Security Expert Lt. Colonel Tony Shaffer NSA Program PRISM Did Not Foil 2009 NY City Subway Plot, We Were Aided by the British

As Jack Webb, Sgt. Joe Friday of Dragnet fame would say, “Just the facts ma’am” …

Before anyone decides that giving away their freedoms and liberties and shredding the U.S. Constitution is ok and having the NSA surveillance record all of our telephone conversations, emails, etc. forever is necessary to protect them against terrorism, think again. This morning on FOX News, Security Expert Lt. Colonel Tony Shaffer, from the Center for Advanced Defense Studies, stated that PRISM did not catch the 2009 New York Subway bombers, the British did. Defenders of the government’s online spying program, “PRISM” claimed on Friday that it was responsible for preventing the NY City subway bombing. Correction, it did not.

“Let me say very clearly. The 2009 thing is a MacGuffin. They did not use this program to get the 2009 bombing stopped. It was actually the British who helped us do that.
And, more importantly they missed the Major Hassan Nidal attack. He was in touch with Anwar al-Awlaki. And, we missed the Boston bombing, too. The credibility of the program is not there.” [...]
Because there s so much documentation being obtained, we can’t actually focus on what is necessary to get to the real terrorists.”

From Buzz Feed comes the following … Public Documents Contradict Claim Email Spying Foiled Terror Plot.

Defenders of the American government’s online spying program known as “PRISM” claimed Friday that the suddenly controversial secret effort had saved New York City’s subways from a 2009 terrorist plot led by a young Afghan-American, Najibullah Zazi.

But British and American legal documents from 2010 and 2011 contradict that claim, which appears to be the latest in a long line of attempts to defend secret programs by making, at best, misleading claims that they were central to stopping terror plots. While the court documents don’t exclude the possibility that PRISM was somehow employed in the Zazi case, the documents show that old-fashioned police work, not data mining, was the tool that led counterterrorism agents to arrest Zazi. The public documents confirm doubts raised by the blogger Marcy Wheeler and the AP’s Adam Goldman, and call into question a defense of PRISM first floated by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, who suggested that PRISM had stopped a key terror plot.

Sorry, but its bad enough that the NSA spying appears to be governmental over-reach, the Obama administration has ZERO CREDIBLITY to oversee such a program. We’re supposed to believe than an IRS targeting scheme against Obama’s enemies could not also happen with NSA data gathered?

NSA Spying Whistleblower Reaveals Himself in The Guardian … His Name is Edward Snowden

The whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance of American citizens telephone records reveals himself.

As reported at The Guardian, the individual behind the NSA spying leak is 29 year old Edward Snowden. The secrets he released can be prosecuted. Edward Snowden is a former technical assistant for the CIA who also worked at the NSA for the last four years as an employee of outside contractors including Booz Allen and Dell.  Obama has said no one is listening into the private phone calls of American citizens, its just data mining. Like that isn’t bad enough? Of course it was Obama who also said that the IRS was not targeting conservatives and the Tea Party for political purposes.  Barack Obama says that his administration has started criminal investigations into the NSA leaks. Snowden stated in his interview with the Guardian, “I can’t in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, Internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building.”

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: “I don’t want to live in a society that does these sort of things”

“I could be rendered … You can’t come forward against the world’s most intelligence agency and be completely free from risk because
there’s so much powerful adversaries that no one can easily oppose. If they want to get you, they’ll get you in time.”

click on pic for VIDEO of Edward Snowden discussing why he blew the whistle on the NSA

The individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden has been working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.

The Guardian, after several days of interviews, is revealing his identity at his request. From the moment he decided to disclose numerous top-secret documents to the public, he was determined not to opt for the protection of anonymity. “I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong,” he said.

Snowden will go down in history as one of America’s most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning. He is responsible for handing over material from one of the world’s most secretive organisations – the NSA.

In a note accompanying the first set of documents he provided, he wrote: “I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions,” but “I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.”

Snowden has certainly put himself out there. Snowden had said that he had a comfortable life, and all that has changed. Will he be prosecuted? It would appear that the Obama administration is going to go after Snowden.

