Security Services, Spies, KGB, WikiLeaks etc.

[TsarSamuil]

Snowden to Seek Russian Protection From Death Threats – Lawyer.

MOSCOW, January 21 (RIA Novosti) – US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden will ask the Russian law enforcement authorities for protection after having received death threats against him disseminated by the US media, his Russian lawyer said Tuesday.

“We are concerned with the situation around Edward. We see statements made by some US officials containing potential and implicit threats to his life,” Anatoly Kucherena told reporters.

One such threat, attributed to a US intelligence officer, describes in detail how Snowden, who is living in Russia after having been granted temporary asylum here, could be easily assassinated in Moscow.

“This is a real death threat, and we are concerned that it has prompted no reaction from anybody. That is why we will file a request to the police. … We will ask the [Russian] law enforcement to investigate all such statements,” Kucherena said.

The lawyer said a death threat carries criminal liability under Russian law, while Snowden’s refugee status gives him equal rights as Russian citizens and allows him to ask for police protection in the country.

Kucherena also said Snowden’s US legal adviser, Ben Wizner, would take relevant steps in the United States to identify officials from the National Security Agency who called for Snowden’s assassination.

Snowden, a 30-year-old former employee of the CIA and the NSA, hit the media spotlight after he leaked to reporters information about extensive surveillance programs by the US government that allegedly targeted millions of people around the world.

[TsarSamuil]

Revealed: the day Guardian destroyed Snowden hard drives under watchful eye of GCHQ.

Francisco Ettinger
Jan 31, 2014

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUokM5d1qic

On Saturday 20 July 2013, in the basement of the Guardian's office in Kings Cross, London, watched by two GCHQ technicians, Guardian editors destroyed hard drives and memory cards on which encrypted files leaked by Edward Snowden had been stored. This is the first time footage of the event has been released.

[TsarSamuil]

'The Day We Fight Back': Netizens rally against NSA in memory of Aaron Swartz.

RT
Feb 11, 2014

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNcT6-3xwvk

It's been a year since his death but his mission hasn't been forgotten. The organization co-founded by internet freedom fighter Aaron Swartz is leading a mass protest against the NSA's indiscriminate surveillance in a campaign called: "The Day We Fight Back."

[TsarSamuil]

Sen. Paul Sues Over NSA Surveillance - Former Virginia Attorney General Is Lead Lawyer.

Antiwar.com
by Jason Ditz, February 12, 2014

Senator Rand Paul (R – KY) has filed a class-action lawsuit against the Obama Administration today, seeking a court ruling to end the NSA’s telephone metadata surveillance program. The hope is to get the case to the Supreme Court.

FreedomWorks is a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit, and the head of the legal team is Ken Cuccinelli, the former Attorney General for the state of Virginia.

Paul detailed the reasons for the lawsuit in a statement on CNN.com, insisting it was a vital defense of the Fourth Amendment, and adding that the NSA treats Americans “as no more than common criminals, casting suspicion on honest people with not even a whisper of criminal activity about them.”

The Obama Administration has dismissed public outcry about the metadata collection, insisting it is no big deal, and the Justice Department has repeatedly sought to kill lawsuits surrounding the question of surveillance in general, arguing that the secret programs can only be judged by secret courts, and can’t be contested in any way.

[TsarSamuil]

Snowden's first live: 'Constitution being violated on massive scale' (FULL VIDEO)

RT
Mar 10, 2014

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGD2t2iegSY

Courtesy: The Texas Tribune

Speaking remotely from Russia on Monday, former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden told attendees at the SXSW Interactive conference in Austin, Texas that encryption is still a powerful deterrent against government surveillance.

[TsarSamuil]

Vid,
rt.com/politics/putin-fsb-agents-2013-861/

FSB foils activities of 304 foreign spies in 2013 - Putin.

RT.com
April 07, 2014 12:42

President Putin has highlighted the success of Russia's internal security service in counter-intelligence. Speaking at the FSB executive council he said that fighting extremism is the agency's top priority.

