Liveblogging NSA Director Alexander's Black Hat keynote address

Gen. Alexander is kicking off the Black Hat security conference, and so I'm going to live blog it.  The talk begins at 0900 PDT (20 minutes as I write).  I don't expect that his reception will be as ugly as if he addressed the DEFCON hacker convention at the end of the week.  Black Hat is pretty corporate and buttoned-down, and so the crowd likely won't shout the General down like DEFCON probably would.

And interesting thing happened as I sat waiting for the doors to open.  An AP reporter came up and interviewed me.  I gave his a bunch of sound bites that I expect will make it into his story.  I also pointed him to this post about how what the NSA is doing is perhaps futile as far as catching terrorists who have a clue.  We'll see what comes out of all this.  I was pretty candid with him, and said what I've been saying to all y'all here.

Check back if you want to follow the live blog thing.

0855 - There's a moment of silence to honor Barnaby Jack, who died far too young.

0900 - Gen. Alexander is here.  Applause is polite.  The introduction made parallels to the "crypto wars" of the '90s, and how uneasy everyone was then.

0905 - He says he will try to lay out the facts. Focus is finding the terrorists who live among us.

0908 - He's covering background on the authorizing laws and FISA.  He claims that the oversight that is occurring is missing from much of the public discussion.

0910 - He covered the history of terror attacks in the '90s and '00s.  Th 9/11 commission said that the Intelligence community failed to connect the dots.  His slide had the words "Never Again".  Probably a good statement of NSA's motivation.

0912 - Over 6000 NSA personnel have been to Iraq and Afghanistan over the last decade.  I hadn't known that, but am not surprised.

0914 - I have to say that the General comes across as being very earnest.  The audience is listening respectfully (as I suspect the DEFCON crowd would not).

0916 - He claims that they "don't collect everything".  The more data you collect, the harder it is to analyze.

0918 - Lots about oversight by the Courts and Congress.  "Anyone who's been up against a Federal Judge knows that these are people with tremendous legal experience."  His argument boils down to "trust the judges" and "they're not a rubber stamp".  Nothing on the secret proceedings aspects.

0920 - He has a slide with some very explicit claims: NSA does not collect content of phone calls or SMS.  No Names, addresses, or credit card numbers of subscribers.  In other words, just what the telephone companies collect in the Call Detail Records.

0922 - The database that can be queried by NSA analysts is "in a lockbox".  No information if this is the same lockbox that Al Gore said Social Security was in.

0925 - He gave a story about how NSA information given to the FBI let the FBI get a warrant to investigate (probably cause).  I think he's trying to be reassuring, but this didn't reassure me.  At all.

0928 - He says that the system has 100% auditability.  He doesn't talk about how audit is a function separate from operations (for good reason).  Who audits? The "Directorate of Compliance".  Overseen by DNI, DoD, Congress Intelligence Committees.  He doesn't mention that Congress has been complaining that they don't get information from NSA.  Maybe this is new.

0929 - "I know that some of you listening don't believe this."  Well, I'm not sure that I do.  He said that Congress did a 4 year study or something.

0930 - He talks a lot about internal NSA training and individual auditing.  The big concern isn't rogue NSA employees, but a directed program from NSA management.  He isn't addressing this at all.

0932 - "If we make a mistake, we'll hold ourselves accountable and report it."  Uh huh.

0933 - He uses the example of the New York City Times Square bomber.  I thought that the Brits gave us the info on this guy.

0936 - Claims PRISM "helped us understand and disrupt 54 terror-related activities".  That's a lot of disclaimers packed into that one sentence.

0938 - The first heckler: "Bullshit!"  And the second: "You lied to Congress".  He says he didn't.  The first heckler said "I don't trust you".  It doesn't look like the hecklers are being asked to leave.

0940 - "What you're asking us to do is defend the Country".

0941 - Q&A time.  The questions aren't live, but pre-collected by Black Hat.

