NSA Spying: The Three Pillars of Government Trust Have Fallen

[99th_Monkey]

NSA Spying: The Three Pillars of Government Trust Have Fallen
by Cindy Cohn and Mark M. Jaycox * Friday, August 16, 2013 * Common Dreams

With each recent revelation about the NSA's spying programs government officials have tried to reassure the American people that all three branches of government—the Executive branch, the Judiciary branch, and the Congress—knowingly approved these programs and exercised rigorous oversight over them. President Obama recited this talking point just last week, saying: "as President, I've taken steps to make sure they have strong oversight by all three branches of government and clear safeguards to prevent abuse and protect the rights of the American people." With these three pillars of oversight in place, the argument goes, how could the activities possibly be illegal or invasive of our privacy?

Today, the Washington Post confirmed that two of those oversight pillars—the Executive branch and the court overseeing the spying, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA court)—don't really exist. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-broke-privacy-rules-thousands-of-times-per-year-audit-finds/2013/08/15/3310e554-05ca-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_print.html The third pillar came down slowly over the last few weeks, with Congressional revelations about the limitations on its oversight, including what Representative Sensennbrenner called "rope a dope" classified briefings. With this, the house of government trust has fallen, and it's time to act. Join the over 500,000 people demanding an end to the unconstitutional NSA spying.

First, the Executive. After a review of internal NSA audits of the spying programs provided by Edward Snowden, the Post lays out—in stark detail—that the claims of oversight inside the Executive Branch are empty. The article reveals that an internal NSA audit not shown to Congress, the President, or the FISA Court detailed thousands of violations where the NSA collected, stored, and accessed American's communications content and other information. In one story, NSA analysts searched for all communications containing the Swedish manufacturer Ericsson and “radio” or “radar.” What's worse: the thousands of violations only include the NSA's main office in Maryland—not the other—potentially hundreds—of other NSA offices across the country. And even more importantly, the documents published by the Post reveal violations increasing every year. The news reports and documents are in direct contrast to the repeated assertions by President Obama (video), General James Clapper (video), and General Keith Alexander (video) that the US government does not listen to or look at Americans' phone calls or emails. So much for official pronouncements that oversight by the Executive was "extensive" and "robust."

Second, the FISA Court. The Post presents a second article in which the Chief Judge of the FISA Court admits that the court is unable to act as a watchdog or stop the NSA's abuses: “The FISC is forced to rely upon the accuracy of the information that is provided to the Court,” its chief, US District Judge Reggie B. Walton, said in a written statement. “The FISC does not have the capacity to investigate issues of noncompliance." Civil liberties and privacy advocates have long said that the FISA Court is a rubber stamp when it comes to the spying, but this is worse—this is the Court admitting that it cannot conduct the oversight the President and others have claimed it is doing. So much for claims by officials from the White House (video), NSA, DOJ, and Intelligence Committee members of Congress that the FISA Court is another strong pillar of oversight.

MORE: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/08/16-2

[Th1onein]

1. Kicked and Rec'd

They never had oversight at all. It was all bullshit meant to allay our fears that we were being spied on, wholesale. Now, we're finding out just that: we are being "hoovered."

[99th_Monkey]

5. We been "hoovered" <-- nice ~nt

[Fumesucker]

6. Actually we have been "Hoovered" as in J Edgar Hoover

You might recall that Hoover thought MLK Jr was much more a danger to the nation than the Mafia.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Kick nominated.

[99th_Monkey]

3. thnx nt

[Octafish]

4. Bush is free.

Siegelman is in prison.

Just-Us in the 21st Century.

[Safetykitten]

16. Ain't it the truth.

[xchrom]

7. du rec.

[Mojorabbit]

8. K and R nt

[Rosa Luxemburg]

9. This is a dream come through for republicans though!

[Autumn]

10. Recommended and bookmarking.

Important read.

[Logical]

11. Kick and Rec!! n-t

[jazzimov]

12. 2 Words - Bull. Shit.

This article is trying to spin the idea that because of a few anomalies that all three branches of Government are falling.

I'm sorry, that's just plain stupid.

[99th_Monkey]

13. "a few anomalies"?

isn't that what G. W. Bush said about 9/11?

But seriously, saying these 3 branches are "falling" is admittedly a bit of an
overstatement (i.e. they are not literally collapsing or evaporating); however
the author is saying that to make a point, which is apparently lost on you.

[Hydra]

14. Lies, lies, lies...

Boiled down, the NSA is the only one overseeing itself...and the Executive Branch, DoJ and Several Congresscritters on the Intel Committee are enabling that.

WTH is going on here?? Did Bush and Cheney even leave the Whitehouse??

[99th_Monkey]

15. Ain't that the truth. eom

[HardTimes99]

17. To quote a couple more illustrious DUers (who have now fallen strangely silent):

"But where's the evidence?"



(The smiley icon is also a 'quote'