A good american tells the story of the best codebreaker the usa ever had and how he and a small team within nsa created a surveillance tool that could pick up any electronic signal on earth, filter it for targets and render results in realtime while keeping the privacy as demanded by the us constitution. Mar 07, 2017 i think the president is absolutely right. Binney and johnson would have been immediately contacted by special counsel mueller, because what they have written destroys the entire. The american referred to in the title of this hardhitting documentary is william binney, a cryptomathematician and former national security agency nsa analyst who created an efficient data collecting and sorting program which could have prevented. William edward binney is a former intelligence official with the united states national security agency nsa and whistleblower. The story of bill binney, whose metadata analysis system at the nsa should have prevented 911 a good american, directed by friedrich moser and based on his book, tells the story of bill william binney, a former technical director at the nsa, and of the metadata analysis tool he helped develop over several. Binney also featured in the oscarwinning documentary citizenfour and was the subject of the 2015 documentary a good american. A good american, directed by friedrich moser and based on his book, tells the story of bill william binney, a former technical director at the nsa, and of the metadata analysis tool he helped develop over several decades, which should have prevented 911. Binney, a former technical director at the national security agency and the principal subject of this film. A good american a film about malfeasance, corruption, and ineptitude at our national security agency, and above. Daphne howland, the village voice absolutely infuriating.
Exnsa superanalyst william binney is the focus of friedrich mosers documentary, worldpremiering in competition at the danish. A good american documentary about william binney nsa. Bill binney was a brilliant cryptologist and longtime national. Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit. A good american is a 2015 austrian documentary film that chronicles the work of whistleblower william binney, a former official of the national security agency. Tasked by the nsa with identifying the enemy and ensuring the protection and security of the american people, binney and drake found their attention drawn to a most unexpected threatthe nsa itselfand vigorously pursued its. Mar 23, 2020 the story of a terrorist monitoring system that was discontinued just weeks before 911. William binney and thomas drake on nsa surveillance. The nsa could have easily prevented the 2001 world trade center attacks. A good american chronicles the work of whistleblower william binney, a former official of the national security agency who specialised in cryptography and signals intelligence analysis for over three decades. The odyssey of william binney posted on june 4, 2018 by don schwartz buried within the terabytes of data at one or more of netflixs server farms is the most incendiary documentary film ive seen to date. Assemble bill binney, nsa, corruption, fraud, 911, thinthread, intelligence, terrorism, cold war, trailblazer, ed loomis, kirk wiebe, tom drake, diane roark. How a group of nsa codebreakers had a chance of preventing. Book depository books with free delivery worldwide.
He begins his military career in the 1960s as a code cracker and data analyst, gets promoted, and is soon the in the leading position of the nsa. Binney s special idea was tackling the meta data and not the content of information. The story of bill binney, whose metadata analysis system at the nsa should have prevented 911 a good american, directed by friedrich moser and based on his book, tells the story of bill william binney, a former technical director at the nsa, and of the metadata analysis tool he helped develop over several decades, which should have prevented 911. The documentary examines why thinthread was shut down by the u. A month after it happened, he resigned in protest from the us national security agency nsa.
The american referred to in the title of this hardhitting documentary is william binney, a cryptomathematician and former national security agency nsa analyst who created an efficient data collecting and sorting program which could have prevented 911 if the nsa had not discontinued it. Mar 01, 2019 bill binney and larry johnson bill binney, the former technical director of the nsa, and larry johnson, formerly of the cia, wrote the article reprinted below. Featuring a former nsa analyst who was a leading expert on metadata responsible for the worlds most sophisticated globall monitoring effort. Biography and booking information for william binney, former nsa cryptomathematician. Nsa whistleblower william binney interviewed by richard grove. A good american is a 2015 austrian documentary film that chronicles the work of whistleblower william binney, a former official of the national security agency who resigned shortly after the september 11 attacks. A good american year 2015 genre documentary thriller history biography type movies idmb rating 7. The real beautiful mind belongs to bill binney, nsa.
William binney the program by laura poitras via the new york times william binney one of the best mathematicians and code breakers in national security agency nsa history worked for. I saw a good american as part of the take one action festival. A good american is a prequel of sorts, a film about the absolute opposite. William binney citations 9 citations citations celebres. The story of bill binney and a program called thinthread. Feb 03, 2017 in a good american, the new documentary from executive producer oliver stone and director friedrich moser, audiences are taken on a tense and frightening ride through binney and his colleagues. William binney is a great man, who has done great things. Horace binney wallace has 36 books on goodreads with 2 ratings.
Oliver stone has described a good american, the film about binney, as powerful, and effectively a prequel to his forthcoming feature film about edward snowden. The title, a good american, exposes mosers bias, in that hes completely convinced of the claims made and noble intentions of his subject, bill binney, a numbers genius whose analytic. His nsa support team were ed loomis, diane roark, and j. William binney, a senior nsa official and codebreaker involved in creating thinthread, spoke out against trailblazer, the project that replaced thinthread three weeks before the 911 attacks. Morriss work, a good american is less interested in ambiguity than advocacy. Pretty good knowledge with bill binney and kirk wiebe. The film contends that binney s work was thwarted by high officials of the agency, and that he might have been able to prevent the. A good american is as exciting as a wellmade thrillerextremely cinematic filmmagasinet ekko denmark an insanely compelling, wellorchestrated and explosive documentary.
