New FBI director defends Obama's surveillance program

Google – AFP, Chantal Valery (AFP), 21 Sep 2013

FBI director James Comey, who says he supports Obama's surveillance

program, pictured in Washington on July 9, 2013 (Getty Images/AFP,

Mark Wilson)

WASHINGTON — The FBI's new director says he supports the government's electronic surveillance program as a useful, "legal" tool, even though he opposed eavesdropping activities under ex-president George W. Bush.

Two weeks after taking over at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey said in an interview with AFP and several other news outlets that President Barack Obama's controversial spying policies were needed to counter a "metastasizing" threat from Al-Qaeda.

With the network's core leadership weakened in Pakistan, the threat posed by Al-Qaeda had evolved, he said, with affiliate groups cropping up around the world and "self-radicalized lonewolves" -- homegrown extremists feeding off internet propaganda -- posing a threat within the United States.

The former federal prosecutor and Republican, who towers at six feet eight inches (two meters) tall, comes to the job amid a firestorm over far-reaching surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA) and concerns over privacy rights, following dramatic leaks by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

"It is both a useful tool and a tool that is circumscribed by all kinds of checks and balances," Comey said.

Former FBI director Robert Mueller 

after a farewell ceremony in his

 honor at the Department of Justice

 on August 1, 2013 (AFP/File, Saul

Loeb)

"Its challenge is to find a space in the American public life to talk about how those things work."

He called for public discussion to address the role of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which reviews the spying, and "all the fences that are around this, why this is lawful and appropriate" under the US Constitution.

During his time in the Justice Department under the Bush administration, Comey clashed with the White House in a now famous showdown over the legality of a domestic eavesdropping program.

According to Comey's account to lawmakers and The New York Times, White House officials tried to persuade the then attorney general, John Ashcroft, to approve the program while he was ill and undergoing treatment in a hospital, even though he had already decided to reject it.

Comey got word and raced to the hospital, and managed to prevent White House officials from pressuring the attorney general into approval.

The program, created in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, authorized the NSA to eavesdrop -- without a court warrant -- on telephone and online communications outside America even if the other end of the communication was located inside the United States.

The program was suspended in 2007 after a public outcry and oversight by the surveillance court was restored. Revelations from Snowden have shown the NSA has since overstepped its authority for domestic spying in numerous cases, but the agency insists those were unintentional mistakes.

"I'm comfortable with it," Comey said.

"It's important to find the right balance when the government needs to collect information when it's lawful and appropriate, with public concern about privacy."

It was vital to have a public debate on the issue, said Comey, adding "I think that's healthy."

He predicted the issue will inevitably makes its way to the Supreme Court, but Comey said he believes the surveillance and data collection does not violate the privacy rights enshrined in the Constitution's Fourth Amendment.

Comey said recent moves to declassify NSA documents on data collection were useful as "people can actually see" and understand what the government is doing.

But, agreeing with statements from US intelligence chief James Clapper, he said there was also the danger that it could cause extremists to change the way they communicate.

"I share those concerns, it's a very big deal," he said.

Sitting in the office of his predecessor Robert Mueller, who served for 12 years as head of the vast law enforcement agency, Comey said without a doubt his "top priority" was tackling terrorist threats.

"I wake up every morning with it. I go to bed at night with it," he said, adding that he would continue Mueller's work transforming the bureau into an "intelligence" agency to detect terror plots.

Not long after starting as director, Comey was in the spotlight as his agency carries out an investigation into Monday's shooting rampage at the Navy Yard in the heart of Washington, which left 13 dead.

Gunman Aaron Alexis, a former Navy sailor turned defense contractor, died in an exchange of fire with police and so far authorities have found no link to terrorism or extremist groups.

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Archangel Michael: Expect Miracles - Part 3 The Reval, NESARA, President Obama and Containment (An Hour with an Angel with Archangel Michael)

goldenageofgaia.com, Steve Beckow,  August 7, 2013

“… SB:  Okay. Thank you for that.

Now, we have about four minutes before we run out of time, and this is a bit of a complex topic. But Matthew Ward told us in I think his June message that Obama is working with the galactics; that there are galactics in the National Security Agency; that the National Security Agency was gathering evidence on the Illuminati, and that explains why Obama was supporting the… well, if not supporting, then not doing something about the spying of the NSA. It’s really directed at the Illuminati.

Can you talk a little bit more generally about Obama’s working with the galactics? And if you can — I mean, you may not be able to, but if you can — on the galactics in the other agencies and what they’re doing to bring forward a cleansing of those agencies, please?

AAM:  Let me say that your star brothers and sisters, the galactics and the inter-galactics are everywhere. And yes, they are certainly very deep within the administration not only of the United States but might we say most powerful nations, and those that you would not even deign as powerful.

So yes, of course Obama is working with the galactics, and he has been for some time. And that partnership has been important. Now, there have been some very rough patches, and we would be remiss if we did not mention them. But it is not yet time to discuss the fullness of those rough patches. They will come to light.

The purpose of what you think of as spying has been, yes, targeted to Illuminati or those who are not acting in the best interests of the collective, whether it is the United States, Israel, Botswana, Switzerland, Germany, Russia — it does not matter.

There are more of your star beings, your brothers and sisters on the ground than you can fathom. And one of the reasons why this approach… not only has the approach been taken to assist in this shift, it has also been taken to anchor that energy fully and completely on Gaia.

So, the vision of a fleet of starships arising, or coming across the horizon and causing fear has been circumvented. Look to the person standing next to you and look in their eyes. There is a very good chance that you are looking at one of your star brothers or sisters.

SB:  Wonderful. Thank you very much, Lord. …”