re: #41 Charles Johnson

He’s got it in for signals intelligence (SIGINT), which is the bulk of what the NSA programs he’s chosen to reveal are about. Never mind that the intel can glean details about trends, emerging threats, etc.

He’s attempting to hold SIGINT to a standard that simply doesn’t exist.

Nations spy.

Nations will spy by any means at their disposal.

Countries without the technological means will rely primarily on human intelligence assets. Those who have tech means will have listening posts, tap lines, etc.

Those, like the US, Russia, and a handful of others will use all those means, plus satellite information to glean as much information as possible.

And all of it is legal.