well coming up on r t s a whistleblower edward snowden six asylum in iceland the man who revealed the n.s.a. is expanding surveillance program still remains in hong kong with his move to iceland up in the air and look at that story coming up the expanding surveillance state has given serious bank to defense contractors so much of the government's intelligence gathering relies on private sources to go through data collected a look at how big surveillance leads to big bucks coming up. just days away from a student loan interest rate doubling a group of senators are trying to come up with a deal to avoid the increase but will that happen more later in today's show.

it's friday june twenty first five pm in washington d.c. i'm margaret howell you're watching r t we serve the hour with new developments unfolding about how to get the n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden out of hiding in hong kong one man with connections to the anti secrecy organization wiki leaks has chartered a two hundred forty thousand dollars private jet to transport snowden to iceland where supporters hope he will be granted asylum the twenty nine year old mysteriously escaped to hong kong after leaking secret documents for the guardian newspaper that describe two of the n.s.a.'s surveillance programs and has been in hong kong ever sence for more on who is spending big to save snowden here's our teasels wall. well the man who exposed secret u.s. surveillance programs is on the run but many of his supporters are trying to fight for his freedom icelandic businessman olafur girvan since says he has

a private plane ready to fly snowden from home kong to iceland the businessman has ties to the whistle blowing web site wiki leaks he told reuters that he may be able to fly snowden to iceland as soon as tomorrow if the country's interior ministry grant snowden asylum and confirms that he will be extradited to the u.s. and was formerly the c.e.o. of data cell an icelandic company that processed donations for wiki leaks i spoke to the c.e.o. of the company today who described the obstacles the company has had in getting funding to wiki leaks he said quote every payment processor we asked refused us even got one telling us that we were blacklisted by the card companies so fact is that we are being pushed out of business for our data center and hosting business just because we took the freedom to help a totally legal news organization named wiki leaks to process donations for them all the way and now helping snowden is no longer working for a data cell but the company is still fighting to be able to get funding through the website meanwhile an organization here in d.c.

raising money for snowden's defense is raising money first its defense a spokesperson for the progressive change campaign committee told r.t. that they're not funding this flight but as of today the organization has raised twenty thousand eight hundred eighteen dollars for his legal fees that's from one thousand donations with the average donation being around twenty dollars so several small donations mostly from members of the committee also to face prosecution if he steps foot in the u.s. after admitting exposing secret government surveillance programs while he has his supporters some government officials have publicly condemned snowden's actions she's running. absolutely he's a traitor what do you think. i think he's a traitor and some tough words for edward snowden. he's a traitor. sell as government officials call for his prosecution the former defense contractor remains in hiding in hong kong avoiding for the time being facing the

consequences here and the u.s. and washington lose wall r t. do you recall our coverage of terrance brown that alleged bank robber that requested the n.s.a. hand over their surveillance records to prove he was innocent brown asked the n.s.a. it's release his phone records to prove he was nowhere near where a robbery took place in broward county florida as it were it appears the n.s.a. is only in the business of using the information they have a list of collected to prove people are guilty not innocent for more on that here's our tease political commentator same sex. according to n.s.a. whistleblower bill benny the government has collected as many as twenty trillion emails and phone calls be longing to americans so what this means is the n.s.a. is essentially a backup server for the nation's entire store of communications both over the phone and the internet so if you email the photos say of your pug dogs first bath well

the n.s.a. may have that photo somewhere in its database and now that we're all finally becoming aware of the n.s.a. surveillance and storage capabilities questions arising about who should have access to this trove of data and how it should be used for example in florida a man suspected of bank robbery is demanding that the n.s.a. turn over any phone records it may have on him to prove that he was nowhere near the location of the robbery he's accused of committing after all it's against the law for prosecutors to withhold evidence that could prove the innocence of a defendant but the government claims it doesn't have the particular phone call information in that even if it did it would be classified information and thus the defendant wouldn't be allowed to see it anyway so the n.s.a. so far is unwilling to go on a fishing expedition through its records to find what could be exonerating evidence for defendants but they are more than happy to hand over what could be

