How the NSA Is a Servant of Corporate Power

By Bill Blunden

For years public figures have condemned cyber espionage committed against the United States by intruders launching their attacks out of China. These same officials then turn around and justify the United States' far-reaching surveillance apparatus in terms of preventing terrorist attacks. Yet classified documents published by WikiLeaks reveal just how empty these talking points are. Specifically, top-secret intercepts prove that economic spying by the United States is pervasive, that not even allies are safe and that it's wielded to benefit powerful corporate interests.

At a recent campaign event in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton accused [3] China of "trying to hack into everything that doesn't move in America." Clinton's hyperbole is redolent of similar claims from the US deep state. For example, who could forget the statement made by former NSA director Keith Alexander that Chinese cyber espionage represents the greatest transfer of wealth [4] in history? Alexander has obviously never heard of quantitative easing [5] (QE) or the self-perpetuating "global war on terror," which has likewise eaten through trillions of dollars [6]. Losses due to cyber espionage are a rounding error compared to the tidal wave of money channeled through QE and the war on terror.