Ellen Nakashima of WaPo reports today:
The National Security Agency has pushed repeatedly over the past year to expand its role in protecting private-sector computer networks from cyberattacks but has been rebuffed by the White House, largely because of privacy concerns. ..
The NSA-fueled hysteria about cyber-threats has yielded several privacy-threatening legislative proposals, some which would legalize massive real-time domestic surveillance by NSA. The White House deserves credit for its rejection of this latest attempt to legalize NSA domestic surveillance, and for not buying into NSA's fear-mongering.
. . . the White House and Justice Department argued that the proposal would permit unprecedented government monitoring of routine civilian Internet activity . . . White House officials cautioned the NSA that President Obama has opposed cybersecurity measures that weaken personal privacy protections.
The Obama administration certainly chose a significant issue on which to take a desperately needed stand against the powerful intelligence agency. Giving NSA additional power to conduct domestic surveillance would further erode the already disappearing privacy rights of American citizens.
Since 9/11, the NSA has repeatedly proven incapable of operating within the law and respecting Americans' privacy. Most recently, Jane Mayer's award-winning story on NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake revealed details about the NSA's penchant for extra-legal domestic surveillance and stubborn rejection of alternatives that would protect privacy. This recent infographic from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) shows just how pervasive the NSA's surveillance powers have become since 9/11, and quotes NSA whistleblower (and client of my organization, the Government Accountability Project) Bill Binney, who said:
It's exactly what the founding fathers never wanted.
Today, Nakashima chronicled NSA's power-seeking complaints in WaPo:
More recently, in January, NSA officials expressed concern when the White House blocked draft legislation being prepared by a Senate Intelligence Committee staffer that would enable any government agency to monitor private computer networks for cyberthreats and to take measures to counter those threats, according to administration officials and documents. . . .
A revised version of the bill, which is part of the cyber-legislation introduced in Congress this month, would allow only private-sector entities to monitor networks and to operate the countermeasures.
But even the currently-moving cybersecurity proposals, like the Cybersecurity Act of 2012
(S. 2105) have questionable privacy and civil liberties protections. The ACLU
weighed in on the bill:
. . .the bill is a mixed bag for civil liberties. The good news is that the bill does not include a kill switch; the bad is that it permits companies to share American internet use data with military agencies like the NSA.
With NSA's dismal track record on domestic surveillance, the White House is right to question the NSA's cries for expanded domestic authorities and deserves props for not capitulating to cyber-threat fear-mongering.