pakatan HarApan: 01/10/14

Friday, 10 January 2014

OBAMA dijangka membendung MENGINTIP pemimpin asing, MENGEHADKAN AKSES kepada REKOD telefon NSA . . .

US President Barack Obama (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm – think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)

SitiWanMahani - White House adalah di tengah-tengah keadaan tergesagesa ‘hosting’ mesyuarat dengan pegawai-pegawai perisikan, libertarian sivil dan pakar-pakar teknologi sebagai pentad-biran bersedia untuk mengumumkan perubahan kepada beberapa program pengawasan didedahkan oleh Edward Snowden.

Mengikut berita, Presiden Amerika Syarikat Barack Obama tidak lama lagi boleh meminta Agensi Keselamatan Negara untuk berhenti menyimpan berjuta-juta telefon rekod (tele-phone records) rakyat Amerika dan juga skala belakang usaha mengintip yang mensa-sarkan pemimpin asing (foreign leaders).

Presiden Obama menghabiskan Rabu bercakap muka-ke-muka dengan pemain utama perisikan masyarakat Amerika Syarikat, termasuk Pengarah Perisikan Nasional James anak loceng dan Pengarah Agensi Keselamatan Negara Keith Alexander, dan pada hari Khamis beliau dijangka untuk menjadi tuan rumah mesyuarat tertutup antara White pembantu rumah dan ahli-ahli utama Kongres. Sebagai RT melaporkan sebelum ini (previously), kedua-dua kerusi Senat dan jawatankuasa perisikan House dijangka menghadiri perlum-baan itu, dan jemputan telah diperluaskan kepada penggubal undang-undang lain yang telah menyatakan kepentingan dalam pembaharuan NSA tetapi beberapa yang lain.

Presiden dilaporkan dekat dengan mengumumkan apa perubahan dia akan meminta dibuat dengan operasi NSA yang telah berkhidmat sebagai duri tepi pentadbirannya sejak Snowden, kontraktor perisikan bekas, mula bocor dokumen rahsia (leaking classified documents) kepada media Jun lalu memperincikan program mereka.

“Mesyuarat ini adalah satu peluang bagi presiden untuk mendengar daripada pihak berke-pentingan utama seperti yang kita di akhir kajian kami,” kata jurucakap Majlis Kese-lamatan Negara Caitlin Hayden memberitahu akhbar Guardian minggu ini.

Satu kumpulan tinjauan bebas dipilih sendiri oleh presiden pada Ogos mengeluarkan satu laporan bulan lepas yang mengandungi 46 cadangan (recommendations) untuk pem-baharuan NSA, dan pada hari Khamis Associated Press melaporkan bahawa Encik Obama dijangka mengesahkan dua daripada cadangan - terutamanya pasangan yang melibatkan koleksi pukal metadata telefon dan mengintip pemimpin asing.

AP melaporkan bahawa presiden dijangka membuat keputusannya seawal minggu depan, dan kedai-kedai lain sebelum ini telah melaporkan bahawa dia akan mendedahkan mereka cadangan sebelum Negeri Alamat Kesatuan pada 28 Januari.

Sementara itu, pegawai-pegawai White House dijangka bertemu Khamis dengan tokoh-tokoh dari kumpulan kritikal operasi NSA, termasuk Kesatuan Kebebasan Sivil Amerika, Yayasan Frontier Elektronik, Institut Teknologi Terbuka dan Institut Cato. Pres. Obama dijangka tidak akan menghadiri acara itu.

Pres. Obama dijangka tidak akan menunggu kumpulan kajian lain untuk menyerahkan analisis bebas mereka sendiri program-program NSA, sama ada. Ahli-ahli Privasi 'congressionally' - sekatan dan Kebebasan Awam Lembaga Pengawasan bertemu dengan presiden pada hari Rabu dan berkata dalam satu kenyataan selepas itu bahawa presiden fokus di sepanjang perbualan pada program metadata dan mahkamah rahsia yang menyetujuinya. Tetapi manakala kumpulan yang ada di tengah-tengah mengarang lapo-ran mereka sendiri mengenai program NSA, dilepaskan telah ditangguhkan sehingga sekurang-kurangnya akhir bulan Januari, menurut AP, dan presiden dijangka mengu-mumkan keputusannya sebelum itu.

