Government Intrudes on Troops' Privacy

Absolutely disgusting. According to a new report from ABC, thanks to the Patriot Act, the government has been listening into phone calls from troops in the middle east, and passing clips of them around the office. Not just that, but the clips are of private moments between troops and their wives and girlfriends.

From ABC:

Faulk says he and others in his section of the NSA facility at Fort Gordon routinely shared salacious or tantalizing phone calls that had been intercepted, alerting office mates to certain time codes of "cuts" that were available on each operator's computer.

"Hey, check this out," Faulk says he would be told, "there's good phone sex or there's some pillow talk, pull up this call, it's really funny, go check it out. It would be some colonel making pillow talk and we would say, 'Wow, this was crazy'," Faulk told ABC News.

Faulk said he joined in to listen, and talk about it during breaks in Back Hall's "smoke pit," but ended up feeling badly about his actions.

Oh, he felt badly? How about I start listening into the phone calls of NSA staff, and posting the best stuff on blogs, so we can all have a laugh.

Asked for comment about the ABC News report and accounts of intimate and private phone calls of military officers being passed around, a US intelligence official said "all employees of the US government" should expect that their telephone conversations could be monitored as part of an effort to safeguard security and "information assurance."

"They certainly didn't consent to having interceptions of their telephone sex conversations being passed around like some type of fraternity game," said Jonathon Turley, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University who has testified before Congress on the country's warrantless surveillance program.

Turley is right, and frankly, the response to ABC from the intelligence official is a disgrace.

Let me tell you something about being in a warzone. It's grueling, it's mentally taxing, it's hot, you see men blown up and losing limbs. For many, the one bit of calm they have is a brief moment when they thought of their wives or girlfriends back home, who they haven't seen for months.

But it was also agonizing. They could see them in their heads, but they couldn't touch them or smell them.

The best troops have is a brief telephone call sometimes. And, yes, it was as close to intimate as they can get. A tiny bit of good amidst the hell of war.

For the government to think that it was acceptable to listen in and pass around troops' most intimate moments, like some high-tech peeping toms, some satellite-powered voyeurs, is one of the greatest insults I can think of to those men and women in uniform sacrificing everything they have for their nation.

It's good that Senator Jay Rockefeller has started an investigation into this. I sincerely hope that he does not stop until everyone who let this happen is accounted for, and their heads roll. And I hope Republicans, who used to be all about limited government, and who swore to uphold our Constitution and Constitutional rights wake up and realize what's happening.

Our troops deserve a lot better from the government they're fighting for.

Crossposted at www.vetvoice.com

Follow Jon Soltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jonsoltz

Comments

[hopeless277]

If it comes as a surprise that Our Rulers not only despise the troops but actually plot to undermine their safety and well-being, then you just haven't been paying attention. It has been evident for some time to me that The Troops are just an excuse to funnel more money from the US Treasury to The WarBuckers. My evidence? THEY'RE STILL BEING KILLED EVERYDAY FOR NOTHING!!!

[nin]

There have been times when talking to my own son on the phone from Iraq or Afghanistan that I just knew there were others listening in. Frankly, we talked to our son about this before he left for his latest deployment. He keeps the conversation as vague as possible but I know its agonizing for his dear wife to have the extra layer of disconnection from him and he from her.

I am heartbroken for our country. That it is yet one more example of all we've lost these last 8 years. McCain and Palin mock Obama for his call for shared sacrifice as if its some sort of commie comment when the reality is that only 1% of our nation is fighting in these two wars.

Vote. Vote your conscience for either candidate and let's all of us start to undo the damage when that final vote is cast. Let us remember how close we were to losing our dignity along with our privacy.

Godspeed to us all, but mostly to our dear ones who live/work in war zones around the world. And my God have mercy on those who send them; I have used up all my reserves.

[Twopennygal]

Our dignity is already lost. Hopefully, if/when Obama is president we will start to earn some of it back.

[Halfandhalf]

Well said, Nin. Thank you for this post. And I am praying that your son makes it home safely.

In addition to voting, I just volunteered to be a poll worker on Election Day. My zip code is likely to go strongly for Obama but I believe it is now not just a civic duty, but practically a moral imperative, to make sure that every registered person who shows up to vote on Nov. 4 can cast a vote, and that the votes be counted fairly. I encourage everyone to consider doing the same. It's a long day--7 am to 8 pm--but a small sacrifice compared to ones being made by others, every day.

[scoffer]

Perhaps, the point is being missed.
The Bush administration is so paranoid that it can no longer trust its own troops. The administration apparently believes that every G.I. or Marine must be assumed to be treasonous. If it didn't believe this it would target only specific individuals about whom it had concerns. The implication takes the concept of bunker mentality to new depths.

[lisakaz2]

Good point. "Support the troops" indeed.

[Berettasskeeter]

What a load of crap. I joined the Marines in 1970. We were told then that all phone conversations could be monitored. This has been going on since the start of the electronic age. Before that, letters and telegrams were monitored and censored. Get over yourself.
Semper fi

[lisakaz2]

Censored for sensitive info like plans, location and the like. I've never heard of material being passed around for sexual jollies.

[marignymitch]

This is only the tippy tippy top of Patriot Act abuses, you know.

