from RT Website
and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director
Michael Hayden (Reuters/Larry
Downing) At a recent debate concerning the National Security Agency's bulk surveillance programs, former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden admitted that metadata is used as the basis for killing people.
The comments were made during a debate at Johns Hopkins University, after Georgetown University Law Center professor David Cole detailed the kind of information the government can obtain simply by collecting metadata - who you call, when you call them, how long the call lasts, and how often calls between the two parties are made.
Although NSA supporters often claim such metadata collection is permissible considering the content of the call is not collected, Cole argued that is not the case, since the former general counsel of the NSA, Stewart Baker, has already stated metadata alone is more than enough to reveal vast amounts of an individual's personal information
Writing in the New York Review of Books, Cole elaborated (you can also watch his explanation around the 14 minute mark of the below video):
Hayden paused after making this statement - around the 18 minute mark of the video - and then qualified it by adding,
Presumably, when Hayden emphasizes "this metadata," he is referring to the information collected from American citizens.
As RT reported in February, the US is already using metadata to select targets for drone strikes around the world.
In a report for the Intercept, an unnamed drone operator - backed up by documents leaked by Edward Snowden - said the agency analyzes metadata as well as mobile-tracking technology to determine targets, without employing human intelligence to confirm a suspect's identity.
According to Cole, the realization that the NSA is collecting such vast amounts of information has prompted action from both Democrats and Republicans in Washington.
Last week, two committees in the House of Representatives recently voted unanimously to support the USA Freedom Act, which would bar the NSA from collecting metadata in bulk. The data would remain in the possession of telecommunications companies, only to be accessed by the government if it can prove reasonable suspicion to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
As noted by Cole, however, the bill doesn't address all the facets of the NSA's surveillance program.
As its currently written, the Freedom Act only applies to American citizens, not foreigners who are also under surveillance, nor does it address what he termed the NSA's,
As RT reported previously, the NSA designed at least two encryption tools offered by the security firm RSA - one of which was made the default option, and which allowed the NSA to easily infiltrate computer security systems.
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