because gone to n.s.a.up to ten times in the last few years asking them for information asking them for them to make anything that they're doing public to be held to some sort of transparency standard and they just won't comply and we believe that given the choice of these two alternatives that we would much we would much greatly prefer the civilian agency than the military yet you know i think a lot of critics would argue that by doing this by having so much unknown and always keeping it secret in the name of national security it's sort of cheapens what you know the things that do need to be kept secret in the name of national security when there's such a sweeping you know this is used and overused i think it could be argued as you mentioned the only place really that we know anything anything about this is in this washington post article. but in that article it says that you know it effectively enables the military to act more aggressively to thwart cyber attacks so let's talk bigger picture here i mean d

national security presidential directive fifty four which is a very long way of saying this is the n.s.a. cybersecurity authority that was issued under president bush we have a lawsuit going right now to pursue that document and we thought the logical extension was now if the n.s.a.'s authority is even creasing even more to try to get the public to see their increased in authority as well let's go to backtrack a little bit and talk about why cybersecurity legislation has not been able to pass in congress i mean if you look at the senate bill the recent senate bill that failed this had the backing not only of most of the democrats and have the backing also a senator joe lieberman an independent and republican senator susan collins so i guess what are the political arguments here against this well there are two camps in the cyber security legislation world there is the camp that would like to see the department of homeland security had cyber security operations in the united states on this is a civilian agency they have very specific obligations they have much more transparency the militar

i do and i am a former member of the board member of the n.s.a. it is their responsibility they are charged with keeping the markets fair not only for their brokerage firms themselves because they can be ripped off by customers. rogue traders as an example as well as customers and clearly the n.s.a. just walked away from many duties. ok and resident the they're going to was on the board and they treated him with kid gloves and that's a great point you bring up which is that russell was on the board of the n.s.a. and you hold them accountable you want to hold them accountable for what you consider gross negligence these guys are not paid by taxpayers they are not a government regulatory body though they're given some of this authority by government regulators you want to sue what did you find well it's really interesting what i found is this this group that really set themselves up they went to the commodity futures trading commission and let's set ourselves up they've been drawing salaries to president of well over a million dollars a year and you

and you can watch out full interview with n.s.a. with veteran and was a blower in a few minutes right here on r.t. . the west controversial use of unmanned drones in hot spots around the world looks some to go on but with the british government out of helping a new technology. found out some locals close to the testing ground share the government's excitement. for victims in tribal regions of pakistan yemen i'm just gonna stand it's the last sound heard before bloodshed in syria is a constant wiring that gets louder before it becomes visible but for residents of the quiet coastal town of aba porth in west wales the sound is synonymous with daily life this is the area where the r.a.f. tests its watch keep a drone from as you can see there's one taking off behind me as we speak in good weather the drones take off throughout the day and during the night and as you can hear the noise is so high pitched and dominating that local residents have called this area the buzz box. for local people the noise. and whining noise send they fly over

government's ability to spy on its own citizens with the n.s.a. that's when and when live between us off of the soap like. it's perched atop a judge a rock and a view from the tobolsk prevalence stretches far as the eye can see. for a city that chilled all of siberia for centuries. it lost its economic importance even before it was bypassed but a chance i bear in railway but the a spiritual center. seems like these are a yearly occurrence thousands of orthodox worshippers implicity water to commemorate the baptismal jesus. there when you will about wore them it doesn't matter if it's minus thirty it's a siberian tradition i do it myself every year for everyone to overcome their worst fears it is desirable to take the plunge. but that's picture postcard churches the story of a city built by opportunist explorers political exiles and crafty fur traders in the fifteen eighties the russians had only just conquered siberia taking it from the muslim. surrounded by enemies the balls to be their stronghold constructed on top of the city but soon enough it

in his declarations in the court about the eighteenth the facility in san francisco documented the n.s.a. room inside that ace t.n.t. facility where they had narrowest devices to collect data off the fiber optic lines inside the united states so that's kind of a powerful device that would collect everything that was being sent it could collect on the order of one hundred over one hundred billion one thousand character e-mails a day one device. so that gives you an idea of the magnitude of the kind of collection that's going on well you're saying they sift through those are healing in so billions of e-mails i wonder how do they prioritize i mean is it like foreign nationals first what what's the how do they prioritize how do they i think trip i don't think they're well first of all i don't think is in the filtering they're just going to store it all ok so then it's just a matter of selecting it when you want it so if they want to target you they would take your attributes and go into that database and pull out all your data that's what i was going to ask are they reading my e-mail. i shou

