NSA Triage

The National Security Agency, which currently employs up to 1,000 systems administrators, is planning to drastically cut back on the number of people holding this position, Gen. Keith Alexander said during a cyber-security conference in New York City.

“What we’re in the process of doing – not fast enough – is reducing our systems administrators by about 90 percent,” Alexander informed.

“We’ve put people in the loop of transferring data, securing networks and doing things that machines are probably better at doing,” he added.

  RT

So what you’re saying is, your tax-payer budget has been seriously bloated by paying private contractors to put 6-figure employees on your payroll.

The Obama Administration released a seven-page document on Friday intended to justify the NSA’s mass surveillance programs and correct media “inaccuracies.” A memo included in the report alleges that the National Security Agency only “touches” 1.6 percent of the internet and of that figure only 0.025 gets analyzed by the organization.

"If a standard basketball court represented the global communications environment, NSA's total collection would be represented by an area smaller than a dime on that basketball court," the memo says.

  RT

And what countries’ populations lie inside that dime? The US, we know. Brazil, we know. Germany, we know. Britain, we know. And surely some Middle Eastern countries. And I’m sure we can trust the NSA to employ the proper coinage. And what do they mean by “analyzed”? And “touch”?

In a move to placate public suspicion in the wake of former CIA employee’s leak of classified information, the document claims the Obama Administration has done everything possible to keep the public informed.

“The administration has provided enhanced transparency on, and engaged in robust public discussion about, key intelligence collection programs undertaken by the NSA,” the memo reads.

Oh, Jesus. What’s the point of commenting on that?

June 13: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISC, ruled Wednesday that it has no objection to the release of a 2011 opinion of the court, which found that some of the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs under the FISA Amendments Act, were unconstitutional.

  IBTimes

And we’re still waiting.