Just a thought. I wonder if we are heading for a major melt down in the intelligence community. Are the forces aligning (international allies, privacy rights groups, libertarians, politicians with an anti-intelligence bias, those against big government, ACLU, even some within the Obama administration who dislike the US intelligence apparatus and national security system and a host of other potentially strange bedfellows) to create conditions that will lead to the neutering of our intelligence capabilities? Will there be a new "Church commission?" We are already seeing calls for breaking apart the NSA. What will happen under the guise of "reforms" to the intelligence community? Or will cooler heads prevail within the Administration and Congress to protect one of the absolute keys to our national security? We cannot forget that there are people out there what wish to do us harm. We certainly should not be aiding and abetting them with a knee reaction to controversy.
And as an aside, I think I recall Snowden and Greenwald saying they did not intend to do any harm to the US and were only focusing on bringing attention to the needed debate on the privacy rights of Americans. They have now gone way beyond their first self proclaimed "mandate" and appear to be on the verge of significantly damaging US national security if they have not done so already.
V/R
Dave
Dave
25 October 2013 Last updated at 07:09 EThttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
EU says distrust of US on spying may harm terror fight
EU leaders meeting in Brussels say distrust of the US over spying could harm the fight against terrorism.
A statement agreed by the leaders says that "a lack of trust could prejudice" intelligence-gathering co-operation.
France and Germany are pushing for talks with the US to find a new "understanding" by the year's end.
A number of allegations against US intelligence agents have surfaced this week, including the bugging of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone.
In addition there have been claims that the US National Security Agency (NSA) monitored millions of French telephone calls.
On Thursday, the UK's Guardian newspaper also reported that it had obtained a confidential memo from the NSA suggesting it had monitored the phones of 35 world leaders.
The latest revelations have been sourced to US whistleblower Edward Snowden, the former intelligence contractor who fled the country earlier this year and is now in Russia.
They have overshadowed other issues at the EU summit in Brussels, including the Mediterranean migration problem, which frames the agenda of Friday's talks.
Italian authorities said they had intercepted some 800 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean as the EU leaders prepared to meet.
'Vital element'
The statement of heads of state or government, released on Friday, reflects the EU leaders' conclusions following their talks on Thursday.
It says the recent intelligence issues had raised "deep concerns" among European citizens.
The statement says the leaders "underlined the close relationship between Europe and the USA and the value of that partnership".
It continues: "[The leaders] stressed that intelligence-gathering is a vital element in the fight against terrorism."
And it went on: "A lack of trust could prejudice the necessary cooperation in the field of intelligence-gathering."
Belgian Prime Minister Elio di Rupo said: "The objective must remain the same - to fight against terrorism but also respect privacy.
(Continued at the link below)
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