America’s Secret Fourth Branch of Government: The NSA

From Informed Comment by Juan Cole, October 28, 2013

The revelation from the Snowden Papers that the National Security Agency had German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s personal cell phone under surveillance has produced a central fallout. Dueling leaks over the international embarrassment have forced the White House to a key admission: President Barack Obama did not know what the NSA was up to.

Ever since the Snowden revelations of the massive, world-girdling extent of NSA electronic surveillance surfaced, I have been wondering two things: Did they tell Obama about it when they took office in 2009? And, do they have something on Obama?

Outgoing NSA head Keith Alexander or his circle leaked to German tabloid Bild am Sonntag that Alexander had told Obama about the tap on Merkel’s personal phone in 2010 and that Obama asked for more information on Merkel at that time.

DeutscheWelle reports:


That leak forced the White House (and the NSA) to deny the allegation and to see Alexander his leak and raise the ante.

The White House then leaked on Sunday that the Snowden revelations provoked a review of NSA programs and procedures, and the fact that the NSA had Merkel’s and 35 other world leaders’ personal phones under surveillance was revealed to the White House. Someone there then ordered this summer that the personal spying on Merkel and “some” other leaders be halted (the halt wasn’t ordered on all 35?).

In attempting to repair Obama’s reputation with his colleagues at the G-20, however, the White House counter-leakers have made an epochal and very serious revelation: The President wasn’t in the know. (Even in the best case scenario that he was told in 2010, he wasn’t in the know for the first 18 months of his presidency!)

Edward Snowden’s critics have alleged that he revealed classified US secrets to the enemies of the US. But it seems increasingly likely that he revealed them to . . . Barack Obama.

If so, imagine how furious Obama is behind the scenes. It is not his style to act out in public. But the sudden announcements of the retirement of NSA chief Keith Alexander (who apparently should be in jail) and of Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (who certainly should be in jail for lying to Congress) likely signal that Obama demanded they leave.

All of these revelations are being treated as bureaucratic infighting by the inside-the-Beltway courtier press.

It doesn’t seem to occur to anyone to ask what the implications are that an occult intelligence bureaucracy funded at $52 billion a year by your and my tax dollars keeps our elected leaders in the dark about its activities.

Among the founding principles of the United States was “no taxation without representation.” But the NSA appears to be a secret kingdom that appropriates our money with no oversight or accountability. We didn’t elect it, and if it doesn’t let our chosen representatives know what it is up to, then it is taxing us without giving us any representation. It is a tyrant. It is an ominous homunculus within the body politic.

Secrecy is anathema to a democratic republic. If we ever had one, it is long gone. The only real question left is what the unelected fourth branch of government, created inadvertently by Harry Truman, is really up to. It is clearly involved in a great deal of industrial espionage, but how are its discoveries transferred to US corporations? Who do the mostly right wing NSA bureaucrats really report to if not to Obama? And, what are they really doing with our cell phone records, which reveal to whom we speak, how often, and where exactly we are? How are these being data-mined and for what purposes?

How much of our society and politics are shaped by selective leaks about individuals gained from this surveillance? Did the 2008 Wall Street Crash occur in part because the Bush administration had removed pro-regulation New York Governor Elliot Spitzer, using information gathered from his bank accounts, cell phone and personal computer? How many Iraq War critics were, like myself, targeted for surveillance?

How many seemingly minor scandals that force decision-makers from office are actually a conspiracy of shadowy intelligence operatives? How many of the vocal defenders of the NSA, or of those politicians too timid to demand reform, fear revelation of personal secrets? Do we have a government or a Mafia extortion racket? These questions may seem outlandish, but they are evidence of the corrosive impact of covert government on a Republic. One can never know what politics is legitimate and what is the result of manipulation.

NSA denials that they are using this material gathered on US citizens are not very credible given their officials’ repeated lies and also given their hiding of their activities from the President of the United States.

chart for the meeting where the NSA was created, from the book BODY OF SECRETS by James Bamford.
chart for the meeting where the NSA was created, from the book BODY OF SECRETS by James Bamford.

