The Snowden Operation: Inside the West's Greatest Intelligence Disaster

1

Of which he has won several, including from the Washington Post.

2

Often attributed to Lenin, this apocryphal saying was used in Cold War days to describe Westerners who helped the Soviet Union through their naïveté.

3

Partial exceptions include the Business Insider website which has run a series of articles by Michael Kelly, such as http://www.businessinsider.com/everything-we-know-about-snowden-leaks-2013-11. Two people who have really followed up this story are Catherine A Fitzpatrick in her ‘Wired State’ blog (see 3dblogger.typepad.com/wired_state) and John Schindler at 20comittee.com; I gratefully acknowledge my debt to both.

4

When the ex-communist countries joined NATO, the alliance was so concerned about offending Russia that it initially decided not to make any plans to defend them. This changed after the war in Georgia in 2008, thanks to the Obama administration. I revealed the decision to draw up the plans in January 2010: see http://www.economist.com/node/15268095

5

To be published by Bloomsbury in 2015.

6

http://www.lawfareblog.com contains excellent analysis of these issues, especially by Benjamin Wittes. See also http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/us/politics/obama-nsa.html

7

http://www.langerresearch.com/uploads/1155a5NSAandSnowden.pdf. Another poll of young Americans shows a quarter backing Snowden, a quarter condemning him, and fully a half undecided: http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21592654-revelations-about-cyber-espionage-dismay-barack-obamas-most-loyal-fans-snooper-blooper

8

See for example http://www.dni.gov/files/documents/1118/CLEANEDPRTT%202.pdf

9

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/01/09/261079074/nsa-says-it-would-welcome-public-advocate-at-fisa-court

10

‘Snowden—myths and misapprehensions’ by Nigel Inkster, IISS, 15 November 2013, http://www.iiss.org/en/politics%20and%20strategy/blogsections/2013-98d0/november-47b6/snowden-9dd1

11

See http://www.lawfareblog.com/2014/01/a-game-changing-ruling-in-the-no-fly-list-case.

It is worth noting that the plaintiff, a foreigner contesting the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to put her on a no-fly list, launched her lawsuit well before the Snowden revelations, and seems to be heading for vindication.

12

The claim was first made in his video interview on June 10th, available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/jun/09/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-interview-video and elaborated here: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/nsa-top-secret-program-online-data

13

‘Top-Secret Document Reveals NSA Spied on Porn Habits as Part of Plan to Discredit “Radicalizers”’, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/26/nsa-porn-muslims_n_4346128.html

14

‘In 2009, NSA Said it Had a “Present Example” of Abuse Similar to Project Minaret’, http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/11/27/in-2009-nsa-said-it-had-a-present-example-of-abuse-similar-to-project-minaret

15

A collection of documents on these and other past intelligence abuses can be found at http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/docset/getList.do?docSetId=1014

16

Inkster, see n10 above

17

http://xark.typepad.com/my_weblog/2014/01/if-the-nsa-freaks-you-out-you-still-use-google-you-are-an-idiot.html

18

In his novel 1984, George Orwell wrote of a system of screens in every dwelling: ‘there was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment… you had to live… in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinised’ (pp 4-5 in the Penguin edition).

19

From July 2014, for example, Russian ISPs may be obliged to store records of all data and users’ activities for a period of 12 hours, providing direct and immediate access by the FSB. This will be a costly burden on the ISPs, and will also raise security concerns. Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, a brave husband-and-wife couple, have tried their best to write about the Russian security state. I strongly recommend their website, agentura.ru, and their book The New Nobility (Public Affairs, 2011).

20

http://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2013/12/10/adoption-definitive-de-la-controverse-loi-de-programmation-militaire_3528927_3210.html; http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/11/french-officials-internet-users-real-time-law

21

See http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/cover-story-how-nsa-spied-on-merkel-cell-phone-from-berlin-embassy-a-930205.html; http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/angry-european-and-german-reactions-to-merkel-us-phone-spying-scandal-a-929725.html; http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/trans-atlantic-relations-threatened-by-revelations-of-mass-us-spying-a-908746.html

See also Anton Troianovski, ‘Germany to Boost Anti-Spy Efforts’, Wall Street Journal, November 20, 2013, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304791704579209740311164308; Anton Troianovski, ‘Germany Warns of Repercussions from U.S. Spying’, Wall Street Journal, October 28, 2013, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304200804579163760331107226