“The situation remains complicated, the terrorist underground, despite suffering serious casualties retains the capability of launching terrorist attacks against the civilian population,” the Interfax news agency quoted Putin as saying on Monday.

“Extremist radical groups are trying to boost their activities not only in the North Caucasus but also to transfer them into different regions of our country, to the Volga Region and Central Russia, they seek to instigate ethnic and religious conflicts,” the president said.

Putin added that extremists were especially active in recruiting the younger generation and used the most modern means and technology for the purpose, including social networks and other Internet services. “We should launch preventive measures, pay special attention to exposing and severing all channels of financial and material support to the underground mobs, uncover their ties with foreign terrorist groups and sponsors,” the Russian President told the top security officers.

Speaking of current successes, the Russian leader pointed out that the FSB together with other state agencies managed to find and bar over 400 terrorist inclined web-sites.

Putin also said that in 2013 Russian special services managed to stop the activities of 46 foreign intelligence members and 258 agents. He added that counter-intelligence was traditionally of primary importance and urged the FSB commanders to significantly increase the quality of analytical and operative work.

Another serious challenge was the participation of some Russian citizens (as well as some citizens of the CIS states) in combat on the terrorist side. This happens, for example in Afghanistan and Syria and Russians undergo both terrorist and ideological training for it, Putin noted. “There are all grounds to suggest that these people could be used against Russia and our commonwealth neighbors. We must be ready for this and have the whole arsenal of preventive measures,” he said.

The President then urged the FSB elite to step up cooperation with their partners from the various Russia-led political and military blocs, such as the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the ShanghaiCooperation and others. “The role of the National Anti-terror Committee should be increased and this means the timely exchange of operative information,” Putin explained.

[TsarSamuil]

US ‘kidnaps’ Russian MP’s son to ‘exchange him for Snowden’

RT.com
July 08, 2014 10:39

A Russian MP claims the US kidnapped his son from the Maldives on bogus cyber-fraud charges and may be preparing to offer him as bait in a swap deal for Edward Snowden.

Roman Seleznyov, 30, was arrested at Male international airport as he was about to board a flight to Moscow. He was forced by US secret service agents to board a private plane to Guam and was later arrested. The Russian ministry slammed his detention as “a de-facto kidnapping.”

Moscow considers the kidnapping "a new hostile move by Washington,” and accused the US of ignoring proper procedure in dealing with foreign nationals suspected of crimes.

“The same happened to Viktor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko, who were forced to go to the US from third countries and convicted on dubious charges.”

In an interview to RT Russian MP Valery Seleznyov, Roman’s father pointed to the illegality of the US kidnap.

“For all I know they may be demanding a ransom tomorrow. Or try to exchange him for [NSA whistleblower Edward] Snowden or somebody. One can only wonder.”

He cannot contact his son and claims American authorities are denying Roman his rights.

“They took him to Guam because American law is not fully applicable there,” the lawmaker explained.

The MP said that his son has scant computer skills and could not be involved in any sort of hacking.

The US Secret Service and the Dept of Justice announced Monday that Roman Seleznyov was indicted on charges including identity theft, bank fraud, illegally accessing information on protected computers and trafficking in unauthorized access devices.

He is charged with stealing and selling US citizens’ credit card data between 2009 and 2011. The Secret Service called Seleznyov “one of the world's most prolific traffickers of stolen financial information”.

Seleznyov was among those injured by a 2011 bomb blast in Marrakech, Morocco.

The US has a record of taking drastic steps when it wants people held in custody. The methods may vary from the widely-criticized practice of “extraordinary rendition,” or the blatant kidnappings of terror suspects during the Bush era, to putting pressure on foreign governments to allow American agents a free hand on their soil.



Russia’s Foreign Ministry urges US ‘to stop harassing kidnapped Russian MP’s son’

RT.com
July 12, 2014 06:13

The Russian Foreign Ministry is urging the US to stop harassing Russian MP’s son, Roman Seleznyov, who is now being held in Guam on cyber-fraud charges, and calls for the “observance of his rights,” including the “right to medical care.”

