Government

NSA Chief Denies Spying on Communications of American Citizens

NSA Chief Says Agency Doesnt Have Capability to Spy on Communications in the U.S. Without a Warrant

General Keith Alexander

Last week, we reported some details on the National Security Agency’s new data center being built in Utah and some insider perspective on the agency’s alleged domestic spying capabilities. Now, Wired reports, NSA chief General Keith Alexander is denying the agency’s ability to spy on American citizens, refuting content in Wired’s original article on the data center and related stories published in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and USA Today.

Wired reports that Alexander spoke in testimony before the House Armed Services subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities on Tuesday where he stated that the NSA did not have the capability to monitor the communications of citizens in the United States without a warrant. Wired has more:

Congressman Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat, asked Alexander whether the NSA could, at the direction of Dick Cheney, identify people who sent e-mails making fun of his inability to hunt in order to waterboard them.

Alexander said “No,” adding that the “NSA does not have the ability to do that in the United States.” Elaborating, Alexander added: “We don’t have the technical insights in the United States. In other words, you have to have [...] some way of doing that either by going to a service provider with a warrant or you have to be collecting in that area. We’re not authorized to do that, nor do we have the equipment in the United States to collect that kind of information.”

[...]

[He said] the NSA did not have the capability to monitor, inside the United States, Americans’ text messages, phone calls and e-mails. He added that if the NSA were to target an American, the FBI would take the lead and fill out the paperwork. (That’s an odd statement, since the process for targeting an American by the intelligence services is for the NSA to fill out the paperwork, submit it to the Justice Department and then send it to a secret court, according to statements by former Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell.)

Watch Alexander’s exchange in the subcommittee hearing:

Alexander was asked about Wired’s piece and he clarifies stating that if the question being asked is “Are we gathering all information in the United States? No, that is not correct.” Johnson calls up several accusations made in Wired’s piece, including if the NSA routinely intercepts American’s emails, to which Alexander answered “No.”

Wired‘s Threat Level remains skeptical of Alexander’s statement saying “heads of the intelligence service have a long tradition of misspeaking or telling untruths that advance their agenda.” It cites George W. Bush saying there was no warrantless wiretapping after 9/11 on citizens, which was later shown to be untrue.

On his blog the Garnet Spy, Charlie Speight, who worked for the Department of Defense for 35 years, writes that James Bamford — author of the original piece published in Wired with details of NSA’s alleged domestic spying capability from ex-employees — may have an agenda of his own to serve:

James Bamford has created a cottage industry of taking a few corroborated facts about NSA, mixing it with statements by an exceptionally few former agency employees and turning out a plot that fits snugly around his own agenda.

I can’t speak to the motivations of those few employees Bamford quotes, though I know some of the things attributed to them are not cut of whole cloth.  Bamford’s motive is hardly complicated; money.  The truth is that, unlike Hollywood portrayals and the uninformed fiction of novelists (and James Bamford) cryptologic work is boring for those not involved in it.  NSA has no black helicopters or Matrix-like agents stalking the citizenry and making people disappear.  There’s no subversive hacking into home computers looking for a 12-year old math prodigy.

Speight writes that it is “absurd” to think NSA is monitoring your calls or activity on Facebook. He asks why the agency would spend its time collecting and listening/reading about “people sharing recipes, crying about being dumped, getting directions to the doctor’s office, complaining about teachers (or bosses or neighbors or family members or the preacher or the coach…), giving opinions about movies or books or restaurants.” Speight thinks the purpose for the massive data center being built in Bluffdale, Utah, is simple — and it‘s mentioned in Bamford’s own piece:

It needs that capacity because, according to a recent report by Cisco, global Internet traffic will quadruple from 2010 to 2015, reaching 966 exabytes per year. (A million exabytes equal a yottabyte.) In terms of scale, Eric Schmidt, Google’s former CEO, once estimated that the total of all human knowledge created from the dawn of man to 2003 totaled 5 exabytes. And the data flow shows no sign of slowing. In 2011 more than 2 billion of the world’s 6.9 billion people were connected to the Internet. By 2015, market research firm IDC estimates, there will be 2.7 billion users. Thus, the NSA’s need for a 1-million-square-foot data storehouse.