In the interview, Snowden described a comfortable lifestyle and a stellar career that included a $200,000 salary from consulting company and defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, of McLean, Va., and a home in Hawaii that he shared with a girlfriend. The paper said Snowden is now staying in a hotel in Hong Kong.

UPDATE I: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: ‘I do not expect to see home again’.

Q: But isn’t there a need for surveillance to try to reduce the chances of terrorist attacks such as Boston?

A: “We have to decide why terrorism is a new threat. There has always been terrorism. Boston was a criminal act. It was not about surveillance but good, old-fashioned police work. The police are very good at what they do.”

Q: When did you decide to leak the documents?

A: “You see things that may be disturbing. When you see everything you realize that some of these things are abusive. The awareness of wrong-doing builds up. There was not one morning when I woke up [and decided this is it]. It was a natural process.

“A lot of people in 2008 voted for Obama. I did not vote for him. I voted for a third party. But I believed in Obama’s promises. I was going to disclose it [but waited because of his election]. He continued with the policies of his predecessor.”

Q: Do you think what you have done is a crime?

A: “We have seen enough criminality on the part of government. It is hypocritical to make this allegation against me. They have narrowed the public sphere of influence.”

Q: What do you think is going to happen to you?

A: “Nothing good.”

UPDATE II: Booz Allen Statement on Reports of Leaked Information.

Booz Allen can confirm that Edward Snowden, 29, has been an employee of our firm for less than 3 months, assigned to a team in Hawaii. News reports that this individual has claimed to have leaked classified information are shocking, and if accurate, this action represents a grave violation of the code of conduct and core values of our firm. We will work closely with our clients and authorities in their investigation of this matter.

Iraq Authorities Uncovers al-Qaeda ‘Poisin Gas Cell’ to use ‘Chemical Weapons’ in Europe and North America

Iraqi authorities announced they uncovered an al-Qaeda poison gas plant.  Five suspects have been detained over the construction of two facilities in the capital to produce sarin and mustard gas, using instructions from another al Qaeda group. The arrests follow a joint operation between Iraqi and foreign intelligence services. Remote controlled toy planes were also seized at the workshops which were to be used to disburse the chemical poison gases. The terror group was plotting gas attacks on Western Europe and America.

From the BBC:

The authorities in Iraq say they have uncovered an al-Qaeda plot to use chemical weapons, as well as to smuggle them to Europe and North America.

Defence ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said five men had been arrested after military intelligence monitored their activities for three months.

Three workshops for manufacturing the chemical agents, including sarin and mustard gas, were uncovered, he added.

Remote-controlled toy planes were also seized at the workshops.

Mr Askari said they were to have been used to release the chemical agents over the target from a “safe” distance of 1.5km (1 mile), reports the BBC’s Rami Ruhayem in Baghdad.

All of the arrested men had confessed to the plot and said they had received instruction from another al-Qaeda offshoot, he added.

As the Gateway Pundit opines, So much for that “Al-Qaeda is defeated” nonsense.  Wasn’t it just last week that President Obama called the war on terror effectively over? How could a President and so-called Commander in Chief be so misguided?

Where Was Obama During Benghazi Attack? Top Obama Official Dan Pfeiffer Says, “I Don’t Remember What Room Obama Was In. It’s a Largely Irrelevant Fact”

WHERE WAS BARACK OBAMA DURING THE BENGHAZI ATTACK WHERE 4 AMERICANS DIED? WHAT HAPPENED TO TRANSPARANCY?

Did you catch this mornings FOX News Sunday interview of Obama top aid Dan Pfeiffer and Chris Wallace? If you did, you heard Pfeiffer trip over himself and get very defensive when Wallace asked the question as to where President Obama was during the attack.  Pfeffer said that the president was kept up to date as to the situation in Benghazi. Wallace countered with, “what did he do that night” and ”where was he?”. Was he in the Situation Room?  As stated at the Weekly Standard, Dan Pfeiffer responded, ”I don’t remember what room Obama was in. It’s a largely irrelevant fact.” HUH? Pfeiffer just admitted that Obama was not in the Situation Room, otherwise he would have said he was there.

