If You Can Read Through The Entire McClatchy Piece, And Still Defend THIS Practice...

[WillyT]

I Have To Wonder If You Have ANY CLUE What It Means To Be An American... Let Alone A Democrat.

McClatchy Washington Bureau
Obama’s crackdown views leaks as aiding enemies of U.S.
By Marisa Taylor and Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Washington Bureau
Posted on Thu, Jun. 20, 2013 - Last updated: June 21, 2013 06:37:42 AM

<snip>

Even before a former U.S. intelligence contractor exposed the secret collection of Americans’ phone records, the Obama administration was pressing a government-wide crackdown on security threats that requires federal employees to keep closer tabs on their co-workers and exhorts managers to punish those who fail to report their suspicions.

President Barack Obama’s unprecedented initiative, known as the Insider Threat Program, is sweeping in its reach. It has received scant public attention even though it extends beyond the U.S. national security bureaucracies to most federal departments and agencies nationwide, including the Peace Corps, the Social Security Administration and the Education and Agriculture departments. It emphasizes leaks of classified material, but catchall definitions of “insider threat” give agencies latitude to pursue and penalize a range of other conduct.

Government documents reviewed by McClatchy illustrate how some agencies are using that latitude to pursue unauthorized disclosures of any information, not just classified material. They also show how millions of federal employees and contractors must watch for “high-risk persons or behaviors” among co-workers and could face penalties, including criminal charges, for failing to report them. Leaks to the media are equated with espionage.

“Hammer this fact home . . . leaking is tantamount to aiding the enemies of the United States,” says a June 1, 2012, Defense Department strategy for the program that was obtained by McClatchy.

<snip>

More: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/06/20/v-print/194513/obamas-crackdown-views-leaks-as.html

[tammywammy]

1. discussed here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023074757

[Hissyspit]

20. And here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023072740

[ProSense]

2. I read it

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023057060#post26

[bahrbearian]

26. I read It

Sorry ,I have no blue links to my OP's for you.

[DevonRex]

3. After watching Eddie go around the world selling secrets, you fucking BET I do.

China, Russia, who's next? Will Cuba go to him or will he stop there? Is it Venezuela is Ecuador? Whoever will give him cash, that's all he cares about.

We'll be damned lucky if he hasn't taken something to deliver to some yacht.

[WillyT]

4. Tell Me... What National Security Threat Info Does The Dept. of Education Maintain ???

Or the Dept. of Agriculture... or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration?

The Department of Education, meanwhile, informs employees that co-workers going through “certain life experiences . . . might turn a trusted user into an insider threat.” Those experiences, the department says in a computer training manual, include “stress, divorce, financial problems” or “frustrations with co-workers or the organization.”

An online tutorial titled “Treason 101” teaches Department of Agriculture and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees to recognize the psychological profile of spies.

Same as Op.

[DevonRex]

7. Do you think spies exist? Or are they just in old movies?

And if they exist, how do they get into the government? By applying for CIA Chief first? Let me tell you something Agriculture would be a great place for spies. That's our food supply. Education? How about doing away with unions and sabotaging teachers at every turn? Sound familiar?

[WillyT]

14. So... Somebody Going Through A Divorce At The Agriculture Dept., Or Is Financially Strapped At Ed.,

And YOU Are Gonna Turn Them In To Management As A Threat If You Were A Co-Worker ???

I Would NOT want anything to do with the likes of you.

[GoneFishin]

37. Yeah. Imagine if the wiley bastards supplanted our food supply with GMO food

or meat laced with steroids and other chemicals. Or if they ran small independent farms out of business and jeopardized our national food security ....... oh wait .......
.....
... those sneaky bastards!!

[blackspade]

85. Or breaking teachers unions...

and privatizing schools, and pushing expensive corporate testing on students......

Crap, your right.... THOSE SNEAKY BASTARDS!

[leveymg]

79. It's like the 50s all over again. Enforced conformity, political vanilla pudding, and tail fins.

It's a recipe for group think, paranoia, and mediocrity. Sure to fail to find the real threats with divided loyalty in high places.

[dixiegrrrrl]

19. He SOLD information? First time I have heard this....

do you have a link for that?

[Hissyspit]

25. No.

Actual facts don't matter.

