The NSA Can't Tell Bernie Sanders If It's Spying On Him, Because That Would Violate His Privacy

[kpete]

The NSA Can't Tell Bernie Sanders If It's Spying On Him, Because That Would Violate His Privacy

WASHINGTON -- The National Security Agency has told Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that it can not answer his question about whether it collects information on members of Congress because doing so would violate the law.

In a letter to Sanders, which was obtained by The Huffington Post, Gen. Keith Alexander, who heads the agency, insisted that nothing the NSA "does can fairly be characterized as 'spying on Members of Congress or American elected officials.'" But Alexander wouldn't go more in depth than that, arguing that he would be violating the civilian protections of the program if he did.

"Among those protections is the condition that NSA can query the metadata only based on phone numbers reasonably suspected to be associated with specific foreign terrorist groups," Alexander wrote. "For that reason, NSA cannot lawfully search to determine if any records NSA has received under the program have included metadata of the phone calls of any member of Congress, other American elected officials, or any other American without the predicate."

READ THE FULL RESPONSE HERE:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/14/bernie-sanders-nsa-letter_n_4597978.html?ref=topbar

[neverforget]

1. Why don't they just use the Sgt Shultz excuse?

[WillyT]

2. UPDATE:

UPDATE: 7:15 p.m. -- Sanders, who has introduced legislation to bar the wholesale collection of phone records without a warrant, responded to the NSA on Tuesday evening. In addition to noting that the agency didn't deny collecting data on Congress, he warned of potential abuses.

“The NSA is collecting enormous amounts of information. They know about the phone calls made by every person in this country, where they’re calling, who they’re calling and how long they’re on the phone. Let us not forget that a mere 40 years ago, we had a president of the United States who completely disregarded the law in an effort to destroy his political opponents. In my view, the information collected by the NSA has the potential to give an unscrupulous administration enormous power over elected officials,” Sanders said.

“Clearly we must do everything we can to protect our country from the serious potential of another terrorist attack but we can and must do so in a way that also protects the constitutional rights of the American people and maintains our free society,” the senator added.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/14/bernie-sanders-nsa-letter_n_4597978.html

[neverforget]

3. Sanders is awesome.

That is all.

[jazzimov]

4. Actually, that makes perfect sense

if it is a secure database. The only way to see if his phone number is in the db is to query the number, but since it is a known number of a US citizen he can't run the query legally without a warrant. Obviously, the db has a limited query system. This actually makes me feel better about the db.

That being said, I agree with the proposals that have been presented to the WH; especially the one concerning a Privacy Advocate to sit in on the FISA courts.

[randome]

7. Excellent points.

Also, keep in mind that the purpose of having the metadata in the first place is to track associates of foreign criminal organizations. What if a known terrorist calls a House rep for whatever reason? Should law enforcement close their eyes on that or should they find out more?

Would it constitute 'spying' on a House rep if they verified he/she received a phone call from a known terrorist?
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]

[woo me with science]

5. K&R The NSA is the surveillance apparatus of a corporate fascist state.

It is incompatible with the Constitution and representative government.

[ananda]

6. +

Agree