NSA Whistleblower Explains Chilling Interview: 'Everyone in the U.S. Is Under Virtual Surveillance

William Binney, a whistleblower at the National Security Agency (NSA), had his life turned upside down after revealing to the public just how much information the United States government is gathering on its citizens.  He says the most recent wave began after September 11, 2001, but that it has only accelerated in recent years.

A 32-year veteran of the agency, Binney had the title of senior technical director and was considered one of the foremost mathematicians and code breakers in the business, according to a documentary featured in the New York Times.  He quit, however, after the NSA started using programs it had developed to spy on foreign governments, to spy on Americans.

He has not been silent since his resignation, and is warning Americans from every platform he can find.  He recently gave a chilling interview to Russia Today, and then spoke with TheBlaze TV.

With Russia Today, Binney reiterated how the government is collecting information on everyone, not just national security risks and suspected national security risks.  Then, if you become a target "for whatever reason," he explained, " the government can go in-- or the FBI, or other agencies of the government-- they can go into their database, pull all that data collected."

And with hundreds of thousands of pages of regulations these days, you are doing something wrong.

Here is a partial transcript from the interview:

RT: You blew the whistle on the agency when George W. Bush was the president. With President Obama in office, in your opinion, has anything changed at the agency, in the surveillance program? In what direction is this administration moving?

WB: The change is it’s getting worse. They are doing more. He is supporting the building of the Bluffdale facility [in Utah], which is over two billion dollars they are spending on storage room for data. That means that they are collecting a lot more now and need more storage for it...

[...]

RT: It seems that the public is divided between those who think that the government surveillance program violates their civil liberties, and those who say, 'I’ve nothing to hide. So, why should I care?' What do you say to those who think that it shouldn't concern them?

WB: The problem is if they think they are not doing anything that’s wrong, they don’t get to define that. The central government does, the central government defines what is right and wrong and whether or not they target you. So, it’s not up to the individuals. Even if they think they aren't doing something wrong, if their position on something is against what the administration has, then they could easily become a target.

RT: Tell me about the most outrageous thing that you came across during your work at the NSA.

WB: The violations of the Constitution and any number of laws that existed at the time. That was the part that I could not be associated with. That’s why I left. They were building social networks on who is communicating and with whom inside this country. So that the entire social network of everybody, of every US citizen was being compiled over time. So, they are taking from one company alone roughly 320 million records a day. That’s probably accumulated probably close to 20 trillion over the years.  [Emphasis added]

Here is the video, via Russia Today, for more:

When Binney appeared on TheBlaze TV on Tuesday, co-host Pat Gray asked whether he had any fear for his safety, being one of the few people who has had access to the top levels of the NSA to go public with the information.  There are several others, but Binney says he believes he is just doing his duty as an American.

"I feel I'm doing the job that a citizen is supposed to do, standing up for the Constitution and the rights of the people," he said humbly.

Binney proceeded to explain the transformation he witnessed within the NSA-- how the program would go from graphing the social networks of potential terrorists, to compiling such graphs on everyone.

At first, he tried to change the organization from the inside:

"I was working with several others [within] the NSA who were with me in this, trying to get the government to address the unconstitutional and illegal activity that they were doing... but we were basically totally unsuccessful in getting them to even recognize that they should change their ways and start doing things legally, out in the open, in a constitutionally acceptable way."

Binney then discussed the recent resignation of Gen. David Petraeus over an extra-marital affair, and how his private communications were intercepted.

"As far as the actual government goes, [adultery] is not a high crime and misdemeanor here," co-host Stu Burguiere weighed in.  "It's sort of secondary, and they'll go to that extent to out somebody who may have had a political issue.  That's frightening."

Combine that with the government's friendly relationship with Google (and Google's work to be able to predict your future actions), the history of big government, and this government's willingness to declare its political opponents enemies and terrorists, and it would be foolish not to be concerned about the course we're on.

Watch the entire interview from TheBlaze TV, below:

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