Drug manufacturers could afford to sell AIDS drugs in Africa at virtually any discount. The companies said they did not do so because Africa lacked the requisite infrastructure. – Barton Gellman
In the wealthy industrialized nations, effective drug therapies against AIDS became available – AZT as early as 1987, then combinations of antiretroviral agents in 1996. The new drugs offered hope that fatal complications might be staved off and AIDS rendered a chronic condition. – Barton Gellman
No one ought to be under any illusion that Cheney privately thinks himself a failure. – Barton Gellman
The defection of Hussein Kamel was a turning point in the U.N.-imposed disarmament of Iraq in the 1990s. – Barton Gellman
No one can keep track of how many people use Internet, how many machines it can reach, or even how many sub- and sub-sub-networks form a part of it. – Barton Gellman
The NSA is forbidden to ‘target’ American citizens, green-card holders or companies for surveillance without an individual warrant from a judge. – Barton Gellman
Most people inside the bureau believe that the blown opportunities to head off 9/11 would not recur today. Even among the FBI’s doubters, few disagree that the bureau has come a long way. – Barton Gellman
It turns out that American Express honors recurring payments even if the vendor is unable to supply an accurate card number and expiration date. An Amex phone representative said this is a feature, not a bug, which makes sure my bills are paid. – Barton Gellman
Leaders at the top of al Qaeda’s hierarchy, the evidence shows, completed plans and obtained the materials required to manufacture two biological toxins – botulinum and salmonella – and the chemical poison cyanide. – Barton Gellman
Clinton saw himself much more as the steward of alliances and of consensus that moved in the right direction. He didn’t see himself as someone who could change the overall thrust, I think, of global policy. – Barton Gellman
Stuxnet, a computer worm reportedly developed by the United States and Israel that destroyed Iranian nuclear centrifuges in attacks in 2009 and 2010, is often cited as the most dramatic use of a cyber weapon. – Barton Gellman
A minimum precaution: keep your anti-malware protections up to date, and install security updates for all your software as soon as they arrive. – Barton Gellman
There’s a long history of private-company cooperation with the NSA that dates back to at least the 1970s. – Barton Gellman
Rolf Ekeus, his appearance can deceive. He looks somewhere between an international diplomat and a mad professor. He’s got that sort of shock of white hair and a slightly absent-minded way of speaking. But he’s extremely sharp and very serious about power relationships. – Barton Gellman
It no longer counts as remarkable that Egyptians organized their uprising on social media. – Barton Gellman
Companies that receive government information demands have to obey the law, but they often have room for maneuver. They scarcely ever use it. – Barton Gellman
The NSA has different reporting requirements for each branch of government and each of its legal authorities. – Barton Gellman
The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents. – Barton Gellman
U.S. intelligence services routinely use collection methods against foreigners that foreseeably – with certainty – ingest high volumes of U.S. communications as well. – Barton Gellman
In the urgent aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, with more attacks thought to be imminent, analysts wanted to use ‘contact chaining’ techniques to build what the NSA describes as network graphs of people who represented potential threats. – Barton Gellman
There is no reliable way to calculate from the number of recorded compliance issues how many Americans have had their communications improperly collected, stored or distributed by the NSA. – Barton Gellman
Snowden has yet to tell me anything that was a fact that I have been able to rebut or that anybody in the U.S. government I have talked to has been able to rebut. – Barton Gellman
Among all the upheavals of war with al Qaeda, the surest indicator of the historic stakes is the ongoing rotation of top U.S. government managers – scores at a time – into a bunker deep underground and far from Washington. – Barton Gellman
For months, Obama administration officials attacked Snowden’s motives and said the work of the NSA was distorted by selective leaks and misinterpretations. – Barton Gellman
The gravest risks from al Qaeda combine its affinity for big targets and its announced desire for weapons of mass destruction. – Barton Gellman
CloudShield did not see itself as a cloak-and-dagger company. It made its name for high-end hardware that could peer deeply into Internet traffic and pull out and analyze ‘packets’ of data as they flew by. – Barton Gellman
U.S. surveillance of Pakistan extends far beyond its nuclear program. There are several references in the black budget to expanding U.S. scrutiny of chemical and biological laboratories. – Barton Gellman