[warrant46]

76. Boat Smoke

[JDPriestly]

27. Actually, it isn't Snowden who has gone around the world

selling the United States and our democracy and secrets out. It's corporate America -- the multinationals who settled so much of our industry in China and other hostile lands.

Don't shoot the messenger. That's all Snowden is.

At least he isn't asking for welfare yet.

I am grateful to Snowden for letting the world know about the severity of the wiretapping. We should be ashamed. And so should every other country that eavesdrops on the communications or collects information on the metadata of law abiding citizens including people who work for the government and industry at various levels.

[AzDar]

31. Well-said.

[JEB]

38. That's my take on this as well.

Thanks for stating so directly.

[GoneFishin]

39. +1000

[Thinkingabout]

52. You are digging deep and you found a zero.

[JDPriestly]

53. Could you explain in more detail, please?

[RKP5637]

61. Well said - TPTB express outrage that some nations spy, yet express

outrage when found doing the same. We've seen in history where this will take this nation if unchecked.

[Enthusiast]

77. I agree, 100%.

Always well said, JD.

[ljm2002]

30. "selling secrets"...

..."Whoever will give him cash, that's all he cares about."

Do tell. If you have any evidence of this, whatsoever, please share.

Otherwise... just another smear-the-messenger post, adding nothing to the conversation except to let us all know what a loyal and hot-under-the-collar American you are.

[ReRe]

59. Most of these guys (not all) can't understand...

... why Snowden did what he did. Snowden did it because his CONSCIENCE could not bear the thought of what is being done, i.e. that the American public is being spied upon WHICH IS AGAINST THE EFFING LAW! There are people who will do anything for a job, even if what they are asked to do is against the law. Those types have NO CONSCIENCE. And since they don't, they can't understand anyone who DOES have one. Thus they think he has to be doing it for money!

Not to mention common sense. The NSA says Snowden broke the law and must turn himself in, all the while the NSA is lying through it's teeth to the American People about breaking their oath to the US Constitution, i.e. breaking the 4th Amendment!

[RC]

89. +10

[ReRe]

90. Thank you, RC

I almost don't want to check my posts these days....

[RC]

91. I know the feeling.

Sometimes it feels like freeper central around here.

[Maedhros]

92. To be honest, I can't know what Snowden's motivations may have been.

I haven't met the man. However motivations don't matter, but actions do. And Snowden's actions have brought the NSA surveillance programs and the Administration's anti-whistleblowing policy out into the light where we can inspect them. For that I am grateful.

[Bluenorthwest]

44. Can you support this assertion that he's selling secrets? Or are you just flinging poo?

Is this just shit you are making up whole cloth and repeating as if it was something you actually know? That's just reprehensible.

[Katashi_itto]

55. Facts don't matter much to conservatives either. So your in good company.

[chimpymustgo]

80. You are MAKING SHIT UP. We have enough to deal with here without that.

Go away.

[NorthCarolina]

82. Please provide a link to reports confirming he SOLD info to foreign entities.

Or is this a non-factual fact interjected solely to underline your talking points?

[nineteen50]

83. Can you please list the

secrets that have been sold?

[treestar]

5. . . .

Government documents reviewed by McClatchy

So they got this from government documents? So it's not a big secret.

“Leaks related to national security can put people at risk,” Obama said on May 16 in defending criminal investigations into leaks. “They can put men and women in uniform that I’ve sent into the battlefield at risk. They can put some of our intelligence officers, who are in various, dangerous situations that are easily compromised, at risk. . . . So I make no apologies, and I don’t think the American people would expect me as commander in chief not to be concerned about information that might compromise their missions or might get them killed.”

As part of the initiative, Obama ordered greater protection for whistleblowers who use the proper internal channels to report official waste, fraud and abuse, but that’s hardly comforting to some national security experts and current and former U.S. officials. They worry that the Insider Threat Program won’t just discourage whistleblowing but will have other grave consequences for the public’s right to know and national security.

That evil Obama! And of course there are people for whom anything positive he does is not good enough. There always are and they always get heard.

Obama launched the Insider Threat Program in October 2011 after Army Pfc. Bradley Manning downloaded hundreds of thousands of documents from a classified computer network and sent them to WikiLeaks, the anti-government secrecy group. It also followed the 2009 killing of 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, by Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, an attack that federal authorities failed to prevent even though they were monitoring his emails to an al Qaida-linked Islamic cleric.


