Former NSA Technical Director Tells German Committee Spy Agency Has “Totalitarian Mentality”

William Binney worked at the National Security Agency (NSA)
for 40 years, and warned about the agency’s constitutional
violations of people’s right to privacy and due process before and
after leaving the NSA in 2001. In 2007 his home was raided by the
FBI during a leaks investigation. This week Binney testified before
a special committee of the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, that is
looking into the NSA’s spying activities in the country and
Germany’s own intelligence services’ complicity in those
activities.

Deutsche Welle reports:

Testifying, Binney accused the NSA of having a “totalitarian
mentality” and wanting “total information control” over citizens in
breach of the US constitution. It was an approach that until now
the public had only seen among dictators, he added.

Mass collection was “senseless” and did not help in
counterterrorism, and actually hindered the agency’s capabilities,
Binney said.

The NSA represented the “greatest threat” to American society
since the US Civil War of the 19th century, Binney added.

German media also report that the NSA targeted Internet users
who encrypted data or tried to remain anonymous on the
Internet.

Watch a Reason TV interview with Binney from earlier this year
below: