Sen. Dianne Feinstein Slams NSA Spying

[jct74]

Sen. Dianne Feinstein Slams NSA Spying

by Michael McAuliff
Posted: 10/28/2013 5:17 pm EDT

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, hammered the National Security Agency Monday over reports it spied on foreign leaders and allies, and revealed that President Barack Obama said he would halt such eavesdropping.

A senior administration official denied the White House was stopping programs aimed at allies. A source close to Feinstein insisted the California lawmaker had been informed by Obama that spying on friendly leaders would cease.

Saying that she is "totally opposed" to eavesdropping on the leaders of friendly governments and wants a complete review of U.S. intelligence activities, Feinstein, who had been a staunch defender of the NSA since former agency contractor Edward Snowden began leaking documents detailing its secret activities, came down hard on the spy agency.

In an uncharacteristically harsh statement, Feinstein said new allegations that the agency monitored the phone calls of foreign leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, are simply out of bounds, and suggested the NSA has failed to fully inform Congress and Obama of its activities.

“It is my understanding that President Obama was not aware Chancellor Merkel’s communications were being collected since 2002. That is a big problem," Feinstein said. “The White House has informed me that collection on our allies will not continue, which I support. But as far as I’m concerned, Congress needs to know exactly what our intelligence community is doing."

The senior administration official said Feinstein's statement that the White House is moving to stop spying on U.S. allies "is not accurate."

...

read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/28/dianne-feinstein-nsa-spying_n_4171473.html

[Brett85]

So Feinstein thinks it's wrong for the government to spy on our allies, but not on innocent U.S citizens.

[Keith and stuff]

So she admits everything she stands for is wrong. Excellent. Now, let's get a bill passed banning the NSA!

[mad cow]

Barry and Di are Shocked,Shocked that there is spying going on around here!

Round up the usual suspects.

[Snew]

I say, she's coming around!

:rolleyes:

[jct74]

'We're Really Screwed Now': NSA's Best Friend Just Shivved The Spies

Posted By Shane Harris, John Hudson
Monday, October 28, 2013 - 7:21 PM

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/files/160338160.jpg


One of the National Security Agency's biggest defenders in Congress is suddenly at odds with the agency and calling for a top-to-bottom review of U.S. spy programs. And her long-time friends and allies are completely mystified by the switch.

"We're really screwed now," one NSA official told The Cable. "You know things are bad when the few friends you've got disappear without a trace in the dead of night and leave no forwarding address."

In a pointed statement issued today, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Dianne Feinstein said she was "totally opposed" to gathering intelligence on foreign leaders and said it was "a big problem" if President Obama didn't know the NSA was monitoring the phone calls of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She said the United States should only be spying on foreign leaders with hostile countries, or in an emergency, and even then the president should personally approve the surveillance.

It was not clear what precipitated Feinstein's condemnation of the NSA. It marks a significant reversal for a lawmaker who not only defended agency surveillance programs -- but is about to introduce a bill expected to protect some of its most controversial activities.

Perhaps most significant is her announcement that the intelligence committee "will initiate a review into all intelligence collection programs." Feinstein did not say the review would be limited only to the NSA. If the review also touched on other intelligence agencies under the committee's jurisdiction, it could be one of the most far-reaching reviews in recent memory, encompassing secret programs of the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, agencies that run imagery and spy satellites, as well as components of the FBI.

A former intelligence agency liaison to Congress said Feinstein's sudden outrage over spying on foreign leaders raised questions about how well informed she was about NSA programs and whether she'd been fully briefed by her staff. "The first question I'd ask is, what have you been doing for oversight? Second, if you've been reviewing this all along what has changed your mind?"

...

read more:
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/10/28/were_really_screwed_now_nsas_best_friend_just_shiv ved_the_spies

[enhanced_deficit]

Why, it doesn't flow with her husband's suspected defense contracts if EU stopped cooperating in 'war on terra' info sharing?
She is chair of Senate Intel Com, has she been sleeping all this time if she is not being duplitious?

[fr33]

Sen. Feinstein’s Proposed Bill Would Incriminate Anyone Speaking Against NSA’s Spying and Courts

California lawmaker and member of the United States Senate committee, Diane Feinstein has let it be known that she strongly supports the National Security Agency and its surveillance programs. The agency has caught much heat from the American people after whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked documents showing that the NSA spies on millions of citizens through their phone data.

Last weekend, she published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, claiming that the 9/11 attacks could have been prevented had the NSA surveillance programs been alive beforehand. “We would have detected the impending attack that killed 3,000 Americans,” she wrote.

Then on Monday, she stated that the NSA’s bulk compilation of phone records is actually “not surveillance” and is rather just a necessary device by means of fighting terrorism. Her statement was made in an op-ed, which was published by USA Today.