22

Albeit a largely symbolic one: it had not actually been used since 1990: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/germany-nixes-surveillance-pact-us-britain

23

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB95326824311657269.html

24

French electronic intelligence is formidable and operates with what some might think rather scanty oversight. See http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/world/europe/france-broadens-its-surveillance-power.html; http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/world/europe/france-too-is-collecting-data-newspaper-reveals.html

25

In Germany’s case, this sometimes happens in a way that might be seen as questionable. The Nazi past creates particular obligations to countries and people who suffered horribly at the hands of the forebears of modern Germans. As a result, Germany is a loyal friend of Israel. It lobbied strongly to bring Poland into the EU. It has pursued a long and (in recent years) largely futile attempt to seek a close relationship with Russia. But it also owes a special debt to the Baltic states—three small countries which Nazi Germany consigned to the meat-grinder in its secret deal with Stalin’s Soviet Union in the spring of 1939. The Baltics regained their independence only in 1991. But Germany decided to put its relations with Russia ahead of any other bothersome business with small countries. It even recruited Estonia’s top defence official—in tacit collaboration with Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service—in order to find out what Britain and America were up to in the Baltic region. I write about this at length in my book Deception.

26

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/strategische-aufklaerung-bundeswehr-belauscht-die-welt-a-575417.html

27

Julian Lindley-French, ‘What U.S. Intelligence Really Says About Europe’, http://lindleyfrench.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/what-us-intelligence-really-says-about.html

28

Greenwald reveals his naïveté and ignorance in a television interview, available at http://www.svt.se/nyhetsklipp/nyheter/article1669193.svt. The other material he published can be found at http://www.svt.se/ug/read-all-articles-in-english

29

For a detailed look at Greenwald’s rhetorical style, see http://m.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/08/1192256/-The-Final-Word-on-Glenn-Greenwald

30

Sources have named the air-defence headquarters, the military command centre and the FRA (signals intelligence) headquarters.

31

http://www.thelocal.se/20131105/sweden-pulled-plug-on-france-spy-satellite-report

32

Keir Giles, ‘Cyber Attack on Finland is a Warning for the EU’, Chatham House, November 8, 2013, http://www.chathamhouse.org/media/comment/view/195392. The National Police Commissioner Mikko Paatero noted that ‘we cannot follow signals in Finland or travelling through Finnish cables … but others can do it for Finland. In my opinion it’s a little bit embarrassing that we can hear from somewhere else about what is happening here.’ Finland now wants stronger powers to protect itself. See http://yle.fi/uutiset/finnish_police_want_web_snooping_powers/6923309 and http://yle.fi/uutiset/defence_minister_police_and_defence_forces_to_get_wider_web_powers/6914546?origin=rss

33

http://www.thelocal.se/20131108/swedes-not-worried-about-internet-surveillance-survey

34

http://theworldoutline.com/2013/10/everyone-spying-brazil

35

http://m.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australias-reputation-in-indonesia-hits-new-low-20131123-2y2k2.html; John Schindler, ‘Snowden’s Thunder Down Under’, The XX Committee, November 21, 2013, http://20committee.com/2013/11/21/snowdens-thunder-down-under; http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-18/australia-spied-on-indonesian-president-leaked-documents-reveal/5098860; http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australias-reputation-in-indonesia-hits-new-low-20131123-2y2k2.html

36

See (in English) http://www.dagbladet.no/2013/12/17/nyheter/samfunn/politikk/utenriks/overvaking/30877258

37

This judgment by an American district court judge, Richard Leon, outlines the legal controversies around the Fourth Amendment and previous Supreme Court decisions on expectations of privacy, etc: https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2013cv0851-48

38

‘NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program’, Washington Post, June 6, 2013, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/prism-collection-documents. Already in 2005 the New York Times revealed how the Bush administration had secretly authorised the NSA to eavesdrop on communications within the country (of Americans and others), without specific court authorisation. This sparked a big discussion inside America, but little controversy abroad. See ‘Bush lets U.S. spy on callers without court’, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/16program.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0

39

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/feb/06/three-leakers-and-what-do-about-them/?pagination=false

40

The same questions could be posed of the programmes that collect satellite imagery (a subject which is still awaiting a devastating leak). American satellites are powerful enough to track an individual walking down the street, anywhere in the world (assuming it is a sunny day). Those who argue against the NSA’s capabilities presumably want the satellites blinded too.

