Senator Accuses CIA of Snooping On Intelligence Committee Computers 242
An anonymous reader writes "Sen. Feinstein, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, publicly accused the CIA of inappropriately searching computers used by her committee, violating presidential directives, federal laws and the Fourth Amendment. The computers in question were provided by the CIA at an undisclosed CIA location for use by the members of the intelligence committee. When the committee staff received internal documents the CIA had not officially provided, the agency examined the computers used by the committee and removed the unauthorized documents. The action has been referred to the Justice Department for possible prosecution."
There were rumors of such a few weeks ago, and now it's official. Read the transcript of her speech.
NOW it's a tragedy, NOW it's so sad to see... (Score:5, Insightful)
This is the same Senator who crys "terrorists!" whenever people suggest reining in NSA surveillance of regular citizens.
I have sympathy for her, and her arguments against being spied upon. Why does she not have sympathy for us, and for our arguments against being spied upon?
Hypocrisy (Score:5, Insightful)
And she said that the CIA appears to have violated the Fourth Amendment, which bars unreasonable searches and seizures, as well as various federal laws and a presidential executive order that prevents the agency from conducting domestic searches and surveillance.
I don't think she even realizes how hypocritical she is. Surveillance and secrecy are all cool, unless they happen to apply to her. Then it is her -- "Fourth Amendment!"
Schadenfreude (Score:5, Insightful)
I have no sympathy for that asshole ! (Score:5, Insightful)
I have sympathy for her
I have absolutely no sympathy for that piece of shit.
She's a typical example of what is wrong with the government of the United States of America.
Wow! (Score:2, Insightful)
Feinstein is Chair on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence! That she doesn't know what the CIA, NSA, or anyone else is doing with regard to surveillance, or is kept out of the loop on purpose, or hasn't pulled any muscle to reign it in, speaks volumes to what exactly her position in the committee does.
Quick jab... but sure as hell, when it comes to copyright and the media cartels, her power seems endless.
Re:NOW it's a tragedy, NOW it's so sad to see... (Score:2, Insightful)
...because she's callous and domineering? ...because people in this country like that kind of leadership so long as it is hidden behind a fake smile, decorum, and a few ginned up talking points to drool over?
Re:I have no sympathy for that asshole ! (Score:4, Insightful)
No. Do not attack the person. Attack the arguments. This sort of statement is what makes it easy for people to say that privacy advocates are shrill nutjobs.
If privacy and freedom from surveillance are worthy causes, we should applaud *anyone* who makes the argument for privacy and freedom from surveillance, even if it means applauding someone who is typically not on our side, and whom we may find personally reprehensible.
Are we privacy advocates united behind certain beliefs? Or are we just united against certain people?
Liz Cheney Syndrome (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It's a she, not a he (Score:5, Insightful)
No shit! Congress happily gave Federal agencies powers to spy on virtually every human being on the planet, so they can fucking well live on the same sphere we do.
Don't feel so great when the shoe is on the other foot, eh, Feinstein? Well, a big "fuck you" from the rest of the world.
Re:It's a she, not a he (Score:3, Insightful)
No, she really is fucking nuts and a huge hypocrite. As if the gun control and now governmental spying hypocrisy weren't enough to clue you into that, consider her stance on drones. She was all for more drones... until Code Pink was flying (read: constantly crashing) a cheap $25 remote control helicopter near her house in protest. So, Feinstein made up this whole dramatic story about how there was these huge drones spying on her and peeking in her windows and it scared her so much that she totally went the other way and started demanding new laws to make drones illegal.
She's crazy. She's a liar. She's a hypocrite. How about you put your own bias behind you and actually examine what's being said?
Re:NOW it's a tragedy, NOW it's so sad to see... (Score:3, Insightful)
Because we are the little people and she is the ruling class. We only matter to gain her more power and make her husband more money.
Sure, I'm the idiot (Score:5, Insightful)
And so the NRA's smear campaign continues to influence idiots like you
I am a card carrying member of both the NRA and the ACLU.
I am an American who treasure the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and am willing to do anything and everything to protect my country from traitors such as that asshole Feinstein.