11 thoughts on “America’s Secret Fourth Branch of Government: The NSA”

  1. FYI. . On August 15, 2014, transiting Jupiter in Leo will quincunx Neptune in Pisces and 21 days later, on September 5, transiting Jupiter will quincunx Pluto in Capricorn. Transiting Chiron (watch and learn) will be trine transiting Saturn (TIME). It is a giant-size yod (in time) that will put transiting Jupiter in a position (apex of yod) to further the aims of the last conjunction between Neptune and Pluto which happened where the U.S. Sibly Uranus is located, 8+ Gemini. During that giant-step yod stretch between quincunxes that Jupiter will make next year, he will travel between 6+ Leo (where the U.S. Sibly north node is) to 11+ Leo.

    On September 5 in this year of 2013, the New Moon (13+ Virgo) chart’s Uranus at 11+ Aries was in the same degree (of Aries) that Pluto will be in (of Capricorn) on 9/5/14, making a time-warp square between them. He would also, on 9/5/13, have been trine the future Jupiter’s position on September 5 next year (2014) at 11+ Leo. I think this is how it feels to live without the defining attributes of Time. No yesterday, no tomorrow, just NOW.

    Apparently, due to these connections in time, we are in the transformative grip of the Neptune-Pluto conjunction century’s ago – who presently are in a more or less sextile aspect with one another – and, bit by bit (or byte by byte) we are being alchemized by agent Uranus and navigated through the process by Chiron in concert with Saturn.

    From our present perspective (time controlled) this would not be a conscious experience, but come August 15, 2014 through September 5, 2014, we might (thanks to transiting Chiron trine transiting Saturn in water signs, and tran. Uranus, no longer constrained by TIME) be able to “feel” (water) and “see” (Saturn) with our own eyes how this NSA incident has furthered the breakthrough (Uranus) of evolution into our mass consciousness. That’s how I see’s it anyway.
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  2. The Sabian symbol for the 3+ Sagittarius degree which is where Venus is in the above Conception chart for the NSA, and where Mercury is positioned in the Takes Effect chart, as seen in the Mt. Astrologer magazine (page 23) for Oct/Nov 2013, is . . . .
    A LITTLE CHILD LEARNING TO WALK WITH THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF HIS PARENTS (passing through a critical state of growth; conditions where a resolution of conflict can be ensured) as noted by Dane Rudhyar in An Astrological Mandala (Vintage Books, a Division of Random House)

    Note that both Venus in chart #1 (Conception) and Mercury in chart #2 (Takes Effect) are quincunx (adjustment which creates tension) the U.S. natal (Sibly) chart’s Venus at 3+ Cancer in the 7th house of partnerships. U.S. natal Venus is conjunct U.S. natal Jupiter, reinforcing Len’s observation that the NSA is possibly too big to die.
    be (what fun this has been!)

  3. Thank you, Eric, for a timely and important piece. Many thanks also to Chief Niwots Son and our be-autiful be for their added wisdom. From my (admittedly less-than-informed) perspective the main mission of the NSA is to become so big (Jupiter) and pervasive (Neptune) so as to be impossible to either discontinue or be absorbed in another agency. The ultimate bureaucracy. Just like the investment banks were purported to be “too big to fail”, the NSA is possibly too big to die. Pity.

  4. I’m fascinated by the fact that in the Conception chart, Venus at 3+ Sagittarius rules the 3rd house of communications (Taurus) and the 8th house of (possibly) secretive financial deals (Libra), and that in the Takes Effect chart, Mercury is the one at 3+ Sagittarius, where he is opposite the Moon at 9+ Gemini.

    Apparently it was always intended to be all-encompassing (big) undertaking with a foreign focus as the Conception chart’s 10th house (outcome) has Sagittarius on the cusp which is ruled solely by Jupiter, who also is co-ruler of the ascendant (Pisces). In the Take-Effect chart, Jupiter is actually conjunct the MC. He’s also in the north bending of the Take Effect chart (gets all incoming signals) and opposite the Scorpio Sun (President?) in the south bending (give away what you have), whereas in the Conception chart it is Mercury in Scorpio at the give-away south bending opposite Jupiter, probably conjunct Nessus in both, but for sure in the Conception chart. Nessus could encourage breaking rules.

