Politicians cannot be trusted before or after they are elected to office.

Edward Snowden proved Government’s (politicians) cannot be trusted – WAKE UP AND MAKE THEM ACCOUNTABLE TO THE PEOPLE !

What keeps a person passive and compliant is fear of repercussions, but once you let go of your attachment to things that do not ultimately matter – money, career, physical safety – you can overcome that fear. The Internet should allow people to experience freedom and explore fully what freedom in a democratic society is all about. Washington is not allowing that to be possible.

I do not want to live in a world where we have no privacy and no freedom, where “Big Brother” might be watching and listening to everything I say and do. I do not think Edward Snowden ever wanted to destroy the NSA, but he did want the people to know what was going on so that the people could decide if they were willing to give up their freedom of privacy.

After Snowden returned to the NSA he went to Japan until 2011. He then returned again to the Dell Corporation assigned to the CIA office in Maryland. If Edward Snowden was the loser, low tech computer operator as the Obama administration portrayed him to be why did NSA, Dell Corporation, CIA and others keep rehiring him over and over again?

In 2012 he was transferred by Dell from Maryland to Hawaii that is where he started downloading the documents he thought the world should see. He realized there was one set of documents that would only be available to him by having access to NSA files so he applied and got a position with Booz Allen Hamilton  which gave him that access. He took a large pay cut in order to secure the job.

In 2013 Edward Snowden requested a few weeks off to receive treatment for his epilepsy. He went to Hong Kong telling none of his family or his girlfriend because he did not want to get them involved in what he was about to do. 

Edward Snowden was staying at a Five Star Hotel, paying with his own personal credit card, using his legal name and was not in hiding as the media and government said. He did not choose Hong Kong so he would have ties with the Chinese mainland government. He chose Hong Kong because he knew it was part of Chinese territory and he believed American Agents would not be as free to operate against him for fear of China getting involved.  He never contacted the Chinese government. His ultimate plan was to seek refuge in Ecuador or Bolivia.

Hong Kong was also attractive to him because it had an elected Democratic government, and it was use to being at odds with a major power – China Mainland. It was also a place where dissenters formed big street protest against China. He felt the people in Hong Kong would be more sympathetic to his cause.

Obama had pledged to protect whistle blowers when he campaigned for President, but he did the opposite once he took office. Obama actually waged a war against whistle blowers. The Obama administration has prosecuted more government leakers under the Espionage Act of 1917 than ALL previous administration in the history of the U.S.A.  I think Snowden believed he had to leave the U.S.A. in order to accomplish what he wanted to do. The man did not and does not want to go to prison – who does?

Let us not forget what the Obama administration tried to do to James Rosen at Fox News. They would have done far more to Edward Snowden. He would have been arrested immediately without bail.  

It would be hard for anyone to deny that the New York Times is pro Obama, but they even came out and said, “The administration has now lost all credibility. President Obama’s ‘Dragnet’ proves he will use any power given him and most likely will abuse it.”  The New York Times back down somewhat after the story was released and said they were only talking about what Obama would do with this one issue. We know Obama has abused his power on MANY issues.

Whistle blowers have been abused and prosecuted under the Obama administration. Journalists have been threatened with jail by intimidation. Laws , ethics, morality nor the Constitution has stopped the Bush or Obama administration from violating U.S. citizens’ rights to privacy.

 How many times have we  read or heard the media say that Edward Snowden  “FLED TO CHINA”? Media was doing what Washington ask them to do even if it was a lie. They made it sound as if Snowden was a secret agent for China.  The governments goal was to turn the American people and the world against Edward Snowden.

Washington was involved in economic espionage and diplomatic spying while condemning China for doing the same thing.  Documents Edward Snowden released proved NSA was spying on Petrobras, the SWIFT banking system, the
Russian oil company Gazprom and the Russian airline Aeroflot strictly for economic reasons. The surveillance had nothing to do with terrorism or national security. How many times have you read about or heard Obama condemn China for economic surveillance? 

Prior to attending the Latin America, energy companies conferences in Mexico and Venezuela our Washington representatives made sure they had all the surveillance NSA had collected on Latin America energy companies which allowed Washington an advantage during the conferences. We know this thanks to Edward Snowden.

NSA employs about thirty thousand employees and that does not count the private contractors. It is estimated 70% of our national intelligence budget is spent on private contractors. In 2010 AT&T was paid to spy on Brazil, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Venezuela for the U.S.A.  It is a known fact, thanks to Edward Snowden, that the government , telecommunication companies and tech companies all work together to carry out surveillance. They cooperate with each other to rob us of our Fourth Amendment rights.

NSA does not only pay private contractors for surveillance they pay foreign governments as well. In 2012 they paid the governments of Canada, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Pakistan, Taiwan and Thailand to carry out surveillance for them.  We know this thanks to Edward Snowden. How can we be assured the information these foreign governments give us is accurate. Is this how the “weapons of mass destruction” got started and was used to start a war?

In 2012 Microsoft was advertising they had the ability to guarantee privacy through their new Outlook program. They promised high levels of encryption to its customers. The government became worried and within a few months Microsoft devised methods so NSA could intercept and decrypt the data on Outlook. We know this thanks to Edward Snowden.

The government even has manufacturers to install malware in individual computers before they are sold to the public giving the government complete control of the computer. China does the same thing and the U.S. officials warned U.S. corporations and individuals not to buy computer equipment manufactured in China because they were installing malware at the factory, but we were doing the same thing.  If you bought Chinese products China could monitor you and the U.S. could not so they wanted you to buy U.S. products with U.S. malware installed in them. We know this thanks to Edward Snowden. At the time Edward Snowden released his documents at least 50,000 computers made in the U.S. had this malware installed in them. The New York Times has reported since more than 100,000 computers have this malware installed in them.