[mouselion]

War is insanity and those brief precious moments spent speaking to a soldiers loved one's should be regarded as sacred islands in the midst of the worst mental/emo­tional/phy­sical/spir­itual hell that can be experienced on Earth. That government employees would use these conversations for prurient indulgence is inexcusable and disrespectful. Soldiers expect that their communications will be monitored in wartime, but not used as pornographic fodder for bored, dull flatfoots sitting behind desks away from the danger. May they be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

[sunny123]

Somewhere, somehow Bush and Cheny need to be impeached immediately. Not only is what they are doing illegal (or it should be), it is immoral. Why would anyone want to fight for this government. Our soldiers seserve more.

Elections are our means of changing a government when we learn the harm it is doing. We must change this callousness and go back to the country we used to be. Please vote Obama Biden.

[Swooper420]

you all watch... as the Shrub leaves office, he'll issue unconditional pardons to everyone starting with Cheney and moving on down the list ...Gonzale­z as another example .... to protect them all from criminal sanctions once they have left office.

That is, if he actually leaves office - 5:2 he invokes NSPD51 prior to January 20, 2009.

[Ymgauna]

Unfortunately Jon, this administration that dared to mess with the constitution and interpret it to serve their agenda will only give you their stock answer and mantra. "We are protecting this country from the extremist.­..and so on and so on. You know the rest by heart. So .. when average Americans even children get stopped at airports because they are on a list...jus­t read the stock answer. When the countless examples of invasion of privacy are being revealed, just read the stock answer. When even our troops privacy is being invaded, just read the stock answer! Sound ridiculous in a free democratic society with privacy rights? Well...thi­nk again...Th­e only way this nightmare that is the Republican admin. is going to end, is for this country to wake up on election day and vote this travesty of an administration and all of their ideology..­OUT!!!

[ICanHasDemocracy]

John McCain did NOT vote for the Hagel GI bill on final pass and voted against it previously. he jumped up and down with glee for the Patsy Riot Act. Then he had the balls to get up in front of the press and claim credit.
That's what a Traitor does.

I'm disgusted that some Langley nose-picker was even passing it on to his buddies for entrtainment. It's like a typical stakeout with guys sitting in a van...only it's not achmed the terrorist bumoin uglies it's some kid from Kansas who misses his wife/gf.

11/4/08 the day we -TAKE BACK AMERICA!!!!

[Rule Of Law]

Where was he on the Home Grown Terrorist Act that was sponsored by that turncoat Californian Rep. woman?

[devildog21]

Jon, your last sentence says it all:

"Our troops deserve a lot better from the government they're fighting for."

They are fighting for the government, not for their country. Do you really believe BushCo has ever respected our troops?

[Rule Of Law]

I had asked John Bruhns this, but missed your last blog cycle and would appreciate a response, especially after this revelation.

It's crunch time. Bush is bringing home a Battalion to police the streets during the civil unrest his agents provocateur will foment shortly before the election. (This troop movement has been reported here and in the Military's own paper)

The event will probably be one of the marches or demonstrations against the mishandling of the Economy and the Republican powered ripoff in the name of Goldman, Morgan, Citi etc. He has in place the NSPD 51 which gives him complete dictatorial power over Every form of police and military in the country. And under the Patriot act, any demonstration can be construed as treason.

This is, of course, my worst case scenario--but the truth is that you don't pass those laws and write those signing statements if you don't plan on using them! And another truth is that Obama may never see DC! Martial Law has a way of changing Everything.

So my question to you--When our boys (and Blackwater thugs from every 3rd world dictatorship) are ordered into the streets to put down what will be termed "A Rebellion," will they remember who they are and their oath to the Constitution, or should we prepare for slaughter in the streets and the trains and buses to begin filling the FEMA camps with the survivors?

Where will our sons and daughters stand when this comes down?

[gdcb1128]

O.K. You have me seriously scared! What do we do????

[lisakaz2]

I say general strike. Stay home, don't work, let everything come to a halt. They can't make you go to work.

[DocTiff]

This outlines the worst case scenario as I envisioned it. I know the battalion you're referencing: theoretically it would be to test out less-than-lethal crowd control equipment and techniques, with an eye towards low intensity conflicts. The potential for misuse is staggering, and there are valid concerns under posse comitatus. They should have hid this kind of thing in a National Guard unit, but instead they give it to one of the most combat-hardened units in service. Ouch.

I don't think that an economic shock would be sufficient to incite this kind of Orwellian nightmare--that would require an external enemy in addition to the panic created by a potential depression. So...you know...not­hing to worry about.

Good news is that even the most objectionable kinds of lifer have a vistigial moral compass. I have tried to imagine, in a series of ever-more improbable scenarios, trying to execute an order to contain a U.S. civilian population. I just can't envision doing it: I'd happily go to Leavenworth to turn big rocks into little rocks first. Or be field executed for failure to follow orders in the face of "the enemy".

Wow, what a depressing series of thoughts.

[Rule Of Law]

thanks, doc. I know it's depressing, but look at the treatment this supposedly pro military regime has given our best and brightest young people and how can you Not be depressed? As for posse comitatus--I'm pretty sure Bush did away with that in either the Military Commissions act of about 2 years ago, or under his NSPD 51, that gives his office power over EVERY military and police department in the nation. Period. And the assumed power to deploy them against our own people.

As I've said, you don't make laws like that if you don't mean to use them. And though Kent State is a lifetime ago, it still makes my skin crawl. Hope you are right about your guys, though.

[Garretto]

What an outrage!!
These ease-dropping A-holes need to brought out into view and have public embarrassment as part of the punishment process!

[TedB]

“You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administer­ed.”

Lyndon B Johnson