0943 - A heckler asks a question anyway: Why are they trying to attack us?  Gen. Alexander says because they want to form a caliphate.  The heckler replies "they're attacking us because we're bombing them".  Applause.

0944 - First official question: Is this program causing a problem for the American High Tech sector in overseas markets?  Answer talks to American oversight, not on non-American's suspicion,  This was a complete dodge.

0947 - Some applause when he said "What if some of these attacks had succeeded?"

0949 - Question: Have the media leaks effected the NSA?  He talks about the morale problem at Ft. Meade.  Applause when he said that every time anyone's checked, they haven't done anything wrong.

0950 - Talking about technical controls, he points out that he can't intercept his daughter's email.  People laugh, but it's the same auditability problem.

0952 - Appeal to the audience to help solve the problem.  He says this is why he came - to get help.  A heckler says "Read the Constitution!"  He replies "You should too!" Big laugh line.

0954 - That's it.  Warm applause.  He seemed earnest in his delivery, calm when heckled.  I'm not sure I'm convinced that there is real oversight, but that's me.

Tornado siren in Roswell GA

Blowing right now. I-75 in Cherokee county got hit pretty hard, with over turned cars and semis.

Almost makes me miss the snow in Yankeeland.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

UPDATE 30 January 2013 13:50: At least one dead, storms still going on.  Ugly.

Liveblogging the VP debate

OK, I'm bored.

21:12 - Ryan just quiffed on a softball question.  "Should the US apologize for burning a Koran?"  The answer is "no".  The extended answer is how awesome the First Amendment is, and how we are not in the business of jailing people because of what they say.  This was an own goal.

21:15 - Joe Biden grins too much while Ryan is talking.  He looks like a jerk.

21:16 - Joe Biden: We can deal a serious blow to Iran.  WTF?  WTF is he talking about? And then he accuses Romney of "bluster"?

21:21 - I was gone in the Kitchen, but came back and everyone is blathering about Iran.  Boring.

21:32 - Joe Biden: "This President doesn't bluff."  Like anyone believe that.

21:27 - Wow.  Ryan just out Bidened Biden.  Human interest story, and Ryan too it from Biden.  Nice jab about "the words don't always come out of your mouth the right way."  First laugh line, but a touch, I don confess't.

21:32 - Biden talked over Ryan as Ryan talks about corruption in the Stimulus and whzzername the moderator let him do this.  First blatant MSM shilling for the Democrats.

21:36 - Biden sneers at Sarah Palin.  That will win him votes and whip up the base.  The GOP base.  He really is an idiot.

21:38 - Biden: "Who you gonna trust?  Him or me?"  Really?  REALLY?  Nice comeback from Ryan about Obama getting caugth with their hand in the cookie jar.  And Ryan backs Biden down from interrupting.  Good for him.

21:42 - Blah blah blah.  Wonder how many people are watching a dumb VP debate.  Wonder why I am.  YOU SUCK!  NO, YOU DO!  Whatevs.

21:44 - Biden again with the "trust me" thing.  They must think it polls well with the seniors.

21:45 - I liked Biden better when he was debating Palin.  But I liked Palin better than Ryan, too.

21:47 - Biden looks like an Angry White Male.  Isn't that bad?  Probably has guns or something.

21:52 - they're both talking over each other.  The dumb MSM moderator lets them.

21:54 - "Can you guarantee that nobody will give up any tax cuts?"  Good grief.  Stalin would have had Biden shot.

21:55 - I can't believe that I've watched the whole thing.  I expect that there are 50 other people watching with me.

21:56 - I hate the way that Biden keeps calling Ryan "my friend".

21:57 - Did too!  Did not!  Uh huh!  Nuh nah!

21:58 - Holy crap, there's another hour of this crap.  I'm not going to make it.

22:04 - I opened a bottle of Cut The Fluff wine and took their advice.  Turned off the debate and turned on Nashville (from TiVO).

Livebogging Top Shot

Southern Belle is doing it.  Party!