She also asserted that the agency’s actions have been “effective in helping to prevent terrorist plots against the US and our allies.”

Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall, both of whom are also members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote a letter to NSA director Keith Alexander, criticizing him by detailing, “Saying that ‘these programs’ have ‘disrupted dozens of potential terrorist plots’ is misleading if the bulk phone records collection program is actually providing little or no value.” They also detailed how the NSA has only stopped a few pieces of terror plots over the years – contradictory to Senator Feinstein’s assertions.

It was also reported by the Guardian that Senator Feinstein is anticipating introducing legislation, which would criminally punish those who make critical statements about the NSA and its secret courts.

Feinstein’s bill comes just in time in the agency’s favor, considering both the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) have active lawsuits against the NSA for its unconstitutional surveillance of US citizens.

Update 6:06PM: Guardian hyperlink fixed to Feinstein’s upcoming introduction of new bill.

http://thestateweekly.com/sen-feinsteins-proposed-bill-would-incriminate-anyone-speaking-against-nsas-spying-and-courts/

[dannno]

So Feinstein thinks it's wrong for the government to spy on our allies, but not on innocent U.S citizens.

Do you really think she meant allies or was she just talking about Israel?

[fearthereaperx]

She's lying and grandstanding.

[V4Vendetta]

"look, look here, right here, can you see this enormous hand stuck up my ass?? I'm a puppet, in case your couldn't tell"

[enhanced_deficit]

She's lying and grandstanding.

This.

[TER]

The only reason why I think she 'cares' is because somewhere, somehow, this snooping on foreign leaders may be threatening to affect her pocketbook.

[twomp]

Do you really think she meant allies or was she just talking about Israel?

Let's be real here. The NSA would never DARE to spy on Israel.

[eduardo89]

She's lying and grandstanding.

Ding ding ding!

[kcchiefs6465]

Let's be real here. The NSA would never DARE to spy on Israel.
On Israeli politicians? Certain ones. On the people of Israel with the permission of the Israeli government? Absolutely they do.

The national security apparatus is global with various governments colluding with each other in various degrees.

[Brian4Liberty]

Why, it doesn't flow with her husband's suspected defense contracts if EU stopped cooperating in 'war on terra' info sharing?
She is chair of Senate Intel Com, has she been sleeping all this time if she is not being duplitious?


The only reason why I think she 'cares' is because somewhere, somehow, this snooping on foreign leaders may be threatening to affect her pocketbook.

You guys beat me to it. Her husband's company did not have the contract to spy on foreign governments, and she's mad she never heard about it.

[bolil]

So Feinstein thinks it's wrong for the government to spy on our allies, but not on innocent U.S citizens.

Feinstein learned by way of Merkel that she was being watched too. Feinstein isn't the kind of person who takes kindly to being watched. She is also a dragon lady. I do believe she has strangled kittens in her life, probably recently. Sometimes, when for some reason I wish to have a nightmare, I look at her picture as I fall asleep. In my dream she is a tyrannosaurus feinstein. Little stubby arms, beedy eyes, and a big fucking mouth. No teeth, just lips and gums and a saggy face. Feinstein is down with spying on mundanes, but not on middle managers like herself.

Feinstein is just a puppet, a fucking tool. I wish people like her were irrelevant, they certainly occur in great redundance.

[DamianTV]

Bullshit. Shes pandering because the public is starting to push back and push back hard.

[HOLLYWOOD]

Typical political diversions and distractions... Feinstein's staff is obviously reading the articles and comments. I'm sure her staff phones and emails are letting her know she's a traitor.
Feinstein’s Phony Excuse for NSA SpyingOctober 7, 2013

http://consortiumnews.com/2013/10/07/feinsteins-phony-excuse-for-nsa-spying/

A Comment about the history of dual citizen, Dianne Feinstein . . . thanks to N. (http://jhaines6.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/a-comment-about-the-history-of-dual-citizen-dianne-feinstein-thanks-to-n/)
http://jhaines6.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/a-comment-about-the-history-of-dual-citizen-dianne-feinstein-thanks-to-n/
like I stated before, Feinstein should be recalled... her and her husband Richard Blume should be in prison for numerous violations of RICO laws. She has ALWAYS been a advocate for the POLICE-SURVEILLANCE STATE, Feinstein was chairman of the committee that was created because of US Senator Frank Church exposing all the illegal operations of government intel agencies and to oversee them all and limit their action. Senator Feinstein has not only failed to limit the recklessness and illegal operations, but she has also turned the Senate Intelligence committee into a "RUBBERSTAMP" for tyrannical rogue government agencies, which have been given the green light to operate above all laws and oversight.

She should be fired as a minimum.

