Snowden tells Chinese that we are hacking them.

[flacaltenn]

Inside the NSA's Ultra-Secret Hacking Group

From Matthew M. Aid, Foreign Policy: According to a number of confidential sources, a highly secretive unit of the National Security Agency (NSA), the U.S. government's huge electronic eavesdropping organization, called the Office of Tailored Access Operations, or TAO, has successfully penetrated Chinese computer and telecommunications systems for almost 15 years, generating some of the best and most reliable intelligence information about what is going on inside the People's Republic of China.

Hidden away inside the massive NSA headquarters complex at Fort Meade, Maryland, in a large suite of offices segregated from the rest of the agency, TAO is a mystery to many NSA employees. Relatively few NSA officials have complete access to information about TAO because of the extraordinary sensitivity of its operations, and it requires a special security clearance to gain access to the unit's work spaces inside the NSA operations complex. The door leading to its ultramodern operations center is protected by armed guards, an imposing steel door that can only be entered by entering the correct six-digit code into a keypad, and a retinal scanner to ensure that only those individuals specially cleared for access get through the door.

According to former NSA officials interviewed for this article, TAO's mission is simple. It collects intelligence information on foreign targets by surreptitiously hacking into their computers and telecommunications systems, cracking passwords, compromising the computer security systems protecting the targeted computer, stealing the data stored on computer hard drives, and then copying all the messages and data traffic passing within the targeted email and text-messaging systems. The technical term of art used by NSA to describe these operations is computer network exploitation (CNE).

TAO is also responsible for developing the information that would allow the United States to destroy or damage foreign computer and telecommunications systems with a cyberattack if so directed by the president. The organization responsible for conducting such a cyberattack is U.S. Cyber Command (Cybercom), whose headquarters is located at Fort Meade and whose chief is the director of the NSA, Gen. Keith Alexander.

More: Inside the NSA's Ultra-Secret Hacking Group | Atlantic Council

U.S. NSA Unit 'TAO' Hacking China For Years - Business Insider

China Hacked US Military Weapons Systems - Business Insider

Confidential report lists U.S. weapons system designs compromised by Chinese cyberspies - The Washington Post

You truly are dense as uranium... You argue that Snowden released DAMAGING info on the US cyber hacking effort at NSA and then you HIGHLIGHT in this post, the fact that

According to a number of confidential sources, a highly secretive unit of the National Security Agency (NSA), the U.S. government's huge electronic eavesdropping organization, called the Office of Tailored Access Operations, or TAO, has successfully penetrated Chinese computer and telecommunications systems for almost 15 years, generating some of the best and most reliable intelligence information about what is going on inside the People's Republic of China.

Hidden away inside the massive NSA headquarters complex at Fort Meade, Maryland, in a large suite of offices segregated from the rest of the agency, TAO is a mystery to many NSA employees. Relatively few NSA officials have complete access to information about TAO because of the extraordinary sensitivity of its operations, and it requires a special security clearance to gain access to the unit's work spaces inside the NSA operations complex. The door leading to its ultramodern operations center is protected by armed guards, an imposing steel door that can only be entered by entering the correct six-digit code into a keypad, and a retinal scanner to ensure that only those individuals specially cleared for access get through the door.

Do you know how ridiculous you look defeating your own argument??? Do you always beat yourself up like that?? You don't have a leg to stand accusing Snowden of REVEALING anything about spying on China that's not already in your OWN PUBLIC links...

Thanks Bullwinkle for doing the opposition research for me...

 

[flacaltenn]

Snowden just gets better and better.

I am glad he's a hero to conservatives.

Well, the media is trying to make the story about Mr Snowden, rather than the violation of the 4th Amendment perpetrated by the Obama administration that is the real story.

Mr Sallow, yer avatar looks a lot like a wolf but your behavior is more like a sheep. Kerry on.

Doctor..heal thyself.

The 4 amendment argument was so 7 years ago.

You know, when Republicans rammed the Patriot Act through the congress?

Wow -- that shit shouldn't stick anymore.. 98 to 1 in the Senate. Feingold the only dissenter. Similiar landslide in the House with equal handfuls of heroes opposing it.. Who doesn't know that?? Let's make a list...

And your previous snarky comment about "being a hero to Conservatives?" Fox news has been SKEWERING this guy for 24 hours with everyone from the LYING Dir Nat Intel to the weasel detective selling roast beef on TV...

