Posted on 09/10/2013 7:15:55 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) U.S. officials for nearly three years accessed data on thousands of domestic phone numbers they shouldn't have and then misrepresented their actions to a secret spy court to reauthorize the government's surveillance program, documents released Tuesday show.
The government's explanation points to an enormous surveillance infrastructure with such incredible power that even the National Security Agency doesn't fully know how to properly use it: Officials told a judge in 2009 that the system is so large and complicated that "there was no single person who had a complete technical understanding" of it.
The documents, which the Obama administration was compelled to release as part of a lawsuit by a civil liberties group, show that National Security Agency analysts routinely exceeded their mission to track only phone numbers with reasonable connections to terrorism.
Officials said that the complexity of the computer system and a misunderstanding of the laws, court orders and internal policies controlling analysts' actions contributed to the abuses. There's no evidence that the NSA intentionally used its surveillance powers to spy on Americans for political purposes, a fear of many critics who recall the FBI's intrusive surveillance of civil rights leaders and protesters in the 1960s.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
If yur gubamint ain't profiled you yet,
like some folks of TEA Party persuasion already know,
just wait..
“Gee, it’s soooo complicated!”
Oh, STHU. You don’t know all it can do, but you damn well know what you CAN’T do. This is precisely the stuff we advised the intel weenies on over and over again, and turned them in when they ignored us. Damn these people!
And who exactly is going to charge these govt. workers with abuse???? Holder?
“Officials said that the complexity of the computer system and a misunderstanding of the laws, court orders and internal policies controlling analysts’ actions contributed to the abuses.”
Funny how the people who make and enforce the laws are the
only ones who can use ignorance of the law as an excuse and
get away with it. It’s hard to have any respect for anyone
in public service except the military and the fags are
working to blow that to. There is absolutely no reason to
trust anyone in the government for anything. Besides they
only hire the unemployable, take Kerry for example. Couldn’t
get a job sweeping floors in a ketchup factory and his old
ball and chain owns one.
Is it East Germany YET???!?
Just a few low level rogue employees, I’m sure.
Misrepresented actions to FISA
Uhhh, that’s called lying to the court....Perjury=felony
But, then again, Holder did it repeatedly and ain’t shit happening to him.
Silly; don’t you know that only non-government employees/officials can be perjurers.
Tell that to Scooter Libby.
Shouldn’t the junior stassi responsible be imprisoned? Fired? ...something?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.