Organization. This is really not meant to be a technical debate. Its a policy debate of where we a year after the snowden revelations and what weve learned and what has and hasnt kind of gone forward from there. Im just going to ask each one of our panelists to really well written and well spoken on this topic to just give a couple of key points of their point of view and then we will get into a dialogue among of the us panelists and we will open it up so be thinking about questions. So im going to start with stuart baker whose a partner at step tow and johnson. Were you the first policy assistant secretary. I want to make sure i get that title right at dhs which is something weve seen grow in its responsibilities. This is something you really hadnt fathomed at the time. Its probably to know what you know and be where you are now. I will open with stuart and just a little shout out for those who are looking for a summer book read. Hes got a great book. You might want to look that up. S
, all of growth that does set a slower, more sustainable trajectory is in the u. S. Interest, and i say that for several reasons. One is i do agree with the fundamental assessment that the current strategy has played itself out. The implications for social and political stability, and stability in the domestic context is certainly in our interest. I think also they are projecting that the vision includes a more integrated china with the world economy. I think certainly that is an americas longterm interest. So i think bottom line is we have a national interesting, ber interests, the leadershipses is assessment that they need to change that ever economic model. Now, chris had reverended some new considerations with respect to xi zhengping and the current leadership. I think one very significant change, structurally in the decisionmaking process is been the reemerge ends, not that it was ever dormant, but the party under xi, as he projects it will play a much larger role than it has in t
Im not saying theyre bad people but some really bad decisions were made in six months leading up. Two other big ones were made i think it was a 16 person Security Team led by colonel wood who said we wanted to stay in country and they were not allowed to stay in country. Is also a request for a plane. Apparently that evening or a dc3 that was denied earlier, maybe about six month before the attack. That plane wouldve been important. There was a struggle that evening to get permission to get a plan. I think the c. 30 they were trying to get on with a libyan plane. There were some bad decisions made, and this doesnt make the people who made the decisions bad people but they were bad decisions that were made. There was request for security that were turned down throughout the six months preceding the attack on benghazi though a lot of money was spent on things that i think most americans would say are frivolous and maybe not part of the Immediate Mission of the state department. Ill give
Year ago this month, the young Internet Freedom activist and groundbreaking programmer took his own life. He was just 26 years old. He died shortly before he was set to go to trial for downloading millions of academic articles from servers at mit. He was facing up to 35 years in prison and a 1 million fine. We will play excerpts of the film and speak with aarons brother noah, his lawyer elliot peters, and the filmmaker brian knappenberger. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are broadcasting from park city tv in utah. President obama has unveiled his longawaited review of the nsas surveillance programs over six months since Edward Snowden exposed them to global scrutiny. In a move denounced by privacy advocates, obama refused to end the bulk collection of telephone metadata, saying only he will modify it from how it currently exists. I am therefore ordering a transition that will end the section 215 bul