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Curated research library of TV news clips regarding the NSA, its oversight and privacy issues, 2009-2014

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Primary curation & research: Robin Chin, Internet Archive TV News Researcher; using Internet Archive TV News service.

Speakers

Michael Hayden
Former Director of the NSA and Director of the CIA
CNNW 07/31/2013
Burnettt: Tool collects nearly everything a user does on the internet. And the article (The Guardian) explained “a top secret national security agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization, through vast databases containing e-mails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals according to the documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. “ True? Hayden: Yeah, and it’s really good news and let me tell you why it is.
Michael Hayden
Former Director of the NSA and Director of the CIA
CNNW 08/29/2013
Blitzer: (information from Edward Snowden, detailing the $52.6 billion, what’s called, black budget, of the U.S. Intelligence community.) This was always kept secret, how this money was spent. It's now been out there. What, if any damage, do you believe was caused by this report? Hayden: We'll have to see. I read the story that was posted, all right? And that talks in general figures, what the CIA budget was, what the NSA budget was, and so on. That causes some harm, but not a great deal of harm. But I’ve been told, you go to the website and start clicking on things and get down to specific operational activities. That could be very, very disruptive.
Michael Hayden
Former Director of the NSA and Director of the CIA
FOXNEWSW 12/01/2013
Wallace: Is there anything we can do about it? Hayden: Well, it's very, very hard. This is, Chris, I'll be very candid with you, this is catastrophic for the safety and the security of the American nation, what this very narcissistic young man has done. Wallace: and to that degree, is it a good insurance policy and should the lesson be, lay off Snowden because you don't want this doomsday cache to be revealed? Hayden: No, I wouldn't think that's right either. That's a bit like a negotiating with terrorist, I don't think we ought to do that either.
Michael Hayden
Former Director of the NSA and Director of the CIA
KQED 05/13/2014
Narrator: But the White House wondered, "Would General Hayden go out on a legal limb and continue the program?" Hayden: David Addington calls me and says, "Are you willing to do this without the signature of the Attorney General? With the signature of White House counsel Al Gonzales and authorization from the president?" And I thought and I said, "Yes." Narrator: Hayden and Gonzales say their willingness was informed by something that happened just before the Addington call. (explosions) Audio of TV reports: In Madrid this morning, more than 190 people were killed... After at least ten simultaneous bomb blasts... Narrator: It was one of the worst terrorist attacks since September 11. Series of bomb attacks at three train stations during... Hayden: Given that starkness of the al Qaeda threat and given the ambiguity of the situation, I thought the correct operational, legal and ethical decision was, "All right, we'll do this one more time
Michael Hayden
Former Director of the NSA and Director of the CIA
KQED 05/13/2014
Hayden: Could we get a court order to authorize this? And so we began a very aggressive program with the chief judge of the FISA Court at that time, Judge Kollar-Kotelly, to take that part of the program that had been stopped and present it to her to see if we could get an order to allow that program to go forward. Lizza: Hayden personally meets with Judge Kotelly of the FISA Court on two Saturdays to make the pitch, to explain how they are going to do this. And Kotelly eventually rules that this is legal: that the NSA can indeed collect all of the Internet metadata going to and from the United States. And they used this authority that previously was used to trace numbers going to and from a single telephone... for everybody.
James Risen
NYT National Security Journalist
KQED 05/13/2014
Lichtblau: It was a bit shocking, not only that he was calling him, but also that he got Hayden on the line. Risen: I read him, like, two paragraphs of the draft of the story. Risen’s story: "Months after the September 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others..." Risen: And you could hear, like, a sharp intake of breath, like... (gasps) You know, it was almost like he was... He didn't want to say it, but he was like, "I can't believe you got that story." Hayden: I think this is a very bad thing. There is a reason we keep intelligence sources and methods secret. It's the same reason journalists try to keep their sources and methods secret. You know, you can't survive unless you keep them secret. Risen: I'd caught him off guard, and he had started to confirm it, and then realized what he was doing, and hung up.
Michael Hayden
Former Director of the NSA and Director of the CIA
CSPAN2 05/24/2014
Hayden: What happens to the billing records is actually really important. I didn't make this phrase up but I'm going to use it. They're put in a lockbox, all right? They're put in a lockbox at NSA. Twenty-two people at NSA are allowed to access that lockbox. The only thing NSA is allowed to do with that truly gajillion record data field sitting there is that when they have what's called a seed number, a seed number about which they have reasonable articulable suspicion that that seed number is affiliated with al Qaeda, you roll up a safe house in Yemen, he's got pocket litter and it says here's his al Qaeda membership card, he's got a phone you've never seen before - gee, I wonder how this phone might be associated with any threats in the united states?
Michael Hayden
Former Director of the NSA and Director of the CIA
KYW 10/12/2014
Stahl: He (Michael Hayden) acknowledges the NSA program was "unarguably inconsistent" with the 1978 law prohibiting the agency from eavesdropping on Americans without first obtaining a court warrant. Hayden: it was warrantless, but not unwarranted. It would've been irresponsible for NSA not to have done this in the immediate aftermath of the attacks of 9/11. Stahl: but it was eavesdropping on Americans? That was the story. Hayden: you know, one has to choose words carefully here, all right. We were allowed to intercept international calls. Stahl: Had to be overseas. Hayden: Had to be overseas. And we already had reason to believe that one or both ends of the call were affiliated with al Qaeda. Stahl: Besides, government lawyers assured him that the president's authority as commander-in-chief trumped the 1978 law. in their view, the program was both legal and constitutional, though, he acknowledges, just barely.
Michael Hayden
Former Director of the NSA and Director of the CIA
KYW 10/12/2014
Hayden: Hey, I knew we were playing up against the line. Stahl: So, what you're telling us is that you went into this knowing that if it came out... Hayden: oh, god, yes. Stahl: ...there'd be questions of legality? Hayden: Of course, and appropriateness and abuse. Stahl: That's why you didn't want it to come out? See, that's what Jim Risen says- - you didn't want to be embarrassed. Hayden: Let me... let me turn it, okay? Jim's going to go to jail. Why? Because Jim wants to protect his sources. We're both in the same business- - you and me, Jim and me. You have sources who remain productive only as long as you can protect them from exposure. Exposing our tactics, techniques, procedures, sources, and methods harms us as much as Mr. Risen would be harmed if he were forced in court to expose his source.
Michael Hayden
Former Director of the NSA and Director of the CIA
KYW 10/12/2014
Stahl: So you would not be pursuing Jim if you had the decision to make? Hayden: Frankly, Lesley, I don't understand the necessity to pursue Jim. Stahl: you're shocking me-- that the former head of the NSA is saying that it's coming down too hard. Hayden: I’m conflicted. I know the damage that is done, and I do. But I also know the free press necessity in a free society. And it actually might be that I think, "no, he's wrong. That was a mistake. That was a terrible thing to do. America will suffer because of that story." But then I have to think about, so how do I redress that? And if the method of redressing that actually harms the broad freedom of the press, that's still wrong. The government needs to be strong enough to keep me safe, but I don't want it so strong that it threatens my liberties.
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