 

[kwc57]

The left must be desperate to change the subject. It's clear that the "intelligence community" is hemorrhaging information but that is par for the course since the CIA turned on president Bush. Manning and Major Nadal might be left wing heroes but who said Snowden a "conservative hero"? Republican congressman King wants him arrested.

Not changing the subject at all. I thought the Patriot Act was a piece of shit from the start. it was something you conservatives rammed down through congress on to the nation. But it's the law.

You don't get to break the law..because you don't like who is using it.

Seriously?

Senate Vote Roll Call on U.S. Patriot Act 2001 & 2006

Of 100 senators, 1 did not vote and 1 voted against. That makes 98 for.

Of 398 votes in the house, 357 were for, 66 against and 9 didn't vote.

Looks like the liberals did a little ramming too.

 

[flacaltenn]

Well? Where are all the civil libertarians on this? The ones that hailed this guy as a "hero"?

He's trying to get asylum in either Russia or China..

Gotta love it.

I'm here.. You've ignored ANYTHING factual or "civil libertarian" about this dust-up..

And we don't know JACK about where he wants or intends to go.. Those offers are cynical propaganda ploys to take a POKE IN THE EYE at the US leaders that allowed this to blow-up.. Putin is ROFLING in the Kremlin at the moment at the ineptness and deviousness of what is being covered up...

THAT'S REAL damage to National Security. When other world leaders are LAUGHING at Obama getting caught with his pants down...

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

Snowden just gets better and better.

I am glad he's a hero to conservatives.

He is no hero to me. In fact up until this I was withholding judgment.

Having read this I now consider his acts treasonous.

 

[Sallow]

The left must be desperate to change the subject. It's clear that the "intelligence community" is hemorrhaging information but that is par for the course since the CIA turned on president Bush. Manning and Major Nadal might be left wing heroes but who said Snowden a "conservative hero"? Republican congressman King wants him arrested.

Not changing the subject at all. I thought the Patriot Act was a piece of shit from the start. it was something you conservatives rammed down through congress on to the nation. But it's the law.

You don't get to break the law..because you don't like who is using it.

Seriously?

Senate Vote Roll Call on U.S. Patriot Act 2001 & 2006

Of 100 senators, 1 did not vote and 1 voted against. That makes 98 for.

Of 398 votes in the house, 357 were for, 66 against and 9 didn't vote.

Looks like the liberals did a little ramming too.

Yes..that's all that happened.

The Patriot Act came out of the clear blue sky.

One day..peeps in the Congress were sittin around saying..hey guys..watta you want to do today?

And they shouted back..why not pass a bill that circumvents FISA? Lets even go further then that..by gumption..what the heck..it's a slow day.

Right?

Or was there something else involved...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-23kmhc3P8U]With Us or Against Us - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Sallow]

The left must be desperate to change the subject. It's clear that the "intelligence community" is hemorrhaging information but that is par for the course since the CIA turned on president Bush. Manning and Major Nadal might be left wing heroes but who said Snowden a "conservative hero"? Republican congressman King wants him arrested.

Not changing the subject at all. I thought the Patriot Act was a piece of shit from the start. it was something you conservatives rammed down through congress on to the nation. But it's the law.

You don't get to break the law..because you don't like who is using it.

The Patriot Act could have been flushed. Why did Obama and the Democrats extend it again and again? Why did the democrats vote for it? If your party is so bent on removing the Patriot Act why do they keep using it to spy on us? Why are they using it to murder US Citizens?

Well I guess ol "radical far left wing" Obama isn't as radical or far left as you folks have made him out to be.

Eh?

 

[flacaltenn]

Let's discuss this. Although I am very uncomfortable with the NSA spying on regular American folks (if indeed it is spying), there is something basically wrong with Mr. Snowden and in a greater sense, Bradley Manning.

Mr. Snowden took an oath. Bradley Manning took an oath. It is apparent that to either one, the oath that they took means nothing. To me, that is of much greater concern. Someone who violates their oath is pond scum of the lowest order.

There does come a time when your oath does not cover activities that are completely against the constitution, however, I am not completely convinced that this is one of those times. I am convinced that Bradley Manning's activities were not one of those times, Al Queda and Osama Bin Ladin used the data that Manning 'leaded'. Mai Lai was a perfect instance of the activities outweighing any oath or 'sense of duty.'

Mr. Snowden has provided information to The Guardian, moved to Hong Kong, and has now given information to a newspaper there. The first thing to come to mind is: Why Hong Kong, when their ties to the Chinese are so obvious? Could it be that Mr. Snowden was providing information to the Chinese government and was afraid he would get caught? I don't know the answer to that, but it does beg careful consideration as to his 'motives.'

