Is the NSA Corrupt?

I’ve got a great resource I want to share with you and, best of all, it’s free. I always work to find information and resources for members of the Self-Reliance Institute that are strategically effective while also being cost-effective.

This week, I’ve hit a home run. (I couldn’t resist the World Series reference)

But, before I share this resource, I want to bring needed attention to another troubling reality about our government.

Specifically, another troubling issue at the National Security Agency.

An issue that sheds light on a problem I witnessed first-hand for many years when I lived and worked in the belly of the beast – Washington, DC.

That issue is government employees and political appointees who become amazingly wealthy by manipulating their jobs and contacts into a stream of dollars that most folks could never imagine.

The most recent example comes to our attention from Michael Krieger over at the Liberty Blitzkrieg blog. In his long and detailed post, “It’s Not Just Spying – How the NSA Has Turned Into a Giant Profit Center for Corrupt Insiders,” Krieger points out the following.

–“Last week, two very important stories came out; one from Reuters and the other from Buzzfeed. They both zero in on howcurrent NSA employees are using their expertise and connections to make big money in the private sector while still working at the NSA.” [emphasis added]

—Former NSA Chief Keith Alexander, whose firm is now getting between $600,000 and $1,000,000 per month to provide clients with the information he learned as a taxpayer funded government employee, “is now hiring top people still working at the NSA to concurrently work at his cyber-security firm.” [emphasis added]

—According to Reuters: “Under the arrangement, which was confirmed by Alexander and current intelligence officials, NSA’s Chief Technical Officer, Patrick Dowd, is allowed to work up to 20 hours a week at IronNet Cybersecurity Inc, the private firm led by Alexander, a retired Army general and his former boss.” [emphasis added]

—As Krieger states: “So Americans aren’t entitled to any privacy because of a trumped up terrorist threat, yet top NSA employees can moonlight for private businesses involved in the same areas as the NSA with apparently no threat to national security. America has gone completely insane.” [emphasis added]

Further—

–“Buzzfeed broke a related story recently. It reports how one of the most powerful individuals at the NSA, Teresa H. Shea., has several intelligence related businesses run from her home.” [emphasis added]

–“Teresa Shea is the director of Signals Intelligence, or SIGINT, which refers to all electronic eavesdropping and interception, including the controversial domestic surveillance program that collects information about Americans’ phone use.” [emphasis added]

After providing all the details from the Buzzfeed piece, which are mind-blowing, Krieger sums up the outrageous conflicts of interests, self-dealing and potential corruption with two words.

“Utterly shameless.”

I agree.

Truthfully, shameless corruption was what I witnessed almost every day as a private detective in Washington, DC.

OK. Let’s move on to the new resource I mentioned at the top of this advisory. To be more precise, it’s an update to a resource I called your attention to almost a year ago. But it’s such a significant upgrade to the previous resource, it looks and feels brand new and it contains a ton of new information on a newly created website.

The resource is Surveillance Self-Defense and it’s a project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Wiggle your way through the website and you’ll find a tremendous amount of information including, but not limited to, Overviews, Tutorials, Briefings and Playlists covering a wide-range of privacy and security issues that we discuss on a regular basis here at the Self-Reliance Institute.

Seriously, if you don’t bookmark Surveillance Self-Defense and take some time to look through the site (scroll down the home page and click on the Index or the Playlists links for a good starting spot) and make use of the information that is applicable to your needs, I’ll be very disappointed. I’ve had the link for several days and I’m still absorbing the material and comparing it to my own privacy and security practices.

Yes, I will highlight especially important sections of the site in future advisories – with a focus on new techniques and technologies – but, as always, I want you to investigate and evaluate the material for yourself.

That’s what we do as self-reliant individuals! That’s what makes us different from all the sheeple that inhabit what I sometimes refer to as the United States of Stupid.

Give the site a look and let me know what you think or what questions you might have. As always, you can email me at [email protected]

Be safe, secure and free!

Rob Douglas – Former Washington DC Private Detective