41

John Naughton, ‘Edward Snowden: public indifference is the real enemy in the NSA affair’, The Observer, October 20, 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/20/public-indifference-nsa-snowden-affair

42

See Greenwald’s keynote, https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xEJIR0-KJu0#t=2537

43

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/alternative-christmas-message/4od

44

http://bobcesca.thedailybanter.com/blog-archives/2013/12/the-government-is-definitely-not-watching-everything-we-do.html

45

Greenwald’s hour-long keynote (delivered over video link) to the Chaos Communications Congress meeting in Hamburg gives an excellent account of his views. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xEJIR0-KJu0

46

http://www.lawfareblog.com/2014/01/the-extent-of-the-snowden-disclosures. The Washington Post piece is here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/black-budget-summary-details-us-spy-networks-successes-failures-and-objectives/2013/08/29/7e57bb78-10ab-11e3-8cdd-bcdc09410972_story.html

47

http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/jun/07/obama-cyber-directive-full-text

48

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/16/gchq-intercepted-communications-g20-summits

49

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1260306/edward-snowden-classified-us-data-shows-hong-kong-hacking-targets

50

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/11/15/china-wants-greater-internet-control-public-opinion-guidance; http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324807704579082940411106988

51

In 1996, the US made up over 66% of the world’s online population, whereas in 2012, it accounted for only 12%. ‘State of the Internet in Q3 2012’, comScore, December 5, 2012, http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations_and_Whitepapers/2012/State_of_the_Internet_in_Q3_2012

52

In November 2013, a Russian official delegation in America chastised their hosts on this issue: http://voiceofrussia.com/2013_11_15/US-ready-to-discuss-cyber-security-with-Russia-Ruslan-Gattarov-6191/?print=1

53

http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-mining-data-from-nine-us-internet-companies-in-broad-secret-program/2013/06/06/3a0c0da8-cebf-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html?hpid=z1; http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/06/google-facebook-apple-deny-participation-in-nsa-prism-program. Dropbox was also reportedly involved, but denied any knowledge: Larry Page and David Drummond, ‘Official Google Blog’, June 7, 2013, http://googleblog.blogspot.de/2013/06/what.html

54

http://www.zdnet.com/the-real-story-in-the-nsa-scandal-is-the-collapse-of-journalism-7000016570; http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57588337-38/no-evidence-of-nsas-direct-access-to-tech-companies

55

https://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2013/12/04/protecting-customer-data-from-government-snooping.aspx

56

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/brendanoneill2/100252627/whats-the-difference-between-a-whistleblower-and-a-mad-conspiracy-theorist

57

‘When Thinking Styles Collide: Silicon Valley, Congress and C.P. Snow’s Two Cultures’, http://3dblogger.typepad.com/wired_state/2012/06/when-thinking-styles-collide-silicon-valley-congress-and-cp-snows-two-cultures.html. See also the follow-up post ‘Who can be trusted’, http://3dblogger.typepad.com/wired_state/2013/12/who-can-be-trusted-on-nsa-and-encryption.html

58

https://github.com/poppingtonic/greenwald-30c3-keynote/blob/master/transcript/transcript.md

59

Inkster, see n10, above

60

Hamburg speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xEJIR0-KJu0

61

This training slide exemplifies the law-governed approach, showing exactly what NSA officials should do if and when they come across Americans’ data: http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/whats-a-violation/391

62

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/james-clappers-least-untruthful-statement-to-the-senate/2013/06/11/e50677a8-d2d8-11e2-a73e-826d299ff459_blog.html

63

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/sep/12/us-spy-congress-rein-in-nsa-domestic-snooping/?page=all

64

He is excoriated here by the former British MP Louise Mensch: http://unfashionista.com/2013/12/04/has-alan-rusbridger-exposed-names-of-thousands-of-gchq-personnel

65

In John le Carré’s novel The Russia House the plot revolves around a brilliant and successful attempt to make British intelligence hand over its crown jewels: the list of what it most wants to know about Russia.

66

This caustic piece in the National Interest, by former CIA officer David Gioe, outlines well the damage to American intelligence’s reputation—and effectiveness: http://nationalinterest.org/article/tinker-tailor-leaker-spy-the-future-costs-mass-leaks-9644?page=show

67

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/19/glenn-greenwald-uk-secrets-britain-detains-partner_n_3779667.html. Greenwald said later that his remarks, in Portuguese, were not meant to be construed this way. But he has given little reason to doubt the sentiment.

