NSA to monitor private networks for cyberattacks
Published: July 2, 2009
Updated 5 months ago
The Obama administration is going ahead with a controversial plan to have the National Security Agency screen government email and other official computer traffic passing over private networks.
The plan is part of a cybersecurity initiative launched by the Bush administration in 2008 and known as Einstein 3. The purpose of the program is to protect government computer systems from attack, and the Department of Homeland Security insists that only data going in and out of government systems will be subject to special screening for malicious code.
Tests of the effectiveness of the program — which is derived from one used on military networks — were to have begun in February but have been delayed by debates within the Obama administration. Both the military origin of the system and the involvement of the NSA have aroused concerns about privacy.
President Obama promised in May that there would be no intrusion on private communications, and the administration has indicated its intention to consult with privacy and civil liberties groups on an ongoing basis.
Ari Schwartz, a vice president of the Center for Democracy and Technology, told the Associated Press, “There are a number of concerns that come with this process, the main one being how do you go about protecting the system in a way that insures you’re not monitoring private systems. I don’t have a full answer to that question. But the president made that pledge.”
Despite these assurances, it is not clear whether non-governmental data can be kept out of the monitoring system, and the plan has critics even within DHS. Former assistant secretary of homeland security Stewart A. Baker told the Washington Post, “The bitter battles over privacy and NSA’s role in domestic wiretapping hang over cybersecurity like a toxic cloud.”
Baker, who served as NSA general counsel during the Clinton administration, also suggested that the Bush administration should be held responsible for creating many of the current problems by trying to keep so much of Einstein 3 secret.
“The solution was veiled in secrecy in a way that allowed people outside to be suspicious,” he explained, “so anybody who mistrusted the intelligence community could just assume that it was because they were doing something that they shouldn’t be doing.”
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“The bitter battles over privacy and NSA’s role in domestic wiretapping hang over cybersecurity like a toxic cloud.”
Obama’s promises do not match his actions.
The results of the next two elections will show the voters perception of the difference between Obama’s campaign statement and his actions after becoming President.
Obama = Bush
is unacceptable.
Pressure Obama until he prosecutes Bush’s Torturers.
SIGN THE PETITION
calling for Prosecution
http://ANGRYVOTERS.ORG
Over 250,000 have signed
Join them and call yourself a patriot
.
FUCKING LIARS!
Hey that’s great news — boy do I ever feel safe now that I know the NSA’s looking out for me.
Listen fellas, just tell me which death camp you’re gonna need me to report to and maybe I can save you the trouble of rounding me up — more efficient, don’t you think?
Now that’s change you can believe in!
Fuck Obama. How soon into his term he’s lost credibility. He’s a liar and a whore.
The NSA had all of the intelligence necessary to prevent the 9-11 attacks and did nothing to prevent them. This agency is a technological monster that provides no benefit to the country. Like the CIA it is cloaked in secrecy and is dysfunctional. The congress should stop funding them both. They should probably do the same with the White House.
Einstein 3? Try Rosenberg 3.
Two words: Mission Creep
Remember the Obama FISA vote?
Wall Street
Art students
9/11 snow job
Chicken hawks
Moving company
Propaganda media
DNC stealth neocons
Anti-semitism accusers
The chosen the superior
2-3% of the US population
Extortion blackmail bribery
By deception ye shall wage war
AIPAC’s Israel-first dual-nationals
For profit NotFederal NoReserve scam
Words are plentiful deeds are precious!
Had Traitor and Coward Ex NSA/CIA Boss Mikie H. been doing his job Pre 9-11, we would not be in this mess in the first place, please see James Bamford’s book and TV video “the Shadow Factory” and “the Spy Factory” for details. Shalom.