Here's Dianne Feinstein's lies from last Monday's report... http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/21/dianne-feinstein-defends-nsa-data-collection




Paul Lewis (http://www.theguardian.com/profile/paullewis) in Washington

theguardian.com (http://www.theguardian.com/), Monday 21 October 2013 11.19 EDT
Jump to comments (186) (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/21/dianne-feinstein-defends-nsa-data-collection#start-of-comments)

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/12/13/1355423420468/Senator-Dianne-Feinstein-010.jpg Feinstein said it was necessary for the NSA to obtain 'the haystack' of phone records to find the terrorist 'needle'. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images



Dianne Feinstein (http://www.theguardian.com/world/dianne-feinstein), the chair of the US Senate committee charged with holding the intelligence establishment to account, declared on Monday that the National Security Agency's mass collection of phone records is "not surveillance (http://www.theguardian.com/world/surveillance)" and should be maintained as an essential tool to combat terrorism.

Feinstein made the case for retaining the program, which routinely collects and stores the phone records millions of Americans, in an op-ed for USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/10/20/nsa-call-records-program-sen-dianne-feinstein-editorials-debates/3112715/), in which she wrote that the NSA (http://www.theguardian.com/world/nsa)'s work had been "effective in helping to prevent terrorist plots against the US and our allies".


Feinstein, a Democrat from California, is introducing legislation that would make superficial alterations to the NSA and the secret courts that are supposed to provide judicial oversight.


But her bill stops short of making any substantial changes to the way the agency conducts its work, despite the string of revelations based on disclosures by the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden (http://www.theguardian.com/world/the-nsa-files).

A host of rival bills being introduced in Washington go much further, including one from Democratic senator Patrick Leahy, who chairs the Senate judiciary committee. Leahy is proposing an end to the bulk collection of phone records, which is authorized under an interpretation of section 215 of the Patriot Act.

Leahy's bill (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/10/the-usa-freedom-act-a-look-at-the-key-points-of-the-draft-bill), which is viewed as the main rival to Feinstein's, will be introduced simultaneously in the House by Republican Jim Sensenbrenner, the author of the Patriot Act. He has said the law was never intended for this kind of data collection, a program he now intends to put "out of business" (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/10/nsa-surveillance-patriot-act-author-bill).
Senior intelligence officials are lobbying hard on Capitol Hill to protect the program, and Feinstein has been one of their strongest supporters in Congress. In her op-ed, Feinstein repeated the testimony of NSA and other intelligence leaders, which many critics argue has been misleading.

"The call-records program is not surveillance. It does not collect the content of any communication, nor do the records include names or locations," Feinstein wrote. "The NSA only collects the type of information found on a telephone bill: phone numbers of calls placed and received, the time of the calls and duration."


Several experts independent of the intelligence committee have testified, including to Feinstein's committee, that the collection of phone metadata can provide a detailed and intrusive window into an individual's life, particularly when matched with other data. A person's name, for instance, can easily be derived from their telephone number.

However, Feinstein said that it was necessary for the agency to obtain "the haystack" of phone records in order to find the terrorist "needle".


"To be effective, the NSA must be able to conduct these queries quickly, without regard to which phone carrier a terrorist or conspirator uses," she said. "And the records must be available for a few years – longer than phone companies need them for billing purposes."

Feinstein also advanced another controversial claim that has been repeatedly challenged by other senators, including Leahy, when she said the phone record collection program had "played a role in stopping roughly a dozen terror plots".


In their committee roles, Leahy and Feinstein have been given privileged access to classified information about the cases when the program has been used. Leahy has argued that the usefulness of the program has been exaggerated by the intelligence community.
"The American people are getting left with inaccurate reflection of the NSA's programs," he said during a committee hearing earlier this month. Under questioning from Leahy during that session, the director of the NSA, Keith Alexander, admitted there were only "one or possibly two" (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/02/nsa-us-cell-phone-data-location-programs) cases of terrorist activity that would not have been prevented "but for" section 215 of the Patriot Act.
In July, an amendment introduced in the House of Representatives to end the dragnet collection of phone records was narrowly defeated, falling just 12 votes short of passage. Justin Amash, the Republican who co-authored that measure, recently told the Guardian that opposition to the program has "solidified" in recent months.


Amash attributed the hardening of opposition to members of Congress returning to their districts, where they heard complaints from constituents angry about their records were being stored, and to the succession of revelations, published in the Guardian, the Washington Post and the New York Times, that have "completely discredited those who said nothing improper was going on within the NSA".

[TruckinMike]

She's lying and grandstanding.


...there fixed it for you. :)

[Cap]

Bullshit. Shes pandering because the public is starting to push back and push back hard.Yup look for some sleight of hand here.

[jmdrake]

So Feinstein thinks it's wrong for the government to spy on our allies, but not on innocent U.S citizens.