If the NSA is warehousing only numbers called, time of call and numbers that made the call, and storing that information for a definitive period of time, then my basic concerns are minimized. If they are paying closer attention to calls from foreign numbers (suspected terrorists or numbers from 'hot spots' such as Yemen) to persons inside the USA, then I am even more supportive of the program. But I have questions, especially concerning any email interceptions, if there were any.

What I do know is my absolute disgust (although expected) of some of the other threads on this forum. For example, Seawytch says that of course, the NSA's current abuse of the Patriot Act is Republicans fault. It's Republicans fault because they (liberals) told us that the Patriot Act would be abused. It makes no matter that for eight years it was not, but since they came into power it is and they told us they would abuse it. So it is our fault. The logic of that arguement just defies explination and can be colored "STUPID."

Another point is that this 'scandal' is simply another example of gross mismanagement. But what can you expect from a community organizer?

THere is simply no comparison of the damage that was done by Manning to make life dangerous for assets, military, and politicians. It was done with MALICE and I believe an inability to comprehend or filter the seriousness of the content.

I'd like you to show me all the relevent secrets that Snowden has revealed to China.

As for why he went there -- it's actually brilliant.. Snowden KNOWS that HKong is one place with relevent safety for him and that HIS VALUE TO THE CHINESE is not what he knows, but as a PR trophy for the CHinese in the "human rights" debate. He is a valuable acquistion just by being there. Pumping him or Snowden singing would RUIN all that..

Sorry if the logic above escapes anyone.. But the guy thought thru his options and decided they were slim.. There is NO REAL whistle-blower protection in the Intel community. There's a separate bill that allows operatives to go to Internal Security or a Congress person briefed into the program. NO ONE on the INtel committees is sensitive to HIS or YOUR concerns about violations of the law or the Constitution...

That and Obama's 1st reaction was NOT to JUSTIFY these revelations to us. HE doesn't have the conviction or heart to violate his own conscience. His 1st action was to order the leakers NEUTRALIZED.. If you doubt that Snowden's name is now on the drone KILL LIST, you are not paying attention to the problems...

Wanna talk about traitors?? Obama is out fund-raising this week....

 

[Sallow]

Great guy!

Edward Snowden Claims NSA Documents Show U.S. Hacks China: Report

Alleged NSA leaker Edward Snowden claimed today to have evidence that the U.S. government has been hacking into Chinese computer networks since at least 2009 – an effort he said is part of the tens of thousands of hacking operations American cyber spies have launched around the world, according to a Hong Kong newspaper.

The newspaper, the South China Morning Post, reported it had conducted a lengthy interview with the 29-year-old former NSA contractor, who is hiding out in Hong Kong after revealing himself to be the source of a series of headline-grabbing stories about the National Security Agency's secret, vast surveillance programs. After their unveiling, those programs were acknowledged and defended by top Obama administration officials.

What a dumbfuck.

You and Lahkota are selectively dumb about this... I post what''s in the public domain about US Cyber Security Group at NSA INCLUDING PICTURES AND FACES of the spies and their military assets.. Then Lahkota is dumb enough to simultaneously whine about "giving secret info to China AND post 5 media articles about How And Where and When America has been spying on China..

Then YOU come back 0-0 IGNORE all that, print the obviously NOT secret thing that Snowden acknowledges US spying on China and call him a traitor... Who are you parroting and why? Because rational folks would look at the public domain facts and just shrug..

Or are you supposing that he's cooperating with China because that's what you'd like to believe?

Can't ask Lahkota.. It's beyond him... But YOU could quote EXACTLY the traitorist comments from Snowden and I will fiind you OLD media articles saying essentially the same thing.. Matter of Fact --- Lahkota did that work for me....

What?

You can do a history on my posts and find I've been fairly consistent on this..

When Manning did what he did..I was in agreement with many of the conservatives that post here.

What Manning did was a crime and a violation of his oath. He completely dishonored himself and betrayed his country.

Snowden did the same thing..and with a few exceptions..many here seem to be lauding what he did.

Bottom line? I don't give a fuck who the president is..when you have a position that involves this country's security..and you've sworn and oath the perform your duties by keeping secrets..

Then you'd better keep them.

 

[flacaltenn]

Great guy!



What a dumbfuck.

