Obama Chastises Keith Alexander For Trying To Befuddle Him With Tech Jargon

[n2doc]

by Mike Masnick

The Daily Beast has an interesting article with a number of insider accounts, suggesting that President Obama is seriously leaning towards cutting back the NSA's activities. I'll believe it when I see it -- and there's still a compelling argument that all of these moves are really just an attempt to block or delay serious judicial or Congressional review of these programs. However, there are some very interesting tidbits in the article, including this chastising of NSA boss Keith Alexander for trying to dazzle Obama with tech jargon:

But behind the scenes, Obama was showing some irritation with the intelligence leadership that had pressed for these capabilities and repeatedly vouched for their value. One story that rocketed around the intelligence community involved a meeting between Obama and NSA Director Keith Alexander. Alexander, who holds advanced degrees in physics and electronic warfare, was trying to explain certain aspects of one of the surveillance programs to Obama. As his highly technical and jargon-laden presentation rambled on, Obama was beginning to lose patience. When he finished, Obama thanked him and then icily asked if he could do it over again, "but this time in English."

Some of this fits with earlier statements, in which President Obama more or less admitted that he had no idea what the NSA was up to -- and that only after he found out about stuff in the press did he go back to Alexander and others and find out what the NSA was really doing. At the very least, that suggests incredibly poor leadership skills and five years in which he more or less let the agency run itself with little real oversight.

In fact, the article suggests this may be the case. Despite the fact that Obama, prior to becoming President, supported a number of changes to the surveillance state, upon becoming President, it appears that he let folks like Alexander talk him out of it.

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http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131231/11474125726/obama-chastises-keith-alexander-trying-to-befuddle-him-with-tech-jargon.shtml

[truebluegreen]

1. I don't want or expect a micromanager,

and of course President Obama has had a lot to deal with, but 5 years without really examining these programs?

Dog Bless Snowden. Seriously.

[uponit7771]

3. At some point I think they hasn't been full disclosure for sake of plausible deniability that's...

...afforded to all presidents.

If even half of the account of the interaction between Obama and the spy lead is true it seems like the spy community took that "privilege" way to far.

[uponit7771]

2. Another BS bashing article leaves out fact Obama pressed for more constraints on spy community befor

...Snowden released papers.

But go ahead, FUD and cons... keep acting as if all of this started under Obama... continue to lose credibility and continue to distract away from the point that these programs NEED constraint

[Savannahmann]

11. I think many here have mentioned this.

But I'll give you my opinion. I blame Bush for starting this crap. I blame President Obama for not shutting it down, for continuing it.

Now, I can stand around and bemoan Bush all I want. But the truth of the matter is this. Bush isn't the President. Bush hasn't been the President since a wonderful day back in January 2009.

Now, the analogy I used before is this. If you hire me to be a manager, you can't blame me for anything that happened before I got the job. You can't blame me for anything that was happening when I got to my office on the first day. You damn sure can, and should blame me for what happens after I get into my office and have taken charge. You might give me a little time to get up to speed on what is going on, but if after five years I am the one to blame. Even if the programs were started by my predecessor, I've had plenty of time to get my ass in gear and make the changes that were needed.

I don't blame President Obama for starting these Bush era nonsense programs. I blame the hell out of President Obama for continuing them.

So who do I complain to in an effort to get the changes I believe are desperately needed? I can write Bush, but I might as well wipe my ass with the paper. Besides being the guy who started this crap, he doesn't have the power to stop it. So who does have the power? President Obama.

When President Obama leaves office in January 2017, I will be shouting at whomever comes next to shut these programs down and follow the Constitution.

Now, you complain that these articles are spreading FUD, but that's BS. Because the truth is that Bush is absolutely powerless to do anything about them now, even if he was in a mind to. The person with the power is the one we can and should hold responsible, anything else is more of that BS I mentioned above.

[RC]

4. Obama needs to get some new advisers too.

Someone on his staff should be keeping an eye on this security shit, so he, Obama, has a better idea of what is going on.
Maybe get him a subscription to Wired would help.

[uponit7771]

6. I would HATE to be one of the spy agency leaders and have to answer to a Snowden story

... and the prez not be informed... it'd make it look like at least they had something to hide and abused the plausible deniability privilege...

[Igel]

9. That would be the official view.

But if the NSA filed routine reports with their supervisor and nobody ever asked questions about it ... Most lower-level managers are good about covering their butts. Rather than hide, they just put stuff in reports that nobody ever reads or, in the worst case, use language that their supervisors don't understand (and can't admit to not understanding). Voila: They're covered, and ignorance continues on.

There's nothing like the expression on the face of a mid-level manager when he's asked a question that he knows is going to seriously affect his career and immediately realizes that all the information on that topic is in a filing cabinet full of reports he's never read or can't understand. Or, worse, knew what was going on (to some extent) and couldn't be bothered with dealing with it. Or asking questions that he didn't want the answers to.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. He should hire Snowden to fill him in on what he doesn't know about the programs he's in charge of.

[leftyohiolib]

7. that would be hillarious pardon snowden then put him in potus' cabinet

[Xipe Totec]

8. It doesn't take technical expertise to assess NSA effectiveness.

If you're a spook organization, and you're in the limelight, you're fucking up.

[Wounded Bear]

10. If you can't dazzle them with brilliance...

Baffle them with bullshit.

Apparently Pres Obama has heard that one, too.