The NSA, spooks, and social pressure

For some, me included, the revelations about NSA intelligence gathering comes as no surprise. Distrust of the Bush administration confirmed by the Iraq invasion led me to low expectations about what else they might be up to.

I doubt if the Bush administration expected to keep NSA spy programs secret forever. They are probably elated that they made it through 2004 without anyone spilling the beans. High level administration leaders and loyalists can be expected to keep their mouths shut. However, the sheer number of workers implementing the programs, both inside the NSA and corporate America, practically assured leaks would occur.

My natural involuntary inclination is to consider folks involved in these spy programs as spooks. That sort of cumulative pressure could also assure that some of those implementing the program would eventually reveal these secret programs.

Each day more is revealed about what happened and when it occurred, who questioned the legality of programs, and who did not. The history will be littered with heroes, villains, and those caught in the middle.

For the remainder of the programs, the folks implementing the programs will be branded as spooks, for that is a natural reaction people have when they are being spied upon. Social pressure will leave open the possibility that the truth will eventually be known.