You and Lahkota are selectively dumb about this... I post what''s in the public domain about US Cyber Security Group at NSA INCLUDING PICTURES AND FACES of the spies and their military assets.. Then Lahkota is dumb enough to simultaneously whine about "giving secret info to China AND post 5 media articles about How And Where and When America has been spying on China..

Then YOU come back 0-0 IGNORE all that, print the obviously NOT secret thing that Snowden acknowledges US spying on China and call him a traitor... Who are you parroting and why? Because rational folks would look at the public domain facts and just shrug..

Or are you supposing that he's cooperating with China because that's what you'd like to believe?

Can't ask Lahkota.. It's beyond him... But YOU could quote EXACTLY the traitorist comments from Snowden and I will fiind you OLD media articles saying essentially the same thing.. Matter of Fact --- Lahkota did that work for me....

What?

You can do a history on my posts and find I've been fairly consistent on this..

When Manning did what he did..I was in agreement with many of the conservatives that post here.

What Manning did was a crime and a violation of his oath. He completely dishonored himself and betrayed his country.

Snowden did the same thing..and with a few exceptions..many here seem to be lauding what he did.

Bottom line? I don't give a fuck who the president is..when you have a position that involves this country's security..and you've sworn and oath the perform your duties by keeping secrets..

Then you'd better keep them.

You're leaping to conclusions not in evidence. Both I and Lahkota posted TONS of info on exactly how the NSA is spying on China. Complete with PICTURES of the control room, the fact that the locks on the doors are a six-digit code and they use Retinal scanners.. We have their ORG CHART in the public domain..

So answer my question.. In LIGHT of all the PUBLIC knowledge about our spying, what did Snowden tell anyone about China?

 

[RKMBrown]

Not changing the subject at all. I thought the Patriot Act was a piece of shit from the start. it was something you conservatives rammed down through congress on to the nation. But it's the law.

You don't get to break the law..because you don't like who is using it.

The Patriot Act could have been flushed. Why did Obama and the Democrats extend it again and again? Why did the democrats vote for it? If your party is so bent on removing the Patriot Act why do they keep using it to spy on us? Why are they using it to murder US Citizens?

Well I guess ol "radical far left wing" Obama isn't as radical or far left as you folks have made him out to be.

Eh?

What makes you think the socialists on the left are bereft of support for authoritarian policies? Left does not mean liberty.

 

[kwc57]

Not changing the subject at all. I thought the Patriot Act was a piece of shit from the start. it was something you conservatives rammed down through congress on to the nation. But it's the law.

You don't get to break the law..because you don't like who is using it.

Seriously?

Senate Vote Roll Call on U.S. Patriot Act 2001 & 2006

Of 100 senators, 1 did not vote and 1 voted against. That makes 98 for.

Of 398 votes in the house, 357 were for, 66 against and 9 didn't vote.

Looks like the liberals did a little ramming too.

Yes..that's all that happened.

The Patriot Act came out of the clear blue sky.

One day..peeps in the Congress were sittin around saying..hey guys..watta you want to do today?

And they shouted back..why not pass a bill that circumvents FISA? Lets even go further then that..by gumption..what the heck..it's a slow day.

Right?

Or was there something else involved...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-23kmhc3P8U]With Us or Against Us - YouTube[/ame]

Sooooooooooo the Democrats are such pussies that they wet their pants and gave into peer pressure against their better judgement? And you support them?

 

[flacaltenn]

The Patriot Act could have been flushed. Why did Obama and the Democrats extend it again and again? Why did the democrats vote for it? If your party is so bent on removing the Patriot Act why do they keep using it to spy on us? Why are they using it to murder US Citizens?

Well I guess ol "radical far left wing" Obama isn't as radical or far left as you folks have made him out to be.

Eh?

What makes you think the socialists on the left are bereft of support for authoritarian policies? Left does not mean liberty.

And Chicago style knee-cappers like Obama HATE national security machinery and govt surveillance until THEY get the keys to it.. There is no TRUE LIBERAL content in BHObama. But there are TRUE LIBERALS.. And they have my respect...

I'm crushed to learn that folks on the Board that I THOUGHT I could trust with my liberty and freedoms, are not at all consistent, principled and trustworthy... Really pains me to see how easy it is to manipulate opinion and frame a phoney issue in this country. We are RIPE for tyranny...

 

[RKMBrown]

Well I guess ol "radical far left wing" Obama isn't as radical or far left as you folks have made him out to be.

Eh?

