I'll Post, They'll Read

As I move into my final weeks in Brussels I am realizing each work day how much I am learning about the US government and its activities abroad. The shocking thing about this “insider knowledge” is that it is all publicly accessible, but like so many things in government, is amongst mounds of boring and useless information. I am speaking specifically here about the role of the National Security Agency spying on European Citizens and governments.

On my first day in the office, Kinga called me in and explained a few things about what working for her would entail, they were as follows: they were not going to speak English unless speaking to me for efficiency purposes, I was not to relate any private affairs of the office to anyone, that she was greatly displeased with the decision of the NSA to spy on Europe and finally, that it would be my task to keep the office up to date on the nature of the revelations coming from Snowden and other whistle blowers. I was to do this through attending the regular meetings of the LIBE committee.

Kinga is the vice chair of a parliamentary comity called LIBE. LIBE is essentially the “homeland” department and covers everything from food regulation to defense and migration. This committee has also been holding a series of bi monthly meetings regarding the nature and extent of the USA's espionage activities in Europe and what the implications are for US-EU relations. A large part of my job is to attend these three hour meetings and “take minutes” or summarize the major points in a way that is easy for Mrs. Goncz to look over.

A brief note on practicality; it is not easy take to take notes in parliament for three hours straight and manage to catch every parliamentarian's name between the switching of translators and accents. It is an exercise in Tower-of-Babel building.

The fact that I am the one taking notes and that often, truly for good reason, Mrs. Goncz is not in attendance is a frightening thought; frightening because the information I am writing down needs to be heard by everyone, especially those who have some power to stop it. I'm further distressed that looking around the room, I have yet to see another Furman student sitting in on these hearings; having to watch these hearings has been one of the most influential parts of my internship.

The most thoroughly disturbing meeting which I have attended thus far was a whistle blowers conference. The first hour was testimonies by Edward Snowden's lawyer, an organization which pays people like that lawyer and other facilitators of whistle blowing activities. These first individuals were honestly somewhat boring and I'm sure most listeners tuned out. But the second and third hour were testimonies by a former NSA agent, a former NSA senior staff member and a former MI6 agent. Every single person in that auditorium was riveted by what they said. They first detailed their knowledge of what the US government and British government are compiling in terms of data. What they collect is called “meta-data” which raw information, examples being: who you called/emailed/texted across all common communication sites and services, where the sender and recipient were geographically, the time of the communication took place. That may seem like trivial information, but when you realize that using everything single call being made around the globe being tracked, you could find out a great deal of information about the intended nature of that communication. The obvious next question is: how would you live-monitor all those sources, the answer is you cant. What you can do however, as explained by a former chief analyst with the NSA is store it. By storing this information on every one you allow yourself enough circumstantial evidence to incriminate most Americans who have had contact with persons outside The States through two means. Firstly it must be understood that with this data they can say “you emailed a big time business person in Dubai who has contact with a rebel leader in Yemen,” your contact may be unrelated to the Yemenis person, but your call to Dubai can be reason enough for all of your communications to be monitored legally under.....drum roll...ficsa court rulings and by default The Patriot Act.

The Patriot Act which passed shortly after September 11, 2001 changed the definition of an enemy of the state from a person of a certain origin, or a person practicing espionage to simply "terrorists." Laws that are on the books to prevent spying are being used to arrest whistle blowers under the presumption that the revelations like those of whistle blowers aid terrorists.

A I'm watching these people testify my thoughts exactly are “this cant be real, I listen to the news all the time and I have not heard a thing about this;” the answer as to why we are in the dark emerged quickly. According to the former MI6 agent, the primary people being threatened with incarceration under the Patriot Act at this point are not whistle blowers, not terrorists, but journalists. More journalists have been censured under the Obama administration than any other presidential administrations to date.

I still have five weeks in this internship, so there may be more revelations in the coming hearings and I will be interested to hear what is being said. But the most worrying thing about all of this information, is that any person can access it online for free. The government simply relies on our disinterest  in taking the time to hold them accountable, thus they feel they can do anything and take any of our civil liberties and we wont react as long as we feel safe and our lives are convenient.

There is a lot more information where this has come from, the links are provided in this blog...will you go and watch them? Is it your civic duty? Your personal responsibility as a citizen who wants to be free? That is decision yours to make.