“Dia masih dalam proses perbincangan lebih laporan kumpulan kajian semula itu dan mendengar daripada orang lain mengenai isu-isu yang dibangkitkan dalam laporan kum-pulan kajian semula itu,” kata Setiausaha Akhbar White House Jay Carney kepada pem-berita semasa taklimat pada Rabu minggu ini.

Obama expected to curb spying on foreign leaders, limit NSA access to phone records . . .

The White House is in the midst of hosting a flurry of meetings with intelligence officials, civil libertarians and technology experts as the administration prepares to announce changes to some of the surveillance programs exposed by Edward Snowden.

According to preliminary reports, United States President Barack Obama could soon ask the National Security Agency to stop storing the telephone records of millions of Americans and also scale back the spying endeavors that target foreign leaders.

President Obama spent Wednesday talking face-to-face with the United States’ intelligence community’s top players, including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander, and on Thursday he is expected to host a closed-door meeting between White House aides and key members of Congress. As RT reported previously, the chairs of both the Senate and House intelligence committees are expected to attend that outing, and invitations were extended to other lawmakers who have expressed interest in reforming the NSA but few others.

The president is reportedly close to announcing what changes he’ll ask be made to the NSA’s operations that have served as a thorn of the side of his administration since Snowden, a former intelligence contractor, began leaking classified documents to the media last June detailing those programs.

“These meetings are an opportunity for the president to hear from key stakeholders as we near the end of our review,” National Security Council spokesperson Caitlin Hayden told the Guardian newspaper this week.

An independent review group handpicked by the president in August released a report last month containing 46 recommendations for reforming the NSA, and on Thursday the Associated Press reported that Mr. Obama is expected to endorse two of those suggestions — particularly the pair involving the bulk collection of telephone metadata and spying on foreign leaders.

The AP reported that the president is expected to make his decision as early as next week, and other outlets have previously reported that he’ll reveal those proposals before the State of the Union Address on January 28.

In the interim, White House officials are expected to meet Thursday with figures from groups critical of the NSA’s operations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Open Technology Institute and the Cato Institute. Pres. Obama is not expected to attend that event.

Pres. Obama isn’t expected to wait for another review group to hand in their own independent analysis of those NSA programs, either. Members of the congressionally-sanctioned Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board met with the president on Wednesday and said in a statement afterward that the president focused throughout the conversation on the metadata program and the secret court which approves it. But whereas that group is in the midst of authoring their own report on the NSA programs, its release has been delayed until at least late January, according to the AP, and the president is expected to announce his decision before then.

"He is still in the process of deliberating over the review group's report and hearing from others on the issues that were raised in the review group's report," White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters during a briefing on Wednesday this week.

KERAJAAN Amerika Syarikat CUBA untuk MENYEKAT tuntutan MAHKAMAH terhadap NSA . . .

Reuters/Jason Reed (think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)

SitiWanMahani - Peguam dari Jabatan Kehakiman telah menggesa hakim untuk meng-hentikan tuntutan mahkamah terhadap program pengintip NSA itu. Ini datang selepas keputusan hakim sebelum ini bahawa koleksi NSA itu metadata adalah mungkin tidak mengikut perlembagaan dan “hampir ‘Orwellian” dalam alam semula jadi.

Pada hari Rabu, peguam kerajaan merayu kepada Mahkamah Daerah Amerika Syarikat Hakim Richard Leon untuk meletakkan prosiding mahkamah ditahan untuk 2 tindakan undang-undang terhadap NSA difailkan oleh aktivis undang-undang konservatif, Larry Klayman.

Klayman telah mencabar kesahihan program NSA yang mengumpul dan menyimpan metadata rakyat Amerika secara besar-besaran.

Peguam-peguam berhujah bahawa jika tindakan undang-undang dibenarkan untuk pergi lebih jauh, mereka akan membawa kepada pendedahan maklumat rahsia yang akan mewakili “risiko besar” kepada keselamatan negara.

“Plaintif telah menjelaskan niat mereka untuk mendapatkan penemuan ini jenis maklumat yang masih diklasifikasikan, mengenai sasaran dan mata pelajaran, pembekal, dan butir-butir operasi lain yang dicabar program perisikan NSA yang mengambil bahagian,” kata usul itu.