NSA has the ability to alter information in your computer even when the computer is not connected to the Internet. We know this thanks to Edward Snowden.

On June 18, 2013, Obama told Charlie Rose: “What I can say unequivocally is that if you are a U.S. person, the NSA cannot listen to your telephone calls … by law and by rule unless they … go to a court and obtain a warrant and seek probable cause, the same way it has always been.” THIS WAS AN OUT AND OUT LIE.

The GOP chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers, around the same time told CNN that the NSA, “…is not listening to Americans phone calls. If it did it would be illegal and they would be breaking the law.” THIS WAS AN OUT AND OUT LIE and Edward Snowden proved it.

To be continued …

Levinson was a spy not a hostage.

The family of the former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran in 2007, has acknowledged he was working as a "spy" for a rogue CIA operation and accused the CIA, FBI and the Obama administration of "betraying" him by not doing enough to gain his release. I would think that anyone working as a “spy” for any country would understand the risk. Levinson was an FBI Agent specializing in organized crime in the U.S. before his retirement and it is said he was a skilled and meticulous FBI agent.  

Anyone who has read my blog knows that I am not a fan of Obama, but I have mixed emotions about the Robert Levinson hostage (spy) case and do not know how much Obama could have done or could do to secure Levinson’s release – if he is still alive. I think it is utter nonsense for some to claim Obama is not interested in the case because Levinson is Jewish.

It was originally reported Levinson was looking into a cigarette smuggling ring for a client of the security consultancy business he had run since leaving the FBI ten years earlier.

Iran denies any involvement in the hostage taking of Levinson and it has been rumored he was being held in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Washington having no evidence of who is holding Levinson, where he is or who holds the key to negotiating his release has not been able to make progress on the case.

The first photographs and video emerged of former FBI-agent Robert Levinson in late 2010. In the video he looked thin, but said he had been treated well by his captors and was badly in need of medicine for his diabetes.  He appealed to the United States government to “answer the requests of the group” holding him. There has since been no evidence that he is still alive.

David McGee, a family lawyer and spokesperson for the Levinson family said, “The CIA and the FBI betrayed Levinson as it tried to hide the fact that he had a long-term relationship with the CIA, spying on Iran's nuclear program and on the terror group Hezbollah in the rogue operation.” Isn’t that normal procedure and you are told that before you take such an assignment. I was in Intelligence Service during the Vietnam conflict and we knew if we were captured in Laos the U.S. Government would deny any knowledge of our being there. You volunteer for those types of assignments you are not forced to take them.

American intelligence officials suspect the Iranian government, specifically its intelligence services, is behind the production of the 2010 images released by the Levinson family as well as a "proof of life" video. Ray Takeyh, a former State Department senior advisor on Iran, told ABC News he believes the Iranian leadership knows where Levinson is.

Dawud Salahuddin an American fugitive was the last person to see missing secret CIA operative Robert Levinson alive in Iran, but he has denied being involved in his mysterious disappearance. Dawud Salahuddin is a suspect in connection with a 1980 murder. Salahuddin fled the United States after the shooting in Maryland of an Iranian exile and he later confessed to the killing and justified the killing by claiming it was a 'jihad’ killing. He also met with Mr. Levinson's family in Iran and claimed to have met with the missing man, but denied knowing anything about his disappearance. I cannot help but believe the meeting between Levinson and Salahuddin has something to do with Levinson's disappearance. It is difficult for me to trust anything Salahuddin would say.  

The CIA paid Levinson's family $2.5 million to pre-empt a revealing lawsuit, and the agency rewrote its rules restricting how analysts can work with outsiders. I do not know if the truth will ever be known by the public and I don’t know if it should be known by the public. The truth could endanger the lives of others. It was obviously worth $2.5 million dollars to keep the facts from coming out. 

Behind closed doors, three veteran analysts were forced out of the agency and seven others were disciplined. The CIA claimed they did not know that Jablonski, one of the three veteran analysts forced out, was paying Levinson to do work for the CIA which was a violation of CIA rules. She should have notified her boss that she had put him on the payroll and they claim she did not.  I would think those forced out and disciplines were simply scapegoats.

Some in the U.S. government believe he is dead. But in the absence of evidence either way, the government holds out hope that he is alive and the FBI says it remains committed to bringing him home.

I believe he is dead and Iran cannot shed any light on the case without admitting to their involvement. What would be the purpose for Iran to continue to hold him now since the truth is known he was a “spy”. How long do you think a person in bad health, as Levinson claimed he was in 2010 live? He has diabetes, was in need of his medication, he has probably has had no lab work or monitoring of his sugar and been eating the wrong food. I am a diabetic and I know what happens when I do not take my insulin at the right time, watch my sugar intake and eat snacks and meals as I am supposed to.

I have a problem calling Mr. Levinson a hostage. He was a spy for the United States and according to international law Iran had every right to arrest him, imprison him and even execute him. My definition of a hostage is a person taken against their will and held for no legal reason. Regardless of the reason a person volunteers for a government top secret job be it the adrenalin rush, money or patriotism you commit to taking the risk of being caught. You understand for national security reasons your government may not admit you work for them. I feel sorry for the Levinson family, but I do not blame Obama or agencies of the U.S. government.