Retired agent says bureauās Obama-era leaders ignored privacy, cost warnings, may have retained program for āpolitical espionageā
The FBI agent who ran the bureauās warrantless spying program said Wednesday he warned ex-Director James Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe that the program was a useless waste of taxpayer money that needlessly infringed Americansā civil liberties but his bosses refused to take action.
Retired Special Agent Bassem Youssef ran the FBIās Communications Analysis Unit from late 2004 until his retirement in late 2014. He told Just the News he fears the deeply flawed program, which was started in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, was allowed to keep going to give Americans a false sense of security in the war on terror and possibly to enable inappropriate spying, such as that which targeted President Trumpās 2016 campaign.
āI have no doubt, or very little doubt, that it was used for political spying or political espionage,ā Youssef said during a lengthy interview for the John Solomon Reports podcast.
Youssef confirmed that the FBI performed an audit of the highly classified program (also known as the NSA program because it searched call records captured by the National Security Agency) after Edward Snowden leaked its existence.
The audit showed that while the program had generated two moderate leads for counterterrorism cases, it had not helped thwart dozens of terrorism attacks as officials had claimed, despite costing tens of millions of dollars per year.
In fact, the program was generating large numbers of āfalse negatives and positives,ā Youssef said.
The audit, he added, also showed āthere was collateral damage in terms of civil libertiesā of Americans whose phone records were unnecessarily searched or who were falsely identified as connected to terrorism.
(Excerpt) Read more at justthenews.com ...
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Maybe Graham can call him a āwhistleblowerā and put him before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Over two years ago, long before Superheroes Vindman and Ciaramella, this guy was a whistleblower with the courage go public. He was summarily dismissed and ignored by the press, congress, Mueller. Republicans controlled both houses of congress, yet there was no hearing for this Agent. I have complained about the lack of FBI people willing to step up, but I guess they know what happens when you do.
Wonder if this guy knows the name and what happened to Phillip Haneyed?
The FBI agent who ran the bureauās warrantless spying program said Wednesday he warned ex-Director James Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe that the program was a useless waste of taxpayer money that needlessly infringed Americansā civil liberties but his bosses refused to take action.
Retired Special Agent Bassem Youssef ran the FBIās Communications Analysis Unit from late 2004 until his retirement in late 2014. He told Just the News he fears the deeply flawed program, which was started in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, was allowed to keep going to give Americans a false sense of security in the war on terror and possibly to enable inappropriate spying, such as that which targeted President Trumpās 2016 campaign.
āI have no doubt, or very little doubt, that it was used for political spying or political espionage,ā Youssef said during a lengthy interview for the John Solomon Reports podcast.
Youssef confirmed that the FBI performed an audit of the highly classified program (also known as the NSA program because it searched call records captured by the National Security Agency) after Edward Snowden leaked its existence.
The audit showed that while the program had generated two moderate leads for counterterrorism cases, it had not helped thwart dozens of terrorism attacks as officials had claimed, despite costing tens of millions of dollars per year.
In fact, the program was generating large numbers of āfalse negatives and positives,ā Youssef said.
The audit, he added, also showed āthere was collateral damage in terms of civil libertiesā of Americans whose phone records were unnecessarily searched or who were falsely identified as connected to terrorism.
(Excerpt) Read more at justthenews.com ...
----------
Maybe Graham can call him a āwhistleblowerā and put him before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Over two years ago, long before Superheroes Vindman and Ciaramella, this guy was a whistleblower with the courage go public. He was summarily dismissed and ignored by the press, congress, Mueller. Republicans controlled both houses of congress, yet there was no hearing for this Agent. I have complained about the lack of FBI people willing to step up, but I guess they know what happens when you do.
Wonder if this guy knows the name and what happened to Phillip Haneyed?
