Glenn GreenwaldVerified account

@ggreenwald @ryan1729 problem is, you can’t have a viable modern intel org protecting interests without. Can’t have it both ways.

@jkuhnert @ggreenwald what are any checks & balances in govt worth if an organization can unilaterally declare themselves exempt from them?

@ryan1729 @ggreenwald I don’t know, i’m sure someone smarter would have ideas on heady topic. The NSA implemented most optimal solution

@ryan1729 @ggreenwald imagining their only mandated function being spying..and if it was more import to do it well than protect rights?

@jkuhnert @ggreenwald this is not that complicated: no one gets to decide their job is more important than peoples' constitutional rights.

@ryan1729 @ggreenwald Ok, so that’s kind of systematically an issue on all levels of gov right? The NSA tech people did what was asked

@jkuhnert @ryan1729 You're right that it's a problem throughout gov't. But the fewer state secrets, the easier to check excesses & abuses.

@AsceticEsthetic @ryan1729 not saying I think anyone was def right or wrong. In fact I’m saying it’s very hard to say which. In context.

@ggreenwald We talk rule of law but impunity for major crims who get rich as consultants/commentators, persecution of small fish/dissenters.

@ColMorrisDavis @ggreenwald yes, rule of law, as authorized by Congress. If you don't like what NSA did then that's who you should blame.

@entropy68 @ggreenwald Can't assess the merits of something, much less assign blame for it, when it's concealed behind a wall of secrecy.

@ColMorrisDavis @ggreenwald if you can't assess the merits, then how can you declare it's contrary to rule of law?

.@ggreenwald Yet gov't wanted 2 put me away for decades as reprisal 4 blowing whistle on secret surveillance, $Bs in fraud & loss of intel.

@ggreenwald What actually stops people from suing people like him or Clapper? Can only a few peopel do that?