A 36year nsa veteran, william binney resigned from the agency and became a whistleblower after discovering that elements of a datamonitoring program he had helped develop nicknamed thinthread. The film focuses on the lead up to the events of the 1990s where binney. Nsa whistleblower william binney, the subject of a good american. Bill binney, the films central character, is the originator of thinthread. A good american is a 2015 austrian documentary film that chronicles the work of whistleblower william binney, a former official of the national security agency who resigned shortly after the september 11 attacks the film contends that binney s work was thwarted by high officials of the agency, and that he might have been able to prevent the attacks. Bill binney, the original nsa whistleblower, on snowden, 9. A good american follows the discontinuation of thinthread and the nsas adoption of the newer project. Thomas drake and william binney are soldiers of a different sortcivilians on the front line of american defense.
Bill binney was a brilliant cryptologist and longtime national security agency nsa analyst, since 1997 serving as technical director. A good american the story of william binney, inside the nsa. He retired on october 31, 2001, after more than 30 years with the agency. William congreve, 1697 we assume william congreve didnt have. Binney was part of an elite nsa team which designed. From 1970 to 2018, the cia intercepted foreign government communications. Plus, effective nys bill samuels on ny peoples convention. How a group of nsa codebreakers had a chance of preventing 911. William edward binney is a former highly placed intelligence official with the united states national security agency nsa turned whistleblower who resigned on october 31, 2001, after more than 30 years with the agency. In lets go to the movies i recommend the documentary a good american which tells the story of bill and kirks accomplishments at the national security agency nsa. Apr 11, 2020 chris hedges talks to william binney, intelligence analyst and nsa whistleblower, about the washington post revelations over the cia and west german intelligence bnd setting up a swiss company, crypto ag, to sell encrypted machines to more than 120 governments worldwide.
With william binney, jesselyn radack, kirk wiebe, diane roark. Horace binney wallaces most popular book is stanley. Talking heads interspliced with shots of night time cityscapes, archive footage and voiceover are the tools director friedrich moser uses to tell this compelling tale about deception. A good american by frederic moser, friedrich moser. William binney speakers bureau and booking agent info. The morning of the second day after edward gonzalez, the attorney general gonzalezs testimony to the senate judiciary committee on. William binney the terrestrial airbreathing mollusks of the united states. A good american is a gripping docuthriller about a groundbreaking surveillance program, the brilliant mastermind behind it and how a perfect alternative to mass surveillance was killed by nsamanagement for money three weeks prior to 911. William edward binney born september 1 1943 is a former highly placed intelligence official with the united states national security agency nsa turned whistleblower who resigned on october 31, 2001, after more than 30 years with the agency. William binney is a good american who served this country for over 35 years as a senior us military intelligence officer. Nsa whistleblower bill binney says trump is absolutely right.
Their small team created a highly efficient way to achieve realtime processing of all global communications and to fastfilter date for relevant intelligence analysts. Bush administration, and later criticized the nsas datacollection policies. The story of a terrorist monitoring system that was discontinued just weeks before 911. In a sane nation, it would have been published widely in prominent media, discussed, and debated. Binney testified in the german governments nsa inquiry, describing his former employer as wanting total information control over citizens. Bill binney and larry johnson, how we know the dnc was not. Bill became an early nsa whistleblower pre edward snowden and revealed ongoing illegal mass surveillance programs by the nsa. Nsa whistleblower william binney was right business insider. A good american tells the story of the best codebreaker the usa ever had and how he and a small team within nsa created a surveillance tool that could pick up any electronic signal on earth, filter it for targets and render results in realtime while keeping the privacy as demanded by the. Bush administration, and later criticized the nsas datacollection policies during the barack obama administration. This film features a nsa analystturned whistle blower, by the name of william binney. A bold statement if ever there was one, yet former intelligence official and codebreaking genius now whistleblower william binney goes there in a good american.
This profile of cryptologist and nsa technical director william binney looks at a potentially revolutionary surveillance program he created called thinthread. To mark the premiere of austrian filmmaker friedrich mosers documentary a good american, william binney made a personal appearance at the ars electronica center. Nov 09, 2015 the american of the title is william binney, bill to his friends, a cryptomathematician and former nsa analyst, who devised a surveillance and analysis system that was cutprice, had builtin. So in a tragic way, the latest atrocity makes the documentary a good american even. These are questions that have been raised in recent years in madrid, in london, and in the us after 911.
Russiagate is total crap if the idiots in the intelligence community expect us to believe them after all the crap they have told us like wmds in iraq and no we dont collect data on millions or hundreds of millions of americans then they need to give clear proof of what they say. If youve never heard of thinthread, thats because thennsa director william hayden scrapped it in late 2000. His phone calls, everything he did electronically, was being monitored, bill binney, a 36year veteran of the national security agency who resigned in. Former national security agency analyst william binney is chief witness in. Could a good american william binney have prevented 911. A good american by frederic moser, friedrich moser frederic.
Under the facade of protecting america, they are protecting themselves and their pockets. Among the matters he discussed was thinthread, a surveillance program launched in the 1990s that, in binney s opinion, would have prevented the terrorist attacks on 911. The american of the title is william binney, bill to his friends, a cryptomathematician and former nsa analyst, who devised a surveillance and analysis system that was cutprice, had builtin. In my view, one could not find a better title for friedrich mosers film about former national security agency technical expert william binney than the one decided upon, a good american.
He was a critic of his former employers during the george w. Contact all american speakers bureau to inquire about speaking fees and availability, and book the best keynote speaker for your next event. The film a good american tells the story of william binney, the top code breaker in the nsa, and a visionary, thwarted inor prevented from carrying outhis mission to protect the american people. Guests include william binney, ray mcgovern, coleen rowley, film director fritz moser. Jan 28, 2015 william binney speaks out in this featurelength interview with tragedy and hopes richard grove, focused on the topic of the evergrowing surveillance state in america.
462 794 573 814 433 521 359 615 37 929 65 120 611 1247 838 1321 143 1260 1427 1366 1090 212 961 925 259 1091 1097 1379 564 342 523 60