An internal review launched after Manning’s leaks found “wide disparities” in the abilities of U.S. intelligence agencies to detect security risks and determined that all needed improved defenses.

Obama’s executive order formalizes broad practices that the intelligence agencies have followed for years to detect security threats and extends them to agencies that aren’t involved in national security policy but can access classified networks. Across the government, new policies are being developed.

[WillyT]

6. ... --- ...

“The danger is that supervisors and managers will use the profiles for ‘Disgruntled Employees’ and ‘Insider Threats’ to go after legitimate whistleblowers,” said the second Pentagon official. “The executive order says you can’t offend the whistleblower laws. But all of the whistleblower laws are about retaliation. That doesn’t mean you can’t profile them before they’re retaliated against.”

Greenstein said she become the target of scrutiny from security officials after she began raising allegations of mismanagement in the CIA’s operations in Baghdad. But she never leaked her complaints, which included an allegation that her security chief deleted details about safety risks from cables. Instead, she relied on the agency’s internal process to make the allegations.

The CIA, however, tried to get the Justice Department to open a criminal case after Greenstein mentioned during a polygraph test that she was writing a book, which is permitted inside the agency as long as it goes through pre-publication review. The CIA then demanded to see her personal computers. When she got them back months later, all that she’d written had been deleted, Greenstein said.

“They clearly perceived me as an insider threat,” said Greenstein, who has since rewritten the book and has received CIA permission to publish portions of it. “By saying ‘I have a problem with this place and I want to make it better,’ I was instantly turned into a security threat,” she said. The CIA declined to comment.

[treestar]

16. Whether somebody is a whistleblower is always up for argument

Side issue: She should have had backups too. How could she be that dumb? She's dealing with the CIA.

No system is perfect and her case wouldn't prove for all time that a leak is always better than the internal system. We don't even know that if we heard both sides, we might agree with the CIA that what she was complaining about what not a problem. Some people make unreasonable complaints. Here she asks for an assumption she was in the right.

She might have accidentally deleted it herself. And it is not Authoritarian to wonder if her story is true - we can't always assume the complainer/leaker is always right or we are blind, too. It's not a perfect world either. This person says whistleblower protections won't always work. Nothing always works.

I don't know the answer, but making every leak a right thing to do isn't it, either.

[bahrbearian]

28. Shes, Guilty until proved innocent

[treestar]

32. No she's not under any guilty/innocent question here

you're just saying believe her automatically. Why?

[bahrbearian]

33. Mainly because you don't.

Same as when I call bullshit on Bohner, Rand, or Mitchell.

[treestar]

36. that's mature

I just say hear both sides before deciding.

[bahrbearian]

41. From the BOG to my ears.

[JDPriestly]

29. If you have read my posts, you will understand that this program

is incompatible with democracy and that as long as it or similar programs exist you and I are not free, not living in anything that approaches a free country.

I envy the people who decided when they were young to just go out and live off the land and eke out some subsistence level of existence. At least they will be prepared to do that. Because this program will also end a lot of the prosperity that we have enjoyed. Other countries are not going to welcome our surveillance of their citizens. Why should they?

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. "all that she’d written had been deleted"

She works for the CIA and still leaves her info. on her personal computer, unencrypted, so it can be deleted by a 2nd party, instead of using an extermal hard drive or a thumb drive for the info.
Sheesh.

[blackspade]

86. And you know all this how?

And wasn't she complying with a CIA request?
Are you suggesting that she should have hidden the files?
You can't have it both ways.

The whole point is that this is someone who attempted to go through 'proper' channels to expose corruption.
In return she was profiled as a 'risk' and her personal property was destroyed.

So should she have leaked? Or is this occurrence just the price you have to pay to be 'safe' in a modern authoritarian state?

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Wow, I can't see any of the answers.

Well done willy

[Catherina]

11. Well, I can see you, 9 and 10. It looks lovely that way too.

Can I bet a little money on blue links?

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Yup, you can

[morningfog]

43. Lol. I never even notice what I have on ignore.

Such a great feature.

[chervilant]

56. So true!

And, why do so many herein believe she didn't have a (several?) backup copy of what she's written? What did we used to call that? Armchair quarterbacking?

