Yeah, I want to work at the NSA, where the Bush Administration orders you to break the law, and then when things turn against them, they say that the abuses were because of a few "bad apples" and they haul you and your coworkers off. What person in their right mind would want to work in government under Bush and risk getting sent to jail for something that he initiates?

The only thing I remember form my first day at work in the Commerce Department over 25 years ago was raising my hand and swearing to defend the constitution. It wasn't much of a ceremony - three new employees lined up almost casually who were told to raise their hands and repeat the words. But it represented an expectation and a duty that isn't required in other lines of work. I think that is what should make government work special and should be emphasized in recruitment - the first and highest duty of every employee is to defend the constitution, and that is more likely to be against small domestic encroachments than external enemies.

Steve, are you trying to appeal to the Dems "base"? The ad says it clearly: NSA is an equal opportunity employer and abides by all applicable EMPLOYMENT laws and regulations. It's about employment laws! And it's just an empty phrase anyway...

Read the Economist piece on 'The paranoid style in American politics' (p. 46): "The problem for America's left is not the lack of justified complaints about Mr. Bush. It is that their paranoid style-with its propensity to exaggeration and conspiracy-mongering and its inability to distinguish between justified complaints and hysteria-means that their cries are seldom listened to except by people who suffer from the same affliction. Which is sometimes a pity."

God bless the NSA! If America didn't have the NSA, we'd be up the creek without a paddle. So what if the NSA doesn't follow the law? The dang laws were put in place by the dang Democrats anyway to keep our glorious president from doing his job. What would America do if you woke up tomorrow morning and the dang terrorists were in your beds? You'd all wish that you hadn't given George Bush so much crap about his breaking the law. Dang Democrats anyway. If Americans were trustworthy in the first place, George Bush wouldn't have to be spying on you so, stop being so danged untrustworthy. It's those danged Democrats I tell you. Obstructionist and danged unpatriotic.

I'm all for national security -- but not won at the expense of this country's democratic norms.

Rather than saying that you are looking for "intelligent and imaginative people" to "protect U.S. information systems", the line should be that you are looking for such people to protect the Constitution and Democratic government as well as the general welfare and liberty of the American people.

Steve, I would say then that you are then not the ideal sort of job candidate the NSA is seeking.

The NSA is looking for people who are attracted by the prospect of transgressing the boundaries to knowledge that contain the rest of us mere mortals; of being given the liberty to satisfy to their heart's content their lust to know what is really going on. They don't want people who are encumbered by all sorts of self-imposed inhibitions on knowledge gathering related to patriotism, moralism, affection for our democratic way of life and respect for the privacy of others. They want Eves, not Adams.

These are the people who are most likely to be driven to find ways of acquiring all the knowledge that is protected, encoded, secreted away, forgotten, communicated discreetly or stealthily, and held closely by elites.

The first paragraph uses the word "intelligence", or "intelligent" five times. The ideal NSA job candidate is a person with the following sort of self-image: "I'm a fucking genius. I'm far more intelligent than the average person. And my powerful imagination allows me to think way outside of the boxes that contain other, more inferior intelligences. The world is an open book for me. I must join the elite intelligencia, the privileged ranks of Those Who Know, where I will be free to satisfy the boudless needs of my vast intelligence."

Between when the USSR collapsed and 911, the NSA was being re-tooled by both the Clinton and Bush Administrations to provide large U.S. companies doing business overseas and maintaining lobbies in Washington with the sort of intelligence presumed to be provided their competitors by the otherwise also somewhat redundant European intelligence shops.

In this the French (our main source of reliable counter-terrorist information) were the Main Enemy, the British were not our allies or, at least, not our cronies, and both Israel and Saudi Arabia were exempt from surveillance or analysis.

The Israelis were able to play us with bogus and self-serving counter-terrorism and counter-proliferation information, while the Saudis were able to provide cover as well as funds for al-Qaida.

Nobody has been fired for any of this: "Hold Harmless!"

Both the cowardly "moderate" wing of the Democratic and corrupt "extremist" wing of the Republican party were and are mutually complicit in this. Or, so it seems to me.

The NSA, in any event, is their or, in my case -- a moderate Democrat -- our creature, not really a principal in this nightmare.

Too late!! I've already "visited".

Pssst. (Do you suppose that's why my computer is so slow)?

What scares me most are people like Cletus Omerica...

The editorials and op-eds lately seem so sad and pathetic--why is it even necessary to have to explain to the readership, to American citizens, the difference between an American democracy and a monarchy? The difference between a government for the protection of citizens' rights, instead of a government for the protection of those in power?

