Nearly all US citizens under surveillance

Nearly all US citizens under government surveillance: Ex-NSA analyst
Thu Dec 6, 2012
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/12/06/276486/nearly-all-us-citizens-under-surveillance

The central [US] government defines what is right and wrong and whether or not they target you… They are violating the foundation of this entire country… and they are not living up to the[ir] oath of office.”

Former NSA intelligence analyst and whistleblower William Binney

A US intelligence agency whistleblower has revealed that the American government keeps track of the emails of nearly every American citizen, including US lawmakers, and can use the information against anyone it desires.

Former National Security Agency (NSA) analyst William Binney said in a Tuesday interview with RT that the American domestic law enforcement and intelligence agency, the FBI, has massive access to such data due to a powerful device called Naris, Russia Today reported.

According to the report, Binney was “one of the best mathematicians and code breakers in NSA history” that resigned in 2001 “because he no longer wanted to be associated with alleged violations of the [US] constitution.”

The former NSA officer says the FBI has access to “basically the emails of virtually everybody in the country,” including all members of the US Congress. “No one is excluded,” he insists.

“So, yes, this can happen to anyone. If they become a target for whatever reason… the government can go in, or the FBI, or other agencies of the government, they can go into their database, pull all that data collected on them over the years, and we analyze it all. So, we have to actively analyze everything they’ve done for the last 10 years at least.”

Binney further emphasized that FBI does not filter the email messages but collects and stores all email messages and when a person becomes a target, his or her entire email records are pulled out and sifted through for the desired information.

“I don’t think they are filtering it,” said Binney. “They are just storing it. I think it’s just a matter of selecting when they want it. So, if they want to target you, they would take your attributes, go into that database and pull out all your data.”

The intelligence analyst also said that email surveillance by the US government is “getting worse” under President Barack Obama, who backed the building of an enormous data storage facility in Bluffdale, Utah, spending “over two billion dollars” on “storage room for data, which means they are collecting a lot more now and need more storage for it.”

Binney further suggested that top US spying and military officials, former CIA Director David Petraeus and Commander of US-led forces in Afghanistan John Allen, were also targeted by the US government through the exposure of their email communications.

“Whatever the reason or the motivation was, I don’t really know, but I certainly think that there was something going on in the background that made them (US government agencies) target those fellows (Petraeus and Allen). Otherwise why would they be doing it? There is no crime there.”

“The central [US] government defines what is right and wrong and whether or not they target you… They are violating the foundation of this entire country… and they are not living up to the[ir] oath of office,” the former US intelligence analyst concluded.