RE: New View on Conspiracy Theories
August 10, 2013 at 11:37 am
(This post was last modified: August 10, 2013 at 11:39 am by Mister Agenda.)
The only thing that was a secret was the extent of the surveillance. The NSA has always spied on American citizens when given the approval of the Attorney General (when I was assigned to the NSA) or FISA Court, but post-9/11 their remit to do so has been steadily expanding.
Note how different this is from many alleged 'big C' conspiracies regarding our government: it was arguably legal given the vague parameters of the Patriot Act, it was arguably in the best interest of the country (to prevent terrorist acts), it's just a day at work for most NSA employees (In God we trust, all others we monitor), and it involved no violence on American citizens. The NSA is considered on of the most secret organizations in America and couldn't keep the extent of their domestic activities a secret for ten years.
This doesn't erode my skepticism about conspiracy theories. If there had been one about domestic NSA surveillance, by now it would include 'spy rays', disinformers patrolling the interwebz, and mysterious deaths of people who had the proof that would have exposed the whole thing.
Note how different this is from many alleged 'big C' conspiracies regarding our government: it was arguably legal given the vague parameters of the Patriot Act, it was arguably in the best interest of the country (to prevent terrorist acts), it's just a day at work for most NSA employees (In God we trust, all others we monitor), and it involved no violence on American citizens. The NSA is considered on of the most secret organizations in America and couldn't keep the extent of their domestic activities a secret for ten years.
This doesn't erode my skepticism about conspiracy theories. If there had been one about domestic NSA surveillance, by now it would include 'spy rays', disinformers patrolling the interwebz, and mysterious deaths of people who had the proof that would have exposed the whole thing.