If doing so makes me an "idiot", so be it, and I hope that America has more "idiots" like me than "geniuses" such as your kind.
Re:It's a she, not a he (Score:5, Insightful)
Neither the NRA or any other pro-rights organization needs to run a spear campaign against her. Merely factually pointing out her activities is quite enough to damage her reputation.
Re:So it's okay to spy on us, but not them. (Score:2, Insightful)
I see now.
Well, the ironic thing is that the spying was on the committee who are supposed to oversee and authorize the spies. The committee can hardly effectively oversee the spying when they are turned into a target of spying themselves.
And we keep re-electing these scoundrels, why, exactly?
Well, the ironic thing is that the spying was on the populace who are supposed to oversee and authorize the government. The populace can hardly effectively oversee the government when they are turned into a target of spying themselves.
Re:I won't hold my breath (Score:5, Insightful)
As for us, asshole Feinstein look at us as if we are peons, slaves for the elites, that we do not have any right to enjoy the protection granted by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and that we ought to be stripped of everything, and kow-tow to her and her kinds.
I sometimes wonder how monsters like Feinstein get any votes at all while the likes of Feingold can lose to a climate change denier. We have only ourselves to blame.
Let's Be Clear... (Score:1, Insightful)
It is the Obama Administration that is doing the spying on Congress.
Feinstein is the problem. (Score:2, Insightful)
Feinstein is a liar and has mislead the American people on countless occasions about NSA spying and has been in lock step with the emerging police state. this is a distraction from the real constitutional violations that she has been complicit in covering up.
She deserves every insult, every invective and our complete contempt. And even more so for this latest charade and false indignation. If anything this just shows that not even the CIA respects her.
Re:NOW it's a tragedy, NOW it's so sad to see... (Score:2, Insightful)
This is the same Senator who crys "terrorists!" whenever people suggest reining in NSA surveillance of regular citizens.
I have sympathy for her, and her arguments against being spied upon. Why does she not have sympathy for us, and for our arguments against being spied upon?
It's worse than that - this is a fundamental breakdown of Congressional power that's leading to a dictatorial Presidency.
It's just fine by her when the executive branch unilaterally changes things like statutory Affordable Care Act deadlines, because it suits her political purposes.
It's fine by her to give the DNI a pass when he perjures himself in congressional testimony, because it suits her political purposes.
It's fine by her when the President makes "recess" appointments to the NLRB when the Senate was still legally in session, because it suits her political purposes.
So now, because dolts like Feinstein were all to eager to give the executive branch of the US government a pass when it suited them, we now have an out-of-control Presidency where the President is even PROUD to be out of control - he "has a pen and a phone".
What the hell are you Obama apologists going to do if a Republican becomes President and uses his "pen and ... phone" to gut Obamacare? Why can't he, when Obama himself can change the law unilaterally?
Animal Farm (Score:4, Insightful)
Because she - being a very wealthy Senator - is more equaler than the rest of us.
Re:I have no sympathy for that asshole ! (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, by all means take pleasure in it. But if you want to see things change keep your pleasure to yourself and back her protest. "Even my detractors are rallying behind me" is a powerful battle cry.
Re:NRA and ACLU?? (Score:4, Insightful)
The ACLU isn't anti second amendment. They just don't actively support that particular civil liberty.
Both the NRA and the ACLU are pro-civil liberty organizations. Between them, they support (as much as realistically possible) the whole constitution. The NRA is the United States oldest civil liberty organization.
Re:I have no sympathy for that asshole ! (Score:5, Insightful)
Back her protest?
No.
Back her opponent in the next primary. She is worse then useless.
This isn't spying, it's evidence tampering.... (Score:5, Insightful)
At the outset, let's look at the moral of the story: You can't trust spies or spy agencies. Especially not the way the Senator has consistently told us we should trust the NSA.
The "CIA computers" were part of a document production system provided by the CIA pursuant to a Senate Committee subpoena. It contained CIA documents responsive to the Senate subpoena in electronic form instead of paper copies. The document depository was run by private contractors. That's not really that unusual.
Apparently, when the CIA found out they had turned over to the Senate Committee a CIA draft report that was particularly harmful to the CIA's position, the draft report "disappeared" from the computerised document depository. The senior Senator from California believes the CIA caused it to disappear.