Speight doesn’t deny that the agency has the job of “finding adversary communications in a gigantic volume of traffic.” Speight, who accused the Blaze and others of “[proliferating] the hysteria about ‘Big Brother’ as it pertains to NSA” by publishing information about the potential for domestic spying, states that there are more serious threats to privacy in everyday cybersecurity issues.

Comments (95)

1 2 3
  • waspanglosaxon
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 6:19pm

    We’ve got crime, murder, rioting and other assorted mayhem in the streets, but ZOG is spying on US citizens to check if someone might have said “the N-word” or something against Israel in their emails. ZOG=NUTS.

    Report Post » waspanglosaxon  
    • techengineer11
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 7:24pm

      Amen! So true. Bottom line ZOG!

      Report Post » techengineer11  
    • Itsjusttim
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 10:34pm

      Yeah but they won’t be doing it no more because Elias is bring the water.

      Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • Itsjusttim
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 10:35pm

      Putting out the flames of Satan.

      Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • Ruler4You
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 10:45pm

      Well, if the NSA isn’t intercepting and recording Americans communications I can tell you FOR SURE that there “IS” one agency that “IS” and has been for decades. I’m sorry, I can’t be any more specific than that. I signed an agreement not to talk about specifics. All I can say “IS” it “IS” being done.

      Report Post » Ruler4You  
    • BmanIII
      Posted on March 22, 2012 at 10:10am

      @Ruler4you.
      Would that be “Echelon” that came about in Clinton’s years?

      Report Post »  
  • progressiveslayer
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 6:10pm

    The war on ‘drugs’ war on ‘terror’ and war on ‘poverty’ are window dressing to the only war we need concern ourselves with and that is the war on the constitution.I don‘t care how many Generals and politicians they line up and tell us they aren’t ‘spying’ on U.S citizens it’s all BS,I don‘t trust the government and I’m not a member of any ‘militia’ but I know history and all government is corrupt to the core.

    Report Post » progressiveslayer  
    • riseandshine
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 6:46pm

      I can’t wait for the 30,000 drones that will be flying over us by the end of the decade, allegedly.

      Report Post » riseandshine  
    • EndTheFedNOW
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 8:09pm

      allegedly? lol dude its already here. I heard about that report. 30,000 drones over the US. But its already going on. They are everywhere. We are spied on 24/7

      Report Post » EndTheFedNOW  
    • RonmeyPaulBotsrOdd
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 9:18pm

      The Chinese are already doing it all…I trust the gov’t about as far as I can urinate. Lets see – CIA was hacked, I was briefed around 2000 that the Chinese had classrooms of hackers hitting our systems all day and night and I am supposed to believe the the consortium of Google, Facebook and others are not already tracking? I believe that when there are no GPS tracking of cell phones, cars and IP addresses.

      Report Post »  
    • smithclar3nc3
      Posted on March 22, 2012 at 8:44am

      They watch you you type through the internet,what you buy through credit card,where you go through GPS,How much energy you use through digital meters,who you know through online social networks…..and they do it with immunity from prosecution via legislation like the NDAA,PATRIOT ACT,AND OTHER UNCONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS PASSED BY CONGRESS AND UNCHALLENGED BY THE SUPREME COURT.
      The Congressman have broken their oath,Presidents have broken their oath and the Supreme Court refuses to do their job. The system of checks and balances is broke. We are faced with the same issues the founders had life under tyranny,and taxation without representation. The problem is there are so manyt targets each blaming the other. The reality is they are ALL RESPONSIBLE .
      To quote Jack ”This town needs an enema” D.C. BEING THAT TOWN

      Report Post »  
    • amdoktor
      Posted on March 22, 2012 at 9:14am

      It is our fault, we’ve become complacent and lazy. The biggest concerns of the majority of Americans is the new episode of their reality show, verses the real reality that is threatening our Nation. The Main Stream media is a fail, agenda driven and keeps most Americans in the dark. Government begets more Government. What aspect of our lives aren’t they controlling or attempting to control?
      In a nutshell, the Government lies, Lies to cover lies. Until this Nation as a hole wakes up, gets involved, actually reads the bills these officials pass, support, defend, then hold them accountable, we will continue to sink into a abyss of dictatorship or totalitarian regime.
      Democrats vs Republicans are one big happy party the “New Progressive Party”. They chastise the other side, blame the other party, to keep the ruse alive, to keep us of guard, to get us involved in the blame game. When the dust clears, they ALL vote for these freedom stripping bills.
      The clock is ticking, with not much time left. Agree with me or not, maybe I’m on the right track or
      maybe I’m delusional, but from were I sit, only one candidate might pull us back from the brink. Dr. Ron Paul is my choice. My heart, research, and critical thinking tells me it is time.
      God bless

      Report Post » amdoktor  
  • COFemale
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 6:02pm

    Of course they can retrieve your email. Don’t be idiots. Anything that traverses the air waves or is sent in packets is retrievable. Now they may target a specific group or person, like us, but they can retrieve it without you knowing it and without a warrant. The only way you can stop them is go off the grid; No internet, no phone, nothing electronic in you home, nothing programmable.

    Report Post » COFemale  
    • MAMMY_NUNN
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 6:45pm

      Of course they are spying just try peerblock.
      http://www.peerblock.com/

      Report Post »  
    • NancyBee
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 7:26pm

      I believe this was staged…..

      Report Post » NancyBee  
    • flyingrobots
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 7:54pm

      The problem is that ALL traffic would have to go through the Utah facility. There is no way that is going to happen. There would have to be a NSA “listening post” scattered though out the entire country. That is how networks work. Packets don’t go “everywhere” when they are sent, they take the shortest route possible.

      Think about it, if they do their data analysis in real-time, and they were to grab every packet, these monster supercomputers would have to be all over the place or you would have to build a network with as much capacity as the current commercial networks owned by all the different providers in order to move that data to where the super computers are.

      The scale of the operation necessary to listen to everything is beyond comprehension. You don’t realize just how much data is being slammed everywhere, and to think that they would set things up so that it would go through one pipe in the middle of the Utah desert is not realistic.

      Report Post »  
    • MAMMY_NUNN
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 8:42pm

      @ flyingrobots
      Easy to do look at Facebook that is world wide and is there present customer if you trace back suspicious connections they trace back to facebook with fraudulent ID’s.

      Report Post »  
    • MAMMY_NUNN
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 8:45pm

      This also goes with SOPA and PIPA your local ISP is now monitoring at the Governments request.

      Report Post »  
    • therealconservative
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 10:34pm

      @FLYING

      Your dead on. The amount of data that would be collected would drown the NSA.

      Report Post » therealconservative  
    • old construction worker
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 10:37pm

      Flyingrobots-
      Or they could buy emails from a third party connected to google. Example: NSA “I would like to buy any emails from the central Ohio area that contain the words tea party”.

      Report Post »  
    • therealconservative
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 11:00pm

      @BRYAN

      FYI, I work in the Intel field, have for some time now.

      Report Post » therealconservative  
  • COFemale
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 6:00pm

    I had to have a cashier override my purchase of DayQuil by typing in my birthdate. That is the last time I comply. I will NO LONGER COMPLY.

    Report Post » COFemale  
    • Tigress1
      Posted on March 22, 2012 at 12:04pm

      Target scanned my drivers license for NyQuil. You need an ID for NyQuil but not to vote!

