William Binney Quotes

Powerful William Binney for Daily Growth

About William Binney

William Binney, an eminent mathematician, cryptologist, and computer professional, was born on September 30, 1941, in Trenton, New Jersey. His career in the field of cryptography began in the United States Army Signal Corps and National Security Agency (NSA), where he made significant contributions to intelligence gathering for over three decades. Binney is renowned for his work on the Trailblazer project and the development of the ThinThread program, which aimed to monitor international communications for terrorist activities. However, due to its intrusive nature and lack of privacy protections, it was eventually abandoned in favor of the more expansive and controversial data-mining program, Total Information Awareness (TIA). Disillusioned with government surveillance policies, Binney retired from the NSA in 2001. In 2002, he became a whistleblower, revealing that the agency had been collecting vast amounts of data on millions of Americans without their knowledge or consent. This information was later published by The Guardian and The Washington Post in collaboration with Edward Snowden's leaks. Binney's influence extends beyond his work at the NSA. He is a strong advocate for privacy rights, and his testimony has been crucial in debates surrounding government surveillance policies. His major works include "Making a Killing: The Unholy Alliance Between Silicon Valley and the Military-Industrial Complex," co-authored with fellow whistleblower Diane Roark, which delves into the relationship between technology companies and government agencies. Today, Binney continues his work as a privacy activist, speaking out against mass surveillance and advocating for transparency in government activities. His life and career serve as a testament to the power of individual conviction and the importance of upholding privacy rights in an increasingly digitized world.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The NSA has become the biggest spy organization in the world."

This quote by William Binney suggests that the National Security Agency (NSA), an intelligence agency of the United States, is the most extensive global spying organization. The statement underscores a concern about the magnitude of the NSA's surveillance activities, implying that its operations extend beyond the U.S. borders and involve a significant amount of data collection from various sources worldwide. It raises questions regarding privacy, accountability, and transparency in international intelligence-gathering practices.

"I can't think of any reason why anybody would be interested in knowing what I had for breakfast every morning, unless they were trying to profile me so they could control me."

This quote by William Binney underscores the concern about surveillance and privacy intrusion. He suggests that excessive collection of seemingly irrelevant data (like daily meals) can be used for behavioral profiling with the ultimate goal of controlling individuals, potentially infringing on their personal freedom and autonomy.

"You have to protect your sources and methods to do intelligence work effectively."

This quote by William Binney emphasizes the importance of safeguarding sensitive information, both the original sources (i.e., the people or places providing the intelligence) and the methods used to gather and analyze that information, in order to ensure the effectiveness of intelligence work. The protection of these elements is crucial as they can be compromised if not handled appropriately, potentially causing damage to national security or investigations. This principle is fundamental for any intelligence professional to maintain trust, credibility, and the ability to effectively gather, analyze, and act on sensitive information.

"The NSA has a lot more data on U.S. persons than it ever intended to collect."

This quote suggests that the National Security Agency (NSA) inadvertently accumulates vast amounts of data on American citizens beyond what they originally intended, implying an unintended or unforeseen intrusion into privacy due to their surveillance activities.

"When you build systems that are supposed to be able to listen to everything, read everything, record everything, and analyze everything for foreign intelligence purposes, there's no way to keep that from being used for domestic purposes."

William Binney's quote underscores the inherent risk of creating all-encompassing surveillance systems intended for foreign intelligence gathering. Such systems, by design, collect vast amounts of data indiscriminately, making it difficult to prevent their misuse for domestic purposes. In essence, Binney warns that the potential for abuses in data collection and analysis for national security reasons is high, and it may ultimately undermine civil liberties and privacy rights within a nation.

I think the FISA court's basically totally irrelevant.

- William Binney

Think, I Think, Basically, Irrelevant

You've got the NSA doing all this collecting of material on all of its citizens - that's what the SS, the Gestapo, the Stasi, the KGB, and the NKVD did.

- William Binney

Doing, SS, KGB, Gestapo

You don't hear anybody talking about what FBI is doing with the NSA collected data. That's because they're doing it in secret. I mean, they're also using it to convict people of crimes, and that's what they're doing - they're looking at it for criminal activity.

- William Binney

Doing, Data, Activity, FBI

When I left NSA, it was with an understanding that you can never underestimate the power of large numbers of stupid people.

- William Binney

Stupid, Numbers, Large, Stupid People

We're not getting a good return on investment on all that money we're pumping into the intelligence community. One of the first things I would suggest is that if there's an attack and they fail to stop it or to alert us before it happens, that we ought to start cutting their budget, and for every attack they should lose ten percent of their budget.

- William Binney

Good, Percent, Before, Budget

As I have said in the past, revealing specific targets or successes of U.S. intelligence activities is not in the public interest.

- William Binney

Past, In The Past, Revealing, Targets

Trailblazer was the NSA's attempt to catch up with the digital age. The problem is, Trailblazer didn't do anything. As far as I know, it didn't produce anything for roughly a little over $4 billion.

- William Binney

Digital, Over, Digital Age, Roughly

At least 80% of fibre-optic cables globally go via the U.S. This is no accident and allows the U.S. to view all communication coming in. At least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the U.S. The NSA lies about what it stores.

- William Binney

About, Globally, Least, Stored

The ultimate goal of the NSA is total population control, but I'm a little optimistic with some recent Supreme Court decisions, such as law enforcement mostly now needing a warrant before searching a smartphone.

- William Binney

Some, Before, Mostly, Recent

If you're in government, that's one of the one things you have to do is to always avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

- William Binney

Government, Always, Even, Conflict

No NSA director did as much damage to the agency as Gen. Michael V. Hayden.

- William Binney

Michael, Damage, Agency, Gen

The problem with a group is, the more people you add, the lower the average IQ.

- William Binney

Problem, Average, Add, The Problem With

Reagan used to say that 'we're a country with a government.' Well, now we're a government with a country, and we're making everybody else that way, too.

- William Binney

Country, Making, Everybody, Everybody Else

I call people who are covering up NSA crimes traitors.

- William Binney

Call, Traitors, Crimes, Covering

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