Last night Fox news host Tucker Carlson reported on a whistleblower contact from within the intelligence community who informed him the NSA was conducting electronic surveillance of his private communication (email and text messages). Tonight the NSA responded via Twitter:
Techno Fog noted something most of us would also note {SEE HERE} the NSA statement is an obtuse non-denial. However, there’s a lot more in that statement that should alarm everyone. I don’t know if I can cover it all here; this is actually serendipitous for a larger framework article I have been working on. But here’s some top-line initial reactions.
First, notice the time of the tweet message. Exactly 8:00pm to coincide with the beginning of Tucker Carlson’s broadcast. That’s typical political operative snark, which wouldn’t be too surprising if it were not the fact this is from the actual National Security Agency.
Many people in/around the intelligence apparatus have noted and confirmed to me that most of the modern human resources, within the working analytical part of the intelligence apparatus, are immature, solitary and emotionally stunted individuals. Accepting things as they directly appear, this subtle snark is actual confirmation.
Second, “Tucker Carlson has never been an intelligence target of the agency“, is akin to the NSA previously saying none of the 17 Republican candidates in the 2016 presidential race were “officially” targets of metadata surveillance; the surveillance just happened because, well, it was rogue contractors from our partner agency (FBI) using the facilitation of the NSA database for their opposition research. Oh, well, if that’s all it was… and not official NSA conduct… then, well, okay, move along. Or something.
In essence, TechnoFog’s point is well taken: “there’s something else going on here,” indeed there is.
Third, don’t get too granular to the point where you cannot just see the exhibited political nature of the statement. Someone at a very high level of the NSA wanted to transmit this obtuse denial in order to give the media some framework for an Alinsky rebuttal along the lines of : right-wing ‘conspiracy theorists’ concoct wild accusation by lying about the world’s premier electronic data collection and intelligence operation. It’s the high-minded defense that appeals to an elitist world-view of being above the fray.
The peasants are revolting and our above reproach NSA institution will not be defamed on such matters. The New York Times, Washington Post and Politico will take that framework and run with it.
Fourth, the last paragraph is stunningly false to anyone who has watched the events of the last few years unfold within the intelligence apparatus writ large. “The NSA has a foreign intelligence mission”…. etc etc. Yes, technically and legally that’s accurate. However, if the NSA is exclusively a foreign intelligence mission, then why does the FBI need access to the NSA database in order to conduct surveillance domestically? Additionally, if the NSA is exclusively a foreign intelligence mission, then why would domestic law enforcement operations even be allowed access to that database? The entire NSA narrative in that paragraph is brutally false; obviously so.
Fifth, this is not about Tucker Carlson. This NSA response is directed to the claim by Tucker Carlson, but the NSA response itself is now the story here, not the Carlson claim. This response should alarm everyone. Personally, I would never expect the NSA to be so transparently political in any external communication. The visibility is indicative of a more politically bold agency. We’ve been seeing that bold ‘in-your-face’ approach a lot recently from the FBI, DOJ, DHS and Defense Department.
As said, I have much more on this subject that will be released in the near future… In the interim this NSA “tweet” only highlights the baseline that Americans need to accept.
There are now officially four branches of government. The modern and corrupt Intelligence Community, the proverbial IC, is the intelligence branch that supersedes the executive, legislative and judicial branches.
The Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government all defer to, and facilitate, the Intelligence branch.
The Intelligence Branch of government is a public-private partnership that includes governmental agencies and private sector technology groups, Big Tech. The partnership is funded in part by public taxpayer dollars and massive financial interests like BlackRock and Vanguard. The IC Branch is a partnership between the U.S. government and the private sector; that is why various elements within the Intelligence Branch use ‘contractors‘.
Imagine how much BlackRock and Vanguard would be willing to pay for access to the NSA database that collects the electronic data on every single transaction, communication, and record of every entity in the entire country. Imagine how much money BlackRock and Vanguard could make with access to every single bit of private information within the U.S. business world.
Now that you understand the value of the public-private partnership within the newest and most powerful branch of government, the Intelligence Branch; ask yourself this question: