Obama defends NSA spying in meeting with Chinese president

[Blue_Tires]

Source: Los Angeles Times

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — President Obama on Monday defended U.S. surveillance programs as serving national security rather than commercial interests, in a wide-ranging meeting with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of a nuclear summit.

In the private session with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Obama defended the National Security Agency’s espionage tactics days after news broke that the U.S. spy agency had tapped into Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei’s computer system. The revelation, stemming from documents leaked by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, appeared to undermine Obama’s regular complaint that Chinese companies conduct corporate espionage and intellectual property theft.

Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said Xi raised the matter, which was reported by the New York Times and Der Spiegel on Saturday. The president countered that “the United States does not engage in espionage to gain a commercial advantage,” Rhodes said, adding that Obama said the U.S. believes there’s “a clear distinction between intelligence activities that have a national security purpose and intelligence activities that have a commercial purpose.”

Obama thanked the Chinese leader for welcoming First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughters on a trip to Beijing this week. Xi thanked Obama for U.S. help in trying to locate the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, which was carrying many Chinese passengers.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-obama-nsa-spying-chinese-president-20140324,0,3780214.story#ixzz2wtxXlMNp

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The Chinese don't seem to be too outraged over this...Maybe they just see it as "everyday business as usual?"

Does anyone still want to claim SnowWald are *NOT* specifically timing these true-but-not-that-shocking "gotcha" releases for maximum political damage? They're pretty predictable by this point now...

Just for laughs, I highly suggest DUers regularly check out Greenwald's twitter feed -- It's a dizzying, nonstop perpetual motion machine of circular logic on the Chinese story, the Russia issue, Russia Today, etc. etc...Only on twitter does Greenwald throw away the mask and be his true, unfiltered self -- It's very eye-opening....

[TwilightGardener]

1. Obama shouldn't even bother defending it. Just give Xi a big shit-eating grin

and tell him to suck it. All the Chinese DO is hack our stuff. They don't innovate, they steal.

[JDPriestly]

2. I don't believe the national security justification for a lot of the NSA's spying. It's political

in my view. What national security purpose does it serve? If we had a more intelligent and locally attentive foreign service (based on my experience living in Europe and watching the reality there then comparing it to what our government was saying about what was going on there -- especially with regard to Eastern Europe in the late 70s and early 80s), rather than one that just seemed to hob-nob with other diplomats, maybe we would not need so much surveillance.

What reason do we have for tapping "into Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei’s computer system"? Maybe because we think the Chinese are using it to steal our commercial information? Isn't that a commercial reason for our hacking into their system? Seems to me it is. To protect the interests of American companies.

Or is the reason to collect political information about what is going on in China?

Or is it to find out whether the Chinese are hacking into our systems?

Just why are we doing it?

Do we think that terrorists are going to come from China?

Again, secretive activity that could be serving a lot of different motives. That's a danger to the American people because we have no idea what the precise motive really is. National security is a huge, all-encompassing term that means what the user wants it to mean at the particular moment.

Obama gave a non-answer. Does the NSA surveillance primarily serve the interests of American corporations that don't bother to pay taxes? How does it serve ordinary Americans?

I will not trust this NSA surveillance unless the government explains this further. I think it is not what American tax money should pay for. Let the big internet companies and other companies at least pay their fair share of American taxes if they want the US government to pay to protect their intellectual property.

[Blue_Tires]

3. "What reason do we have for tapping into Huawei’s computer system?"

We actually have several legitimate reasons to, if you take a glance into their history...But I'll just list the big ones:

1. Huawei is a thinly veiled corporate front for the Chinese Gov't
2. They have frequently used hackers to attack the U.S., among other countries
3. They have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar before
4. Congress deemed them a "major security threat" a couple years ago

(for the record, this is what's known as counter-intelligence)

And my earlier point still stands -- How does exposing this story help anyone other than the Chinese Gov't? There are ZERO constitutional or privacy concerns in play here; which leaves me with some very ugly questions for the people who leaked it...

[JDPriestly]

4. Thanks. Glad ypu can speak so authoritatively on this. You seem to know a lot about the

motives of our government. I don't, and the government really isn't telling me much about it.

If it really is counterintelligence, good. But what is wrong with letting the American people know we are doing it.

And please don't tell me that the Chinese government didn't know this was going on long before Snowden. They are smarter than that. "They have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar before."

I have a hard time believing that Snowden revealed anything to other governments in the world that those governments did not already know or guess.

Snowden's revelations were for us, the American people.

If it makes you feel more secure, more nationally secure, knowing that the US government hacked into Chinese internet services, good. I think it is OK, but I want to know my government is doing it. Why does it need to be so secret from the American people? Is it just habit? I think that the secrecy is unnecessary, undemocratic, unresponsive to the needs of the American people and just plain a waste of money.

[Blue_Tires]

5. I'd agree with your suggestion for more openness and a full accounting of

our foreign intelligence operations, just as soon as China steps up with a full public accounting of their operations against the United States....You know, as a show of good faith and fair play...

Don't we as Americans have a right to know about which foreign powers are spying on us, and EXACTLY how they are doing it?

[JDPriestly]

6. Yes. Perhaps we should have an international protocol that permits this kind of spying and

even advocates for it openly. Verification that agreements are being performed and proof that war is not being prepared. Sounds good to me. We should be able to get beyond 17th century ideas about diplomacy and war.

[Pholus]

7. Just for laughs I actually read said twitter feed...

And certainly I didn't hear "yakety sax" nearly as much as I thought I would.

I am disappointed, OP!

[Blue_Tires]

8. Maybe he's taking a break from his daily slapfights with critics

of course Greenwald spits out so many tweets per minute that his really over-the-top bullshit gets pushed down rather quickly...He's also the type to frequently sit back and let his minions fight his battles for him -- So try it again in a few hours...

[Pholus]

9. Okay. I didn't read past March 1 so you could be right. nt

[Supersedeas]

10. Why would the Chinese be outraged by this?

[Blue_Tires]

11. They aren't...

but public decorum dictates that they have to *pretend* to be shocked and horrified to keep up appearances, ala France, Germany, etc. etc.