"We continue to demand Washington to immediately release Roman Seleznyov, who was forcibly flown out the Republic of Maldives to the US island of Guam on July 5,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

One of the biggest concerns raised by the ministry is the lack of medical attention for Seleznyov.

“Roman Seleznyov was seriously injured in a terrorist attack in 2011 [in Marrakech, Morocco],” and he is being denied necessary medicine. “As a result his health and even his life are in danger.”

Roman’s father, prominent Russian MP Valery Seleznyov, told a news conference on Friday that his son will die without his medicine.

"There are no medical services there at all, treatment is not available," Seleznyov said. "He will die."

Don Hall, a US Marshals Service spokesman in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, said Guam authorities have staff to handle medical issues, AP reported. "The U.S. Marshals Service is adamant about ensuring that detainees receive all necessary medical care and prescribed medication," he said.

The ministry said new “shocking” details came to light about Seleznyov’s kidnapping, after a telephone conversation with the arrested Russian citizen.

Seleznyov, 30, was detained earlier this week at Male international airport, as he was about to board a flight to Moscow.

As Seleznyov was going through airport security, he was approached and escorted to another room for further verification, the ministry’s statement said. Three US intelligence officers immediately confronted him, arrested him roughly, handcuffed him and spirited him away on a private plane.

“No legal procedures involving local authorities required for extradition were observed,” the ministry stated.

“The Russian citizen was literally kidnapped, which is a flagrant violation of the laws of any civilized state as well as international law,” the ministry said.

Earlier this week, the Russian ministry slammed his detention as “a de-facto kidnapping.”

Moscow considers the kidnapping "a new hostile move by Washington,” and accused the US of ignoring proper procedure in dealing with foreign nationals suspected of crimes.

“The same happened to Viktor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko, who were forced to go to the US from third countries and convicted on dubious charges.”

The US Department of Justice and US Secret Service announced on Monday that Roman Seleznyov was indicted on charges including identity theft, bank fraud, illegally accessing information on protected computers and trafficking in unauthorized access devices.

He is charged with stealing and selling US citizens’ credit card data between 2009 and 2011 and may face up to 30 years in prison if found guilty.

Seleznyov appeared in court on Monday, and will be held in custody until his next hearing.

[TsarSamuil]

[TsarSamuil]

France enacts law allowing govt to snoop on private internet user data - report.

RT.com
December 30, 2014 20:57

The French government has published a decree enacting an internet surveillance law that was passed a year ago. The controversial measure, allowing authorities 'administrative access to connection data,' reportedly comes into force the first day of 2015.

The decree, providing French officials with access to data from a wide range of telecom services in the country - including phone calls, text messages and internet access by both private users and operators - was published over the Christmas holidays, France's Le Point reported.

The legislation was passed in December last year, and was a surprise to many: less than two months before it was approved, the country's president François Hollande - during a phone conversation with Barack Obama - expressed his "deep disapproval" at revelations that the NSA had been intercepting millions of phone calls in France, having described it as an "unacceptable practice."

Starting from January 1, French government itself will be in control of its residents' connection data, with an "interdepartmental group" being in charge of security interceptions and administrative access, gathering requests for certain data and obtaining it from operators.

Departments, authorized to issue data requests, include several branches within the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Defense and a directorate at the Ministry of Finance. Laws, empowering state officials to monitor the population by means of communication and information access, have been passed under the flag of protection from terrorist threat, the French media wrote.

Powers, granted to the government by the new surveillance law, have been met with protests in France. Before it was eventually enacted, authorities have set up an oversight body - National Control Commission for Security Interceptions (CNCIS), which should supervise governmental data control powers. Although it is allowed to oversee documents and information asked to be disclosed to the authorities, it has no power to sanction anyone, or alert of a reported abuse, Le Point wrote.

[TsarSamuil]

‘Torturing terror suspects produces useful intelligence’ – ex-MI6 director.

RT.com
March 02, 2015 13:45

Intelligence thought to have been derived by torture in Saudi Arabia helped to foil a terror attack on UK soil, it has emerged. Reflecting on the revelation, the ex-head of MI6 said torturing terror suspects produces “useful information.”