The "tea party" is not innocent because they are racist. Julian Bond said so.

Fox News is not innocent because it attacks Obama.

The AP is not innocent because....well they sometimes say things about Obama that aren't totally flattering.

Oh but there's no excuse for going after Merky.

[Occam's Banana]

Let's be real here. The NSA would never DARE to spy on Israel.

But they're certainly willing to spy with Israel ...

Israel and the NSA: Partners in Crime
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2013/10/27/israel-and-the-nsa-partners-in-crime/

[puppetmaster]

Title should read. " Sen. Dianne Feinstein Slams NSA Spying on fellow fascists but loves spying on the common folk."

[HOLLYWOOD]

EVERY single Fascist-corporatist news-media show/channel is playing this, as if, Dianne Feinstein is against the NSA and a savior of the people.

PROPAGANDA and LIES of corporate Main Stream Media again... Feinstein is a Traitor and criminal... Not one mention on her legislation of Incriminating anyone speaking out against the NSA today... even Democracy Now left it all out of their coverage on Feinstein today.

I wonder how much of the NDAA "Propaganda Funding" goes to American media? Too bad we don't have those NSA records.

[mello]

There are only two options:

1) She is completely full of shit & has know about this for years since she is the head of the Intelligence Committee.

2) She is an imbecile & incompetent for not knowing about this since she is the head of the Intelligence Committee.

[hardrightedge]

EVERY single Fascist-corporatist news-media show/channel is playing this, as if, Dianne Feinstein is against the NSA and a savior of the people.

PROPAGANDA and LIES of corporate Main Stream Media again... Feinstein is a Traitor and criminal... Not one mention on her legislation of Incriminating anyone speaking out against the NSA today... even Democracy Now left it all out of their coverage on Feinstein today.

I wonder how much of the NDAA "Propaganda Funding" goes to American media? Too bad we don't have those NSA records.



everything we see or hear from the media and politicians is a lie... 24/7 propaganda...it's a waste of time to talk about it...

[HOLLYWOOD]

everything we see or hear from the media and politicians is a lie... 24/7 propaganda...it's a waste of time to talk about it... It's not so much to discuss this obvious propaganda for anyone hear, but for everyone out there in Internet World...There's a reason I put this in black and white everyday... fill those search engines and caches with the hits from posts, tweets, comments on social medium to inform the unsuspecting, the naive, the apathetic.

[thoughtomator]

Let's be real here. The NSA would never DARE to spy on Israel.

Are you kidding? They are spying on everyone and everything - nobody and no thing is immune.

[Ender]

There are only two options:

1) She is completely full of shit & has know about this for years since she is the head of the Intelligence Committee.

2) She is an imbecile & incompetent for not knowing about this since she is the head of the Intelligence Committee.

Agreed- but I'll go with #1.

[anaconda]

Flip Flop of the year award to Dianne Feinstein?

P.S. She just loves to make a yearly civil liberties comment to the press, then immediately (the same day) go back to licking the boots of the elites.

[ctiger2]

Every word is a lie.

[devil21]

Wait....WTF was that about Feinstein introducing a bill making it a crime to speak ill of the NSA?????

[VoluntaryAmerican]

It's brilliant that Snowden is punishing these SOBS for not getting rid of the domestic-spy program. He's probably too stoic to be laughing his ass off, but I'm sure he is proud as hell.

[VoluntaryAmerican]

"We're really screwed now," one NSA official told The Cable. "You know things are bad when the few friends you've got disappear without a trace in the dead of night and leave no forwarding address."

Why any NSA agent would talk to the press about this really makes me question their intelligence. These people are idiotic morons with tyrannical technological power... we are screwed. :mad:

[twomp]

Are you kidding? They are spying on everyone and everything - nobody and no thing is immune.

I look forward to the article saying they have bugs in Benjamin Netanyahu phone then. Though I seriously doubt we will ever see that article.

[angelatc]

"We're really screwed now," one NSA official told The Cable. "You know things are bad when the few friends you've got disappear without a trace in the dead of night and leave no forwarding address."

*Snort* Don't worry! Rendition is best for the nation. Your personal liberty isn't a factor.

[angelatc]

I look forward to the article saying they have bugs in Benjamin Netanyahu phone then. Though I seriously doubt we will ever see that article.

No, but the Israelis allegedly bugged us for the NSA, since it wasn't actually legal for the NSA to do it. http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023483363

(LInking to DU. May God have mercy on my soul.)

[kcchiefs6465]

No, but the Israelis allegedly bugged us for the NSA, since it wasn't actually legal for the NSA to do it. http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023483363

(LInking to DU. May God have mercy on my soul.)
No Fox News link for that one, huh?

;)