[sibelian]

75. It's an interesting spread this time.

Lots of Fudds chasing wascally wabbits.

[idwiyo]

9. Welcome to the Union of Spies and Shills of America, or USSA. I wonder if admin came up with

that all by themselves or did they ask Putin to share some expertise from his old days as a head of KGB.

[jsr]

10. Recommend

[blkmusclmachine]

13. TRUST US.

We wouldn't lie to you,

again.

[blkmusclmachine]

15. Big Brother is not happy.

Not. Happy. At. All.

[blkmusclmachine]

17. Transparent

bullsh!t.

[HardTimes99]

18. K n R - nt

[JDPriestly]

22. OK, guys. We are there -- where East Germany was.

The next step will be that this kind of reporting will spread in our society because anyone, anywhere having a bad day could be an enemy of the people -- or worse, of corporate America.

Just forget freedom and the Constitution. They have been replaced by paranoia.

Instead of requiring corporations to protect their data, instead of limiting the secrets of government, we have resorted to the "easy" but very repressive solution of wiretapping and collecting metadata.

With that, we are no longer a free country.

And think of all the surveillance at airports on top of this surveillance in public workplaces (which will spread to private workplaces in no time). Very, very sad. What is the point?

MADem justifies the surveillance by our government with the argument that, after all, the Chinese are doing it and did it long before we did. So, let's stop trading with China. Is it really that hard? Let's cut the cables that connect our communications with those of the Chinese. Either they respect our love of privacy and freedom and just go it on their own, or we withdraw our commerce and exchanges with them. We do not have to do business with China or any other country for that matter. Our freedom and our sense of national unity and trust is more important than our trade with China. And the fools who invested in China should get out before the Chinese nationalize all their industrial assets. It could happen whether we stop trading with them or not.

Can anyone think of a better way to deal with this and still preserve our freedom? I haven't thus far. Maybe there is something, but so far I haven't figured it out.

[ReRe]

62. Relations with China....

You know, I always wondered why the US gave China "Most Favored Nation" trading status down through the years, even though China treats it's people the way they do. The Democrats in Congress always said it was better to keep the door open with China, otherwise there's no chance of trying to convert them them to a democracy.

[JDPriestly]

66. Are we going to "convert" them to a democracy in which everyone is

under surveillance? How long will that be a democracy?

[ReRe]

68. Nope...

... It's just ironic. Congress never has eaten crow for all those years of hypocrisy. Or outright lies. They've told us to hate communism since WWI, and before we knew it they were arm and arm with the communists. So what's the deal? Can we believe EVERYTHING our government tells us? NO.

[JDPriestly]

70. I have been wondering about that for years. Why were we such

buddies with Communist China to begin with? What stupidity.

It is nothing against Chinese people. It's against the policies of the Chinese government -- and also sometimes against the policies of our own government especially when it comes to our largesse with Communist China.

[ReRe]

73. GHWB's brother was one of the first ones...

... in China with his business. Remember that? What was his name? Marvin Bush? or Melvin?

Also, "Normalization of relations with VietNam" comes to mind. Wonder what our multi-national businesses are getting away with there.

John Q Public would be horrified if they knew what our government/business has done in our name.

Right now on the Documentary Channel is "Atomic Mom". (subject: former navy biologist Pauline Silvia breaks silence on her role in experiments for the U.S. Atomic Testing Program in Navada. In her old age, after seeing a 50th anniversary yearbook, she had a "crisis of conscience." She had never talked about her experience, so her daughter made this Doc so she could tell her story in her own words.) A Japanese woman, who was the only survivor of her family, just told about living through the Atomic Bomb.

[bullsnarfle]

88. Not to mention the hypocrisy...

"Most favored" buddies with China --- but SCREW Cuba? Last time I heard they were both communist...so, what, China = "good commies" and Cuba = "bad commies"? What a joke.

You don't need Toto to pull the curtain back on this one...it is all about MONEY, of course...China has it, Cuba don't, so under the bus with poor ol' Cuba and huggy-kissy to China.

[FreakinDJ]

24. Creepy Big Brother stuff

[cantbeserious]

34. + 1,000

eom

[enough]

35. One of the worst effects is that it will discourage smart, dedicated people from

taking jobs in government. It's going to get to the point that simply working for a government agency will mean that you are agreeing to compromise your integrity.

