EXCLUSIVE: Former NSA Employee Speaks Out About its Corruption
NSA whistleblower, anonymous
At the very least, for the past few months to a year it has become increasingly evident that–although not all–many agencies of the US Federal government have become increasingly dirty, perverse and corrupt and require a deep and thorough cleaning. The US Secret Service has previously been exposed as “including claims of involvement with prostitutes, leaking sensitive information, publishing pornography, sexual assault, illegal wiretaps, improper use of weapons and drunken behavior” and the IRS was caught and admitted to denying Obama’s political enemies (aka “TEA Party, Christians, religious Jews, conservatives) their Constitutional rights while allowing “progressive” groups (aka liberals, leftists, Marxists, Maoists, socialists, communists) theirs. And–love him, hate him or fall somewhere in-between–Edward Snowden shined a very bright light on the unconstitutional domestic mega-spying of one of these clandestine agencies–the National Security Agency. Thus far, under Obama’s increasingly iron rule, few-to-no members of these agencies have even been indicted by Congress for their blatant crimes against the American people.
The NSA appears to have begun as a patriotic organization that was geared toward protecting the USA and its citizens. Whether or not that was its original intended purpose is a subject for discussion and speculation. However, portions of the NSA seem to have devolved into something very sinister. Today’s interview will concentrate on this agency.
A few weeks ago, I came into contact with a former NSA Analyst. Due to a number of substantive reasons, this former Analyst’s identity cannot be divulged at this time and will be referred to as “W.” I have, however, confirmed this individual’s prior employment and credentials via a well-known NSA “Whistleblower.” The information disseminated to me, amongst other things tells a sordid story of corruption and how employees are silenced into submission–via fear–within the agency,
The Interview
Sher: Thanks so much for being with me, today, in order to provide essential additional information to the public on how many of their tax dollars are really being spent. You were employed by the NSA for over two decades. Would you tell the readers what initially attracted you to the agency as well as how it has deteriorated over time?
W: Like many people from families with a strong history of serving our country, coming out of college, I looked to find a way to best utilize my particular interests and talents in service to my fellow Americans. The mission of the NSA it seemed to me, was to stop threats coming to our shores. It’s charter clearly targeted foreign nationals on foreign soil who did or could intend us harm. That appealed to me as a righteous endeavor and honorable tack for my life to take.
Sher: You’ve shared with me how the NSA deals with its employees who bring legitimate complaints to their superiors. How thoroughly intimidating and threatening are their behaviors toward those who balk at their adverse treatment? Would you give a few examples?
W: Apparently the nature of NSA Security degenerated under General Michael Hayden, the previous Director of NSA (DIRNSA), who promoted a very questionable mid-level Security manager to a power position within Security. Hayden had originally been tasked to eviscerate NSA since a very shallow and short-sighted Congress believed that the fall of the Iron Curtain meant no danger existed anywhere anymore that required the existence of a robust NSA presence. There evolved, under him, a gratuitously vicious bully mindset that employees were to be intimidated at any opportunity not only to drive them out of NSA but to cut back on people reporting problems that made NSA look bad, especially problems involving upper management.
Under Hayden and his successor, General Keith Alexander, the filing of complaints to or requests for investigations by the NSA EEO or the OIG (Office of the Inspector General) were often inexplicably blown off despite adequate evidence or the presence of willing witnesses. Then the person who had filed the complaint would be subjected to an out of cycle “reinvestigation” interview with Security as well as polygraph exam, wherein the tone of the Security person was not neutral–as it should be–but, hostile with far-fetched or even ridiculous non-issues presented as potentially problematic. This was a Security shot across the bow to warn the person that he had crossed the line by filing the complaint. If he pursued the complaint, Security would lean on his managers to heavily discourage him from doing what he thought was proper and was indeed a protected action under the law. If he persisted, did his own amateur investigation, or told coworkers about the situation, he might be called down to Security multiple times and accused of being “paranoid and delusional” based on his complaint, and his job threatened.