In his first interview since stepping down as MI6 chief, Sir John Sawers made the controversial statement to the BBC.

He said UK security services refrain from engaging in torture because it breaches British values. But he argued torture can be effective in the short term.

Sawers’ remarks were condemned by director of human rights group Liberty Shami Chakrabarti.

“The one thing I could never have predicted is in 2015 we would be having to talk about torture in the UK,” she told the Independent.

Britain’s security services have also come under fire from UK human rights group Cage.

The human rights organization warns MI5 and MI6’s use of torture directly contributed to the radicalization of Michael Adebolajo and Mohammed Emwazi.

Emwazi was identified yesterday as the true identity of Jihadi John, an Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) militant thought to be responsible for slaughtering hostages in Syria, while Adebolajo was convicted of murdering British soldier Lee Rigby in 2013.

Speaking to the BBC, Sawers strongly rejected the argument secret service practices are radicalizing young Britons. He stressed torture has been deployed for “thousands of years in order to extract useful information.”

Sawers’ remarks come as new details of a foiled Al-Qaeda terror plot targeting British and American citizens surface.

According to an exclusive Independent report, the attack was intercepted in 2010 by a dramatic “real time operation” spanning continents.

Al-Qaeda had conspired to attack two separate airliners as they travelled over the eastern United States.

UK authorities uncovered a bomb disguised in a printer cartridge on a UPS cargo plane at East Midlands Airport, following a tip-off by Saudi Arabian officials.

The tip-off prompted a frantic search operation, with security officials battling against the clock to detect the device. UK officials subsequently disarmed the bomb at an airport cargo hub. A second similar device was also uncovered on board a freight plane in Dubai. Both planes reportedly originated in Yemen.

An intelligence source, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Independent: “The people in London went back on the phone two or three times to where the interrogation was taking place in Riyadh to find out specifically where the bomb was hidden.”

“There were two Britons there, in immediate communication with where the interrogation was taking place, and as soon as anything happened, they were in touch with the UK.”

Another inside source told the Independent the majority of Britons would say torture is “defensible” in a “ticking bomb scenario.”

He said while it is publicly claimed UK officials do not engage in acts of torture, they are “very happy beneficiaries of it.”

A third source, with knowledge of the East Midlands bomb operation, said British officials attempted to dissociate themselves from torture happening in Saudi Arabia. He added, however, that the intelligence aided in the successful disarming of the 2010 bombs was undoubtedly derived “under duress.”

“Of course we use intelligence from torture. We take it from wherever we can get it, but we are never ever going to say ‘we don’t want that,’” he said.

The source told the Independent that intelligence officials rarely ask too many questions about where tip-offs come from. That is the “difference between intelligence and evidence,” he said.

Prime Minister David Cameron alluded to the foiled terror attack earlier this month when he referenced “a piece of information” from Saudi Arabia that potentially saved “hundreds of lives.”

Earlier this month, it was revealed a suspected terrorist is arrested every day in Britain in connection with Islamic extremism.

Metropolitan Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said the growing threat from returning fighters who have joined the IS means that extremists are being detained on a near daily basis, with attacks from “misfits and criminals” feared.

[TsarSamuil]

Kaspersky Lab Uncovers More Evidence Linking NSA to Infamous Hackers.

SputnikNews.com
NEWS 00:21 12.03.2015

Researchers from the Russia-based cybersecurity group Kaspersky Lab have uncovered more evidence tying the United States’ National Security Agency to a shadowy group of hackers.

The hacking collective, dubbed “Equation Group,” must have been sponsored by a nation-state with vast resources in order to operate, Kaspersky analysts assert.

The strongest evidence connecting the NSA to Equation Group is the string "BACKSNARF_AB25," which was embedded in a sample of the Equation Group cyberespionage platform known as "EquationDrug."

"BACKSNARF," according to page 19 of an undated NSA presentation that was obtained by Ars Technica, was the name of a project tied to the NSA's Tailored Access Operations.