incriminating evidence to appropriate law enforcement agencies according to one of the latest edward snowden leaks published by the guardian on thursday the n.s.a.'s own grammatical error written guidelines used to minimize data collection on american citizens say quote a communication identified as a domestic communication will be destroyed upon recognition unless the director of the n.s.a. specifically determines the communication does not contain foreign intelligence information but is reasonably believed to contain evidence of a crime such communication may be disseminated including you. noted states person identities to appropriate federal law enforcement authorities again i don't know why there's so many errors in that statement but the key thing here is notice how the document doesn't say evidence of a crime of terrorism or evidence of a threat to national security or anything it just says evidence of

a crime so let's say you text your friend who may have had too much to drink the night before to make sure he drove home safe that could be evidence of the crime of drunk driving in the us the n.s.a. can keep that text message or let's say you're organizing a protest against i don't know the n.s.a. surveillance operations and you send an e-mail with plans to stage a sit in in the street at the n.s.a. headquarters that's technically illegal so the n.s.a. can keep that e-mail to. not only vatican to hand over this information to the f.b.i. and the f.b.i. can do with it whatever it likes but again evidence held by the n.s.a. that might prove you're innocent of a crime that's top secret you can't have that now this is really important we've been told all along that these surveillance programs are aimed at foreign individuals in the name of national security but collecting data on american citizens that could implicate them in crimes ranging from jaywalking to drunk

driving to civil disobedience seems to have no bearing whatsoever on national security and instead to seems to be just another tool for law enforcement to slant our criminal justice system away from the accused and toward the accuser and for those who say this sort of surveillance doesn't bother them because they're not doing anything wrong just remember there are thousands and thousands of laws on the books and evidence that you may have broken any one of them is enough to get your e-mail and your phone calls put in the n.s.a.'s massive database and washington same sex r.t. you've all heard by now of the n.s.a. spying on its citizens and just exactly those carrying out their dirty work turns out u.s. contractors are making some serious bank in the surveillance game companies like raytheon and booz allen have been paid by our government to spy on you just how

long is the n.s.a. been farming out the spy jobs though defense contractors that make up the spy community are major players in cyber security aren't his her mental lindo has more . it's now become an all invasive twenty four seven security complex. where the leaks by edward snowden have raised privacy concerns worldwide over the national security agency and who it's tracking they've also shed light on the influential companies in the u.s. surveillance state so this is an enormous state complex with a lot of money changing hands and snowden's former employer booz allen hamilton is in the scrutiny for its close ties to d.c. insiders like director of national intelligence james clapper does the n.s.a. collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of americans. no sir. it does not. not wittingly. james

clapper used to work for booz allen hamilton now into his predecessor who previous director of national intelligence now works at booz allen hamilton that's the classic revolving door it's not just booz allen who's profiting from spine traditional defense contractors like boeing northrop grumman and as a i see are making big bucks on intelligence s.a.i.c. as locations worldwide including sunny southern california. the contractor thrives thanks to billions of dollars in government contracts as c. is also behind the n.s.a.'s failed trailblazer program the costly and invasive surveillance project that was exposed in the early to thousands so by whistleblower thomas drake staggering amounts of money are being made off the fear mongering since nine eleven you now have an entire industrialized scale mechanism by which a number of contractors are feeding off and it's it's

a lot of money the contractor is considered to be one of the major private players in the cyber security industry and employs tens of thousands of people worldwide and here in california. dozens of jobs are available involving intelligence and high security clearances we've seen multiple countries basically start beefing up their cyber security both governments and companies the twenty thirteen budget for u.s. intelligence is nearly seventy two billion dollars it's estimated seventy percent of that money is going to private contractors the intelligence community is bamboozling congress and the administration they are telling them that we have to do this in order to find the bad guys in the networks and i just absolutely false the top contractors who analyze data for the pentagon and the n.s.a. have contributed more than sixteen million dollars to members of congress since two thousand and seven according to research by map like a campaign cash to both democrats and republicans so with both parties this