The worse the infraction reported, especially if a high level manager looked to be involved, the more severe the reaction by Security. In cases of egregious wrong-doing by a manager, Security would review the personnel files, medical files, and financial statements to find anything they could use to threaten or blackmail him with, or pretend to misinterpret some tidbit of information as something it was not.
Some people were forced to sign admissions of guilt of preposterous misinterpretations of facts in order to keep their jobs, thereby killing their credibility and complaint. When nothing was found in such files that could be used, a false accusation of espionage or leaking classified materials ginned up by Security, was used to justify a Security intrusion into the person’s home to search for blackmail material, further assess the interests and personality of the targeted individual (TI), and plant bugs and abscond with an extra set of keys for further intrusions. The more the person objected to being bullied, the more heavy-handed Security became, insisting that hostility toward them indicated wrong-doing on the TI’s part. Thus the TI would become harried and harassed for a crime he never committed, if it ever even was committed, and to repeated accusations by Security Psych services of a non-existent mental illness, more than adequately supported by years of internal, psychological evaluations stating he was mentally sound (Paranoia with delusions is rare and certainly never occurs overnight, but that does not deter a Security psychologist attack dog, whose favorite mode of attack employs reference to this malady).
The more a person stood his ground, the more “personal” it became to Security, which then became dedicated to the personal destruction of the TI. Under the pretext of the fake accusation of espionage or leaking classified information, Security would slander the individual with his coworkers, work friends and managers to isolate him and apply yet more pressure. Many backed away from supporting the TI in fear for their careers and maybe even freedom. Certainly this sent a message to the workforce in the TI’s area that NSA Security was at its essence, a rogue, unaccountable and psychotic entity that was to be greatly feared.
Once NSA Security had decided upon the removal of the TI for failing to be sufficiently cowed, then false evidence was given to the FBI liaisons assigned to NSA. This would engender a fraudulent FISA warrant, which loosed FBI surveillance and investigators upon the person for a few weeks or months, further slandering him to his work and social circles and thereby putting pressure on him by their constant presence. When the FBI would find no basis for the accusation, they would drop the case and move on. However, at that point, Security would send in their own personnel sans warrant, to overtly stalk and harass the TI , 24/7. In some instances, Security has even gone into the person’s neighborhood to recruit “snitches” and augment harassment with hostile civilians convinced the TI is an enemy of the state, based on baseless Security slander. Intrusions would be made into his home to remove gathered evidence or move things around as a psychological ploy and his car would be secretly “GPS’d” to facilitate vehicular stalking and aggressive driving games. There have even been reports of pet murders by poisoning as an escalation of the harassment with the inferred threat that perhaps it could be the TI’s child or himself next. The harassment is essentially elevated until the TI either “breaks” and assaults a harasser or complains to Security about the insane and sadistic, not to mention criminal way in which he is being mistreated. This is what Security planned for and is ready to jump on as their springboard to terminating his employment.
His security clearance is immediately pulled, he is warehoused in a menial job until adequate paperwork and a back-story can be fabricated or forged to falsely present a termination due to mental instability or illness, and the person is fired. Of course there is an appeals process, but it is thoroughly corrupted. No matter how much evidence supports the victim and how little supports NSA, NSA always “wins” these cases where it is clear the person was targeted for dismissal. Of course, this does nothing but embolden more degenerate or criminal behavior while making it clear that the person reporting evil will be considered the problem, and that in reality no labor laws or whistle protection laws can actually protect an NSA employee, because real watch dog entities don’t exist within NSA and state and Federal authorities routinely turn a blind eye to the reported abuses even as they become more criminal and seditious.