Dengan cara ini, peguam-peguam mahu tindakan undang-undang digantung sehingga Mahkamah Rayuan Amerika Syarikat untuk Daerah Columbia Litar mendengar rayuan Hakim Leon 16 - Disember yang memerintah bahawa perjumpaan tersebut NSA ini sejumlah besar metadata mungkin telah menentang perlembagaan. Amerika Syarikat Jabatan Pertahanan merayu pemerintah pada 3 Januari.

Dalam pendengaran bulan lalu, Hakim Leon memutuskan bahawa perhimpunan metadata berkemungkinan melanggar pindaan keempat, dalam kemunduran secara sah yang penting yang pertama untuk agensi keselamatan kerajaan. Leon berkata kerajaan Amerika Syarikat telah gagal untuk memetik satu contoh apabila analisis metadata telah meng-halang serangan pengganas yang berpotensi.

“Saya mempunyai keraguan yang serius tentang keberkesanan program koleksi metadata sebagai satu cara menjalankan siasatan yang sensitif dalam kes-kes yang melibatkan ancaman akan berlaku keganasan,” tulis Leon dalam ketetapan beliau. Beliau menambah bahawa plaintif dapat menunjukkan bahawa kepentingan privasi mereka “mengatasi” penuaian NSA itu data peribadi mereka.

“Teknologi hampir – ‘Orwellian’ yang membolehkan kerajaan untuk menyimpan dan menganalisis metadata telefon bagi setiap pengguna telefon di Amerika Syarikat adalah tidak seperti apa-apa yang mungkin telah diilhamkan pada tahun 1979,” tulis Leon, merujuk kepada keputusan mahkamah 1979 yang memerintah orang Amerika tidak mempunyai privasi Pindaan Keempat hak kepada nombor telefon mereka panggil.

Sejak bekas CIA kontraktor yang kini menjadi pemberi maklumat, Edward Snowden, mendedahkan data terperingkat pada telatah mengintip NSA tahun lepas, kerajaan Amerika telah dibenarkan program pengintipan sebagai sebagai demi kepentingan kesela-matan negara dan memerangi keganasan.

Berikutan keputusan Hakim Leon pada Disember, Hakim Daerah William Pauley di Manhattan memutuskan bahawa program pengintip NSA itu adalah undang-undang dalam tuntutan mahkamah yang berasingan yang dikemukakan oleh Kesatuan Kebebasan Sivil Amerika. Pauley menyifatkan program pengawasan sebagai “balas menumbuk” dengan keganasan dan berkata “alat ini tumpul hanya berfungsi kerana ia mengumpul segala-galanya.”

“Teknologi benarkan Al-Qaeda beroperasi berpusat dan merancang serangan pengganas antarabangsa dari jauh. Telefoni pukal program koleksi metadata mewakili balas menumbuk kerajaan,” Hakim Pauley membuat kesimpulan.

US govt attempts to block lawsuit against NSA

Lawyers from the Justice Department have urged a judge to halt a lawsuit against the NSA’s spy programs. This comes after the judge’s previous ruling that the NSA’s collection of metadata was likely unconstitutional and "almost Orwellian" in nature.

On Wednesday, government lawyers appealed to US District Court Judge Richard Leon to put court proceedings on hold for two lawsuits against the NSA filed by conservative legal activist, Larry Klayman.

Klayman has challenged the legality of the NSA’s programs that collect and store the metadata of American citizens on a massive scale.

The lawyers argued that if the lawsuits were allowed to go further, they would lead to the disclosure of classified information which would represent a “significant risk” to national security.

“Plaintiffs have made clear their intentions to seek discovery of this kind of still-classified information, concerning targets and subjects, participating providers, and other operational details of the challenged NSA intelligence programs,” said the motion.

In this way, the lawyers want the lawsuits suspended until the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit hears an appeal of Judge Leon’s December-16 ruling that the NSA’s gathering of massive amounts of metadata probably went against the constitution. The US Department of Defense appealed the ruling on January 3.

In last month’s hearing, Judge Leon ruled that the gathering of metadata was likely in breach of the fourth amendment, in the first significant legal setback for the government security agency. Leon noted that the US government has failed to cite a single example of when the analysis of metadata has prevented a potential terrorist attack.

