In an address this morning, the New York Times says CIA director John Brennan used “unusually raw language” to talk about covert surveillance programs. Here’s what Brennan said:
In the past several years because of a number of unauthorized disclosures and a lot of handwringing over the government’s role in the effort to try to uncover these terrorists, there have been some policy and legal and other actions that are taken that make our ability collectively internationally to find these terrorists much more challenging. And I do hope that this is going to be a wake-up call, particularly in areas
of Europe where I think there has been a misrepresentation of what the intelligence security services are doing by some quarters that are designed to undercut those capabilities.
I don’t happen to think that a concern over a massive program of warrantless domestic surveillance is “handwringing,” but OK. That’s Brennan’s opinion. However, for all the people pointing to Brennan as a voice of authority for his blunt talk about surveillance, how about if we also pay attention to his blunt talk about climate change?
Across the globe, in both authoritarian and democratic societies, governments are finding it increasingly difficult to meet the demands, realistic or not, of their skeptical and restive populaces….Mankind’s relationship with the natural world is aggravating these problems and is a potential source of crisis itself. Last year was the warmest on record, and this year is on track to be even warmer. Extreme weather, along with public policies affecting food and water supplies, can worsen or create humanitarian crises. Of the most immediate concern, sharply reduced crop yields in multiple places simultaneously could trigger a shock in food prices with devastating effect, especially in already fragile regions such as Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.
There’s some real talk for you, straight from the mouth of the CIA director.
