United States of Secrets (2014)

United States of Secrets is a documentary film that was shown on US television (PBS) in May 2014: two episodes of the long-running program Frontline, which focuses on the news (season 32, episodes 9 and 10). Here is some basic information about it:

** Part one – “The Program” - 116 minutes

** Written by Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser; directed by Michael Kirk

 

** Part two – “Privacy Lost” - 54 minutes

** Written and directed by Martin Smith

 

** Both parts are narrated by Will Lyman

** Total running time: 170 minutes

This is the story of the US intelligence organisation the National Security Agency (NSA) and the whistleblower Edward Snowden. Actually, the controversial whistleblower does not feature prominently in this film. He is only seen and/or mentioned in the beginning of part one and at the end of part two. But Snowden and his dramatic decision to leak thousands of classified US documents is an important reason for producing this film about the NSA and its activities.

It is a long and thorough film. Many aspects are covered here. In this review I can only mention a few of them. It is also a balanced film. We get to see and hear both sides of the story as we listen to the numerous witnesses who were interviewed.

On one side we have witnesses who worked for the NSA and/or the government and who defend their actions.

On the other side we have the critical voices. Some of them belong to people who used to work for the NSA, but who became convinced that the NSA was and is breaking the law and violating the US constitution with its massive monitoring of communications all over the world, including communications in the US.

When they speak out against the organisation for which they used to work they are known as whistleblowers, who report waste, fraud or abuse in a government institution. Other critical voices belong to people, who have studied the NSA from the outside and who feel that the whistleblowers support their suspicions about the activities of this organisation.

The list of witnesses is quite long, but it included here in order to demonstrate just how serious and comprehensive this investigation is. Frontline was able to find a large number of people, who were ready to talk about this issue in front of a camera. Some of them are insiders who had high positions in the political and/or bureaucratic system, so we can assume that they know what they are talking about. Here is the list in the order of appearance.

WITNESSES IN PART ONE

** Luke Harding, reporter, the Guardian

** Glenn Greenwald, reporter, the Guardian, 2012-2013

** Barton Gellman, reporter, Washington Post

** Ewen Macaskill, reporter, the Guardian

** Michael Hayden, NSA director, 1999-2005

** Vito Potenza, NSA, deputy general counsel, 1993-2006

** J. Kirk Wiebe, NSA, senior analyst, 1975-2001 (one of the critical voices)

** James Bamford, author of The Shadow Factory (2008, 2009)

** Alberto Gonzales, White House counsel, 2001-2005

** Peter Baker, reporter, New York Times

** Ryan Lizza, reporter, the New Yorker

** Edward Loomis, NSA, cryptologist, 1964-2001 (one of the critical voices)

** Andrew Card, White House chief of staff, 2001-2006

** Robert Deitz, NSA, general counsel, 1998-2006

** Jane Mayer, reporter, the New Yorker

** Thomas Drake, NSA, senior executive, 2001-2008 (one of the critical voices)

** William Binney, NSA, technical director, 1965-2001 (one of the critical voices)

** Porter Goss, chairman, House Intelligence Committee, 1997-2004

** Diane Roark, staff, House Intelligence Committee, 1985-2002 (one of the critical voices)

** Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Chatter (2006)

** Thomas Tamm, attorney, Department of Justice, 1998-2006 (one of the critical voices)

** Michael Isikoff, reporter, Newsweek, 1994-2010

** Jack Goldsmith, office of legal counsel, 2003-2004

** Eric Lichtblau, reporter, New York Times

** James Risen, reporter, New York Times

** Philip Taubman, DC bureau chief, New York Times, 2003-2007

** Bill Keller, executive director, New York Times, 2003-2011

** Siobhan Gorman, reporter, Baltimore Sun, 2005-2007

** Jesselyn Radack, Thomas Drake’s attorney

** Richard Clarke, first: Obama campaign advisor; later: a member of the White House NSA review group

** Ben Rhodes, first: Obama campaign speech writer; later: deputy national security advisor

** Matthew Olsen, director, National Counter-Terrorism Center

ADDITIONAL WITNESSES IN PART TWO

** John De Long, NSA, director of compliance

** Tim Wu, Columbia Law School, author of The Master Switch (2011, 2012)

** Stephen Levy, reporter, Wired, author of several books about computers and the internet

** Ashkan Soltani, reporter, Washington Post

** Stewart Baker, assistant secretary, Homeland Security, 2005-2009

** Andrew McLaughlin, director, global public policy, Google, 2004-2009

** Matthew Green, cryptographer, Johns Hopkins University

** Mark Klein, AT & T technician, 1981-2004

** Chris Hoofnagle, director, UC Berkeley, Center for Law and Technology

** Julia Angwin, author of Dragnet Nation (2014, 2015)

** Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist, ACLU

** Nick Merrill, CEO, Calyx

** Jennifer Valentino-Devries, reporter, Wall Street Journal

** Robert Gellman, privacy expert

** Liz Figueroa, Democrat, State Senator, California, 1998-2006

THE ROLE OF THE NSA

Shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center and other locations in September 2001, the leaders of the US government and the leaders of the NSA met to discuss how wide the scope of NSA activities should be.

