Spy Wars: Americans Need to Know More Than Snowden has Revealed

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/12/29-2


In the wake of a federal judge's ruling this month that the National Security Agency's gathering of Americans' phone call data is unconstitutional, members of Congress are weighing policy options to overhaul the NSA's surveillance program. Above, a road sign for the headquarters of the NSA is seen in Fort Meade, Md. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA)

Thanks to Edward Snowden, we know a lot about what the National Security Agency has secretly been up to. As a result, Congress, a U.S. district court judge and the White House are considering ways to rein in the agency and protect our privacy. But we have yet to hear answers to key questions about how our intelligence agencies use the NSA's cache of data: Which Americans have been targeted, and why?

We know the NSA has compiled call records on virtually every American who has used a phone; vacuumed up Internet data such as chats, photographs, emails, videos and documents of targeted foreigners; and created a database from the "incidental collection" of Americans' Internet data that it says it may search without a court order. In the process, the NSA repeatedly exceeded its restrictions. And, significantly, its work has been driven by requests from "customer" agencies such as the FBI and CIA.

The Obama administration says the NSA's secret activities are legal and crucial to protecting the nation against terrorism. But similar national security claims led to granting our intelligence agencies great secrecy and power during the Cold War that in turn led to gross violations of our constitutional rights.

Only in the wake of the Watergate scandal and media reports based on leaks of classified information did Congress hold the first and, to date, the most thorough public hearings on intelligence activities with respect to the rights of Americans.

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, xchrom.

[xchrom]

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