Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily [W:452]

jmotivator said:

NYT Editors: President Obama has lost all credibility

Welcome to reality, NYT Editors.

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Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee blasted the Obama administration in the wake of news that officials secretly obtained records for Verizon phone calls made in the United States, and called for hearings into the program.

“We believe this type of program is far too broad and is inconsistent with our nation’s founding principles,” said a joint statement from prominent Democrats on the committee, including ranking member Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). “We cannot defeat terrorism by compromising our commitment to our civil rights and liberties.”

The letter was also signed by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the Constitution and Civil Justice Subcommittee, and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) ranking member of the Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations subpanel.

“We strongly disagree with those who would assert that because this type of program appears to be long standing and Members of Congress may have been briefed, that it is acceptable to us or the Congress,” the group wrote.

“A classified briefing which does not permit any public discussion does not imply approval or acceptance,” they added.

Democrats on Thursday fired off most of the criticism against the program.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said he has been briefed on some of the information generally previously and “of course” he is troubled by it.

“We’ve been unable to speak to it because it is classified,” Durbin said.

“To say that every American’s records of phone conversations are now open to government scrutiny really goes to beyond that standard,” Durbin said.

“This type of secret bulk data collection is an outrageous breach of Americans’ privacy. I have had significant concerns about the intelligence community over-collecting information about Americans’ telephone calls, emails, and other records,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said in a statement.

Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) said the report “concerns me.”

“The administration I think owes it to the American public to comment on what authorities it thinks it has and I’ll leave it there,” he told reporters Thursday.

Republican leaders were mum early Thursday: House Speaker John Boehner’s office declined to comment and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell didn’t want to talk about it as he came off the Senate floor.

“Not right now,” McConnell said. “Not right now.”

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said that he believed President Barack Obama has gone beyond George W. Bush when it comes to using Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act authority.

“I’ve been a supporter of FISA and the FISA court process but it does seem to me that on all fronts the Obama administration is more expansive and aggressive from drones to phone records than the Bush administration,” Blunt said.

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PeteEU said:

There is still a warrant.

And lets not forget...

ECHELON - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is so far from new... that it is funny that it is being used to attack Obama, when it has been going on since forever.

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The outrage over President Barack Obama’s authorization of a nearly limitless federal dive into Americans’ phone records obscures a hiding-in-plain-sight truth about the 44th president many of his supporters have overlooked for years:

For all his campaign-trail talk of running the “most transparent administration” in U.S history, Obama never promised to reverse the 43rd president’s policies on domestic anti-terrorism surveillance — and he’s been good on his word.

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In 2005, then-Sen. Obama spoke out against the Bush-sponsored PATRIOT Act extension on the grounds that FBI agents would have been given wide berth in obtaining personal records on people suspected of terrorist links without having to get their searches approved by a federal judge under the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act.

“This is legislation that puts our own Justice Department above the law,” he said during a much-publicized Senate floor speech at the time.

“[F]ederal agents [can] conduct any search on any American, no matter how extensive or wide-ranging, without ever going before a judge to prove that the search is necessary. They simply need sign-off from a local FBI official,” he added.

“If someone wants to know why their own government has decided to go on a fishing expedition through every personal record or private document — through library books they’ve read and phone calls they’ve made — this legislation gives people no rights to appeal the need for such a search in a court of law. No judge will hear their plea, no jury will hear their case.”

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Obama’s effort to strike what he’s repeatedly called “a balance” between personal liberty and homeland security has exposed what amounts to a split political personality: Candidate Obama often spoke about personal freedom with the passion of a constitutional lawyer — while Commander-in-Chief Obama has embraced and expanded Bush-era surveillance efforts like the 2011 extension of the Patriot Act, which paved the way for a secret court order allowing the gathering of Verizon phone records.

In an irony now being savored by his conservative critics, Obama administration officials are now relying on Republicans to defend him against charges from liberals and the libertarian right that he’s recklessly prioritized national security over personal liberty.

“Drone strikes. Wiretaps. Gitmo. Renditions. Military commissions. Obama is carrying out Bush’s fourth term, yet he attacked Bush for violating the Constitution,” said Ari Fleischer, George W. Bush’s press secretary.

“He’s helping keep the nation safe, vindicating President Bush, all while putting a bipartisan stamp on how to fight terror,” Fleischer added.

But critics in Obama’s own party say the net cast by the order poses a grave threat to free expression and the right Americans have — and Obama has so often championed — to live their lives without Big Brother poking into their affairs.

“This type of secret bulk data collection is an outrageous breach of Americans’ privacy,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) who has repeatedly raised concerns about surveillance overreach by the administration.

“I have had significant concerns about the intelligence community over-collecting information about Americans’ telephone calls, emails and other records and that is why I voted against the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act provisions in 2011 and the reauthorization of the FISA Amendments Act just six months ago.”

“This bulk data collection is being done under interpretations of the law that have been kept secret from the public. Significant FISA court opinions that determine the scope of our laws should be declassified. Can the FBI or the NSA really claim that they need data scooped up on tens of millions of Americans?”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), one of the few Obama allies to vote against the 2011 extension of the PATRIOT Act, said, “The United States should not be accumulating phone records on tens of millions of innocent Americans. That is not what democracy is about. That is not what freedom is about.”

