Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Two whistleblowers from the NSA have revealed what should have been obvious to anyone paying attention, that the warrantless wiretaps and other surveillance programs went far beyond merely tracking terrorists:
The Senate Select Intelligence Committee is looking into allegations from two U.S. military linguists that the government routinely listened in on phone calls of American military and humanitarian aid workers serving overseas."These are extremely disturbing allegations," said Committee Chairman Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., in a statement issued Thursday. "We have requested all relevant information from the Bush administration. Any time there is an allegation regarding abuse of the privacy and civil liberties of Americans it is a very serious matter."
I'm gonna venture a guess here and predict that the White House is going to suddenly lose every email and document related to this subject. Or claim executive privilege and forbid anyone in the executive branch from testifying before the committee. Or invoke the state secrets privilege and do the same thing. Or those two whistleblowers will suddenly retract their stories after a superior at the NSA plays the tapes the agency has of their own private conversations. Or all of the above, not necessarily in that order.
ABC News first reported the charges Thursday, citing one current and one former military linguist by name. They are contained in the book "The Shadow Factory," to be published next week.The linguists said National Security Agency interceptors routinely monitored and recorded the private calls of U.S. military personnel, Red Cross and other humanitarian workers; personal discussions that had entertainment value -- pillow talk or phone sex --were shared among intercept operators, they said.
Support the troops by listening to their phone sex calls with the wife back home. Very patriotic. Listening in on the Red Cross makes sense, though. The Red Cross is clearly made up of dangerous radicals who believe in crazy ideas like the Geneva Conventions. That can only lead to communist notions like liberty and justice.
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I've heard it said the question is not whether you're paranoid, it's whether you're paranoid enough.
Some friends a few years back learned to speak fluent Klingon, not because they were big Star Trek fans, but just to mess with anyone who might be listening in. Can you imagine the poor NSA agents trying to make heads or tails of those conversations?
Of course that's probably not the best solution for securing your phone sex. A more boner shrinking language I cannot imagine. I once saw Hamlet performed in Klingon at Stony Brook University. All the Viagra in Limbaugh's vault couldn't have helped me that night.
Posted by: Abby Normal | October 14, 2008 10:29 AM
Sadly, the NSA guys I know probably have pretty good Klingon already. These aren't throatcutters; they're mainly math geeks, engineers, and physical scientists recruited and trained to be analysts. They'd have good Elvish and a smattering of Entish. For real security, learn Houyhnhnmese.
ice
Posted by: ice9 | October 14, 2008 11:20 AM
Ed,
Are responses in Klingon censored, or did scienceblogs just eat mine retroactively?
("A person with a smooth forehead will never understand Klingon love" - Defender of the Klingon Spirit)
Posted by: tlhIngan qa' HubwI' | October 14, 2008 11:48 AM
Lobjan.
Posted by: Who Cares | October 14, 2008 11:50 AM
Is there anyone more full of shiat than Jay Rockefeller?
Posted by: Johnny Clamboat | October 14, 2008 11:58 AM
Who Cares write:
Is this when you speak Lojban with intentional metathesis?
Posted by: noncarborundum | October 14, 2008 12:08 PM
...the question is not whether you're paranoid, it's whether you're paranoid enough.
Great quote from Strange Days. It certainly sums up how things are going lately.
Posted by: Joy | October 14, 2008 12:29 PM
Thanks for the tip ice9. I'll pass it on. Note I never learned Klingon myself (which made Hamlet particularly surreal). For myself, the NSA can listen to my phone sex all they want, so long as they pay $2.99 for the first minute and $0.99 for each additional minute, like everyone else. ;-)
Posted by: Abby Normal | October 14, 2008 12:52 PM
Douchebag.
Posted by: Josh in California | October 14, 2008 1:53 PM
For all that this is a blatant invasion of privacy and a waste of taxpayer money, I had to laugh a little.
I used to be a telecomm tech in the USAF and learned (yes, I admit it, by doing) that there is no such thing as a private conversation over any phone line that isn't specifically secured by crypto gear.
There is always some bored operator or tech somewhere listening to some conversation somewhere. Bet on it.
Posted by: twincats | October 14, 2008 5:40 PM