“I have serious doubts about the efficacy of the metadata collection program as a means of conducting time-sensitive investigations in cases involving imminent threats of terrorism,” wrote Leon in his ruling. He added that the plaintiffs were able to show that their privacy interests “outweighed” the NSA’s harvesting of their personal data.

“The almost-Orwellian technology that enables the government to store and analyze the phone metadata of every telephone user in the United States is unlike anything that could have been conceived in 1979,” wrote Leon, referring to a 1979 court decision that ruled Americans do not have a Fourth Amendment privacy right to phone numbers they call.

Since former CIA contractor-turned whistleblower, Edward Snowden, revealed classified data on the NSA’s spying antics last year, the American government has justified its espionage programs as being in the interests of national security and the fight against terrorism.

Following Judge Leon’s ruling in December, District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan ruled that the NSA’s spy programs were legal in a separate lawsuit lodged by the American Civil Liberties Union. Pauley described the surveillance programs as the “counter-punch” to terrorism and said "this blunt tool only works because it collects everything."

“Technology allowed Al-Qaeda to operate decentralized and plot international terrorist attacks remotely. The bulk telephony metadata collection program represents the government's counter-punch,” Judge Pauley concluded.

Bekas pemberi maklumat NSA merayu untuk peluang untuk memberi taklimat kepada OBAMA pada penyalahgunaan AGENSI . . .

AFP Photo/Paul J.Richards (thinkINpictures @1WORLD Community)

SitiWanMahani - Sekumpulan bekas orang dalam Agensi Keselamatan Negara yang kemudian menjadi pemberi maklumat telah menulis surat kepada Presiden Barack Obama, meminta pertemuan dengan beliau untuk menawarkan “gambaran yang jelas” masalah sistemik agensi pengintip.

Kumpulan 4 pakar perisikan - William Binney, Thomas Drake, Edward Loomis dan Kirk Wiebe - yang bekerja di NSA untuk “sebanyak 144 tahun, kebanyakan mereka di peringkat kanan” tegas dalam surat itu keperluan untuk Obama untuk menangani apa mereka telah dilihat sebagai penyalahgunaan yang telah melanggar hak Pindaan yang Ke-4 Amerika ‘dan yang telah membuat yang betul, perisikan berkesan mengumpul lebih sukar.

“Apa yang kami memberitahu anda dalam Memorandum ini adalah semata-mata kecil daripada bilangan itu,” kumpulan itu, yang menggelarkan diri mereka Profesional Perisikan Veteran untuk Berakal (VIP), menulis. “Kami bersedia - jika anda - bagi per-bualan jujur. Bahawa koleksi besar NSA adalah lebih penghalang daripada membantu dalam mencegah serangan pengganas harus jelas kini walaupun tuntutan palsu dan ‘dissembling.”

Kumpulan itu mengkritik NSA bagi dasar-dasarnya yang luas pengumpulan data, yang mereka katakan yg menghalang agensi dari mengesan secara efektif plot keganasan sebenar terlebih dahulu, seperti pengeboman Boston Marathon pada bulan April 2013.

“NSA adalah lemas dalam data tidak berguna kekurangan peruntukan privasi yang mencukupi, ke titik di mana ia tidak boleh menjalankan pengawasan pengganas yang berkaitan dengan berkesan dan analisis,” mereka menulis. “Baru-baru ini didedahkan dalaman dokumen taklimat NSA menguatkan lemas, dengan kemasukan memalukan, di bureaucratese, bahawa koleksi NSA telah ‘mengatasi’ keupayaan NSA untuk menelan, proses, dan menyimpan data - Apatah lagi menganalisis pengambilalihan”.

Surat itu mencemuh pemimpin masyarakat perisikan dan bekas seperti Pengarah Perisikan Kebangsaan James anak loceng - untuk berbohong kepada Kongres - dan pengarah NSA semasa Keith Alexander dan bekas ketua Michael Hayden untuk sengaja mengganggu kecekapan dan kecergasan program pengawasan agensi.

“Sesungguhnya kamu Intuit sesuatu yang serong apabila Pengarah NSA Keith Alexander membuktikan kepada Kongres bahawa koleksi besar NSA telah ‘digagalkan’ 54 plot pengganas dan kemudian, di bawah mempersoalkan, terpaksa mengurangkan jumlah itu kepada satu, yang tidak boleh sendiri menahan penelitian dekat.

