NSA director: Edward Snowden has caused irreversible damage to US

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

NSA director: Edward Snowden has caused irreversible damage to US

Keith Alexander defends agency's broad surveillance as being in
line with Americans' expectations for preventing another 9/11

Spencer Ackerman in Washington and Dominic Rushe in New York
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 23 June 2013 17.19 BST

National Security Agency director Keith Alexander said on Sunday that whistleblower Edward Snowden betrayed the trust of Americans and defended the broad surveillance programs as necessary to prevent another terrorist attack.

As Snowden evaded an attempt on Sunday by Washington to have him arrested in Hong Kong, General Alexander told ABC's This Week: "This is an individual who is not acting, in my opinion, with noble intent ... What Snowden has revealed has caused irreversible and significant damage to our country and to our allies."

Alexander said the NSA surveillance programs Snowden had disclosed to the Guardian were tightly overseen and disputed statements from members of the Senate intelligence committee that they had not played a unique role in preventing terrorist attacks.

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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/23/nsa-director-snowden-hong-kong

[Cooley Hurd]

1. No, US-NSA policies did it.

Don't kill the messenger:

[truebluegreen]

5. Agree.

And btw, Keith Alexander is a whack who shouldn't be in charge of anything.

[Downwinder]

2. Alexander fearing for his job?

[cantbeserious]

3. Irreparable Damage Was Done To The US When The 4th Amendment Was Gutted By The Patriot Act

eom

[Autumn]

4. I think what has damaged the US is it's policies

and I don't see those we have put in charge acting with noble intent.

[wandy]

6. Well Sir. If you're surveillance was all that important to national security...........

Why were you so careless with the people you employed to do it?

Not taking sides, just pointing to a fallacy.

[bemildred]

7. You, Sir, and your cronies, have caused irreversible damage to the US.

Snowden merely took advantage of the opportunity you provided him with.

[Live and Learn]

8. Exactly what damage has been done?

I keep hearing about the damage Snowden did but for the life of me I can't seem to find out exactly what damage thy are talking about.

Is it the fact that now more people realize the government is tracking all of us? Anyone paying attention already knew that and polls show that most Americans still don't believe it or care so where is the damage?

Surely it isn't that other countries found out we are spying on them? That is just laughable since we all know that the powerful countries have been spying on each other for eternity.

Did the "terrorists" just gain the knowledge that we are reading their emails and tracking their phone calls? I would think most of them figured it out even before the drone strikes started.

What exactly was disclosed? According to the NSA, they are doing nothing illegal, simply storing our data and they have always acknowledged that so nothing new there. And PRISM isn't exactly ground breaking news either.

The fact that they are so outraged and determined to silence Snowden tells me that there must be more there that hasn't been revealed. What are they so scared of?

[Little Star]

9. Yep, I agree there must be more that hasn't been revealed. n/t

[mimi85]

13. I agree.

I know there has to be much more to this story. BTW, who is bankrolling Snowden?

[PSPS]

10. Yes, it's all "Snowden's fault." Never mind the damage done by the evisceration of the constitution.

Having and adhering to the constitution is what used to make the US unique. Now, we're just another rogue nation with one corrupt administration and congress after another, whose sole purpose is to protect the monied class and enhance its wealth. This, of course, is the real reason for having this surveillance state.

[silvershadow]

11. Yes. Irreversible damage from the "sudden" knowledge that all the data that can be collected is

being collected. We can hardly do our jobs now that everyone "knows" that we are looking for terrorists.

[bahrbearian]

12. "Bush/Cheney, not so much"