Edward Snowden's leaks of National Security Agency phone call tracking capabilities will likely force terrorists to adopt more difficult and risky ways of interacting, a former U.S. ambassador who teaches constitutional law told
Newsmax TV on Monday.
Douglas W. Kmiec, of Pepperdine University, told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner that the Snowden relevations could help the United States track down terrorists who now have to think twice before conducting any business by phone.
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Kmiec said the ex-NSA contractor's disclosures mean "very awkward, more expensive face-to-face meetings" for terrorists, "and those meetings will start to expose them . . . to our other means of intelligence, both human and technical."
"That can be to our advantage," he said.
"The consequence of the Snowden revelations is that [terrorists] know the extent to which we can capture, in bulk, telephone information; the telephone number from which the call originates; the length of time; the place that's being called," said Kmiec.
That's enough to alter their behavior to the benefit of U.S. intelligence gathering, he said.
Kmiec suggested that the scrutiny of Snowden might be better off redirected toward WikiLeaks fonder Julian Assange.
"The person that really harmed our interest was Julian Assange, who rather indiscriminately exposed cables and confidential memoranda that travel from the outposts — the embassies — back to the State Department, and made it much more difficult for our internal communications," said Kmiec, a former U.S. ambassador to Malta.
"Also, [Assange] exposed a significant number of informant's names and put them in jeopardy," said Kmiec. "Years of gathering good will and support, with people supplying human intelligence, were put at risk by Mr. Assange in a way that Mr. Snowden's exposures and disclosures did not entail."
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