“While the presence of the 'BACKSNARF' artifact isn't conclusive proof it was part of the NSA project by that name, the chances that there were two unrelated projects with nation-state funding seems infinitesimally small,” Dan Gooding of Ars Technica points out.

A new report published Wednesday by Kaspersky notes that timestamps stored inside the Equation Group malware showed that hackers almost exclusively worked Monday through Friday. Assuming they worked from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., employees likely were working in the eastern part of the US.

It is unlikely the timestamps were intentionally manipulated, the report states, since the years listed in various executable files match the availability of computer platforms the files ran on.

Last month, Kaspersky revealed details about an Equation Group operation the led to some 500 infections in at least 30 countries, including Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Syria. The operation targeted banks, foreign governments, embassies, energy and infrastructure, media, telecommunications sectors and Islamist groups.

While those revelations triggered media reports about the US National Security Agency being behind the espionage, Kaspersky has stopped short of ever saying Equation Group was the handiwork of the NSA.

Another connection is the similarity between Equation Group’s interdiction and that of the NSA, as evidenced in documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

According to Gooding, the Equation Group, regardless of what agency it is operating under, is “hands down the world's most advanced hacking operation ever to come to light.”

[TsarSamuil]

To change the situation for the better we must make Russia stronger – Putin to FSB.

RT.com
March 26, 2015 14:13

President Putin has told senior officers of Russia’s domestic security service that despite the constantly increasing foreign pressure, the situation in the country will improve – once it stops giving in to its foes and starts becoming more powerful.

“No one has ever succeeded in intimidating or pressuring our country and no one ever will – we have always had and always will have an adequate answer for all internal and external threats to national security,” Vladimir Putin said in an address to the FSB collegium on Thursday.

“The situation cannot always remain as it is, it is going to change and I hope it will change for the better, including the situation around our country,” the Russian leader said. “But the changes for the better will not happen if we constantly yield, give in or use baby talk, it will only improve if we become stronger,” he emphasized.

“NATO is developing its rapid response forces and is boosting its infrastructure near our borders, we are registering attempts to violate nuclear parity and the creation of the European and Asia-Pacific segments of the missile defense systems is being sped up,” Putin said.

Apart from the military standoff with NATO, Russia had to oppose the attempts to undermine its political system, the Russian leader noted. “They are using a whole range of means for the so-called containment of Russia – from attempts at political isolation and economic pressure to a full-scale information war and tools used by special services.”

The Russian president demanded that the FSB apply maximum effort to prevent the destabilization of the country.

“Western special services do not give up their attempts to use non-government groups and politicized unions to discredit Russian authorities and destabilize the internal situation in Russia. They are already planning actions for the period of the forthcoming elections in 2016 and 2018,” Putin said. In 2016 Russia will hold the federal parliamentary election, and the next presidential poll is scheduled for 2018.

The president stated that the authorities intended to maintain their dialogue with the opposition and Russian civil society in general, as well-founded criticism and partnership have proved to be useful for any nation, including Russia.

“But it makes no sense to argue with those who work on orders from outside, who serve the interests of not their nation but an alien nation or nations,” he said.

Putin pledged to continue the recently introduced practice of disclosing the foreign funding of political groups and NGOs, to check if the declared objectives of such groups match their real activities and to cut short any attempts at violations.

The president’s statements are in line with the conclusions of Russia’s top consultative body on national security, the Security Council, that said Wednesday that the 2015 US National Security Strategy was openly anti-Russian and could have multiple negative consequences on relations between Moscow and Washington. The document, published in early February, was based on the principles of American Exceptionalism and the alleged right of unilateral enforcement of US interests in various parts of the world, the Russian security experts claimed in their conclusion.

[TsarSamuil]

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Government Surveillance (HBO)

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Apr 5, 2015



There are very few government checks on what America’s sweeping surveillance programs are capable of doing. John Oliver sits down with Edward Snowden to discuss the NSA, the balance between privacy and security, and dick-pics.

[TsarSamuil]

RT premieres ‘Terminal F’ Snowden documentary in Russia.