It's like erasing portions of White House tapes that had been subpoenaed a la Nixon. Just because it was done by the CIA doesn't mean it was spying, merely criminal tampering with a federal investigation. That's all.
Trust the CIA and the NSA. They will never over-reach or break the law.
Happens Everywhere (Score:5, Insightful)
Unfortunately. People are either stupid or easily influenced. Part of it is probably the propaganda bombardment they get during and leading up to elections. Hell politicians don't even bother with that anymore, they campaign 100% of the time now.
I have a friend who I would consider otherwise intelligent, however I could not believe his political leanings. Basically voting against his best interests. Political parties also seem to tend to create these fictional realities that people buy into. Ideologies that they proport, but never really live up to. I think the big problem is, anyone that closely follows politics would easily see through the lies, however most are so disinterested in politics, so apathetic about their vote being more less meaningless, that most don't vote, and those that do don't really pay enough attention to even make an informed decision. Also there are social status that comes into play, voting for Conservatives/Republicans means you must be part of the wealthy elite (even though your really not).
Anyway I mean the guy in question is in a Union, and when I said that voting for Conservatives in Canada was counter to his best interests because they are anti-union he didn't believe me. His impression was that the Conservatives loved Unions and they had never ever done anything to Unions in the past. Some of the first things they did once elected were to break several Unions and force settlements, all under the guise of "for the sake of the economy" etc...
Anyway I know a few that are informed, and swing Conservative because they believe in certain factual things, which I can respect, however most seem to just spit ideology and rhetoric, most of which is meaningless as fed to them, and seem more than happy to vomit it up over anyone else close enough to listen.
Also not to generalize, but Old People. They tend to pay about as much attention (which is none), however are much more dangerous because most of them do vote. Most of them vote very consistently, and will proudly say that they have been Conservative for 30 years. Never mind that the Conservative party they are used to voting for has little resemblance to the one that exists today. They are not voting for someone, or something, but an idea of what they think a party is. Which is why in a rather cynical move the Conservatives apparently amended a bill recently to attempt to reduce the number of younger voters (as they more often than not do not vote Conservative). Anyway haven't really looked up the details for that one yet, but I wouldn't doubt it given their past machinations.
Re:NOW it's a tragedy, NOW it's so sad to see... (Score:2, Insightful)
To be fair, she accuses the intelligence community of doing far more than simply spying on her.
said the CIA had searched through computers belonging to staff members investigating the agency’s role in torturing detainees, and had then leveled false charges against her staff in an attempt to intimidate them.
“I have grave concerns that the CIA’s search may well have violated the separation of powers principle embodied in the United States Constitution, including the speech and debate clause,” she said. “It may have undermined the constitutional framework essential to effective congressional oversight of intelligence activities or any other government function.”
From the intercept [firstlook.org].
The intelligence community blackmailing the people who are supposed to have oversight of the intelligence community is probably at least a little more dangerous than the intelligence community spying on it's citizens. If for no other reason that the former prevents the latter from being solved. Pruning the CIA and NSA back to appropriate levels will require congressional action, and that's likely exactly what the CIA and/or NSA is trying to stop with these actions.
Good point. However this illustrates the dangers of allowing the intelligence community spying to spy on citizens as freely as they can now. Who's to say the intelligence community won't start blackmailing or framing citizens that don't meet their political views.
Imagine if J Ed Hoover had the surveillance abilities and rules we have today? Would he been able to destroy Martin Luther King's civil rights movement if he had the ability identify supporters of the movement and find dirt to blackmail them as fast as he would have today?
Re:I won't hold my breath (Score:5, Insightful)
Because Northern California voters are beyond stupid. They'll unthinkingly vote for anyone who is "Democrat" even if he bankrupted the state twice already or if she has already been a downright awful senator for 3 or 4 terms already.
It's not that they'll vote for anybody that is a Democrat, but rather against anybody who is a Republican. No matter how bad their guy is, they're still better than the other guy's guy. I see the same thing for people voting for Republicans in OK. So long as they're not a democrat, they think they'll come out ahead.