Dan pasti anda memahami mengapa bekas Pengarah NSA dan Pengarah CIA Michael Hayden protes terlalu banyak dan terlalu kerap di Fox News dan CNN, dan mengapa dia dan Jawatankuasa Perisikan Dewan Mike Rogers secara terbuka mencadangkan bahawa pemberi maklumat Edward Snowden diletakkan di Senarai Kill anda.”

“Adakah kesetiaan buta diguna pakai dalam White House anda ke titik di mana, 40 tahun selepas Watergate, tidak ada John tunggal Dekan untuk memberi amaran kepada anda tentang” kanser pada jawatan presiden ? “Ada tiada peguam anda mengingatkan anda bahawa” pengawasan elektronik rakyat swasta . . . subversif kerajaan berperlembagaan “adalah salah satu daripada tiga Artikel pemecatan terhadap Presiden Richard Nixon yang diluluskan oleh 28-10 undi kedua-dua parti daripada Jawatankuasa Rumah Kehakiman pada 27 Julai 1974 ?”

Surat VIP menunjukkan wawasan yang digabungkan dan kepakaran ini penganalisis perisikan dihormati - semua diejek dan beberapa didakwa selepas memanggil perhatian kepada penyalahgunaan NSA tahun sebelum orang telah mendengar bekas kontraktor NSA dan leaker Edward Snowden - boleh menjadi penting dalam menghadapi masyarakat penubuhan di Washington ingin perlindungan program pengawasan besar-besaran yang berkenaan.

“Memandangkan bulatan tertutup di sekeliling anda, kami membenarkan kemungkinan bahawa bau daripada herrings ini merah reput masih belum anda mencapainya - walaupun anda sendiri Review Group telah mendapatinya, sebagai contoh, bahawa koleksi besar NSA telah digagalkan tepat sifar plot pengganas, “mereka menulis, merujuk kepada panel Obama- dilantik yang telah ditugaskan untuk mengkaji prosedur NSA.”

“Realiti menyedihkan , Tuan Presiden, adalah bahawa NSA sendiri mempunyai maklumat yang cukup untuk mencegah 9/11, tetapi memilih untuk duduk di atasnya dan bukan berkongsi dengan FBI atau CIA. Kami ketahui dan kami berada di sana. Kami saksi kepada banyak penghinaan birokrasi yang dibuat NSA sekurang-kurangnya sebagai bersalah atas kegagalan pre-9/11 sebagaimana yang lain-lain agensi perisikan Amerika Syarikat.”

VIP melawat banyak maklumat yang telah dilaporkan, termasuk kes percubaan eksekutif kanan NSA Drake untuk meyakinkan ketua-ketua agensi yang satu program yang diban-gunkan oleh Binney seharusnya dilakukan pengumpulan maklumat risikan penting. THINTHREAD, dihasilkan untuk jumlah yang agak kecil wang tidak lama sebelum serangan 9/11, disusun maklumat tanpa melanggar Pindaan yang Ke-4 atau piawaian privasi NSA itu, yang VIP menulisnya.

Tetapi sebaliknya, maka pengarah - NSA Michael Hayden memilih program yang berbeza, STELLARWIND, yang dihasilkan oleh kontraktor pertahanan yang berbilion-bilion dolar kos manakala melanggar Pindaan Keempat dan hak privasi. Drake berbunyi penggera, meneruskan untuk menolak untuk THINTHREAD penggunaan walaupun selepas semua pemaju meninggalkan NSA pada Oktober 2011. Dalam menyokong mantap beliau untuk program yang dibuang, dia mendapat tahu berapa banyak risikan diambil tindakan NSA telah berkumpul secara sah yang boleh digagalkan serangan 9/11, katanya.

Apabila diminta untuk menyediakan laporan atas permintaan Kongres pengetahuan NSA itu daripada plot 9/11 dan perampas sebelum September 11, 2001, Drake berkata agensi membuat keputusan untuk Mogok mengambil apa-apa tanggungjawab.

