Shocking true Shame of the NSA

The real shame of the NSA isn’t that they have been gathering massive amounts of data. The real shame is that somehow an idiot like Edward Snowden was in a position to dump our dirty laundry hamper into the street for everyone to see.

The government necessarily has police powers. You and I can use force in emergent circumstances. The government can sit around, think about it, then decide to use force. Usually it is legitimate, like when they decide to raid a meth lab, or pick up a guy caught on camera sticking up a liquor store.

That power can be abused, too. I do not think every idiot who wants to dodge taxes should be able to declare their work a not-for-profit. It is legitimate for the IRS to use its police power to investigate organizations and make sure they comply with the law. The problem is that the IRS clearly used its authority to hamstring the opponents of those currently in power. We may very well be saddled with the most arrogant, narcissistic, incompetent administration in modern history in part because the IRS crippled the political opposition.

To my knowledge, no American citizen has come forward claiming that the NSA has done anything improper with the data it has been capturing and mining. Certainly there is enormous potential for harm, but so there is with a cop and a badge.

The shame of the NSA is that they are so incompetent that an obvious fool like Edward Snowden could have had access to the kind of sensitive information that would embarrass the United States. I would be deeply disappointed if America’s spy agencies did not spy on Brazil’s President – we have the most expensive damn defensive network in human history. Our President should be able to ask what any other world leader had for breakfast and get an answer in two minutes.

And nobody should ever be the wiser.

Private Bradley Manning is another example of gross incompetence in selecting the people whose job it is to process and protect our secrets.

Look, I get it. The CIA, FBI, NSA and all the other various and sundry agencies need to use what we have to the advantage of our defense. Terrorists have anonymity and vast swaths of barbarians in which to hide. We have vast swaths of storage and computing power.

However, given how stupid some of the people entrusted with security clearances have proven to be, it seems only a matter of time before an NSA intercept is leaked for political gain, as happened with the IRS who leaked info about citizens trying to defend traditional marriage, which in turn crippled that organization’s efforts.

The layers of idiots who in turn hired, appointed or recruited the Mannings and Snowdens in our country were in place long before Obama took over, but I see nothing being done to address that central issue. In this case, it is not the crime, it’s the lack of an effective coverup.