Former Top NSA Exec Claims He Challenged The Bulk Phone Records Program… And Was Rebuffed

Say That Again

from the and-everyone-laughed-at-him dept

The AP has a big story out claiming that, back in 2009, a “now-retired” but “senior NSA official” found out about the Section 215 program collecting bulk phone records from the telcos and argued that it went too far and should be stopped:

Years before Edward Snowden sparked a public outcry with the disclosure that the National Security Agency had been secretly collecting American telephone records, some NSA executives voiced strong objections to the program, current and former intelligence officials say. The program exceeded the agency’s mandate to focus on foreign spying and would do little to stop terror plots, the executives argued.

The 2009 dissent, led by a senior NSA official and embraced by others at the agency, prompted the Obama administration to consider, but ultimately abandon, a plan to stop gathering the records.

The “former official” apparently found the whole program to be problematic and correctly predicted that if it ever became public it would be a problem:

The former official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because he didn’t have permission to discuss a classified matter, said he knows of no evidence the program was used for anything other than its stated purpose ? to hunt for terrorism plots in the U.S. But he said he and others made the case that the collection of American records in bulk crossed a line that he and his colleagues had been taught was sacrosanct.

He said he also warned of a scandal if it should be disclosed that the NSA was storing records of private calls by Americans ? to psychiatrists, lovers and suicide hotlines, among other contacts.

The article notes that these concerns did lead the Justice Department, Congress and the White House to take a closer look at the program — and then choose to keep it going. This contradicts the narrative that some have suggested that the White House didn’t fully understand the program in the past because it was preoccupied with other issues. Now it seems clear that not only were officials well aware of the program, they chose not to rein in the program when they had the chance.

The article further notes that this official and others within the NSA who were concerned with the program had offered up some suggested changes, not unlike what was actually in the USA Freedom Act that was just rejected. Perhaps more interesting, the article concludes by pointing out that if this change had been put in place, there’s a decent chance that Ed Snowden never would have revealed everything else — because this was the main program that so concerned Snowden, and which has been the centerpiece of most of the discussions since the Snowden revelations.

Filed Under: bulk collection, nsa, patriot act, section 215