      Report Post » Tigress1  
  • Itsjusttim
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 5:23pm

    You see, you numbered the children of Joseph, and in return Joseph numbered you.

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/03/21/geithner_asked_what_would_be_very_last_debt_ceiling_request_says_a_lot_would_make_you_feel_uncomfortable.html

    Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • Itsjusttim
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 5:30pm

      And I know that you folks think that digital money can replace gold or even paper money, but the radio age was a fad, the TV was a fad, computers are a fad, Facebook a fad, and digital money is going to be a fad.

      Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • Baddoggy
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 5:47pm

      Timmy..you are such a looney toon…Please tell us what mental hospital you reside in so we can send flowers…

      Report Post » Baddoggy  
  • Reaganite71
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 5:11pm

    “Speight writes that it is “absurd” to think NSA is monitoring your calls or activity on Facebook.”

    Of course it’s obsurd. Big Sis at Homeland Security is in charge and has bid that out.

    http://youtu.be/6mFVa1YTtFU

    Report Post » Reaganite71  
  • Exrepublisheep
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 5:06pm

    Congress doesn’t WANT an honest answer on this one. They created the Department of Homeland Security with this one inention in mind. It‘s a shame the Republicans can’t just be honest about it.

    Report Post » Exrepublisheep  
    • momsense
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 5:50pm

      What a dimwit–read about Why the Homeland Security Department was founded–if you can use it to spy on people, then I’m certain Obozo is already using it.

      Report Post »  
    • Apple Bite
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 6:55pm

      Might be an ex republican, but you’re still a sheep. One being led to slaughter…

      Report Post » Apple Bite  
    • amdoktor
      Posted on March 22, 2012 at 9:43am

      Obama, is the second one. The great disappointment George W. Bush was the first. When will Americans get it, its all one party. Get of the mantra of us vs them politically. Look a the candidates the GOP is offering, I mean forcing on us. Do you really think there would be changes in the agenda?
      Maybe Ron Paul and that’s it. The other three are pure Progressives, not constitutionalists.

      Report Post » amdoktor  
  • rich43068
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:55pm

    He wasn’t asked if they planned to spy on us in the near future. He spoke of today not after the data warehouse is built.

    Report Post »  
    • TexasHunter
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 5:22pm

      BARRY already declared Martial Law. So now he has the authority to pretty much control all of us as a dictator.. He has to be impeached!! READ THIS NSA. Represent your country for your country!!

      Report Post » TexasHunter  
  • semihardrock
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:52pm

    If they can legally grab “my junk” in the airport, they can legally read your emails under “Homeland Security” laws, c’mon guys!

    Its all for “National Security”…. lol….as the Communists would say not too many years ago in Russia!

    Report Post » semihardrock  
  • MK75Gunner
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:52pm

    Hank Johnson is an embarrassment. Why frame the question in the hypothetical manner that he did, i.e. Dick Cheney torturing people after he finds out they’re making fun of him in email..it’s just stupid. But what do you expect from a man who was concerned that the island of Guam might tip over if too many people were on it.

    Report Post » MK75Gunner  
  • ContinentalArmy
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:50pm

    Of Course They are Spying, I found out when Google wouldn’t allow me to sign in until I gave them my Cell phone # ! Goodbye Google, haven’t returned to Google since. Facebook recently turned Govt. as well! Spying? Really? Our Current Admin.? Another is Microsoft! This NSA Idiot is lying, if he doesn’t Obama will replace him!

    Report Post »  
    • Dinkiecb
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 5:19pm

      When ever I’m asked for a phone number I give em the number to a time and temp number. If they can convince the ‘recording’ to get me on the phone…I might talk to em lol

      Report Post »  
  • Wurlitzer28
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:47pm

    Just tried to post regarding Carnivore and how it can and does scan traffic for key words and how this lying POS should be in jail for lying to congress but like many posts on the blaze it disappeared.

    Maybe Carnivore ate it.