right he has launched an unprecedented war on whistleblowers most notably thomas drake the former n.s.a. senior executive who exposed a massive illegal warrantless domestic surveillance program taking place at the n.s.a. and as these charts show some forms of phone surveillance have increased more than sixty percent under president obama and some forms of internet and e-mail surveillance have spiked more than three hundred percent during this administration on top of that president obama signed the national defense authorization act into law on new year's eve of last year which included section ten twenty one giving him the power to use the military to indefinitely detain american citizens without a trial if they're just suspected of cordoning with terrorists you know when we think of americans when we think of undecided voters we think of americans in the middle who are trying to figure out whether they support president obama or mitt romney we really think about the voters on the left who are undecided because they really can't stomach voting for a president with a kill list to spying

urge work to listen to the wisdom of former homeland security secretary michael chertoff and former n.s.a. chief general michael hayden from the previous ministration from president bush's administration david wrote the following we carry the burden of knowing that nine eleven might have been averted but the intelligence that existed at the time we do not go. should be in the same position again when those cyber none end of levon him it is not a question of whether there's little happened it is so question of when. well senator collins certainly isn't alone and her cyber fear is as we've seen cyber security has been a very hot topic and washington not only here on capitol hill but we heard from defense secretary leon panetta waiting cyber threats acquitting it to the threat of nine eleven also saying that cyber pearl harbor is looming if congress or government officials do not take action on cybersecurity is really being hyped as one of the biggest threats to our country at this time saying that cyber threats could cripple our infrastructure and cause widespread chaos and affect everythin

and the n.s.a., all would see drastic research funding cuts. half of the automatic federal spending cuts slated to begin in january hit the department of defense. we are one of the most defensive states in the country. maryland is very much in the crosshairs of the fiscal cliff. economist innerbun basue points to one of baltimore's crown jewels -- john's hopkins university. it would take a big hit because it's the leading recipient of n.i.h. research grants. the fiscal cliff isn't just about spending cuts. tax increases would have to happen, too. since maryland is considered a higher income state, more money would come out of more of your pockets and also we have more investment income. capital gains and dividend tax rates are scheduled to rise january 1. if congress and the president don't come up with a solution, experts predict maryland will be in a recession by early next year. george lettis, wbal-tv 11 news. >> as we explained the fiscal cliff in greater detail, particularly how we got here and what happens if the deal isn't reached, that'

fortunately at n.s.a. we have some tremendous experience of the we've got good people that are involved in it. but very frankly, if we're going to stay on the cutting edge of what's happening with regards to the changes that are occurring, we have got to invest more. i've got to have the very best and keith alexander is a bright guy. he's capable person. but i've got to make sure that behind him are young people who understand what the hell this is all about and can guide us in order to ensure that we protect this country in the future. this is a complicated area. it's not easy. and, thankfully, what's most disturbing of all is that every time i try to get help from the congress, they kind of walk away from this issue. they just refused to pass in the congress legislation that would assist us in dealing with the whole cyber arena. i have got to have -- i have got to be able to have the private sector working with us when it comes to these issues, to develop that kind of partnership. and unfortunately, i ca

and n.s.a. is unbelievably good. they're the best in the world at what they do. we have to make sure there's a proper relationship. i think the administration, the previous administration has established the means of doing it but it not to be the idiosyncratic answer to one administration to the other. it ought to be institutionalized so people can rely on it. second, we need to create a platform of trust and competence and experience between the public sector and private sector to be able to utilize the information that is -- that comes to one or the other. what do i mean by that? when the federal government learns about attacks that are taking place, cyberattacks that are taking place in one place, they ought to give it to other parts of the public sector so they can protect against it. at the same time we ought to set up a platform to establish that confidence so that the private sector will feel better about giving their information to their government so they can help them protect against that attack and let others know that that attack might be there. that

fortunately at n.s.a., we have some tremendous experience. we've got good people that are involved in it. but very frankly, if we're going to stay on the cutting edge of what's happening with regards to the changes that are occurring, we have got to invest more in that area. i have to have the very best. and keith alexander is a bright guy and capable person, but i have to make sure that behind him are young people who understand what the hell this is all about and can guide us in order to ensure that we protect this country in the future. this is a complicated area. it is not easy and what is most disturbing of all, every time i try to get help from the congress, they kind of walk away from this issue. they just refused to pass in the congress legislation that would assist us in dealing with the whole cyber arena. i have got to have -- i have got to be able to have the private sector working with us when it comes to these issues to develop that kind of partnership and unfortunately, i can't have the private sector help us provide information