Ann Vandersteel interview with Bill Binney, 10.29.18

Interviews starts at 19:59

Notes/Quotes

Binney started a new business with another former NSA employee, "Pretty Good Knowledge."

There continues to be much waste, especially by big federal contractors. We don't get much for our money.

Binney created Automated Decision Intelligence Architecture (ADIA) for his new business.

This automates the analysis of big data right down to decision making. Helps answer questions.

Preparing to implement this program in various areas including legal ones suing banks (money laundering, etc.). trace the money flow, find patterns

This was the same thing he did for NSA.

If you automate the analysis you can handle any quantity of data, not limits.

Also looking at insurance companies, imports/exports for the world, mapping out where they go, pick out smuggling, etc.

You can pick this stuff out by looking at certain aspects of the data. More focused.

NSA has deteriorated. The thigs that have been happening/the things they missed inexcusable.

Spending $1T on intelligence since 9/11, not getting value for it. Objective of intel is to predict things so as to stop them. Not going well. They nee help.

"I don't know if I have enough time on this earth to help them because they're pretty much losers."

Post-9/11, NSA didn't use programs to predict, they went for bulk acquisition of data to monitor everyone.

Stellar Wind program at NSA. CIA & FBI had direct access to data too.

They collected everything and used against citizens like the Tea Party, whistleblowers, Congress, the courts, everybody.

NSA/spying apparatus became 4th agency of government, possible most powerful; they control the information going to the WH, the decision-making.

"No country in the world has any control over their intelligence agencies. The can't stop what they're doing."

"They can send people out to murder people…."

"NSA tracks 'em, CIA whacks 'em."

A lot of what is happening today is a forensics job (looking at data after the fact), not an intelligence job (prediction).

Binney's approach (discarded after 9/11) was to look for they needles in the haystack and let the haystack go by. Filters in acquisition of data.

Cheney/Bush removed filters because they wanted all the data on political enemies. Power over everybody. They didn't want anyone to know they were doing.

[This is the first 20 minutes of the interview; there's still about another 20 minutes to go.]