security national security complex is deeply embedded with a revolving door that's corruption the u.s. government is defending its intelligence programs as legal and as americans except the increasing privacy intrusions contractors with friends in congress will keep cashing in on the growing market of cyber surveillance. in los angeles. our tea party is from england and joined me earlier from l.a. i started off by asking him just how much money these contractors are making off the u.s. government to go after our data well true number can really not be quantify when we take a look at the intelligence budget for last year here in the united states it was seventy two billion dollars and that's actually lower than at the height of eighty billion dollars which was back in two thousand and ten but when you really take a look at it back in one thousand nine hundred seven we're only spending twenty seven billion on intelligence twenty seven billion compared to seventy two billion

so since nine eleven the industry has really grown exponentially and we know how long this has been going on. yes while this really has. blown up after nine eleven and with the installment of the patriot act it has really led to a lot of policies which have opened up this surveillance state here in the u.s. and really at the bottom of this is the perceived conflict of interest where we see government officials going back and forth between contractors and there's this perception that they're influencing policy they're overselling true national security threats in order to make a buck remote i have to tell you it does look like one another example of the revolving door situation that we've seen for a while now booz allen hamilton employees are n.s.a. and they seem to go round and round but let me ask you a question playing devil's devil's advocate here why do critics believe that private security contracts for surveillance are dangerous why would that be

a bad thing. sure well besides these these perceive the conflicts of interest there's still the issue of people like snowed in others who have these top security clearances it's estimated hundreds of thousands of people have these and this all happened with the explosions of contractors being used as for hire spies so besides snowden there's hundreds of thousands of other people who potentially could have access to your personal information whether you're committing a crime or not ok so i want to talk to you now about the risk of the intelligence at the end fluence created. by these contractors what is their influence exactly on the intelligence industry. sure well critics will point to companies such as booz allen northrop grumman s a i c and they take a look at whether these companies are getting these new creative government contracts because they're so effective or is it because they have those close

contacts in d.c. and when we look at those adults in say i see boeing they're both the recipient they're all the recipients of multi billion dollar deals which in the past have shown to go way over budget and many times they are just not effective thomas drake pointed out one of the biggest multi-billion debacle sday c.i.c. was behind so a lot of people wondering if they keep receiving these contracts because they're so good at their job or just because they have certain names in their role of don't zone always great to see you we have to leave it there that was our t. correspondent rym uncle and oh well now the u.s. has pulled out of iraq and has begun the final stages of its military handover in afghanistan expensive equipment including two thousand protective vehicles are being dumped or scrapped well each of these vehicles cost one million dollars so you do the math well this region become the u.s. military dumping ground artie's megalo has brings us that story this is

a historic moment for our country. you hereby announce that as of tomorrow all security and defense of will be led and carried out by security forces it's the moment americans have been waiting for for over a decade the moment when nato forces hand over control to the afghan government and begin the process of leaving the country but with the twenty fourteen deadline looming and the military looking to make its final exit from afghanistan what's going to happen with the billions of dollars worth of equipment remaining in the country a new washington post article sheds some light on the drawdown and it starts with the meltdown of military vehicles we've got about eleven thousand mine resistant ambush protected vehicles and ramps in the country and afghanistan two thousand which are being destroyed turned to scrap metal the claim by the defense department

is that the afghanistan government won't be able to use them won't be able to run them and so it will be more expensive to bring in bring them back to the u.s. about two three billion to transport them eight to nine billion to repair them that general stein's claimed in afghanistan but as a result you're looking at a seven billion dollar waste instead two thousand of these but he myths which by the way cost one million dollars a pop will be melted down and turned into scraps sold for pennies on the dollar in fact the army plans on shipping back no more than seventy six percent of all equipment in the country but one group will profit from this waste it's a perfect couth for the defense contractors because they love it so yeah sure it destroyed the equipment in country it's terrible for the environment terrible it's a slight of it's a slight to the country saying that you can't actually using ten rounds but then it's a great opportunity for defense contractors to build more immature more future it's a project contract workers have already begun to work on last month alone kandahar yard produced eleven million pounds worth of scrap but the obvious question is why

