When it's about the NSA one never knows what's true or false. But like those good stories that arrive by email, some are so good we don't want to check them for fear that they're wrong.
Here's one at Glenn Greenwald's website written by Peter Maas, titled The NSA Has An Advice Columnist. Seriously. It's about "Ask Zelda" in SIDtoday, the NSA newsletter type bulletin. (SID is the Signals Intelligence Directorate spy shop within the National Security Agency.)
Mr. Maas reproduces a letter from a NSA employee who complained because his/her boss is constantly spying on the letter writer and the other employees and even uses snitches. Zelda's advice is quite good. Here's an excerpt:
Dear Silenced,
Wow, that takes “intelligence collection” in a whole new – and inappropriate – direction. …. We work in an Agency of secrets, but this kind of secrecy begets more secrecy and it becomes a downward spiral that destroys teamwork. What if you put an end to all the secrecy by bringing it out in the open?
Sigh. If only the NSA could see how their spying on the American public is contributing to this same downward spiral of trust of the government.
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