What makes you think the socialists on the left are bereft of support for authoritarian policies? Left does not mean liberty.

And Chicago style knee-cappers like Obama HATE national security machinery and govt surveillance until THEY get the keys to it.. There is no TRUE LIBERAL content in BHObama. But there are TRUE LIBERALS.. And they have my respect...

I'm crushed to learn that folks on the Board that I THOUGHT I could trust with my liberty and freedoms, are not at all consistent, principled and trustworthy... Really pains me to see how easy it is to manipulate opinion and frame a phoney issue in this country. We are RIPE for tyranny...

Authoritarians are running the left and right wings of this two headed beast. Anyone caught arguing for liberty is immediately labeled as a nut case.

 

[flacaltenn]

What makes you think the socialists on the left are bereft of support for authoritarian policies? Left does not mean liberty.

And Chicago style knee-cappers like Obama HATE national security machinery and govt surveillance until THEY get the keys to it.. There is no TRUE LIBERAL content in BHObama. But there are TRUE LIBERALS.. And they have my respect...

I'm crushed to learn that folks on the Board that I THOUGHT I could trust with my liberty and freedoms, are not at all consistent, principled and trustworthy... Really pains me to see how easy it is to manipulate opinion and frame a phoney issue in this country. We are RIPE for tyranny...

Authoritarians are running the left and right wings of this two headed beast. Anyone caught arguing for liberty is immediately labeled as a nut case.

The "wings" never get to power.. They run on PRINCIPLES.. Like the whacko stereotypes of Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich.. These guys agree on a lot more than the indistinguable middles of their parties.. BOTH were against the Patriot Act and the definition of our recent wars.. The wings are assaulted and marginalized by their own parties.. Time for the "wings" to have some political shelter in NEW parties..

 

[kaz]

The Patriot Act could have been flushed. Why did Obama and the Democrats extend it again and again? Why did the democrats vote for it? If your party is so bent on removing the Patriot Act why do they keep using it to spy on us? Why are they using it to murder US Citizens?

Well I guess ol "radical far left wing" Obama isn't as radical or far left as you folks have made him out to be.

Eh?

A totalitarian President continued a policy that expands his authoritarian power and you use that as proof he's not "far left?"

Liberal logic, you can't make it up.

 

[Unkotare]

Well I guess ol "radical far left wing" Obama isn't as radical or far left as you folks have made him out to be.

Eh?

What makes you say that, Swallow? The radical far left is as likely to spy and murder as anyone. What all this demonstrates is that Obama couldn't be trusted with the responsibility that came with legislation passed in the wake of 9/11 (and reauthorized over and over again by both parties) intended to keep the nation safe. That's the problem with granting government power, and why citizen vigilance is so essential. We gotta keep an eye on the government, as the recent pile-up of corruption and crises proves. That it all got to this point also shows the danger inherent in having the media in an executive's back pocket.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Snowden just gets better and better.

I am glad he's a hero to conservatives.

Well, the media is trying to make the story about Mr Snowden, rather than the violation of the 4th Amendment perpetrated by the Obama administration that is the real story.

Mr Sallow, yer avatar looks a lot like a wolf but your behavior is more like a sheep. Kerry on.

Doctor..heal thyself.

The 4 amendment argument was so 7 years ago.

You know, when Republicans rammed the Patriot Act through the congress?

You're lying again! The Patriot act was a thoroughly bipartisan bit of treason.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Well? Where are all the civil libertarians on this? The ones that hailed this guy as a "hero"?

He's trying to get asylum in either Russia or China..

Gotta love it.

Do you have a point, aside from the one on your head? Thought not.

 

[Jarlaxle]

^ Here's one "patriot". Any more? Good on you to advocate for the Chinese.



This is how real American patriots handle this sort of shit.

Rangel Responds to Chavez - YouTube

Didn't matter who the President was to Rangel.

You fuck with one of us..you fuck with us all.

You miss the point. Obama is not one of us, and neither are you it seems. You are like one of the folks that supported the King of England during the Revolutionary War. You and your King Obama are traitors to those who desire freedom in this country. Yes, you and your ilk are the Enemy.

We live in a Representative Democracy.

No, we live in a constitutional republic!

Got it?

Or is the Constitution not known to you.

Yeah, I "got it", though you clearly don't.

And in that Constitution it allows for a MAJORITY of AMERICANS to elect a President.

I will give you one hundred trillion dollars if you can show me exactly where in the Constitution that is said.