Friends,
On October 10, Janice and I
traveled to Fort Meade, Maryland as part of Keep Space for Peace Week -- 
unitedforpeace.org/2020/09/25/keep-space-for-peace-week-october-3-10-2020/. The Baltimore Nonviolence Center has participated in this
annual event for many years. The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear
Power in Space has designated October 3 -10, 2020 “Keep Space for Peace Week,”
an international week of protest to defund space forces and to stop the
militarization of space. The U.S. Space Force is a new branch of the
Armed Forces for which the White House has allocated $15 billion in this year’s
budget. Trump was heavily lobbied by aerospace corporations to establish this
new military service, so they could secure lucrative government contracts.
Once we arrived at the National Security Agency, we were the proverbial gnats on the elephant’s backside. Nevertheless, we attracted seven police vehicles. However, despite this phalanx of security personnel, an NSA police official did not approach us until 12:59 PM. Our scheduled departure time was to be at 1 PM. This pistol-packing NSA police official started asking Janice the usual questions. Then she approached me, and asked my name. I told her who I was and asked if she was going to inform us that a meeting with an official would take place. We had sent a letter to the director requesting a meeting. See the letter below.
She did not have any information to share about a meeting. This fits the pattern, as we have been requesting meetings since 1996. We have yet to be granted a meeting.
When I asked for her name, she declined to provide such information So I told her she was impolite.
For whatever reason, she asked to see all of the signs, and I was more than pleased to show each one. Janice had a sign Stop the killing of the Yemeni people! The signs I had had these messages – NSA Whistleblowers tell the truth, Thomas Drake was Right, Support Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning and Reality Winner and Edward Snowden, and The NSA commits crimes. She tried to tell us where we can protest at the NSA, and I reminded her that she swore to uphold the Constitution. And the Constitution protects freedom of speech. We will decide where to protest.
Janice and I then meandered over to the sign Cryptologic Museum. We used this prop as background for some photographs. Let me know if you would like a peek at any of the photographs.
As we traveled back on the Baltimore Washington Expressway, we ran into some traffic. By happenstance, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicle appeared on our right. So Janice asked the driver, if she was going to the Port of Baltimore. Yes, was the answer. So Janice requested that she should prevent the loading of U.S. weapons on Saudi ships, as those armaments are being used to devastate the people of Yemen. The driver rolled up the window without answering. That is the same answer we have received form the Port of Baltimore, the governor and the Maryland Public Information Act office. We have filed a FOIA request with US Customs and Border Protection. That request is pending.
Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 341 Notre Dame Lane, Apartment 206, Baltimore, MD 21212
October 10, 2020
Lt. General Paul Nakasone
Director, National Security Agency
Chief, Central Security Service
National Security Agency
Fort George G. Meade, MD 20755
Dear General Nakasone:
Of course, we are concerned about your health, and hope that you and your family are doing well. It is very sad that you got caught up with this Trump mirage about COVID-19. Any government official should resign ASAP rather than continue to serve a president that has shown no comprehension of dealing with the pandemic. It is embarrassing that our country leads the world in contracting the virus and in total deaths.
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.
Would you provide us with detailed information about the disastrous slaying of General Qassem Soleimani? What role did you play in his assassination?
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 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
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