“Selepas beberapa minggu [ketua SIGINT Maureen] Baginski menolak draf Penyata pasukan saya untuk laporan Rekod dan dibuang saya dari tugas,” Drake menulis. “Apabila saya bertanya mengapa, dia berkata terdapat ‘masalah integriti data’ (tidak lagi diterangkan) dengan Penyata draf saya untuk Rekod.

Saya telah datang kepada ayat-ayat tambahan yang merosakkan. Sebagai contoh, NSA mempunyai kandungan panggilan telefon antara AA-77 perampas Khalid al-Mihdhar di San Diego, CA, dan dikenali al-Qaeda rumah selamat suis yang di Yaman sebelum 9/11, dan tidak disebarkan bahawa maklumat di luar NSA.”

“Pendek kata, apabila berhadapan dengan prospek fessing atas, NSA memilih dan bukannya untuk menghalang 9/11 siasatan kongres, bermain dalam keadaan sihat, dan menyimpan kebenaran dikebumikan, termasuk fakta bahawa ia tahu tentang semua panggilan masuk dan keluar ke rumah papan suis selamat di Yaman.

Pemimpin kanan NSA itu membawa saya kira tugas kerana mereka sedar - lambat , atas sebab tertentu - Bahawa saya tidak akan mengambil bahagian dalam menutup kebenaran tentang berapa banyak NSA tahu tetapi tidak berkongsi”

Surat itu, dengan baris subjek “Input untuk Keputusan anda pada NSA,” ditetapkan masa bertepatan dengan perbincangan sedang terjadi dalam pentadbiran Obama untuk menghadapi disyorkan pembaharuan NSA dari panel.

Bulan lepas, kumpulan kajian 5 orang, yang terdiri daripada perisikan dan pentadbiran dalaman, dipasang oleh Obama dibentangkan White House dengan laporan mencadang-kan bahawa NSA mempertimbangkan puluhan cadangan bertujuan untuk reformasi beberapa operasi terdedah melalui kebocoran dibekalkan oleh Snowden.

Selepas laporan yang telah siap tetapi sebelum presiden pergi bercuti pada akhir Disember, Obama berkata beliau akan membuat “kenyataan cukup muktamad tentang semua ini pada bulan Januari.”

Presiden kini dijangka untuk menimbang dalam kepada cadangan orang-orang umum dalam Negeri tahunan alamat Union pada 28 Januari di Washington.

Obama dilaporkan akan mengadakan mesyuarat tertutup dengan pegawai-pegawai terpilih pada minggu ini sebelum ucapan awam untuk membincangkan secara peribadi masa depan operasi pengawasan kontroversi diperjuangkan oleh NSA.

Former NSA whistleblowers plead for Chance

to brief OBAMA on Agency Abuses . . .

A group of former National Security Agency insiders who went on to become whistle-blowers have written a letter to President Barack Obama, requesting a meeting with him to offer “a fuller picture” of the spy agency’s systemic problems.

The group of four intelligence specialists - William Binney, Thomas Drake, Edward Loomis and Kirk Wiebe - who worked at the NSA for “a total of 144 years, most of them at senior levels” stressed in the letter the need for Obama to address what they’ve seen as abuses that violated Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights and that have made proper, effective intelligence gathering more difficult.

“What we tell you in this Memorandum is merely the tip of the iceberg,” the group, calling themselves the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), wrote. “We are ready – if you are – for an honest conversation. That NSA’s bulk collection is more hindrance than help in preventing terrorist attacks should be clear by now despite the false claims and dissembling.”

The group criticized the NSA for its vast data collection policies, which they say bars the agency from effectively tracking actual terror plots in advance, such as the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013.

The “NSA is drowning in useless data lacking adequate privacy provisions, to the point where it cannot conduct effective terrorist-related surveillance and analysis,” they write. “A recently disclosed internal NSA briefing document corroborates the drowning, with the embarrassing admission, in bureaucratese, that NSA collection has been ‘outpacing’ NSA’s ability to ingest, process, and store data – let alone analyze the take.”

The letter ridicules current and former intelligence community leaders like Director of National Intelligence James Clapper - for lying to Congress - and current NSA director Keith Alexander and its former chief Michael Hayden for purposely distorting the efficiency and vitality of the agency’s surveillance programs.