    Neptune ruling the ascendant (along with Jupiter) of the Conception chart seems to suggest that it was going to be about clandestine operations given structure and form (Neptune conjunct Saturn). However, in the Take Effect chart with Leo rising, the ruling Sun (President?) would prefer to impress an audience with accomplishment.

    I’m thinking about how the Moon (14+ Capricorn) opposes Uranus in the Conception chart (which is where transiting Jupiter has just been), while the Moon (9+ Gemini) in the Take Effect chart was conjunct the U.S. Sibly Uranus. This would refer primarily to the connection with computers as NSA mission I would think, but what about Uranus’ resistance to conformity and boundaries? In the Conception chart, Moon would likely insist on boundaries (Capricorn). Also, the Conception Moon T-squares the U.S. Sibly square between Cancer Sun and Libra Saturn. The Take Effect chart’s Gemini Moon (conjunct Sibly Uranus) has no such limitations, although she is quincunx Chiron in Cap and Sun in Scorpio. This is a Moon that has to keep tap-dancing in order to keep up with the adjustments. Thanks for sharing Eric.
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  5. Ok this is the chart for the meeting where the NSA was created — not the time that the agency’s existence took effect. It’s a rare opportunity to have a “conception time.” My source is the book BODY OF SECRETS by Bamford (2001).

  6. Good points made in this article and good questions asked. As part of the push toward full disclosure,a( requirement for furthering evolution of mankind), governments are having to come clean with their citizens and the rest of the world. In this particular case, we can look at the October 18th lunar eclipse chart to show us it was a true betrayal of accountability to the President as the eclipsed Moon at 25+ Aries (and Sun 25+ Libra) was square the President’s natal Saturn 25+ Capricorn (and the U.S. Sibly Pluto too.).

    The NSA birth chart (11/4/52, 12 midnight) has Uranus (shocking revelations) at 18+ Cancer retrograde and in the lunar eclipse chart Mercury (18+ Scorpio) trine Jupiter at 19+ Cancer( in the eclipse chart) clearly shows how easy it was to betray the President. The eclipsed Moon (in a chart set for Washington DC), is in the 12th house of secrets behind closed doors. Jupiter (conjunct NSA Uranus) in the eclipse chart’s 3rd house of communication trine Mercury in the eclipse chart’s 6th house of personnel, and very near the 7th house cusp of partners, makes the betrayal seem ludicrously facile. However, the NSA Chiron is at 8+ Capricorn.

    Pluto, in 2012, spent much time in and on 8+ Capricorn and last month trans. Pluto stationed direct at 8+ Capricorn, all the while in an ongoing square with transiting Uranus. Chiron can symbolize wounding in order to focus awareness on the business of evolution. The NSA has wounded, will be wounded itself and it will be part of the process of evolution.

    So yes, of course Obama is furious behind the scenes, after all, one’s Saturn symbolizes one’s reputation, and his Saturn was squared by the lunar eclipse 10 days ago. His Saturn is conjunct the nation’s Pluto, the symbol of unconscious reptilian fear. That fear has now been exposed, and no doubt, a price will be paid for it.

    In an odd twist, the north node (opportunity) of the NSA chart is at 17+ Aquarius, which is conjunct Pres. Obama’s natal ascendant at 18+ Aquarius, and likely he will make lemonade out of these lemons. I’ve mentioned in a previous response that the NSA Moon (9+ Gemini) was conjunct the U.S. Sibly/natal Uranus at 8+ Gemini which is also the degree area of the last conjunction(s) between transiting Pluto and Neptune. This NSA Moon, the eclipsed Moon 10 days ago, and even the U.S. Moon which is experiencing a conjunction of transiting Nessus now, portrays a theme of moving away from the purely patriarchal form of society to one that includes recognition of the feminine (lunar) intelligence for a balanced and integrated approach to society and government. We need to take a deep breath and see, if we can, how these institutional breakdowns are the work of the alchemy that will eventually benefit mankind. Neptune dissolves, Pluto exposes and in both cases, new life follows.
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  7. The US Constitution (the document upon which our government is based) was ratified when the Sun was in Scorpio- secret powers feels like a ‘top of the list’ trait for the US Gummint.

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