"The Pittsburg Pirates of broadcast news"

Bill O'Reilly is at Fenway Park, and it's Jimmy Fund telethon week, so he stopped by the NESN booth to chat on camera with Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo. In the source of the conversation, referring to his ten years on TV and prospects for more, he said it was because of CNN's implosion.

They're the Pittsburg Pirates of Broadcast News.

Ouch. That'll leave a mark.

Indianopolis Colts.FAIL

Boy, they're going to miss that field goal.

This is one of the best Superbowls I've seen in quIte a while.

UPDATE 7 February 2010 21:44: Looks bad for Indy. Also, can I just say that I'm sick of Danica Patrick? Be a driver, or be cheesecake. Pick one.

Huh

I must have missed the Dan Rather bit in the "CBS News" commercial. I'm sure it must have been there ...

And can we really be half way through the game, and the best commercial is the Budweiser people-build-a-bridge one? People, this is the Superbowl.

Gutsy move to start the half with an onside kick, tho.

Operatives

I'm a great admirer of The Gormogons - I mean, who doesn't like a multi-century secret society dedicated to the restoration of the Kingdom of Poland-Lithuania (among other things)? One of the things I most admire about their organization is their outstanding use of Operatives.

Man, I need to get me some operatives, I said to myself. And so I did.

Boy, they come in handy. Borepatch Operative Chad reports from Washington DC, where the snow is so think and heavy that it broke through a skylight in the hotel.


It's the middle skylight at the top of the photo that's all done been busted. Washington DC seems to be getting two inches of wet, heavy Global Warming per hour. Yikes.

UPDATE 6 February 2010 12:15: You also have to admire The Gormogon's sang froid:

You have to understand that we live near Chicago, and this sort of crap doesn’t faze any of us. Especially post-Blago. So some roided up guy tried to slice the throat of his hooker wife? That’s a typical afternoon for a Chicago alderman. And he’d still have time to call all of us racists.

Man, I need to get me some sang froid ...

Massachusetts Senate Race: view from the trenches

Here in the Western suburbs of Boston there's been a heavy turnout. #2 Son and I took the dogs out for their daily Constitutional, and found a mini-crowd of people on the town green, outside the polling station. I stopped by to chat with them, and do a totally non-scientific poll.

There were five registered voters (plus a child) with Scott Brown signs. Three were registered Republican; two were independent (technically "Unenrolled" in Massachusetts parlance). Two people had Martha Coakley signs, one registered Democrat, and one who was not a citizen but was participating in the process anyway. Cool.

My entirely unscientific poll question: It's obvious who you want to win. Who do you think is going to win?

Unsurprisingly, it was 5-2 (Brown-Coakley). What was interesting was why people thought the way they did. On the Brown for Senate side, people talked about how much they liked Brown as a candidate, how much energy they were seeing, and how much they couldn't stand Martha Coakley. On the Coakley for Senate side, the discussion was about policy: health care, reproductive rights, etc. Talking with the Coakley supporters, neither candidate came up in conversation (at least that I remember).

Everyone was friendly, polite and cheerful, to me and to each other. Cool, again.

Nobody knew how things were going in the election, other than there was pretty heavy turnout over at the polling station. I passed on what little I knew, but it wasn't much other than speculation. Lots (I mean lots) of people were honking their horns as they drove by. Not sure if this was for Brown or Coakley, but the Brown supporters had a slightly better position right on the corner, and were kind of blocking the Coakley sign (at least from some angles). I don't think that this was dirty pool; I saw Brown supporters there early in the day, when there were only two of them (no Coakley presence), so they presumably grabbed the choice corner location.

What does this mean in the Grand Scheme of things? Nothing. We'll all know more in about 3 hours. I have to say, that I'm sick of what the national political debate has become in this country, but in my town it's very refreshing indeed to see people participating but still treating each other respectfully. More, please.

The view Chez Borepatch

Power's out. The kids don't know what to do. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Blogged from my iPhone, which is pretty cool. And the only thing in the house giving off light that doesn't have a wick.

