Haven't seen any diaries yet on this, so thought I'd point it out, as it seems pretty important news. Looks like Keith Alexander spilled the beans Today-- (sorry, can't get the thing to link. So here's the grande version: http://www.theguardian.com/...) -- about some legislation the NSA's been quietly trying to push through, basically a way to shut down our already malnourished fourth branch:
The outgoing director of the National Security Agency lashed out at media organizations reporting on Edward Snowden’s surveillance revelations, suggesting that British authorities were right to detain David Miranda on terrorism charges and that reporters lack the ability to properly analyze the NSA’s broad surveillance powers.
General Keith Alexander, who has furiously denounced the Snowden revelations, said at a Tuesday cybersecurity panel that unspecified “headway” on what he termed “media leaks” was forthcoming in the next several weeks, possibly to include “media leaks legislation.”
Salivating at the thought, Alexander went on:
“Recently, what came out with the justices in the United Kingdom … they looked at what happened on Miranda and other things, and they said it’s interesting: journalists have no standing when it comes to national security issues. They don’t know how to weigh the fact of what they’re giving out and saying, is it in the nation’s interest to divulge this,”
After issuing his ruling that truthful information
is the lifeblood of democracy spells doom for a democracy, he went on:
“I think we are going to make headway over the next few weeks on media leaks. I am an optimist. I think if we make the right steps on the media leaks legislation, then cyber legislation will be a lot easier,”
Sneaky, sneaky, they are:
The specific legislation to which Alexander referred was unclear. Angela Canterbury, the policy director for the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group, said she was unaware of any such bill. Neither was Steve Aftergood, an intelligence policy analyst at the Federation of American Scientists.
Looks like they've got plans for those nasty "accomplices" Clapper goes on about. You know, the ones who dare give us the truth.