NSA Chief Rips Media's Coverage of Surveillance Flaps

General Keith Alexander
(Image: abcnews.go.com)

NSA boss General Keith Alexander didn't get the memo about the federal government's shutdown. He's still on duty; I salute him for that action (no pun intended). America's Chief Surveillance Officer (CSO) did find time today to deliver a public speech to the Telecommunications Industry Association about the media's coverage of recent revelations about the NSA's surveillance efforts. The story appeared in today's online editions of The Washington Post.

His address to the collected telecom insiders repeated the NSA mantra about "damage" to the nation's security and how the media mismanaged reporting the spy agency's virtuous labors on behalf of freedom everywhere. Alexander, who also runs the military's Cyber Command, said somehow the nation would manage despite Edward Snowden's information about the extent of NSA snooping on ordinary American citizens. He noted l'affaire Snowden caused an erosion of trust, notably in the very industries the NSA has assiduously courted and, at times, strong armed. That's a fair point.

NYPD Surveillance Camera

However, Alexander did not allude to the increasing mistrust some Americans have toward allegedly "benign" surveillance. Then again, America's CSO doesn't have a profound desire for informed citizens to ponder what the NSA has wrought. He must have the insiders to buy into the "needs" of the surveillance state. He certainly does not want the extent of America's military-technology complex openly considered by a thoughtful electorate. Those industrial-governmental relationships were the heart of Snowden's revelations. I doubt General Alexander will be making any speeches on that topic in the near future.

Report: NSA Surveillance Panel's First Meeting Dodges Change

Ten days ago, the UK newspaper The Guardian reported on an Obama Administration panel's initial meeting to determine changes to NSA surveillance practices and data collection. The group included representatives from tech heavyweights (with the notable exception of Amazon), insiders from the fed's spy world, and think tank policy mavens. Some participants claimed the meeting was a borderline sham, in which no change was discussed and tech firms worked hard to advance their interests. Those "interests" did not necessarily coincide with those of the larger body of American citizens, who have discovered the military-technology complex has compromised their constitutional right to privacy.

Some details from the Guardian's story offer a disturbing look into what passes for transparency inside the Beltway. The meeting, one participant noted, was something less than a full, open dialogue. For one participant, the tech firms, who dominated the 90-minute meeting, seemed to be walking through a prepared script.

Representatives from the technology firms were identified around the table not by their names, but by placards listing their employers. There was minimal technical discussion of surveillance mechanisms despite the presence of technology companies; (the participant) took the representatives to be lawyers, not technologists.

When it appeared like the meeting would discuss a surveillance issue in a sophisticated way, participants and commissioners suggested it be done in a classified meeting. (The participant) interpreted that as a maneuver to exclude his more-critical viewpoint.

The privacy vs. surveillance issue is one of the few issues where American conservatives and liberals share a common concern. It is the conservatives' great shame that they allowed the Bush Administration to emasculate personal privacy guarantees; it is the liberals' great shame that they have played matador to the Obama Administration's bullish advocacy of the NSA's breathtaking data and communication sweeps.

It's a sad state of affairs when a British newspaper takes the lead and sheds light -- continued light -- on this American issue. No Fox News, no NPR, no major American media player really wants this story. That's a national shame.

Baratunde Thurston's Internet "Detox"

Baratunde Thurston

Creating an online recollection of one's detox "vacation" from the digital world takes a combination of imagination, chutzpah, and time. The writer Baratunde Thurston produced such a work, which appeared in fastcompany.com and is featured in recent editions of The Washington Post.

It would be easy to pick apart the inconsistencies in Thurston's approach, such as having a "chief of staff" handle his timely professional contingencies during his sabbatical. How many mere mortals have the equivalent of an industry valet? In fairness, he's aware of them and does consider them in his entertaining piece. What's far more interesting is his discovery of the difficulty fully disconnecting from the digital networks. Thurston discovered that the principal social media firms make adieu from their data empires nearly impossible to execute. This awareness seems much more ironic now, in the wake of our sense of the depths of data mining undertaken by the military-technology complex (to restate Dwight Eisenhower's famous characterization).

Thurston's story embraces plenty of wit, a warm sense of humanity, and self-awareness that's mostly refreshing and occasionally promotional. You should read it before you decide to unplug, either temporarily or permanently.