Posted on 08/05/2013 10:48:17 AM PDT by xzins
Edited on 08/05/2013 11:44:54 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Members of Congress have been repeatedly thwarted when attempting to learn basic information about the National Security Agency (NSA) and the secret FISA court which authorizes its activities, documents provided by two House members demonstrate.
From the beginning of the NSA controversy, the agency's defenders have insisted that Congress is aware of the disclosed programs and exercises robust supervision over them. "These programs are subject to congressional oversight and congressional reauthorization and congressional debate," President Obama said the day after the first story on NSA bulk collection of phone records was published in this space. "And if there are members of Congress who feel differently, then they should speak up."
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Its members typically receive much larger contributions from the defense and surveillance industries than non-Committee members. And the two Committee Chairs - Democrat Dianne Feinstein in the Senate and Republican Mike Rogers in the House - are two of the most steadfast NSA loyalists in Congress. The senior Democrat on the House Committee is ardent NSA defender Dutch Ruppersberger, whose district not only includes NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, but who is also himself the second-largest recipient of defense/intelligence industry cash.
Well now.....let’s be a little mindful of the author and his established agenda here, ok?
All of this and Snowden is still described as a traitor.
Grayson actually found something useful to do.
” It is the Intelligence Committees of both the House and Senate that exercise primary oversight over the NSA. But as I noted last week, both Committees are, with the exception of a handful of members, notoriously beholden to the NSA and the intelligence community generally.
Its members typically receive much larger contributions from the defense and surveillance industries than non-Committee members.”
Follow the money.
Every citizen should be able to make inquiry to the NSA and learn if the NSA holds metadata about himself.
Every citizen should be able to petition his Congressman, for that Congressman to make that inquiry.
I don’t know why 20 million of us have not already done so.
Well good luck with that.
I didn't read the full article so I may have missed something. But here is some truth about how you keep secrets: YOU DON'T TELL ALL THE CONGRESSMEN WHAT'S GOING ON.
Now if nobody in Congress is being read into these programs then that's a real problem. But the fact that some Congressman can't get the data certainly isn't.
Follow the money, that is always how it works. Give the NSA the means to generate their own income and we’ll never be rid of them and their lackeys.
That's easy. Vote not to fund.
The Select Committees have access.
Congress critters don’t need or receive “clearances”, per say.
I’m not so sure I like the idea of secrets that have to be kept from the constitutionally elected representatives of our nation.
Apparently, ultra-liberal Diane Feinstein can know them, but liberty republican Congressman Amash cannot know them. Obama, an obvious socialist, can know them, but Morgan Griffith, a moderate Republican cannot know them.
The constitution is specifically written so that the major power resides with Congress. How can they do their jobs being asked to vote on stuff about which they haven’t a clue and have to rely on the word of ultra-liberals?
This is one of the major problems with the CIA! They have enormous resources of so called "X" money...money not shown in the budget that they can spend on Black Ops or whatever. Whats the over under on a lot of that money finding its way back to friendly congresscritters? Maybe even to 1600 Pa.?
No recent searches for STDs or local clinics? Send those names along to the senator.
the Coup d’état is done , Congress has been sent home don’t you know
To get access to secrets you have to have the appropriate security clearances. I assume that Congressman have to go through the same process as everyone else does to get that access.
Don't assume they can all pass the test.
But more importantly, don't assume that 435 Congressman can keep a secret when, for some of them, letting out that secret furthers their political goals. I don't think they can and I believe that is why you have special committees in the House and Senate to deal with classified information.
If Boehner and Reid got on the major news networks tomorrow and announced that Congress will no longer convene, I can honestly say that I would not be surprised.
I truly feel like we're in a broken down car: the transmission has ground to a halt, the engine's seized up, the alternator doesn't charge anything, the radiator's leaking from the seams, the tires are flat, and we've got no spare.
I know Morgan Griffith and he’s a danged good man! Go VA-9!
You miss the point: These are America’s ELECTED, Constitutional Leaders in its most powerful body, the Congress.
Sen Diane Feinstein has the objective of totally doing away with your right to keep and bear arms.
SHE can know “secrets” and some other conservative congressman cannot?
That’s INSANITY!
I feel your pain. But the alternative is NO SECRETS. Secrets are leaked all the time by members of Congress. Look at the loonies on the left with IQs in 80's who get elected and re-elected. Would you trust them with your secrets if they were unable to pass the normal security gates that are set up to control classified information?
Remember the old saying "Loose Lips Sink Ships"? That's true. It costs lives to let the enemy know what you know.
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