Join us at the NSA on October 5/Letter to the director of the NSA

Friends,

 Each fall the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space organizes Keep Space for Peace Week where it invites activists around the world to hold local events. And each October Baltimore peace groups participate in Keep Space for Peace Week by going to the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, Maryland.  As part of Keep Space for Peace Week, the Baltimore Nonviolence Center will organize a demonstration on Saturday, October 5 from 11 AM to noon at the NSA at Fort Meade. We will be leaving Baltimore at 10:15 AM.  If interested in joining us, contact Max at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski2001 at Comcast dot net.

 Also don’t miss the film OFFICIAL SECRETS, taken from a true story, in which the NSA is engaged in criminal activity. What Katherine Gun did in 2003 should give us all the courage to speak out. Join us on Saturday if you can.

   

Kagiso,

Max

Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 East 25^th St., Baltimore, MD 21218

October 4, 2019

Lt. General Paul Nakasone

Director, National Security Agency

Chief, Central Security Service

National Security Agency

Fort George G. Meade, MD  20755

Dear General Nakasone:

  For years, members of Baltimore’s peace and justice have expressed a grave concern for the National Security Agency’s role in the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the attacks on Libya, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen.  The loss of lives, the devastation wreaked on civilian populations, and the resulting instability has indicated that your Agency is a major part of the problems we face as a country.   

 Again, we are requesting a meeting with a representative of the Agency to discuss our concerns.  The NSA has a well-recognized history of illegal surveillance and other activities which violate the constitution.  For example, Section 215 of the Patriot Act has allowed government agencies to conduct unlawful, intrusive, and racist government surveillance.   As you are well aware, Section 215 has never proven to be effective at preventing terrorist attacks. Thanks to Edward Snowden, we know your agency was able to spy on essentially all citizens by collecting records of who we called (also known as "metadata").

  So we are asking you to indicate to Congress that it should eliminate Section 215.  Also we urge you to support Snowden’s request that he would return to the United States if he were given a fair trial.  This would mean he would be allowed to present a defense, and would have access, through discovery, to classified material which would detail the illegal and unconstitutional activity committed by the NSA.

  Also we beseech you to call for the release of Reality Winner, a federal contractor who was sentenced to five years in prison for allegedly transmitting national defense information. Actually, what she released was information that should have been available to the general public.  And please speak out on behalf of Chelsea Manning who is imprisoned for refusing to testify before a grand jury.  As Manning has repeatedly stated, she has nothing to add to testimony she had already provided during her court martial.  

  Finally, we would appreciate getting an update on Frank Koza.  As you know, on January 31, 2003 he, chief of staff in the NSA’s “Regional Targets” unit, sent an email to British intelligence to seek help in an illegal spying effort on members of the United Nations Security Council.  The idea was to convince the Security Council to vote in favor of a UN resolution to support an invasion of Iraq.  We know this because of the courage of Katherine Gun who leaked the memo to the media.

  Was Koza ever reprimanded for engaging in illegal activities?  Was he sanctioned in any way?  Was he fired?  Did he lose his government pension? It could be argued that the 2003 invasion of Iraq is the gravest foreign policy blunder ever made.  Sixteen years later, we are still suffering the consequences of that awful and immoral war.

   We are assuming that you have encouraged all NSA employees to see the new film OFFICIAL SECRETS which details Gun’s courageous attempt to stop the invasion of Iraq.  Watching this film could be a primer for the employees to respect the law, the constitution and the privacy of the citizenry.

   You live in an insular world, and could benefit from a meeting with peace and justice activists. So we look forward to a positive response to our request.  We would arrange our schedules to meet on any day and time. 

In peace,

Max Obuszewski and Janice Sevre-Duszynska

410-323-1607 or mobuszewski2001 at Comcast dot net

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs