CNN Op-Ed: U.S. intelligence community is out of control

[wtmusic]

"It's hard to think of a time in the history of America's intelligence community when it has been more battered by accusations of over-stepping or mismanaging its mission: to secretly gather information to support the activities of the U.S. government.

The list of recent revelations grew over the weekend with allegations that America has been systematically spying on its European allies. Reports in the European press, apparently drawn from documents provided by Edward Snowden, suggested that America spied on the European Union, France, Italy, Greece and other close international friends, listening in on encrypted fax transmissions and planting bugs and other devices at 38 embassies and missions in Washington and New York, as well as locations in Europe.

The timing is not great: the eve of scheduled trade talks with the Europeans, a priority of the Obama administration. The new reports have caused a furor across the continent, stoking the uproar caused by earlier Snowden-related revelations that America has been listening in on millions of German calls and e-mails."

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/01/opinion/rothkopf-surveillance-revelations/

[kentuck]

1. The intelligence community is always looking for an opportunity...

..to extend their tentacles.

9/11 was the crisis that gave them that opportunity. It didn't hurt that an arrogant and paranoid President that agreed with them.

Hopefully, we will be able to extricate ourselves from this Gordian knot?