Edward Lucas - The Snowden Operation

See for example http://www.dni.gov/files/documents/1118/CLEANEDPRTT%202.pdf

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/01/09/261079074/nsa-says-it-would-welcome-public-advocate-at-fisa-court

‘Snowden—myths and misapprehensions’ by Nigel Inkster, IISS, 15 November 2013, http://www.iiss.org/en/politics%20and%20strategy/blogsections/2013-98d0/november-47b6/snowden-9dd1

See http://www.lawfareblog.com/2014/01/a-game-changing-ruling-in-the-no-fly-list-case.

It is worth noting that the plaintiff, a foreigner contesting the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to put her on a no-fly list, launched her lawsuit well before the Snowden revelations, and seems to be heading for vindication.

The claim was first made in his video interview on June 10th, available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/jun/09/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-interview-videoand elaborated here: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/nsa-top-secret-program-online-data

‘Top-Secret Document Reveals NSA Spied on Porn Habits as Part of Plan to Discredit “Radicalizers”’, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/26/nsa-porn-muslims_n_4346128.html

‘In 2009, NSA Said it Had a “Present Example” of Abuse Similar to Project Minaret’, http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/11/27/in-2009-nsa-said-it-had-a-present-example-of-abuse-similar-to-project-minaret

A collection of documents on these and other past intelligence abuses can be found at http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/docset/getList.do?docSetId=1014

Inkster, see n10 above

http://xark.typepad.com/my_weblog/2014/01/if-the-nsa-freaks-you-out-you-still-use-google-you-are-an-idiot.html

In his novel 1984 , George Orwell wrote of a system of screens in every dwelling: ‘there was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment… you had to live… in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinised’ (pp 4-5 in the Penguin edition).

From July 2014, for example, Russian ISPs may be obliged to store records of all data and users’ activities for a period of 12 hours, providing direct and immediate access by the FSB. This will be a costly burden on the ISPs, and will also raise security concerns. Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, a brave husband-and-wife couple, have tried their best to write about the Russian security state. I strongly recommend their website, agentura.ru, and their book The New Nobility (Public Affairs, 2011).

http://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2013/12/10/adoption-definitive-de-la-controverse-loi-de-programmation-militaire_3528927_3210.html; http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/11/french-officials-internet-users-real-time-law

See http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/cover-story-how-nsa-spied-on-merkel-cell-phone-from-berlin-embassy-a-930205.html; http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/angry-european-and-german-reactions-to-merkel-us-phone-spying-scandal-a-929725.html; http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/trans-atlantic-relations-threatened-by-revelations-of-mass-us-spying-a-908746.html

See also Anton Troianovski, ‘Germany to Boost Anti-Spy Efforts’, Wall Street Journal , November 20, 2013, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304791704579209740311164308; Anton Troianovski, ‘Germany Warns of Repercussions from U.S. Spying’, Wall Street Journal , October 28, 2013, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304200804579163760331107226

Albeit a largely symbolic one: it had not actually been used since 1990: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/germany-nixes-surveillance-pact-us-britain

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB95326824311657269.html

French electronic intelligence is formidable and operates with what some might think rather scanty oversight. See http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/world/europe/france-broadens-its-surveillance-power.html; http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/world/europe/france-too-is-collecting-data-newspaper-reveals.html

In Germany’s case, this sometimes happens in a way that might be seen as questionable. The Nazi past creates particular obligations to countries and people who suffered horribly at the hands of the forebears of modern Germans. As a result, Germany is a loyal friend of Israel. It lobbied strongly to bring Poland into the EU. It has pursued a long and (in recent years) largely futile attempt to seek a close relationship with Russia. But it also owes a special debt to the Baltic states—three small countries which Nazi Germany consigned to the meat-grinder in its secret deal with Stalin’s Soviet Union in the spring of 1939. The Baltics regained their independence only in 1991. But Germany decided to put its relations with Russia ahead of any other bothersome business with small countries. It even recruited Estonia’s top defence official—in tacit collaboration with Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service—in order to find out what Britain and America were up to in the Baltic region. I write about this at length in my book Deception .

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/strategische-aufklaerung-bundeswehr-belauscht-die-welt-a-575417.html

Julian Lindley-French, ‘What U.S. Intelligence Really Says About Europe’, http://lindleyfrench.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/what-us-intelligence-really-says-about.html

Greenwald reveals his naïveté and ignorance in a television interview, available at http://www.svt.se/nyhetsklipp/nyheter/article1669193.svt. The other material he published can be found at http://www.svt.se/ug/read-all-articles-in-english

For a detailed look at Greenwald’s rhetorical style, see http://m.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/08/1192256/-The-Final-Word-on-Glenn-Greenwald

Sources have named the air-defence headquarters, the military command centre and the FRA (signals intelligence) headquarters.

http://www.thelocal.se/20131105/sweden-pulled-plug-on-france-spy-satellite-report

Keir Giles, ‘Cyber Attack on Finland is a Warning for the EU’, Chatham House, November 8, 2013, http://www.chathamhouse.org/media/comment/view/195392. The National Police Commissioner Mikko Paatero noted that ‘we cannot follow signals in Finland or travelling through Finnish cables … but others can do it for Finland. In my opinion it’s a little bit embarrassing that we can hear from somewhere else about what is happening here.’ Finland now wants stronger powers to protect itself. See http://yle.fi/uutiset/finnish_police_want_web_snooping_powers/6923309and http://yle.fi/uutiset/defence_minister_police_and_defence_forces_to_get_wider_web_powers/6914546?origin=rss

http://www.thelocal.se/20131108/swedes-not-worried-about-internet-surveillance-survey

http://theworldoutline.com/2013/10/everyone-spying-brazil

http://m.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australias-reputation-in-indonesia-hits-new-low-20131123-2y2k2.html; John Schindler, ‘Snowden’s Thunder Down Under’, The XX Committee, November 21, 2013, http://20committee.com/2013/11/21/snowdens-thunder-down-under; http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-18/australia-spied-on-indonesian-president-leaked-documents-reveal/5098860; http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australias-reputation-in-indonesia-hits-new-low-20131123-2y2k2.html