Down with the King! (Is that treasonous chant enough to trigger the NSA data mining bots?)

Tell me that the mispell of eletrical was a typo on you part, not the NSA; pleeeeeze. omigod,omigod! We're toast!!

In a kinda related subject, for a laugh, it turns out the CIA realizes it's been using black highlighters all these years. (Satire)

I talked to a former NSA cryptologist once. He mentioned how we're exposing all our confidential information to the world by sending it in clear text over to India for processing.

Medical transcribing, tax returns, phone records, insurance claims are all there for anyone to pick out of the ether.

Anyone in the telecom field has assumed any overseas calls have been subject to monitoring for decades.

As exposed as we are by commerce I doubt the NSA thinks they were doing anything different. Not that I'm defending it, I'm just saying this is just the tip of the iceberg.

"Taking the path never traveled."

This path has been well traveled: by the KGB, the Stassi, and the Gestapo.

Great catch Steve. I couldn't agree more.

NSA is looking for intelligent and imaginative people to produce foreign intelligence information and protect U.S. information systems.

isn't that the problem in the first place ??

"imagining ... intelligence information"

isn't that the same as "sexing up" the intell, "making the facts fit the arguemnt"

when does the cia op "Suicided Tendancies" begin ??

Mike, above, has a good eye; "eletrical".

Let's see how long it take them to correct that.

Steve,

One thread that ties the wire tapping without a warrant and Treasongate together is a sense that the Adminstration thought itself above the law. If Bushco was breaking the law by torture, wire-tapping, etc., etc., etc., it is easy to see there was nothing to hold them back from revealing Plame's identity, just because it was a crime. Small potatos, in fact.

Steve,

As for the cookies issue, I've posted this information on Federal websites and the use of cookies, which goes back to the regulations from the OMB site and the relevant legislation circumscribing data collection on all websites operated by the US government or on behalf of the US government.

It was not that long ago that NSA(No Such Agency) was not an admitted part of the government. And now they have ads in the paper. As I was doing the IAD-LAX trip a bit ago I noticed that a guy across the way had a NSA polo shirt. It was surprising that they are going that public, but I suppose it's consistent with the advertising in the paper.

The cookie thing is a bit of a red herring. The cookie couldn't really help the NSA track you all over the web... not without the help and cooperation of the browser manufacturer. It would be apparent even without the source code because it would leave evidence behind that developers, even ones like me, could find.

Perhaps they're super clever... they are the NSA, after all. I'm not worried about the cookie thing, though.

Google "ForeseeLoyalty" (no space)

It is a cookie that appears or has appeared on at least five different Gov't websites including DOJ and the IRS. Odd name for a cookie.

Steve -- Just surfed over from the old Global Pardigms blog and he gave you a good word. Stop by GI and hear what Kristol said to Bush. You may laugh, or you may not. It's just a test. Best.

But regarding the NSA - the problem is less with the violation, but with the feeling that it is ok or useful to violate the law, in some sort Kingly way. This is a bizararre notion, worse than Nixon's bizaree idea to dress White House Usher's like Hohenzollern Nobleman's Protective units.

"Has anyone seen Sam Lowery?"

well stated, Steve.

Yeah. Cookies don't work the way you're implying that they do. The browser sends them back to the server when making a request. Internet ad agencies can use them to track you on other websites, because many sites have content served from, say, doubleclick.com. The only way the NSA could do this is if other web pages had nsa.gov content. And you couldn't hide that, because it wouldn't work if it was hidden.

Just in case you haven't seen it; letter to Congress regarding NSA/Bush illegal activities:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x92335

this might be a little off topic but has anyone else heard about this new law? and what can we do to get it recinded? and why isnt the media talking about this?

Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime.

Posted by lurgis

Ok folks, if I get obnoxious, just remember, my name is John Smith.

I worked with a mathematician who was a former NSA employee and I found him to be one of the most moral and ethical people with whom I've dealt. I also did a very minor bit of consulting for the NSA at their FANX facility back in the middle 1980s and didn't find anyone there to be particularly bent on destroying our liberties or listening in on our phone calls.

It's not the people of the NSA who are screwing up -- it's the leadership of this country.

OT: I just read Peter Bergen's on-line excerpt in Vanity Fair.(http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/articles/060109roco01)

It certainly puts the lie to BinLaden and Saddam's supposedly cozy relationship. Should be a good book. The format and writing is well done.