The NSA is now big brother thanks to bush

At one time, their fight was noble. They stood between us and the Soviet bloc, now they are watching us. Our protector has become our prisoner.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/25/weekinreview/25bamford.html

"That capability at any time could be turned around on the American people," he said in 1975, "and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn't matter. There would be no place to hide."

He added that if a dictator ever took over, the NSA "could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back."

At the time, the agency had the ability to listen to only what people said over the telephone or wrote in an occasional telegram; they had no access to private letters. But today, with people expressing their innermost thoughts in e-mail messages, exposing their medical and financial records to the Internet, and chatting constantly on cellphones, the agency virtually has the ability to get inside a person's mind.



Be sure to read the last paragraph

the NSA is incompetent. It was the NSA that intercepted the Al Qaeda communication on September 10 that said "tomorrow is zero hour" and "the match begins tomorrow."

But they did not translate it until September 12, the day after the 9/11 attacks.

What good does it do to intercept these communications, if you need to get them translated, but you fail to do so in a timely manner?

Why did they NOT do same-day translation of that communication? It would have clued them in to something taking place the next day. Even if it didn't give times or places, it would have sent a red flag.

Why did they NOT do same-day translation of that communication?

Because they fired all the translators who happened to be gay. Praise Jeebus!

I knew a couple gay agents. they were good guys. The only thing that would make them a security risk is the fact that they could be fired for being who they are. Because of that, they could be blackmailed. That is a security danger created by the theocrats, not by the gay agent.

They couldn't do same day due to budget cuts by the Republican congress. They didn't have enough people to do the job.

Too bad that Bush and Cheney have you guys working on Christmas
spying on ordinary (and outraged) citizens like us who are simply exercising
our constitutional right of free speech. Just think, you guys could be
using your talents to catch real terrorists and crooks instead of
terrorizing and intimidating the American people. I'm sure it sucks to be
caught in your position right now. Remember... "just following orders"
is not an excuse to break the law... AND.... you can always help dethrone
this banana republican president. Bush is crook.. and we need your help
to restore justice. Please help. Oh and .. Merry Christmas

It was the template for 9-11 and the subsequent Manipulated War of Terror...

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/

to do with the death of JFK. They were ready to launch a military coup to prevent Kennedy from taking office.

No wonder nothing will change.

As technology "improves", the NSA(and the rest) will get better and better at spying on anyone they want.

It's Big Brother because of Bush? Like the article said, this agency was created secretly in the 50's. They knew it had this power in the 70's. This isn't Bush's fault.

it was people like Nixon and Bush that have tried to turn it into a tool of tyranny.

The NSA has always been a defensive tool. They listen and report.

They've always been capable of domestic spying but the charter of the agency and the patriotism of the agents prevented them from turning on the American people. It was that patriotism of the agents that was noble.

they would prefer not to be a part of some petty neocon grudge match with dissenters.

...via satellite? Then set up a remote station so Karl Rove can sit at his desk and massage the percentages as they come in?

thats what they are...

touch with them. When the Gestapo was on your case, you knew it. The NSA is the ones who do the targeting, like a forward observer on the battlefield. Too bad bush sees America as his battlefield and us citizens as the enemy.