn-fancying) Americans are being as scrutinized as any terrorist.
As Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union, explained, “It’s important to remember that the NSA’s surveillance activities are anything but narrowly focused – the agency is collecting massive amounts of sensitive information about virtually everyone.”
“Wherever you are, the NSA’s databases store information about your political views, your medical history, your intimate relationships and your activities online. The NSA says this personal information won’t be abused, but those documents show that the NSA probably defines ‘abuse’ very narrowly.’”
This means that if you or I have viewed pornography or have had an affair, or something like this, the NSA could potentially use it against us to discredit us. Would they do that? Consider what they did to Martin Luther King Jr.
MLK Jr. had affairs while married, sometimes with adolescent girls. The FBI would call him and threaten to expose him. Despite his shortcomings, Martin Luther King Jr. believed in his message, and could not be scared off what he knew was right, even though he sometimes did what was wrong.
The FBI, CIA, and NSA are not absolutely pure and redoubtable moral authorities. They can be wrong. As the current FBI Director James Comey said, after ordering new FBI agents to visit the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, the FBI needs to understand “the dangers in becoming untethered to oversight and accountability.”
The fight with radical Islam is a moral war, murderous Islamic radicals justify their violence using moral terms, using their scripture. To be able to defeat them by exposing their lies is a good way to fight a holy war. Nevertheless, spying on innocent Americans and holding our private lives against us is not a good way to wield one’s power. As always, we must limit if not destroy the authority of the Patriot Act.
“The abuses that involved Martin Luther King occurred before Edward Snowden was born,” said Baker. “I think we can describe them as historical rather than current scandals. Before I say, ‘Yeah, we’ve gotta worry about that,’ I’d like to see evidence of that happening, or is even contemplated today, and I don’t see it.”
Such blindness! Yeah, we’ve always gotta worry about that, because “with great power comes great responsibility,” with power comes the possibility of abuse, and there is no evidence whatsoever that our government has learned the sort of self-control that can avoid all temptation of abuse. Snowden was a traitor, but what he exposed should be used to reform this government, which abuses our freedoms in the name of freedom. The Patriot Act is infamy!