That tone was strikingly similar to the tone of Obama’s own comments when he was a back-bencher in the upper chamber.

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In fact, several news organizations reported at the time that Obama’s lawyers wanted to add a new provision to include Internet browsing and email records — “electronic communication transactional records” that didn’t include content — to a list of sources the FBI could demand without a judge’s approval.

The provision was eventually added to the bill.

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But even Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), the author of the PATRIOT Act, wasn’t comfortable with the turn things have taken, saying he is “extremely troubled” by a move he called “excessive and un-American.”

“While I believe the PATRIOT Act appropriately balanced national security concerns and civil rights, I have always worried about potential abuses,” Sensenbrenner said. “The bureau’s broad application for phone records was made under the so-called business records provision of the act. I do not believe the broadly drafted FISA order is consistent with the requirements of the PATRIOT Act.”

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iacardsfan said:

I never claimed he was the best President ever. I never claimed his Administration was the transparent. I never even intended to make it sound like I was defending Obama. I am against Obama's politics as much as the next guy. I simply want to point out we need to be behind the Administration instead of tearing it down. Obama isn't the enemy, even if you don't like his politics.

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jmotivator said:

Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily




Seriously, spin that, Obama fans.

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If you supported the Patriot Act, you're part of the problem

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Obama is merely Bush II

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azgreg said:

Here's an interesting take on the whole thing.

Phone Record Gathering Story Blown Out of Proportion | National Review Online

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The Prof said:

that'd make obama a liar

sorry

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Middleground said:

Seriously? This is old ****ing news. Where was your outrage during the Bush years?

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Shadow Serious said:

I look at the comments at the end of the article and the author Andrew McCarthy is almost universally condemned on it.

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SgtRock said:

What about the outrage by the liberal media at the Bush administration back in 2007 over this issue and the lack of outrage by the same liberal media now. Another double standard?

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Ikari said:

I was pissed and still am. This is nothing more than pathetic deflection to avoid the debate. Are you happy with this level of intrusion and disregard for the 4th?

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SgtRock said:

I am with you on this I just wish the media would treat this seriously.

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Middleground said:

Seriously? This is old ****ing news. Where was your outrage during the Bush years?

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SgtRock said:

I am with you on this I just wish the media would treat this seriously.

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apdst said:

Did Bush do this? He didn't. Did he? Thank you for playing.

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MaggieD said:

Since the court order was just issued in April, I don't see how this can be considered old news. Not surprised Bush would be blamed though. :rofl

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Reports that the Obama administration has been collecting the phone records of millions of Verizon customers in the U.S. could contradict statements made by top officials who previously claimed the government was not holding data on Americans.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was asked at a March hearing whether the National Security Agency collects any data on millions of Americans.

"No sir ... not wittingly," Clapper responded, acknowledging there are cases "where inadvertently, perhaps" the data could be collected.

NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander also told Fox News last year that the agency does not "hold data on U.S. citizens."

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But Jameel Jaffer, American Civil Liberties Union deputy legal director, called the measure "beyond Orwellian."

"From a civil liberties perspective, the program could hardly be any more alarming. It's a program in which some untold number of innocent people have been put under the constant surveillance of government agents," Jaffer said in a statement.

"The National Security Agency's seizure and surveillance of virtually all of Verizon's phone customers is an astounding assault on the Constitution," Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said.

One civil liberties group called this the "broadest surveillance order to ever have been issued."

"It requires no level of suspicion and applies to all Verizon subscribers anywhere in the U.S.," the Center for Constitutional Rights said in a statement.

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Ikari said:

Been going on since Bush. If you supported the Patriot Act, you're part of the problem. Status Quo, this ain't just Obama. Obama is merely Bush II.

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jonny5 said:

So youre ok with Obama continuing it?

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In the wake of revelations the U.S. government secretly asked Verizon for massive amounts of data on tens of millions of phone calls, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) asked Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday if the National Security Agency monitored calls placed from the Capitol.

Holder said there was no intention to "spy" on Congress and said he would not go into details on the calls in a public setting.

"Mr. Attorney General, I want to take you to the Verizon scandal and -- which I understand takes us to possibly monitoring up to 120 million calls. You know, when government bureaucrats are sloppy, they're usually really sloppy. Want to just ask, could you assure to us that no phones inside the Capitol were monitored of members of Congress that would give a future executive branch, if they started pulling this kind of thing off, would give them unique leverage over the legislature?

Holder replied, "With all due respect, Senator, I don't think this is an appropriate setting for me to discuss that issue. I'd be more than glad to come back in a -- in an appropriate setting to discuss the issues that you have raised," noting they were speaking in public.

Kirk, a Naval intelligence officer, was not satisfied with Holder's answer.

Said Kirk, "I would interrupt you and say the correct answer would be say no, we stayed within our lane, and I'm assuring you we did not spy on members of Congress."

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