UPDATE 17 September 2009 20:31: Power's back on, so's the X-Box, and the kids are happy. The Red Sox are beating the Angels, so I'm happy. Mr. Lineman got an ovation from the folks in the neighborhood - there were quite a number of us watching him fix the line from the Transformer, which had (literally) blown up in a flash of lightening.

The Revolution will be Tweeted

It's been a long time since I've followed Andrew Sullivan, but he is simply all over the amazing struggle going on right now in Iran, including Twitter messages:

ALL internet & mobile networks are cut. We ask everyone in Tehran to go onto their rooftops and shout ALAHO AKBAR in protest #IranElection

Information wants to be free. So do people. The Internet routes around damage, including government censors.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Hat tip, Michael Totten, who's also all over this.

Super Bowl XLIII

Currently tied. Pepsi and Doritos have the best ads. Bud Light is a distant third, not because the ads are bad, but because they're predictable.

It seems like there's a lot of unsold ad time - lots of promos and movie stuff.

Update 1 February 2009 20:00: Oh yeah, there's a game, too. Great interception return to end the half.

The 3-D "Monsters vs. Aliens" thing was lame. #2 Son liked it, though - he's more the target demographic.

Update 20:15: Maybe it's just me, but Springfield seems pretty tired. The music, not him.

Update 20:26: Acela? Dodge Employee Pricing? Whatever happened to Super Bowl ads?

Update: 20:39: Bridgestone's lunar buggie with stolen tires is pretty funny. So's the Monster.com one with the moose.

Update 21:24: Giving up on the ads, which are astonishingly boring. The game's not bad, though.

Update 21:51: This is one of the more exciting Super Bowls. And I can't ever remember a safety, in any Super Bowl.

But can I please ask Danica Patrick to stick to driving?

MSM narrative in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

And it's the Fox reporters saying it. "Palin got a passing grade, but Biden won." Wonder what color the sky is on their planet?

OK, summing up:

Gwen Ifill had a couple of times when she went after Palin but not after Biden, but more or less played it straight.

Palin scored some points against Biden, like "You said you'd be honored to run as John McCain's running mate." She always did it with a twinkle in her eye, though (or lipstick on the pitbull?). Biden steered clear of going after her, but went after McCain repeatedly.

Both are pretty likeable, although Biden really needs to losen up some. When he does, I find that I like him despite myself.

Biden had an unforced error at 10:25, and two outright lies (at 9:11 and 9:50). Like I said, score it to Palin on points. Don't see how they score this for Biden.

Liveblogging the debate with #1 son

Jay's also doing it, only without his son (and with some bourbon).

Before we start it seems fair to post the dumbest comment from each of the candidates.

Palin:

COURIC: But what [newspapers and magazines do you read] specifically? I’m curious.
PALIN: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years.

Biden (boy howdy, was it hard to pick only one):

When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.’

Actually, Lissa says that was Gov Palin - after reading 30 years of Biden gaffes, I confess to being a bit discombobulated ...

OK, Hole in the Wall just finished - it's show time!

9:00 - Older brother went to Washington University. Me, State U. Not a mystery which of us got the brains in the family

9:01 - I see Gwen Ifill is moderating. It will be interesting to see if she plays it straight.

9:02 - Candidates introduced.

9:04 - Biden: Congress can't pass a bailout, so George W Bush is to blame.

9:05 - Palin: Go to a soccer game. OK, that's snarky.

9:06 - Palin: Good mention of McCain's bipartisan background.

9:08 - Biden gets a good shot on McCain as out of touch.

9:09 - Palin winked! ;-)

#1 son pointed out Biden is talking about McCain, but Palin isn't talking about Obama.

9:10 - Palin: hockey moms. No more than one sports parent reference per quarter hour, Governor!

9:11 - Biden just lied about Obama's and McCain's history warning about the sub prime mortgage problem!

9:12 - Biden: I don't believe that "Joey" at the gas station called him "Joe". Biden needs to lose the Aw Shucks Down On The Farm thing.