not leave those vehicles to the afghans and that's not the only. concern opponents of the plan have it's a huge waste of taxpayer dollars seven billion gone done no one's benefiting the americans aren't benefiting the afghans are benefiting so it's a huge waste of money it's a huge environmental waste because there's a lot of toxins in those amounts so yeah some of the scrap metal will be used on the market sold for nothing but environmental waste it's huge and in the political ways to mean it's a huge blow to the afghan people to say we don't trust you enough to provide both the equipment and the ability to keep that equipment restored and maintained going forward now this move isn't completely out of line with historical precedents the military left behind millions of pieces of equipment in iraq and moved all the rest to afghanistan well with the u.s. planning its ultimate exit from the entire region the so-called graveyard of empires could soon have another tank junkyard to mark

a decade worth of war and of strife in washington meghan lopez. well now to turkey where protests against the heir to one government can tell you three weeks on a small environmental demonstration over government plans to develop an istanbul park on may thirty first erupted into widespread protest police tactics to quell the uprisings have been criticized for their violence the country's anti-government protesters are big beginning to consolidate their cries into a more directed political message yet the violence continues artie's tom barton brings us the latest from turkey. i've just taken off my gas mask for a minute it's heavy with the smell of tear gas these two police want to count and i have charged into the center of this street going on corrupt dispersing random remember. anything happening in mind a police response heavy handed police response in the eyes of protesters that

protest has been so i'm going about and apos weeks past saying the. prime minister otoh i'm still minister to a poet tarion and the police that are paid all supporting my government all as well and they will do nothing to try and ease back and stood with this effect the politics in turkey upcoming local elections is very much yet to be seen though i'm growing the street is very much continuing on a day to day basis respect to this particular cause riots have become a scene one night a confrontation between the police and protesters. however earlier the way the protest went on until a small out of the whole day without incident yesterday and today. the police response very different with these vehicles charging in and chasing protesters down side streets people used to want to kind of just strip the bomb puppetry and left

deborah over the streets. really not the kind of response people were hoping to see from a police force that has really come in for a lot of criticism from a lot of coldness of turkish society in the last two weeks well those are. still ahead here on our team worries our student loan rate interest congress doesn't act millions of americans will see their payments go up in ten days more on that after the break. i would rather as questions people busy season instead of speak on their behalf and that's why you can find by feel larry king now right here on our t.v.

question more. i'm. all for those of you who are under the burden of student loan debt get ready for your interest rate to spike if congress doesn't stop it interest rates for the most popular type of student loan are set to double in ten days beginning july the first they will go from three point four percent to six point eight percent legacy a big financial burden for the thirty seven million americans who currently have student loan debt as many as sixty percent of students are borrowing money for

college contributing to that one trillion dollars owed by americans and student loans over eighty percent is owed to the federal government sen say that they have a draft proposal that's gaining some steam that would create a three tier of low rate system for undergraduates graduates and a third group which would be tied to an interest rate over a ten year treasury note for more on the senate's latest hattrick to stop the interest increase i'm joined now by steph gray a consumer advocate hi there stuff so how is congress going to help out those americans who find themselves in the crux of this type of debt hi first of all thank you very much for having me on today it's a pleasure to be back with you're welcome you're welcome how are they going to help out those guys stuff i mean what are they planning on doing. well senator elizabeth warren who's a major consumer advocate and originally had the idea for the consumer financial protection bureau she's introduced a new act recall called the bank on students fairness act which would allow

students to borrow from the federal reserve not from the department of education but through the federal reserve via the department of education at the same rate that the big banks get when they borrow from the fed so right now student loan interest is set to double on july first from three point four percent to six point eight percent that's on stafford loans which are the most common type of federally subsidized loans. for the big banks borrowing from the fed directly there is a discount window that allows them to borrow at historically wrote low rates of plain seventy five percent now it's absurd that banks can borrow at point seven five percent homeowners seeking thirty year mortgages are getting three or four percent on their new mortgages and students are going to have to borrow at six point eight percent i mean students are in a very tough position right now where they can't even borrow ahead of time before this july first window change because there's no way to borrow before the school

