NSA surveillance: anger mounts in Congress at 'spying on Americans'

The Guardian UK ^ | June 12, 2013 | Dan Roberts and Spencer Ackerman in Washington and Alan Travis in London

[gethimoutofthehouse]

Anger was mounting in Congress on Tuesday night as politicians, briefed for the first time after revelations about the government's surveillance dragnet, vowed to rein in a system that one said amounted to "spying on Americans".

Intelligence chiefs and FBI officials had hoped that the closed-door briefing with a full meeting of the House of Representatives would help reassure members about the widespread collection of US phone records revealed by the Guardian.

But senior figures from both parties emerged from the meeting alarmed at the extent of a surveillance program that many claimed never to have heard of until whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked a series of top-secret documents.

[wiggen]

They’d want a secret trial which really won’t go over well.

[Whenifhow]

Obama Admin Lying - Democrat Sen Wyden: James Clapper Didn’t Give “Straight Answers” On NSA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMWbTS2VSCo

New Info From Unprecedented Series Of Briefing On NSA Spying Program!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkMNcACT3cM

[schm0e]

thx. if it weren’t for the Guardian, how would we know what’s going on here?

[gethimoutofthehouse]

Snowden is a hero! The members of Congress who still defend the surveillance are traitors who should be tried for treason.

[wiggen]

I’m with you.

[MichaelCorleone]

It is refreshing to hear/read of your kind of guy/gal. Thank you for being an American.

[Cboldt]

-- They're so cute when they try to pretend to be angry at something they support. --

Heheheh. So true. And, even if they are genuinely concerned or angry, at this point, what difference does it make? They can't fix it, they can't reign it in. All they can do is vent. And, as they do so, it will be with both eyes on reelection.

[CodeToad]

BS. Congress is mad the NSA was spying on them. Many in Congress officially KNOW the NSA spies on US citizens.

[TurboZamboni]

The Government Accountability Office reports that 4.8 million federal employees and contractors hold clearances, without 'clearly defined policy' for determining which positions need them, leading to 'inconsistent and improper' designations. It's also time to heed the warning of the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan that the government keeps far too many secrets. Then perhaps it will be able to do a better job of protecting what really should be secret.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323495604578537332863362470.html

[DoughtyOne]

Isn’t that the truth...

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

It will be a lot more interesting when the federal judges figure out that everything they and their families do is being spied on by several federal agencies. Hopefully this will make them peeved.

[newfreep]

h/t twitchy

[RetiredArmy]

You like me, served in a very different time. You in the NSA and me in the Army. Both are now not what we were in in those days of the cold war and the hot war of Vietnam, etc.

[Jim Robinson]

Shut it down!!

[JoeProBono]

[dforest]

I posted about the same as you. Greta made old Linda squirm. He kept trying to change the subject and she kept telling him to cut it out and answer the question. LOL

[Servant of the Cross]

Spare us your anger. Deliver us corrective action.

[Future Snake Eater]

Oh no, spare the NSA the wrath of more meetings!

[The_Reader_David]

I guess times change. If this gets worse, it will be sad, but your cap may cease to be a good way of showing off your service during WW III (a.k.a. the Cold War).

Back during the row about Bush’s “warrantless wiretapping” we were given to believe that it was all directed at cross-border communications, and I defended the practice as falling under the President’s war power authority as signals intelligence. I still would, and would go so far as to hold that NSA collection of all available content and “metadata” of communications to, from and within any hostile nation or any region outside the U.S. which is known to harbor Al Qaeda cells whose communications cannot be directly targetted is appropriate under those same powers, with or without a FISA warrant or any other warrant. The fact that this would catch innocent phone calls made to relatives in Waziristan (for instance) is no more objectionable to American liberty than the fact that the innocent party making a dinner reservation at a restaurant, which unknown to him is a mob front and subject to a court-ordered wiretap, has his dinner plans overhead by the police.

However, blanket collection of data about communications, even just “metadata” within the U.S., is a very different matter — should the government really be able to know down to 100 foot resolution (or maybe better for smart-phones under some circumstances) where every cell-phone user in the country has been whenever he or she placed a phone call, and what number he or she was calling? I think not.

[Cap Huff]

I would imagine that there is much that can’t be said about the work there, but when and if you weigh in on the subject I’ll be paying attention. It is always important to hear from someone with experience.