When the politicians suggested that it should be as wide as possible, the leaders of the NSA explained that it might be a violation of the constitution to monitor communications within the US. In response, the US president issued a secret order which declared that a wide scope was legal. This project became known as “the Program.” Hence the title of the first part of this film.

As time went on, some members of staff realised what was going on and they felt it was wrong. At first they tried to use the official chain of command to voice their concerns, but they were rebuffed:

“Do not worry about it.”

“What we are doing is legal and effective.”

In 2004 reporters at the New York Times got wind of the issue: was the NSA conducting illegal wiretapping of US citizens? They believed the answer was yes and they wanted to run the story, but when the paper contacted the White House for a comment, they were asked not to run the story. Not because it was false, but because it might damage the national security of the US. The editors bowed to the pressure and the story was dropped. This was not exactly the finest hour of the newspaper. However, one year later, when the reporters had discovered additional evidence, the editors decided to go ahead and run the story in spite of objections from the White House.

During the Bush administration, whistleblowers who spoke about the NSA, were considered as criminals and traitors and they were investigated with much vigour. These investigations were continued during the Obama administration in spite of Obama’s public support for whistleblowers.

One of the whistleblowers (Thomas Drake) was threatened with a sentence of 35 years in prison. This action showed other potential whistleblowers what to expect if they went ahead and spoke out against the US government. In the end, all charges (except one minor infraction) were dropped, because the government realised that they did not have a real case against the defendant.

United States of Secrets is a thorough investigation of the NSA and its activities. The film presents the basic dilemma. On one side we have the national security argument, which says: let the NSA do whatever it can do to keep America safe. On the other side we have concepts such as freedom, human rights, and the right to privacy, which are supposed to be fundamental values of the US political system.

The US government and the NSA say:

 

“We just want to keep America safe. How can you be against that? Why don’t you let us do the job?”

 

The critics say:

 

“We think you are breaking the law and violating the constitution when you monitor everybody and everything without probable cause and without a court order.”

With classified documents released by Snowden, the critics were able to prove their point. They could show that the government was doing precisely what it claimed it was not doing.

Meanwhile, Edward Snowden is living in Moscow. Having leaked thousands of classified documents, and having revealed his identity, he wanted to travel from Hong Kong to Latin America, but when he got to Moscow, the US government revoked his passport, and he was unable to travel anywhere.

The Russian government granted him asylum, so he can stay there for a while. But it is not clear what will happen to him if the asylum is not extended or if he were to leave Russia on a new passport.

CONCLUSION

The information presented in this film is important, some observers might even describe it as alarming and disturbing, but it seems to be credible, because it is supported by evidence and presented by people who seem to know what they are talking about.

If you are interested in the history of the modern world – in particular rise of the national security state and the question of human rights – then this film is definitely something for you.

PS # 1. For more information, see the following films:

** The Spy Factory (2009) (a documentary film about the NSA before and after September 2001, written and produced by James Bamford)

** War on Whistleblowers: Free Press and the National Security State (2013) (a documentary film directed by Robert Greenwald) (the cases of Thomas Drake and Thomas Tamm are covered in this film)

** Citizen Four (2014) (a documentary film about Edward Snowden directed by Laura Poitras)

PS # 2. For more details, see the following books:

** The Snowden Files by Luke Harding (2014)

** No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden and the Surveillance State by Glenn Greenwald (2014, 2015)

Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State by Barton Gellman (to be released in July 2016)

PS # 3. The following articles are available online:

** Brian Lowry, “TV Review: Frontline’s The United States of secrets,” Variety, 11 May 2014

** Lance Dickie, “PBS Frontline’s United States of Secrets must be watched,” Seattle Times, 15 May 2014

** Paul Szoldra, “The Most Interesting Revelations from Frontline’s Powerful Exposé of the NSA,” Business Insider, 20 May 2014

PS # 4. Thomas Drake’s attorney Jesselyn Radack is herself a whistleblower. Google her name to find more information about her and the cases in which she has been involved.

 

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