MLNYC

In your 2011 book "With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful" you write about Ed Snowden's former employer Booz Allen, its likely participation in warrantless surveillance, the many thousands of its employees who have US national "security clearance," the huge sums of taxpayer money it receives, and how Michael McConnell went back and forth between Booz Allen leadership and US government leadership roles:

• Director of NSA, 1992–1996
  
• Senior Vice President Booz Allen Hamilton, 1996–2006
  
• Director of National Intelligence, 2007–2009
  
• Executive Vice President Booz Allen Hamilton, 2009–2012
  

In both his government and private roles, he advocated for privatization of national security, and was one of the voices encouraging Congress to retroactively make the telecoms immune from criminal and civil suits after their rampant lawbreaking related to their participation in warrantless wiretapping programs. Of course, the move would help both Booz Allen and the NSA to continue their work unabated.

Some questions:

1. Do you know whether Ed Snowden read this book before he contacted you?

2. In the book, you discuss that the 2001-2004 Bush surveillance program was so blatantly illegal that Ashcroft and Comey would no longer approve of it, and that after it was "reformed" we never got details on just how bad that first program was. What do we know now about that first Bush program that we didn't know then? And how does our current surveillance program (per Snowden leaks) compare to that first program?

3. Does the telecom immunity passed by Congress in 2008 affect the ability of people to pursue lawsuits based on the more recent programs revealed by Mr. Snowden?

4. How much of the web--at least unencrypted HTTP traffic--across what years, is definitely/likely/possibly stored by the US government (or its contractors) today?

How did "Here's The Thing" get started? Did you have any pre-HTT history with WNYC? Any favorite WNYC shows or other public radio shows?

I'm a major WNYC addict, love HTT, and hoping your show has attracted new listeners to the station! Thanks.

Dina Temple-Raston

(Here's a great exchange she had with Glenn Greenwald a few years ago)

I'm Diane Rehm

When I hear those words, I get excited for the informative show that is surely to come.

Are you concerned that the NSA uses its vast troves of intercepted communications to secretly undermine your efforts or those of other activists?

Do you (or does your organization) take measures to communicate through secure, encrypted methods, to reduce such risks?