Old soldiers never die. They just...listen in.

Marcy Wheeler has made an interesting observation. General Keith Alexander, head of the NSA, recently gave a little speech to those who work under him. 

Together with your colleagues in US Cyber Command, you embody the true meaning of noble intent through your national service. In a 1962 speech to the Corps of Cadets on "duty, honor and country," one of this nation's military heroes, General Douglas MacArthur, said these words teach us "not to substitute words for action; not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm." You have done all that and more. "Duty, Honor, Country" could easily be your motto, for you live these words every day.

I'd feel better if Alexander had quoted someone other than the guy who was fired by President Truman for insubordination. MacArthur thought that he, not the President, had the right to make foreign policy and to take actions which might well have led to a Third World War. As Truman explained:

If there is one basic element in our Constitution, it is civilian control of the military. Policies are to be made by the elected political officials, not by generals or admirals. Yet time and again General MacArthur had shown that he was unwilling to accept the policies of the administration. By his repeated public statements he was not only confusing our allies as to the true course of our policies but, in fact, was also setting his policy against the President's...

Keep that statement in mind as you recall what another NSA whistleblower, Russell Tice, told us a few days ago...

And remember we talked about that before, that I was worried that the intelligence community now has sway over what is going on.

Now here’s the big one. I haven’t given you any names. This was is summer of 2004. One of the papers that I held in my hand was to wiretap a bunch of numbers associated with, with a 40-something-year-old wannabe senator from Illinois. You wouldn’t happen to know where that guy lives right now, would you? It’s a big white house in Washington, DC. That’s who they went after. And that’s the president of the United States now.

Do you think that General Alexander was trying to send a signal by quoting MacArthur?