[nashville_brook]

65. precisely my take.

[DJ13]

40. I am starting to think that Obama is a mix of

the naivety of Bush, coupled with the paranoia of Cheney.

A rather frightening combination.

[Demeter]

58. The Arrogance of W, the Elitism of Poppy and Babs, the Sneaky Face of Nixon

the naiveté of Carter, a truly happy amalgam of all the worst things a President can be.

The only things missing are Reagan's Alzheimers and Clinton's zipper...

[zeeland]

60. There's nothing naive about Obama.

It's insulting to suggest Bushes crimes were just naively. Obama's policies
are well thought out and purposeful. To what end is the part of serious concern.

[Enthusiast]

78. Don't forget an unreasonable and underserved respect for Ronald Reagan.

There is NOTHING respectable about Saint Ronnie. After Iran-Contra? Are you kidding me.

[forestpath]

42. I'm a retired Federal employee and there is no way in fucking HELL I would ever

have "kept closer tabs" on my colleagues.

[WillyT]

46. Current State Employee... Ditto...

Not a chance in hell.

[Progressive dog]

45. Well, first I wouldn't flee to Hong Kong

after stealing top secret information that I had sworn to protect.
This is supposed to be a surprise .......
“Hammer this fact home . . . leaking is tantamount to aiding the enemies of the United States,” says a June 1, 2012, Defense Department strategy for the program that was obtained by McClatchy.

[WillyT]

47. And This Applies To The The Employees Of The Peace Corp, FDA, NOAA, And The Dept. Of Ed.... HOW ???

[A Simple Game]

48. Here's a scary scenario.

Bob starts working a lot of overtime. You notice it and comment on it to co-worker Jim. Jim mentions to the personnel department that Bob is working over quite often and that you knew it and didn't inform management.

You are penalized and charged with a felony for not informing on Bob, nothing happens to Bob because come to find out, he was just working overtime to pay off a credit card. Jim gets a bonus for turning you in to the personnel department. What a system.

[WillyT]

49. + 1,000,000,000... What You Said !!!

EXACTLY !!!

[dixiegrrrrl]

50. Like living under Mao's rule.

Gosh, all this liberty and freedom is starting to smell like good ole days communism.

[A Simple Game]

51. Myself, I'm waiting for the rewards I can get if my neighbor starts working over at the factory. n/t

[zeeland]

67. It's worse. Mao didn't have the techno abilities to do this. n/t.

[KoKo]

54. McClatchy Piece came out in unfortunate timing...BUT...

My Hometown Newspaper did great Editorial (McClatchy owned) today trashing what's going on in the Media.

It was surprising to see...but, maybe Gary Pruitt's leaving will mean that McClatchy gets back to what it was doing best before the BUY OUT...!

K&R!

[tpsbmam]

69. Is it something you can post here? nt

[Demeter]

57. This is another piece from the Onion, Right?

Right?

C'mon guys, tell me it is...

[WillyT]

64. No Shit... Huh ???

[steve2470]

63. k&r nt

[Blue_In_AK]

71. This is chilling

and actually freaks me out more than the NSA stuff.

[HardTimes99]

72. Posting this is a major PUBLIC SERVICE to the DU community. My sincerest

gratitude - you are to be highly commended.

[WillyT]

74. Kick !!!

:kick:

[Egalitarian Thug]

81. K&R Perception is indeed, everything. n/t

[Logical]

84. Real dems will not defend it. n-t

[jtuck004]

87. Keep writing. It's just more evidence against you.

And don't bother plugging that hole in the wall, your co-worker, neighbor, cousin will just drill another one.



Inform on your co-workers. It's the patriotic thing to do.

You can read more about our programs here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi

USA! USA! USA!

[99th_Monkey]

93. AS LONG AS DICK WORLD-CLASS-LEAKER CHENEY WALKS, I CALL BULLSHIT! ~nt

[Enrique]

94. i have a tip on a leaker

someone leaked classified info about the bin laden raid to make the administration look good. I await the investigation.

[pam4water]

95. K&R That is more Orwellian that anything GWB even did. It creepy and more scary since there is a

modicum of competence hidden in the Obama administration.

[Doctor_J]

96. but he was so captivating after sandy hook