I shake my head at sycophant, disingenuous politicians who claim Edward Snowden could have or should have gone through “proper internal authorities” to report the abuses and criminal acts being committed within NSA. Would that be to the thoroughly corrupted, attack dog-watch dog entities, or the thoroughly oblivious or compromised politicians responsible for oversight who are in fact, in the NSA’s pocket due to bribery, blackmail or stupidity?
Sher: The NSA seems to suffer from the some of the same maladies as did the recent outing of the Secret Service. Without becoming too specific, would you give us a general idea as to advancement for sexual favors that have occurred within the agency? How defeating is that to employees who are simply working to protect the country while their bosses are indulging in sexual liaisons with lower level employees?
W: In my career, promotions were always hard to come by, meted out perhaps every five years if you were a good or exceptional worker, but male managers discovered that they held the keys to paradise in regard to attractive or even “acceptable” women willing to take shortcuts. These were the women who would make promotions in stunningly rapid succession with little to no accomplishments – of their own, that is. While others killed themselves with years of grueling shift work or even multiple dangerous foreign assignments only to find themselves evaluated as a 3.6 on a scale of 5, when an attractive, morally loose recent college graduate would receive a 4.8 for essentially alphabetizing a shelf of reference books her first 6 months on the job.
This made many, many people bitter and certainly sent the wrong signal to the hardest workers and the most talented. Though many stopped being as dedicated to their jobs, others did indeed press ahead and worked tirelessly knowing their reward was the mission accomplished and not likely appropriate recognition. Capable men despaired of receiving deserved promotions and women almost feared being promoted for exceptional work, fearing they would be assumed to be one of the typically incapable promotion bimbos among the bloated management. Expertise and knowledge became commodities to guard and not share with new workers, fearing you would not reap the benefits of your own work. This of course created a situation where expertise and insight must be gained and regained from scratch, losing precious time training up area or target experts to the detriment of the mission.
It was very discouraging to see immature or degenerate bosses spending their time flirting and chasing skirts, the very same people who were charged with competently reviewing your work, (keeping apprised of the big picture so people felt free to specialize their research), and whose responsibility it was to accurately and honestly represent their people before promotion boards. But the atmosphere of secrecy, the strict laws about divulging names of NSA employees or anything that occurred there, emboldened certain men to believe that their wives and families would never know of their indiscretions, and turned work time into play time for them. And now apparently young males are also being pursued as sexual toys. One has to wonder what is being missed in the realm of highly perishable intelligence leads by distracted managerial incompetents.
Sher: As an additional example of NSA intimidation, one of the things you’d said may be shared is your experience with the “3 Amigos.” Would you tell us about them?
W: There were three eccentric looking older males who were often seen in the NSA OPS1 cafeteria together, whom we also got to know by word of mouth, as master electricians well-versed in computer science. They were nicknamed by some in the analyst field as “Rasputin”, “Santa”, and “Choo Choo” or “the engineer”, due to their highly unusual appearances and dress. One eye witness being harassed on yet another NSA Security retaliatory witch hunt, reported seeing one of these men at her home, on her property, when she discovered indications that her home had been broken into, her cable box broken into, and her phone hacked, leaving tell-tale clicking sounds at regular intervals whenever she used her phone. Any phone tap done by warrant is done at the carrier’s hub under their auspices and will not “click”, only illegal hack jobs “click”. She noted him not only as a trespasser being somewhere he should not have been, but recognized him by his highly unusual appearance from work. When she attempted to look him up in the NSA data base by career specialty, she found that what should have been his photo, which should have been a source of pride since he was of the rank to be a Flag Badger (Manager whose rank is senior enough to garner a photo with the American flag in the background), was instead a photo of a desert animal called a Meercat indicating that he wanted his identity hidden from the general NSA population.
Sher: With regards to many who have said that the NSA’s collection of meta-data on all forms of communication between legal citizens of the USA is unconstitutional, also indicated is the fact that not one terrorist act has been stopped by said collection. It appears good old-fashioned police work is what still gets the “perp.” In your opinion, is this accurate?