#1 son thinks that Biden's expression was "I really wish she hadn't brought up that we raised taxes."

9:15 - Palin: "I'm still on the tax thing." I think she enjoyed that. She said that she cut taxes.

Gwen Ifill cut her off as out of time.

9:16 - Ifill challenged Biden that he voted to raise taxes. Biden is trying to change the subject. No surprise.

9:18 - Palin: You said paying higher taxes is patriotic. First blood of the night! And she grinned the whole time she said it.

#1 son says that Biden talks like a politician, while Palin talks like "one of us."

9:20 - Biden is accusing McCain of planning on taxing company health benefits. Not sure I believe him (this would be huge).

9:21 - Ifill asks an interesting question: which of your campaign promises will you not fullfill? Biden says "McCain's" Actually a good answer.

9:23 - Palin: McCain doesn't tell one thing to one set of folks and another to a different set. I think that this is a swipe at Obama, but she didn't offer anything specific. She does talk about breaking the Oil monopoly in Alaska, so tax breaks went to the citizens. Obama voted for Oil Company breaks.

Ifill goes after Palin to answer the question, but didn't go after Biden.

9:25 - Biden: Obama voted to Big Oil to support alternative energy. Weak.

9:26 - Biden: I want to do what Palin did in Alaska. McCain's campaign is fixin' to use that in a commercial.

Jay's on a roll. Wonder if he has bourbon?

Biden looks old - it's his eyes. Palin is (as always) a fox, in a naughty librarian sort of way.

9:31 - Ifill asks about climate change. Palin: "I don't want to argue about the causes." What do we do to clean up the planet? We need other countries with us - they pollute more that we would stand for.

9:33 - Biden: Clearly man-made. McCain's campaign should crucify him about $8/gallon gas. Clean coal, though (good answer). Chinese building dirty coal plants. 10 years to get oil.

9:35 - Palin: "The chant is 'drill baby, drill." Smiled when she said it. Youse guys called drilling "raping the environment." And OBTW, you said there was no such thing as clean coal. Palin wins this round on points.

9:36 - Biden: Can't stop talking about carbon going into the atmosphere. Not sure how he reconciles that with clean coal.

9:38 - Both tollerate same sex couples. Palin talks about the definition of marriage as a man and a woman. Biden does not support same sex marriage.

9:40 - Palin: On Iraq exit strategy, surge was critical. She compliments Biden for opposing Obama's Iraq strategy in the primary. Need more troops in Afghanistan. Need to grow the military. Have to win.

9:41 - Biden: Obama has plan, McCain is odd man out? McCain voted against funding, so neener neener. Iraq needs to do more. We'll be out in 16 months.

9:43 - Palin: "Your plan is the white flag of surrender." We'll know when we can leave because the Iraqis can handle things there. OBTW, you said you'd be proud to run with McCain. Biden laughs. Give him points for that.

9:45 - Biden: McCain voted against funding because the bill had a timeline. Sounds like he's making McCain's argument for him.

Ifill asks good question: Nuclear Iran or unstable Pakistan - which is worse? Well done!

9:47 - Biden: If an attack comes against us, it will come from the hills of Pakistan. Good answer. Will go after bin Laden if we have actionable intelligence.

9:48 - Palin: She pronounces it NU-klee-arr. Folks will miss old George W. Talks about crazy Iranian president Achmenijad (whatever his name is). Dictators hate us and what we stand for, like women's rights. Diplomancy is hard work, and you need to back you up.

9:50 - Biden: This is his second blatant lie: "Obama never said sit down with Iran." The McCain camp must be fixin' to do another ad here - Biden and Obama.

9:52 - Palin: Isreal is our strongest ally in the middle east. Want those Florida electoral votes!

9:53: Biden is Isreal's best friend, and wouldn't have joined the ticket if Obama wasn't. And Bush screwed up everything. Should have sent NATO in to Lebanon (!).

