No doubt your dad has been privy to a lot of high clearance stuff. Their geekery is truly awesome but I’d never say they can’t be hacked. You’d be surprised at the talent that a few hundred million can buy and Bush hasn’t sent the USA to the top of the popularity heap as you know well.

I may be engaging in hyperbole but just because they don’t have the capability to analyze everyone’s converstions obviously–I’d agree there doesn’t mean they aren’t soaking them up to randomly tap. They for sure are not confining their listening to simply selective targets like AQ. No way.

Some of the Armed Forces personnel who helped listen in North Georgia were listening to the intimate conversations of Iraq soldiers male and female to their honeys back home. Several people who were listeners have come out of the closet on that.

I encourage you and your dad to read (although there are many books and when I get some time in a few days I’ll put a few books I’ve read on your page or here) Jim Bamford’s Shadow Factory. I think you’d enjoy it.

It sickens me that 200 years we have gone from “Die Free” to cowards who deserve to live under Chinese or Iranian rule.

Before the war in Iraq he called me one night and told me to watch the news that night. I asked why and he said just to watch. Well, needless to say the war started that night and he knew well in advance.

Over the years he has told me some incredible stories, of course leaving out sensitive info and just giving me the general gist of the story. NSA is one crazy place and the technology is beyond comprehension at times. They have over 100 acres of underground computers that run proprietary software and processors on their own networks. It is “IMPOSSIBLE” to hack NSA because of this. It is by far the most sophisticated intelligence agency in the world. They even make fun of the CIA and their inferior systems. My dad says you really need to see the geeks coming up from the basement for lunch. They are a real sight to see.

With all of that said, your phone and email are NOT being monitored!!!! I will say that again, NOT monitored.

The resources necessary to monitor EVERY email and phone call in the world is beyond the scope of ANY government agency on the planet, even NSA.

What they do is target certain individuals and groups. Those people are identified by other intelligence gathering means (I can’t tell you how) and then targeted further through email and phone call monitoring. If I was to type “kill the president” right now (oops I just did), It would NOT set off some alarm and armed Black-Ops guys would rappel from invisible helicopters onto my front lawn. That’s not how it works. Too many resources would be used up just sifting through the garbage. They are much, much smarter than that.

My Dad just laughs when he sees movies or hears people making grandiose claims of all-encompassing monitoring by NSA. It is simply not happening.

So, as long as you are not affiliated with some known/unknown terrorist group or radical church or some other suspicious organization you have nothing to worry about. NSA has better things to do with their time than read your Twitter messages to your girlfriend.