I'm waiting a bit before forming a solid opinion on this NSA mess. [View all]

[MineralMan]

Right now, there are a number of very strong opinions being expressed, but prematurely, I think. This is a complicated, and somewhat confusing situation, and there's not enough information yet to form reasoned judgments, in my opinion. As someone who actually worked inside the NSA building over 40 years ago, and who has been following the intelligence community ever since, I've been aware for years of the programs that are now being more widely exposed.

Those programs have been known about by many for a long time, and some of them began even while I was involved with one of the agencies in the late 1960s. They've been discussed in a number of books, over time, and programs like the defunct TIA and the operating ECHELON and several others have received press coverage, along with a wealth of information available on the Internet for those who are interested in such things.

Like all US intelligence efforts, there's always a combination of publicly exposed information and stuff that isn't disclosed. The recent disclosures by people like Edward Snowden, through Glenn Greenwald and the Guardian, don't come as any sort of surprise. Most of what has been disclosed has long been understood to be happening, and some of it has been in the news over the past decade or so. The disclosures don't actually disclose much that isn't already known and covered on the Internet. All a person had to do was poke around to find plenty of information. Even Wikipedia offers a lot of articles on the programs that have been "leaked." The supposed leaks only inform people who have not been following this stuff.

Although these disclosures may come as a surprise to many, they're not that surprising, new, or revealing. The timing is interesting, of course, and the reactions are unsurprising, as well. Most of the documents so far disclosed by Greenwald and the Guardian are just briefing documents, of the kind used to tell Congress and other groups what is currently going on, or at least what they want to reveal about what is going on. Some have had Top Secret classifications, but that classification is widely used for documents that aren't all that sensitive.

For people who do not follow intelligence operations, some of it may seem shocking and worrisome. And, indeed, government intelligence used to capture data about us, as civilians, should be worrisome. We are rightfully concerned about it, and knowledge that it is happening is a good thing. However, despite these revelations, we still don't understand it very well, and don't know how and to what extent this data is used. I certainly don't, since it has been so long since I was involved in intelligence work. We don't know, and we're not going to know, really, through these disclosures.

However, in the upcoming weeks, we're going to find out more. What has been discussed only by a limited number of people who are interested in intelligence operations will be discussed by others, and a lot of misconceptions and misinformation is going to appear across the board. In the media, on forums like this one, and on blogs and other speculative outlets, there are going to be millions of words written. Much of what will be written will be incorrect, based on limited information, or slanted in some way for political reasons.

So, I'm waiting before forming any judgments. Before long, the bullshit will be separated from the factual information. Uninformed opinion will give way to thoughtful analysis, and outrage will yield to informed opinion. We'll learn more about Edward Snowden, the origin of these programs, and much more. It will be interesting to follow, but there will also be a lot of misinformation being bandied about. Waiting will produce a clearer picture.