W: I think it is indeed true that the meta data collection ruse within the USA distracts from tried and true research and investigation, which the latter method apparently
did indeed uncover the 9/11 plot months before it happened, well in time to have prevented it, according to two separate analysts with whom I have spoken, one just two days after 9/11 as he broke down and sobbed his heart out, repeating “We could have saved them! We could have saved them! But they wouldn’t let us report it!”, and the other several years later, who maintained the same story of being threatened and forbidden to report any warning about 9/11, then being harassed and fired for a non-existent mentally illness. However, it is a good means to track your political enemies and detractors and their affiliates within the US – for future reference? It would appear much more for the self-preservation and expansion of NSA as the ubiquitous Orwellian Big Brother than for the protection of the USA. With the power the NSA wields, it could easily influence border control issues and immigration issues to make us not as susceptible to terrorist intrusions and infiltrations, but that would undermine their power grab and expansion within the US, something never intended at NSA’s creation – and for good reason.
Sher: As a former long time employee of the NSA, what do you believe–if anything–can be done to correct the problems within the agency?
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper before the Senate Armed Services Committee, AFP photo
W: There is no doubt that NSA is now run by those sycophants and sociopaths who are the least desirable to have in any position of such sensitivity and trust and are purging NSA ranks of people with integrity. Compromising activity that would rightfully cost you your clearance, is now viewed as intrinsic perks of the job once you reach a certain pay grade. These lesser leaders have turned NSA into an American Gestapo Wanna-Be agency. NSA lost its way with non-serious super grade playboys not mature enough for the responsibility of the job of managing and directing NSA,
the problem by promoting sycophants to protect their backs as well as lightweights with whom to have “sexcapades” behind office doors, but in that group also has risen opportunistic sociopaths and psychopaths attracted to more and more power, any way they can get it, and by conniving and ruthlessness have blown past incompetent, distracted management to change the very nature of the NSA from watchman to the American people to jack booted prison guard.
If the Legislative Branch is possessed of anyone with the least bit of courage and common sense, they would demand super clearances for those on the Intelligence Oversight Committees so that years or decades of abusive behaviors, kingdom building, or even crimes can not continually be swept under the rug by telling these particular politicians, “You don’t have the need to know, just trust us.” Obviously, they cannot be trusted. An appointment to that Committee would of course have to become much more exclusive, requiring a thorough vetting as any job with a Top Secret clearance should. But to deal with the toxic management at NSA now, I would require every Flag Badger and Security manager to account for himself and what he adds to the mission. If he is pork, retire him or require him to laterally transfer to another agency. Before that however, I would require that every single Flag Badger and every Security group manager take a polygraph by non-NSA affiliated or non-NSA sympathetic sources to account for the millions of dollars wasted on their vicious and illegal war on NSA employees who dutifully report fraud, waste, abuse as well as sexual predation and treason. Those who are found to be guilty of such things as falsifying accusations against innocent employees; fabricating false witnesses and evidence; engaging in illegal acts of breaking and entering; falsifying FISA warrant justifications; lying to the FBI about a targeted victim’s criminality; falsifying psychological assessments; subverting lie detector exams by screaming at the targeted subject during or just before the exam to create false impressions of guilt; hiding or destroying exonerating evidence supporting their victims’ claims; intimidating or roughing up witnesses; coordinating or participating in criminal stalking and harassment activities, illegal break-ins, illegal wire taps, organizing and paying civilian groups under the table to augment harassment of targeted employees, and lastly, conspiring to effect or cover up any or all of these actions. And any NSA employee in that group who pleads the 5th, should be fired and stripped of his retirement since this type of betrayal rots a country from within. NSA must be recreated, and returned to the stated task in their founding charter of focusing on foreign enemies overseas.
Sher: W, so much of the information you’ve provided is truly astounding!
Thanks so much for being with us today and I hope you’ll be available for another should ongoing events require one.