Pfeiffer just showed how thin-skinned, defensive, and evasive the Obama administration is. Instead of answering the question with a simple answer as to where Obama was, Pfeiffer has to come up with excuses and blame Republicans for conspiracy theories.  Wallace says, here is the point, the Ambassador goes missing, the first one in 30 years in killed. Four Americans, including the Ambassador are killed. Dozens of Americans are in jeopardy. The president at 4 pm says to the Chairman of the Joint Forces deploy forces, yet no forces are deployed. Where is he when all this was going on?  Pfeifer then did his best to master the five d’s of dodgeball: dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge!

Pfeiffer says, “The suggestion of your question that some how the president allowed this to happen”. Well, if the disengaged president fits, WEAR IT! It’s obvious the Obama administration does not want to provide the truth. The idea that Obama was sleeping while Americans died would not go over well with “We the People”.

Why cant Barack Obama or any of his minions answer the simple question, What did Obama know and when did he know it? The Obama administration is trying to make light of the Benghazi attacks, which is shameful in its own right. Legal Insurrection reminds of Obama’s own words, there appears to be a lot of “THERE, THERE“.  What a way to deflect and try and make the Benghazi story go away, pretend like the death of four Americans, including the death of a US Ambassador is no big deal.  From the PJ Tatler, “Hillary Clinton wondered what difference it made whether we got to the truth of what happened in Benghazi. Now we have White House aide Dan Pfieffer saying it was “irrelevant” where the president was during the attack.” If it’s so irrelevant and its makes no difference, why can’t Obama and his minions just answer the question then? Maybe because as Joe Biden has said in the past, “Its a big F’n deal”.

Boston Marathon Bombings Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Left Note in Boat he Was Captured By Police … Bombing Were Retribution for U.S. Military Action in Afghanistan & Iraq

Hey Baarack Obama … Can we make assumptions now that Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were radical Islamic, Muslim terrorist?

CBS News is reporting that Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev left a note in the boat where he was captured by police in Watertown, MA that the bombings were in retribution for United States military action in Afghanistan and Iraq. Dzhokhar also went on to say that the Boston Marathon victim were collateral damage.  Dzhokhar Tsarnaev also wrote that his older brother was a martyr and in paradise and that if you attack one Muslim, you attack all Muslims.  This should put an end to those still wondering why the Tsarnaev brothers did what they did. Even the “smitten teens” who think he was innocent because he was cute may even have to rethink their stupidity. These notes will come back to haunt Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as there is no way, Miranda rights or no Miranda right provided to their terrorists, that this evidence will not be immiscible at trial.

Sources tell Miller that Tsarnaev wrote the note in the boat he was hiding in as police pursued him, and as he bled from gunshot wounds sustained in an earlier shootout between police and his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

The note, scrawled with a pen on the interior wall of the cabin, said the bombings were retribution for U.S. military action in Afghanistan and Iraq, and called the Boston victims collateral damage in the same way Muslims have been in the American-led wars. “When you attack one Muslim, you attack all Muslims,” the note added.

Dzhokar said he didn’t mourn older brother Tamerlan, the other suspect in the bombings, writing that by that point, Tamerlan was a martyr in paradise — and that he expected to join him there.

Analysis from correspondent John Miller.

According to Miller, the note will be a significant piece of evidence in any Dzhokar trial — it is “certainly admissible,” and paints a clear picture of the brothers’ motive, “consistent with what he told investigators while he was in custody,” Miller said Thursday on “CBS This Morning.”

Miller explained that while Dzhokar admitted many of the same details to authorities, those admissions came “during the time he was interrogated but before he was given his Miranda warning.” The note gives prosecutors supporting, clearly admissible evidence even if there is an fight over whether things he said before he was given his Miranda rights are admissible as evidence.

I bet  Dzhokhar Tsarnaev wishes he had written those words in the boat in invisible, erasable ink now.