“Surely you intuit that something is askew when NSA Director Keith Alexander testifies to Congress that NSA’s bulk collection has ‘thwarted’ 54 terrorist plots and later, under questioning, is forced to reduce that number to one, which cannot itself withstand close scrutiny. And surely you understand why former NSA Director and CIA Director Michael Hayden protests too much and too often on Fox News and CNN, and why he and House Intelligence Committee Mike Rogers publicly suggest that whistleblower Edward Snowden be put on your Kill List.”

“Does a blind loyalty prevail in your White House to the point where, 40 years after Watergate, there is not a single John Dean to warn you of a “cancer on the presidency?” Have none of your lawyers reminded you that “electronic surveillance of private citizens … subversive of constitutional government” was one of the three Articles of Impeachment against President Richard Nixon approved by a bipartisan 28 to 10 vote of the House Judiciary Committee on July 27, 1974?”

The VIPS letter indicates the combined insight and expertise of these respected intelligence analysts - all ridiculed and some prosecuted after calling attention to NSA abuses years before anyone had heard of former NSA contractor and leaker Edward Snowden - can be important in the face of an establishment community in Washington seeking to shelter the mass surveillance programs in question.

“Given the closed circle surrounding you, we are allowing for the possibility that the smell from these rotting red herrings has not yet reached you – even though your own Review Group has found, for example, that NSA’s bulk collection has thwarted exactly zero terrorist plots,” they write, referring to an Obama-appointed panel that was tasked with reviewing NSA procedures."

“The sadder reality, Mr. President, is that NSA itself had enough information to prevent 9/11, but chose to sit on it rather than share it with the FBI or CIA. We know; we were there. We were witness to the many bureaucratic indignities that made NSA at least as culpable for pre-9/11 failures as are other U.S. intelligence agencies.”

The VIPS revisit much of the information already reported, including the case of NSA senior executive Drake’s attempts to convince agency heads that a program developed by Binney should have been used for crucial intelligence gathering. THINTHREAD, produced for a relatively small amount of money shortly before the 9/11 attacks, sorted information without violating the Fourth Amendment or NSA’s privacy standards, the VIPS write.

But instead, then-NSA director Michael Hayden chose a different program, STELLARWIND, produced by defense contractors that cost billions of dollars while violating Fourth Amendment and privacy rights. Drake sounded the alarm, continuing to push for THINTHREAD use even after all its developers left the NSA in October 2011. In his steady support for the discarded program, he found out how much actionable intelligence the NSA had legally gathered that could have thwarted the 9/11 attacks, he says.

Upon being asked to prepare a report at the request of Congress on the NSA’s knowledge of the 9/11 plot and hijackers before September 11, 2001, Drake says the agency decided to balk at taking any responsibility.

“After a couple of weeks [SIGINT chief Maureen] Baginski rejected my draft team Statement for the Record report and removed me from the task,” Drake writes. “When I asked her why, she said there was a ‘data integrity problem’ (not further explained) with my draft Statement for the Record. I had come upon additional damaging revelations. For example, NSA had the content of telephone calls between AA-77 hijacker Khalid al-Mihdhar in San Diego, CA, and the known al-Qaeda safe house switchboard in Yemen well before 9/11, and had not disseminated that information beyond NSA.”

“In short, when confronted with the prospect of fessing up, NSA chose instead to obstruct the 9/11 congressional investigation, play dumb, and keep the truth buried, including the fact that it knew about all inbound and outbound calls to the safe house switchboard in Yemen. NSA’s senior leaders took me off the task because they realized – belatedly, for some reason – that I would not take part in covering up the truth about how much NSA knew but did not share.”

The letter, with the subject line “Input for Your Decisions on NSA,” is timed to coincide with deliberations currently happening in the Obama administration to confront recommended NSA reforms from the panel.

Last month, the five-person review group, made up of intelligence and administration insiders, assembled by Obama presented the White House with a report suggesting that the NSA consider dozens of recommendations meant to reform some of the operations exposed through leaks supplied by Snowden. After that report was completed but before the president went on vacation in late December, Obama said he’d make a "pretty definitive statement about all of this in January."

The President is now expected to weigh in on those recommendations publically during the annual State of the Union address scheduled for January 28 in Washington.

Obama will reportedly hold a closed-door meeting with select officials on this week in advance of the public speech to discuss in private the future of the controversial surveillance operations waged by the NSA.

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