year begins there's no way to lock in the three point four percent interest rate ok and ultimately what this going what this is going to mean for students is that they're going to pay given a typical ten year repayment plan they're going to pay four thousand dollars more that's an increase of one thousand dollars per year in college and i think the average student could use an extra thousand dollars in his or her pocket. you know stuff you make a lot of sense to me do you think that the fact i want to talk about students and how little power they seem to be having you know do you think that students who don't have that lobbying effort in congress are they getting shafted in deals like these well there's really no incentive for the government to help students out there's no bankruptcy protections on student loans and it doesn't matter if you're broke it doesn't matter if you're disabled or facing health issues you have to prove. economic hardship in a court of law which is very very difficult i started occupy student debt dot com a couple of years ago and collected stories from around the nation hundreds of

people submitted their tales of how student debt affected them from students to former students baby boomers senior citizens all talking about the hardships they faced with possibly losing their retirements losing their homes and being unable to sharjah said bankruptcy and now the department of education has teams of debt collectors are able to track down students and garnish wages garnished tax returns and so on and without the bankruptcy protection there's just no incentive for the government's help students avoid taking out more debt than they can handle taking out with interest rates that they can't handle or even defaulting in the end the current federal government currently makes thirty six cents on every dollar that students borrow and last year alone they made fifty one billion dollars off of student debt lending that's more than any other fortune that's more than any fortune five hundred company that's even more than google made so i mean why help students if they're banking so much off of them there doesn't seem to be a lot of motivation for congress to help out these students i want to talk to you

about that who in congress doesn't want to offer this relief other than the money is there any other reason behind why they're not rallying around these kids to help them. while the republican party has been. in standing in the way of student debt reform john boehner for example his daughter is actually on the board of sallie mae which is the biggest private lender of student loans in the u.s. . ok well if they don't reach a deal what could we see happen. i mean if they don't get all smelly most students will be powerless because in this country you're told that getting an education is the best possible thing you can do for yourself i mean granted there are so few jobs out there for those of us who have finished b a's and mays look at people who haven't even gotten past the high school level you know low income students feel that they have no other choice but to you know either go to college and make something themselves or join the armed forces and wishing repayment for the armed

forces has been cut dramatically as well so you know there are so few options out there not everyone is able to win the sort of scholarships that go to a plus students you know the average students something speak given a fighting chance to be able to go to school make something of him or herself and get out and have their repayment options. thank you stuff for that i want to take you nail you mentioned earlier that you can bankrupt a student loan and you also mention that this debt makes up a trillion dollars we're running out of time here but i want to i want to ask you what advice would you give people who find themselves trapped under this debt. to. reach out to those of us who have been involved in the student debt or advocacy community there are so many resources out there such as forgive student loan debt dot org which is run by robert applebaum there's a fantastic nonprofit organization in d.c. right now called the young invincibles they can help provide resources as to what

to do if you're struggling with your diet and the options are available to staff we have to leave it there always good to see you as consumer advocate stuff. thank you for having me. a florida woman experienced firsthand what a cop shakedown of sorts is so we brought her was driving home after picking up her boyfriend from work and was pulled over by police for a broken headlight in lakeland florida police believe the couple were hiding drugs in the car but what they asked so we to do next belongs in a strip club routine not in a traffic stop he ordered her to raise her shirt and shake her brought more than once to see if she was hiding drugs when no drugs were found the cop reportedly told so away who was in tears at that point and then scarring you you can go home you know well that officer was placed on a four day suspension with pay pending an investigation this dash cam video gives new meaning to the term police shakedowns that's going to do it for nail for more

on the stories we've covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america check out our website at r t dot com slash usa you can also follow me on twitter m underscored j underscore how. technology innovation all the developments around. the future are covered. you believe we. will only welcome the cross-talk or all things are considered i'm peter lavelle is the united states of america.