The NSA Has No Idea How Much Secret Data Edward Snowden Took, And That Has Them Very Worried

[applegrove]

The NSA Has No Idea How Much Secret Data Edward Snowden Took, And That Has Them Very Worried

by Paul Szoldra and Michael Kelley at Business Insider

http://www.businessinsider.com/nsa-secret-data-snowden-took-worried-2013-6

"SNIP...............................


U.S. intelligence agencies still don't know how much sensitive material former Booz Allen contractor Edward Snowden obtained before leaking top-secret documents and fleeing the country, Mark Hosenball of Reuters reports.

Snowden was able to cover some of his tracks when he accessed information about the operations of the National Security Agency (NSA) and its British equivalent, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), U.S. officials told Reuters.


It's definitely unclear how much information he actually has. On Sunday Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Snowden had roughly 200 documents in his possession.

Earlier this month, Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald told The New York Times that Snowden gave him “thousands” of classified documents, “dozens” of which Greenwald says are newsworthy.

..............................SNIP"

[JaneyVee]

1. So an American spy gave a foreign journalist thousands of classified documents,

and some people are celebrating this why?

[Harmony Blue]

9. An american spy?

I thought everyone agreed he was some high school dropout not James Bond.

So which is it lol?

[JaneyVee]

13. Wasn't that his job at the NSA? I thought everyone agreed the NSA spies on people.

So which is it lol?

[Harmony Blue]

21. Apparently not

because he has been charged with espionage by the United States. So he must be a foreign spy.

[JaneyVee]

26. Huh? He's being charged under the Espionage Act, not with Espionage, which has its own specific

law: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/906a

You don't have to be a foreigner to be charged with Espionage.

[bobduca]

10. AMURIKA

WE CELEBRATE THE DEATH OF TERRARISTS, NOT CELEBRATE TREASON!!!111

[frylock]

15. so an american "spy" disclosed a bunch of information that was "old news.."

that "everyone already knew about" and people are shitting their pants because...?

[JaneyVee]

17. The most surprising part is that some people were surprised.

[frylock]

18. i don't think many were surprised at all..

it just confirmed what many of us already believed. what surprises me is the folks claiming that programs like this were non existent now telling us how everyone already knew.

[JaneyVee]

19. People are strange. Metadata collection has been going on for quite some time now.

[Union Scribe]

2. But everything they're doing is legit right?

So why so worried?

[sofa king]

3. That ain't what I'd be worried about.

I'd be worried about the fact that the guy took an unknown quantity of information to the Chinese, and they let him go because they didn't fucking need him.

No years of debriefing in secret, just, "Thanks for helping us swipe back at the Americans for shaming us over our human rights abuses. Want a plane ticket?"

The only reason they would do that is if they already have the information he offered.

[winter is coming]

14. It could mean that there's a lot of "classified" stuff that's not worthy of that designation.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of material gets classified to avoid embarrassment, rather than for true security purposes.

[Cha]

25. You make good points, sofa king..

thanks.

No years of debriefing in secret, just, "Thanks for helping us swipe back at the Americans for shaming us over our human rights abuses. Want a plane ticket?"

Now, get the hell out of our Country.

[DURHAM D]

4. Will Booz Allen be required to pay damages to the government

and by extension to us taxpayers for the actions of their employee?

[HipChick]

22. Why? The CIA cleared him..

the did a lousy job...oh wait..maybe the were the ones that turned him..

[MNBrewer]

5. Good!

[treestar]

6. I don't blame them

It is worrisome. They should re-look at all the contractors and at issuance of security clearances.

[HipChick]

23. Many are foreign born

but are naturalized US citizens

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Let me get this straight

All this what is it...trillions...and they cannot maintain a simple access Dbase...and these are the guys that are supposed to protect us from the terrorists under the bed?

Keystone cops come to mind

[wandy]

8. For a moment let's forget whatever else has gone on and just look at this headline........

"The NSA Has No Idea How Much Secret Data was taken."


Hay NSA, ya you clowns. Ain't ya supposed to be the worlds premo super spys?
All that nice computer equipment we all bought you and you're telling me you can't find you're ass with two hands.
What the heck all else did you loose tract of.
Never mind, that's right , you don't know.

This would be funny if it weren't so dam pathetic.
You're tax dollars at work.

[kelliekat44]

20. This info was being controlled by Booze Allen, not NSA. You know, those good ole corporate

guys who can do things much better and cheaper than government workers.

[wandy]

27. The NSA contracted out the function to Booz Allen...........

What next (rather than do it with government employees), will they write the next IT contract to the Mario Brothers.
And likely another of those Happy Halliburton no bid contracts too boot.
The NSA provides a 'service'. Booz Allen is contracted to for-fill a part of that 'service'.
The NSA is ultimately responsible.

[bobduca]

34. who is responsible for the NSA

the director?
who would be responsible for making a change with the leadership of said agency?

[Th1onein]

33. I'm sorry, I can't help myself

It's "primo," not premo.
It's "your ass," not you're ass.
It's "lose track," not loose tract.
It's "damn pathetic," not dam pathetic.
It's "Your tax dollars," not you're tax dollars.

Whew! That feels better.

[Harmony Blue]

11. This is pure comedy gold

NSA is exposing themselves to be incompetent entity that siphons billions of dollars.

[magellan]

12. They should be worried

It's showed how insecure their multi-billion (taxpayer) dollar farmed out operation is.

Supreme assholes.

[Recursion]

16. That I do believe (nt)

[hughee99]

24. So apparently they weren't keeping an eye on at least one person. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

28. If they haven't done anything wrong, they have nothing to worry about..... right?

Hmmm, that sounds familiar.

[Vinnie From Indy]

29. If true, this shows how little control our government has

for keeping this illegally obtained information safe. I find it inconceivable that the NSA would not know what he downloaded. Surely they have some control and records of who accesses what database and when the access was made.

If they are truly in the dark about who has access to what info and who downloads what, how in the world can they tell us the information they gather is safe?

[tularetom]

30. The bad news is they're spying on all of us

The good news is they're doing a shitty job of it.

The National Security Agency has such lax security they trusted one of their peons with all these documents and he ran off with them.

It would be funny it they werent funded by bazillions of taxpayer dollars.

[backscatter712]

31. Snowden disclosed government secrets to an enemy of the state...

...and who is the enemy of the state that the U.S. fears more than Russia, China or Al Qaeda?

The American people. That's why they're shitting themselves right now.

When the government considers its own people to be potential enemies, that means that something is badly broken.

[DevonRex]

32. He stole from CIA, too. Greenwald mentioned it on All In w/Chris Hayes. That he only

needed a little more after working for CIA and that's why he went to work at BAH. I think GG told him to steal the Court ruling. That's the ONLY evidence for his claims about US activities.