With the astonishing number of ways the NSA can spy on Americans, one must consider the ways this trove of information could be used in the wrong hands (as if there are “right” hands). A former intelligence officer for the National Security Agency has gone on record saying that the NSA spies on persons of interest specifically for political reasons — seemingly nothing to do with national security. These persons include congressmen, senators, important committeemen, judges, and even the man who was four years from becoming President of the United States.
“Its incredible what NSA has done,” said Russell Tice, who spent 20 years as an analyst in U.S. government intelligence agencies. “They basically have turned themselves in my opinion in to a rogue agency that has J. Edgar Hoover capabilities on a monstrous scale on steroids.”[amazon asin=B00GSZI24M&template=*lrc ad (right)]
Former FBI head J. Edgar Hoover was known for spying on politicians in order to obtain dirt on them that could be later used to leverage them politically. When Tice was asked about the potential for massive blackmail, he responded that it “absolutely” exists.
Tice once described his duties in the government as “black world operations” that included sophisticated dragnet spying on Americans in order to stop terrorism — or so he once believed. A few years after 9/11/2001 he became aware of the widespread abuses of the NSA and attempted to voice his concerns. In 2003, his clearance was quickly revoked and his career was ended.
The following dialogue was featured on the Boiling Frogs radio podcast with Sibel Edmonds and Peter Collins. Listen here.
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