#2 son stopped by, and thinks it's a draw so far, on the part he's seen.

9:55 - Palin: McCain is a maverick, change is coming.

9:56 - Biden is specific on agreement between Bush's policies on Iran, etc and McCain's. It was more effective than I made it sound.

9:56 - Palin: unstable regimes shouldn't have nuclear weapons. We need to surge in Afghanistan. Obama said what we're doing there is bombing villages - we're building schools.

9:58 - Biden: Afghanistan commander said surge won't work there. Instead, he said we need more troops, infrastructure. Sounds like a surge to me. Obama talked about keeping nuclear weapons away from terrorists, or something. He was really confused.

10:00 - Palin: Afghanistan commander didn't say that. She knows his name, too.

Glad that both want more troops in Afghanistan.

#2 son is going to bed. He says he'll leave deciding between the two candidates to the grownups.

10:02 - Biden: I voted to let Bush invade Iraq, but didn't think he would. Sounds like John Kerry. Oh, and he hates the Darfur situation. He doesn't talk about Bruce's bumper sticker, though!

10:04 - Palin: She's not a Washington insider, or something.

Ifill - When should we intervene in Darfur?

10:06: - Biden: McCain's been wrong about Iraq. WFT?

10:06 - Palin: McCain was right on the surge. Nails Biden on that one, yessiree.

Boy, this is tiring. Bourbon would help!

Ifill - what if, God forbid, your president dies and you become president? What don't you agree on with your running mate?

10:08 - Biden: blah blah blah. I agree with Obama's policies.

10:10 - Palin: John and I are both Mavericks. I'll bring him around on ANWAR. Heh. Lots of boring policy stuff.

10:11 - Biden: Come with me to Willmington and go to Home Depot. Gahhh! Pleasepleaseplease don't let us have 4 years of this sort of blather.

10:12 - Plain: "There you go, Joe" - did she really say that? He was blathering, tho. She winks at her dad. I'd rather have 4 years of that, if I have to choose between the two foibles.

And year, she probably said a lot of policy stuff, too. Education, I think.

Ifill had a gotcha for each of them. Palin says they were both joking. Biden laughs. I see why a lot of folks like him, even with his gaffes and leftie policies. He comes across as likeable when he's not on the attack.

10:15 - Biden's back on the attack. Not so likable now.

10:17 - Stuff about Cheney. Gah. Biden seems to think the VP isn't president of the Senate or something, and that Cheney had something to do with it. He really doesn't make sense some times.

10:19 - Palin: Todd and I are normal people, who didn't have health insurance sometimes. Nation isn't perfect, but is a shining city on a hill. We're a force for good.

10:20 - Biden: I've been here for 30 years, so you know who I am. And we're a catalyst for change. He really doesn't listen to himself. He really is passionate talking about having a common man's roots.

10:22 - Palin: McCain is a maverick, as is she. Leberman supports him. Looking for Florida electoral votes. She really hits entrenched partisanship.

10:24 - Biden: McCain is no maverick. Sorry, Joe, that dog won't hunt.

Final question. Yay! What have you changed your mind on?

10:25 - Biden: Judiciary committee, changed from "is he qualified" to ideology. Way to cross the aisle and get all non-partisan! Unforced error.

10:26 - Palin: Sometimes didn't veto a budget but didn't have the votes to back it up. Worked with the opposition party in Alaska or something.

Ifill - how do you change the tone in Washington DC?

10:27 - Biden: I worked with Mike Mansfield, who said don't be mean to Jesse Helms or something.

10:29 - Palin: You do what I did in Alaska and appoint people without regard to party. Sounds good, but I wonder if this will be an Obama commercial?

Summing up.

Palin did well tonight, nothing obviously dumb. Wonder how the media will spin it, tho. MSM narrative in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

Biden blew it a couple times, and had at least two blatant lies.

No knockdown, but the win is to Palin on points. (and I actually wrote that before Biden's knockdown story).

This is hard work. Next time, maybe I'll bring bourbon.