    Report Post »  
  • hidden_lion
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:47pm

    I am raising the Bull Sheet flag on this one. Talk about straight up lie.

    Report Post » hidden_lion  
  • Wurlitzer28
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:45pm

    Well he should be arrested for lying to congress. Can you say Carnivore?

    The Carnivore program can and does scan traffic on the web for key words so without a doubt this SOB is lying to congress.

    I don’t care if the arrest warrant comes from the left or right but this POS should be in jail.

    NSA, DHS just 3 character cover ups for our own KGB.

    Report Post »  
  • spirited
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:41pm

    The agency has the job of:
    “finding adversary communications in a gigantic volume of traffic.” ~Speight

    >And HOW does the agency do that –exactly ?

    Report Post » spirited  
  • Itsjusttim
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:40pm

    Here’s a thought: when hyper-inflation and a very great depression comes to America, and many Americans are starving in the streets without jobs, that’s probably going to affect the families of the spies working at the NSA. How demoralizing. Kind of the same demoralizing feeling people get when they know the government is watching them.

    Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • Itsjusttim
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:43pm

      Life’s a circle: how long did you think it would be until it came back to bite you?

      Report Post » Itsjusttim  
  • Tickdog
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:38pm

    feel free to listen to my phone conversations.. you might actually get a kick out of them.

    Report Post » Tickdog  
  • cja23
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:36pm

    Where are the politicians in Washington, standing up for our freedom and (privacy, which is a delusion now.)

    Report Post »  
    • straightstreet1
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 5:04pm

      Ron Paul and Rand Paul seem to be the only ones trying to preserve our privacy and liberty.

      Report Post »  
  • jwmarietta
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:33pm

    exactly, its not spying if you define it as scanning or investigating.

    Report Post »  
  • tmplarnite
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:31pm

    Why does “NSA”, reek of nazism and feel like a nazi organization?????? Because it is and is run by nazi b_tch Napolitano!

    Report Post »  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:30pm

    Looking at his words it can be:

    (Most likely: they already are doing so and will continue to deny doing that.

    (Probable: they are not doing so ‘in the states’ as someone else (CIA, FBI, Homeland Security) already are doing so for Obama and cronies.

    Either way we are on the edge of a complete Police State under the control of Obama.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • OniKaze
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:43pm

      I agree with your statement…

      But let me also purpose a theory..
      “NSA does not have the ability to do that in the United States.”

      Which to me says, we have that ability, we could use it, but we currently are not… Now give us a reason to, and we WILL….

      Or

      You are 100% right..

      But we know the tech. DOES exist to do this, and that the American Gov’t DOES have it… The only real question is whether they are using it on the U.S. citizens or not..

      If they didn’t have the items required to do it, he would have said that, but if you read what he said, he kinda dances around that question…

      Report Post » OniKaze  
    • rickroland
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 6:31pm

      The NSA doesn’t have to do this, they get such information fed to them as a result of Echelon.

      Report Post »  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 10:10pm

      @Onikaze: good theory.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • BOMUSTGO
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:29pm

    Orwell was right!

    Report Post » BOMUSTGO  
  • abbygirl1994
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:27pm

    Give t SOB a lie detector tes.. we’ll see if he is lying. Believe nothing out of this administration!

    Report Post » abbygirl1994  
    • riseandshine
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 7:03pm

      ..or the last administration…or the one before that, or the one before that…

      Report Post » riseandshine  
  • Itsjusttim
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:25pm

    You people are so full of crap I can smell your stink from here. You have been spying on Americans ever since the day they all got Social Security numbers. It’s not rocket science.

    Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • Itsjusttim
      Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:32pm

      That’s why the Lord is trashing the Hell out of the U.S.

      Report Post » Itsjusttim  
  • lukerw
    Posted on March 21, 2012 at 4:22pm

    As Clinton would say… it all depends upon… what “Spy” MEANS!

    Report Post » lukerw  
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