Spying: I Told You So, Senator. I Told You So, Congressman
Looks like there will be QUITE A FEW angry phone calls today. I’m looking at YOU Patsy and Boob, two of the most fitting nicknames ever.
The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews.
Several intelligence officials, as well as lawyers briefed about the matter, said the N.S.A. had been engaged in “overcollection” of domestic communications of Americans. They described the practice as significant and systemic, although one official said it was believed to have been unintentional….
In a statement on Wednesday night, the N.S.A. said that its “intelligence operations, including programs for collection and analysis, are in strict accordance with U.S. laws and regulations.” The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the intelligence community, did not address specific aspects of the surveillance problems but said in a statement that “when inadvertent mistakes are made, we take it very seriously and work immediately to correct them.”
The questions may not be settled yet. Intelligence officials say they are still examining the scope of the N.S.A. practices, and Congressional investigators say they hope to determine if any violations of Americans’ privacy occurred. It is not clear to what extent the agency may have actively listened in on conversations or read e-mail messages of Americans without proper court authority, rather than simply obtained access to them.
The intelligence officials said the problems had grown out of changes enacted by Congress last July in the law that regulates the government’s wiretapping powers, and the challenges posed by enacting a new framework for collecting intelligence on terrorism and spying suspects.
I told both of these two assclowns this is EXACTLY what would happen, and their aides told me I was misinformed, wrong, and that I just didn’t understand the program.
Read the whole thing. It’s infuriating. then, call your Senator or Congressman (links in my sidebar) and ask them how they got it so wrong, when a bunch of hippy bloggers like me got it so right.
I’ll post phone calls later today.
April 17th, 2009 at 8:39 am
[...] Yesterday, I called up Bob Casey and Pat Murphy’s offices: they’re two local pols who decided to reward people who break the law by illegally spying on Americans, by voting in favor of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008,which granted retroactive immunity to these companies that particiapted: in other words, a get out of jail free card for Verizon and AT&T. Needless to say, this is a favor that has never been offered to, say, marijuana offenders, burglars, and other felons. [...]