Posted on 05/24/2015 4:22:35 PM PDT by cotton1706
FBI agents can’t point to any major terrorism cases they’ve cracked thanks to the key snooping powers in the Patriot Act, the Justice Department’s inspector general said in a report Thursday that could complicate efforts to keep key parts of the law operating.
Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz said that between 2004 and 2009, the FBI tripled its use of bulk collection under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows government agents to compel businesses to turn over records and documents, and increasingly scooped up records of Americans who had no ties to official terrorism investigations.
The FBI did finally come up with procedures to try to minimize the information it was gathering on nontargets, but it took far too long, Mr. Horowitz said in the 77-page report, which comes just as Congress is trying to decide whether to extend, rewrite or entirely nix Section 215.
Backers say the Patriot Act powers are critical and must be kept intact, particularly with the spread of the threat from terrorists. But opponents have doubted the efficacy of Section 215, particularly when it’s used to justify bulk data collection such as in the case of the National Security Agency’s phone metadata program, revealed in leaks from former government contractor Edward Snowden.
The new report adds ammunition to those opponents, with the inspector general concluding that no major cases have been broken by use of the Patriot Act’s records-snooping provisions.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
The act and the people who created, implemented or supported it are much more of a danger to our country, Constitution and way of life than any bunch of moon god following camel jockeys.
Obama, his administration, the democrats in power and the damn RINOs have all proven that they can not be trusted to not abuse ANY law.
Corruption in our government is what is killing this country and it remains our greatest threat.
I’ll bet the NSA has Hillary’s destroyed Emails.
First I want to be clear that Paul is not and never will be my candidate. Second, I thank you so very much for posting that link.
Lastly, I found this video absolutely hilarious. No, I mean ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS!!!!!
It warms my heart to see democrats and RINOs (traitors all) crying about the loss of security for our country.
If we don’t figure to a way to replace and bring to justice every single one of those lying morons, this country has had it.
> I know they are not one bit serious about security as long as they keep importing Muslims.
Not even in the slightest. They are more interested in stopping patriots from protecting their country and keeping enemy infiltrators out.
Every time I watch something on tv where someone is killed by a foreigner I get po’ed. Why isn’t anyone asking....who let them in?!?!
It’s pretty simple, really. Just reduce the Patriot Act until is does one thing, and does not do another thing.
1) It is used exclusively against terrorists and those that directly support terrorists and terrorism.
2) It is not used against US citizens for any non-terrorism reason; and not randomly.
A lot of the concept of the Patriot Act was connecting intelligence and police agencies so they could share information. However, they did not calculate these agencies would share information unrelated to terrorism.
The descendant of CARNIVORE, the FBI system to monitor all electronic communication, is called NarusInsight, made by Boeing.
They also use CALEA, the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (1994), which creates back doors in communications and Internet companies, allowing federal agencies to monitor all telephone, broadband internet, and VoIP traffic in real-time.
Homeland Security has created 72 “fusion centers”. They are used for information sharing at the federal level between agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. military, and state- and local-level governments.
DHS has its own system, called ADVISE (Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight, and Semantic Enhancement), a massive data mining system.
PRISM - Finally the NSA gets involved. (PRISM is a government codename for a data collection effort known officially as US-984XN.) The NSA shares data with state and local law enforcement through a secret outfit called the Special Operation Division (SOD).
LinX - The (Law Enforcement Information Exchange) has already amassed 506.3 million law enforcement records ranging from criminal histories and arrest reports to field information cards filled out by cops on the beat even when no crime has occurred. It is managed by the US Navy NCIS.
You know, like the TV show. Except much, much larger, and spying on civilians.
Finally, the non-police and non-intelligence related federal agencies keep their own databases and dossiers of personal information of US citizens, as well as engage in intelligence gathering activities.
it’s tough to make a case for snooping on the entire country for the sake of ‘national security’ ...
when we’ve got an open southern border with millions coming across freely every year
“The act and the people who created, implemented or supported it are much more of a danger to our country, Constitution and way of life than any bunch of moon god following camel jockeys.”
Agreed. I’m not afraid of radical Islam nearly as much as I’m afraid of Big Brother with unlimited power.
I don’t care who you are, that’s funny right there.
Tell me, FRiend: How many Laws have STAYED innocuous? Seat belt? Smoking? Income taxes? ‘Gun control’? Healthcare/insurance? and the list goes on, and on...
I cannot lay a finger on where govt, given an inch, has NOT taken a MILE+
Let alone, those that scream ‘It’s there for OUR protection’, never mention the open border, importing Muslims/etc., ‘lost’ visa over-stays, or the numerous terrorist attacks on our soil that WEREN’T stopped (Boston...HOW many times did Russia tell the U.S. ‘hey, watch out for those guys’??)
They cannot admit snooping helps.....because snooping is not Constitutional
You’re singing my song, Gator113!
Agree 100%
;>)
precisely why it shouldn’t be extended
VERY well done my friend ; )
AWESOME vid!!
I’m impressed at your take on the Patriot Act. I wouldn’t have expected it.
Why thank you. ; )
It reminds me of RICO. It was passed to take down organized crime and was promised as “only” that. About 1% of the RICO prosecutions are now to take down organized crime.
Frequently, these laws are smoke and mirrors to get to the real agenda.
May God bless and keep Rand Paul, who appears to have helped to stop this crap for now.
Not that I disagree, but is that part of the original title?
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