68

Paul Pilar has argued this well in the National Interest: http://nationalinterest.org/print/blog/paul-pillar/leaks-irresponsible-press-9633

69

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/09/99/britain_betrayed/451366.stm

70

The Communist Party of Great Britain played a leading role in CND in the 1970s, when the organisation was largely moribund. CPGB member Dr John Cox was chairman of the CND for seven years during this period. According to ex-MI5 desk officer Cathy Massiter, CND was regarded by the Security Service not as a Communist front organisation but as a Communist-penetrated organisation. Individual pro-Soviet Communists held key positions. Bruce Kent, general secretary of CND, said at the 38th Congress of CPGB in November 1983: ‘We owe a debt of gratitude to the Morning Star newspaper, which has given steady, honest and generous coverage to the whole disarmament case. I do not believe we [i.e. the Communists and the CND] are so very far apart on many of the major issues. We are partners in the cause for peace in this world’ (Morning Star, November 14, 1983, emphasis added). A good account of the one-sided nature of the CND campaign, together with fully sourced details of its links with the left, including the Soviet front network, is set out in Paul Mercer’s book ‘Peace’ of the Dead (Policy Research Publications, 1986). For details, see the website of Julian Lewis MP, for example this letter: http://www.julianlewis.net/letters-in-the-press/3199:yes-the-cnd-was-pro-soviet-108; and http://www.julianlewis.net/letters-in-the-press/3158:cnd-cannot-rewrite-history-67; as well as http://www.julianlewis.net/selected-news-cuttings/3530:moscow-gold-and-the-cpgb-47 and http://www.julianlewis.net/selected-news-cuttings/3601:gorbachevs-view-of-the-ss20s-2

71

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+REPORT+A5-2001-0264+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN&language=EN

72

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/verizon-providing-all-call-records-to-us-under-court-order/2013/06/05/98656606-ce47-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html

73

Secrets and Leaks: The Dilemma of State Secrecy (Princeton, 2013).

74

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/exclusive-in-2009-ed-snowden-said-leakers-should-be-shot-then-he-became-one

75

Interview with the author.

76

http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=503777#p503777. He made two more contributions, one about a computer game in November 2011 and the other a rather cryptic one about a ‘Dead Man’s Switch’ in May 2012: http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=22878085#p22878085

77

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-12-04/india/44756015_1_edward-snowden-information-security-koenig-solutions

78

http://news.yahoo.com/watchdog-faults-background-check-nsa-leaker-235639806.html

79

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/21/us-usa-security-snowden-idUSBRE95K01J20130621

80

http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/08/15/usa-security-snowden-dell-idINDEE97E0CE20130815

81

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1268209/snowden-sought-booz-allen-job-gather-evidence-nsa-surveillance

82

An excellent account of the muddled and extremist views of Assange, Greenwald and Snowden can be found at http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116253/edward-snowden-glenn-greenwald-julian-assange-what-they-believe

83

This is described in the 1989 classic The Cuckoo’s Egg by Clifford Stoll. Fitzpatrick has a good blog post on the subject: see http://3dblogger.typepad.com/wired_state/2013/08/the-chaos-computer-club-and-links-to-wikileaks-assange-and-snowden.html

84

http://3dblogger.typepad.com/wired_state/2013/07/idiot-wind.html

85

A long and friendly account of the story, based on Greenwald and Poitras’s account, can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/laura-poitras-snowden.html?pagewanted=6&_r=0&pagewanted=all

86

http://streetwiseprofessor.com/?p=7524

87

https://web.archive.org/web/20130414223022/http://www.lsjourney.com

88

http://3dblogger.typepad.com/wired_state/2013/08/surfs-up-or-whats-up-hacker-convergences-in-hawaii.html

89

This theory is elaborated by Fitzpatrick at http://3dblogger.typepad.com/wired_state/2013/11/the-crypto-kids-and-the-rubiks-party-signal-to-snowden.html

90

http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2263705 (in Russian). See also Fitzpatrick’s analysis at http://3dblogger.typepad.com/wired_state/2013/08/edward-snowden-partied-with-the-russians-in-hong-kong-on-his-30th-birthday.html

91

http://3dblogger.typepad.com/minding_russia/2013/10/how-to-find-edward-snowden-in-moscow.html