RT.com
April 13, 2015 14:33

Two award-winning journalists have shed light on the story of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s journey to Hong Kong and Moscow, when his revelations on US government surveillance shook the world, in a new documentary presented in Moscow by RT.

The documentary, made by German investigative journalist John Goetz and Danish documentary filmmaker Poul-Erik Heilbuth, tells Snowden’s story from the moment he left the US for Hong Kong to his arrival to Terminal F at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport in 2013.

Snowden tells the story himself, along with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Sarah Harrison of WikiLeaks Legal Defense, who helped Snowden to escape from Hong Kong.

One of the authors, John Goetz, told RT that he was interested in looking precisely at the period of what happened to Edward Snowden in Hong Kong and during his journey to Moscow.

“We learnt a lot about how the world works, how world politics work. For us it was very important to kind of remember what happened here – that’s why we did the documentary,” Goetz said.

The secrecy that surrounds Snowden resembles spy movies and has been depicted in the documentary.

“The question mark that hung over us more than anything else was the fact that we had no idea who the person was we were about to meet. How would we know that we were not talking to some agent or somebody else? So, the quite ingenious method that he [Snowden] invented was to hold this Rubik’s cube and that was the first thing I looked for,” said Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept journalist who worked with Snowden on the NSA documents trove.

With all the mystery surrounding Snowden, there were a lot of challenges while filming.

It was not only difficult to organize an interview with Snowden himself, so much needed for the film to get his first-hand experience of the developments.

“It was very difficult to get a coalition of broadcasters together to do it. It was an issue that people in Washington just don’t want to talk about,” recalls Goetz, and when the former NSA director Michael Hayden agreed to speak on camera, it was a big break because the former official was directly involved in the whole issue.

Hayden said that his deepest emotion regarding the Snowden issue was the “arrogance of an individual, who looked upon the activity of the National Security Agency and believed that it was his legal and ethical judgment that trumped the judgment of his co-workers, his leadership, the American president, the American Congress, and the American court system in order to create a moral rightfulness that he claims. That’s pretty arrogant.”

Michael Hayden claims that he was defending the American constitution and American values. Yet Edward Snowden argues he was doing the exactly the same thing.

“This is actually a very interesting conflict between Hayden and Snowden around the issue who is actually right on the question what needs to be defended,” Goetz said.

Snowden is from a family with long military tradition. His father Lon served in the Coast Guard. At the time when Edward Snowden was facing the choice of his life, his father believed that his son’s troubled state was due to some kind of problems between him and his long-standing partner, Lindsay Mills.

“He seemed almost depressed and I was very concerned about him. It was not the Ed that I knew,” said Lon Snowden.

Altogether, the documentary’s crew tried to get comments from “dozens and dozens” of American politicians on Snowden, but it seems like the issue remains taboo in Washington.

The story told by Edward Snowden created a “healthy skepticism” among the public about what the US National Security Agency is doing with its surveillance programs, both in the United States and around the world, Goetz said.

At first Snowden’s seemingly excessive precautions surprised the people meeting him.

“At the time I thought, ‘He is paranoid.’ When he wanted to access his laptops, he would pull big red hood over his head and over his computer so that nobody sees him putting in his passwords,” recalls Guardian journalist Ewen MacAskill.

“It’s only logical when you have the whole US government going after you that you need to take security precautions,” Goetz said.

Snowden was granted temporary asylum in Russia in 2013 after spending a month in the Terminal F of the Sheremetyevo international airport. Having received a three-year residence permit in 2014, he continues to live in Russia.

Snowden has become the subject of three films now. Earlier this year documentary Citizenfour, directed by Laura Poitras, won the Academy Award for best documentary feature.

Director Oliver Stone is also preparing to present his Snowden movie, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Christmas Day this year.

RT is presenting its “Terminal F / Chasing Edward Snowden” documentary on Monday April 13 in Moscow. A day later the movie will be aired on RTD, RT’s documentary channel.

[TsarSamuil]

Freedom Act will make snooping worse – Ron Paul.

RT.com
June 03, 2015 22:27

Passing the Freedom Act did not reform government snooping, so much as it made it legitimate, according to three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul. He asserts that Democrats and Republicans alike seek to reduce liberty for a promise of security.

“One thing in Washington, when they have the ‘reform’ of something, you cannot trust them, because reform usually means they’re making things a lot worse,” Ron Paul told Larry King on Politicking, Tuesday evening. “I think the reform act is a very, very dangerous thing. It’s not a slight improvement, as some people argue.”

A Pennsylvania-born physician, Paul served in the House of Representatives for over 20 years before retiring in 2013. He ran for president three times: in 1988 as a Libertarian, and in 2008 and 2012 as a Republican. His son Rand was elected Senator from Kentucky in 2010.

Joined by a handful of Senators and House members, Rand Paul led the push to block the extension of controversial Patriot Act provisions, and delayed the adoption of the USA Freedom Act, which re-authorizes NSA surveillance on Americans under slightly different conditions.

The Freedom Act, adopted by the Senate on Tuesday and quickly signed by President Obama, actually makes the situation worse, Paul argued. A federal court ruled that Section 215 of the Patriot Act did not authorize bulk data collection, whereas the Freedom Act contains provisions to actually give the government that authority.

“That’s why a lot of people are voting for the reform act,” Paul said. “But actually it’s making things worse. Because the first thing is, it’s making government a partner with Big Business, so Verizon and AT&T are doing the government’s work. I don’t like that, I don’t like the mixture.”

Paul explained that his son called for fighting terrorism while honoring the Constitution and staying true to American values.

“Why do we give up our liberties? We go to war, we send our kids over there, we fight wars that are undeclared, that make no sense whatsoever,” Paul said. “Why would we do to ourselves what we’re claiming they might do to us?”

King brought up that in 1937, Nazi Germany abolished warrants, with Hitler saying that innocent people had nothing to hide. Many Germans found this position appealing.

“It appeals to a lot of Americans right now,” said Paul. “I hear it all the time. It’s scary.”

Asked whether his son Rand’s stand on the Patriot Act might hurt his standing within the Republican Party, the former congressman said his son was standing up for his principles.

“The problem is that too many people wimp out and say ‘Well, you know, we have to be safe, we have to give up our liberties and we don’t have anything to hide,’ and they give more and more authority, let the government go into business with Big Business, and let the financial situation just get worse,” Paul said. “If that’s what they believe, to go along with them would be in my mind criminal.”

While Republican hawks are at the forefront of attacks on Rand, Ron Paul argued that the problem was not partisan but institutional. There are just as many hawks among the Democrats, he said, pointing out that President Obama “says a lot of good things about backing off from war,” yet the US is still involved in the civil war in Yemen and “very much involved, unnecessarily” in Ukraine.

“We’ve only had two kinds of foreign policy,” argued Paul. “If other countries do exactly as we say, we give them billions and billions of dollars. If they don’t do exactly as we tell them, we turn on them and we kill them.”

True exceptionalism would mean leading by example, he said. If the US practiced civil liberties and had a good economy, maybe people around the world would decide it was something worth following and emulating.

“What we need to do in this country is make sure the majority of the American people really want their freedoms back again,” Paul said. “We have to have people once again believe in liberty, foreign policy that defends America, but is not the policeman of the world. We don’t have the right nor the facilities to throw our weight around and tell the rest of the world how to live.”



------------

The NSA’s new look: Congress hands bulk data collection over to corporations.

IN THE NOW
Jun 3, 2015



A split second without surveillance!!! For the first time in more than a decade Americans didn't have their communications tapped by the government. Don't get too excited it only lasted a day. Tuesday, Congress passed a bill that replaced, and slightly reformed the expired Patriot act. Previously the NSA could access people's phone calls, emails and financial records without a warrant. And that bulk data could be stored for five years. However under the new 'Freedom Act' the agency will now need a court order to access that data, and it will be stored not on government servers but by private telecom companies. Robin Koerner editor of watchingamerica.com is In the Now.