Vatic Note: My comment here is, if NSA refuses to give out that information to those two idealistic senators.... (cough, choke, sputter on the Udall part of that team).... then those two wonderful senators will use their supeona power and force them to do as requested. I have bad news for NSA, spying on Americans is a violation of our right to privacy if done with out probable cause and a court order that is A FISA COURT, not a real court. Further, if they "really" give a damn, our Senators can fillibuster the bill when it comes up for renewal on the FISA court. Tell our senators to let the damn thing die.
Sorry for all the VN's throughout this article, but you can tell this is one of my pet peeves.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/06/nsa-spied/
By Spencer Ackerman
Date: 2012-06-18
The surveillance experts at the National Security Agency won’t tell two powerful United States Senators how many Americans have had their communications picked up by the agency as part of its sweeping new counterterrorism powers. The reason: it would violate your privacy to say so.
That claim comes in a short letter sent Monday to civil libertarian Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall. The two members of the Senate’s intelligence oversight committee asked the NSA a simple question last month: under the broad powers granted in 2008's expansion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, how many persons inside the United States have been spied upon by the NSA? (VN: Uh oh, Mark Udall must be up for re-election to the Senate. LOL He has never fought against anything gutting our Bill of rights, no matter how many times you call his office, all you get is a recorded run around from one of his AIPAC hand selected STAFFERS. Or a rude "who cares what you think" response from one of his satellite branches, also staffed by AIPAC picked people. This is a must get out of office Senator. Bennet is no different.)
The query bounced around the intelligence bureaucracy until it reached I. Charles McCullough, the Inspector General of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the nominal head of the 16 U.S. spy agencies. In a letter acquired by Danger Room, McCullough told the senators that the NSA inspector general “and NSA leadership agreed that an IG review of the sort suggested would itself violate the privacy of U.S. persons,” McCullough wrote.
“All that Senator Udall and I are asking for is a ballpark estimate of how many Americans have been monitored under this law, and it is disappointing that the Inspectors General cannot provide it,” Wyden told Danger Room on Monday. (VN: this is the good guy, Wyden, his constituents are lucky, he at least tries. More than I can say for our poor Colorado people given Udall could care less. He is the least accessible Senator I have ever seen in my long life. I guess he doesn't want to have those filthy masses rub off on his nice clean suit. I can just see him now, brushing himself off after having to visit with a constituent. ) “If no one will even estimate how many Americans have had their communications collected under this law then it is all the more important that Congress act to close the ‘back door searches’ loophole, to keep the government from searching for Americans’ phone calls and emails without a warrant.”
What’s more, McCullough argued, giving such a figure of how many Americans were spied on was “beyond the capacity” of the NSA’s in-house watchdog — and to rectify it would require “imped[ing]” the very spy missions that concern Wyden and Udall. “I defer to [the NSA inspector general's] conclusion that obtaining such an estimate was beyond the capacity of his office and dedicating sufficient additional resources would likely impede the NSA’s mission,” McCullough wrote. (VN: See??? They really do think us goyim are stupid. They can afford to build one of the largest spy centers ever, but can't afford to provide our elected senators with the information about violating our rights to privacy. I worked as a research analyst and chief of staff for a house of reps committee in a state, and this is all just a game they play pretending they are trying to get something and the bureacracy refuses to give it to them. Its ridiculous because they have the POWER to obtain any damn thing they want or need from those bureaucracies since they hold the purse strings, AND THE AUTHORITY to supeona, or at least they used to under the Constitution.)
The changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 2008 — which President Obama, then in the Senate, voted for — relaxed the standards under which communications with foreigners that passed through the United States could be collected by the spy agency. The NSA, for instance, no longer requires probable cause to intercept a person’s phone calls, text messages or emails within the United States as long as one party to the communications is “reasonably” believed to be outside the United States. (VN: how ironic, half our readers are from overseas. They will use whatever excuse and our senators will buy it, like I said, its an election year so they have to pretend. Notice all the quotes and communications are with Senator Wyden, nary a word from Udall, but it looks good to have his name on there, just so long as he doesn't have to actively do anything. Yes, a man of true courage..... lol He makes a chickhawk look brave.)
The FISA Amendments Act of 2008, as it’s known, legalized an expansive effort under the Bush administration that authorized NSA surveillance on persons inside the United States without a warrant in cases of suspicion of connections to terrorism. As my colleague David Kravets has reported, Wyden has attempted to slow a renewal of the 2008 surveillance authorities making its way through Congress. (VN: Uuuhhhh, Wyden, its called Fillibuster.... yes, you and Udall have the right to fillibuster that bill into oblivion. So now will we see that courage we so desperately need from you all? I have a sneaky feeling our senators do not know what power they have based on the Constitution. Or they do and are afraid to use it. OR, they are bought off. ) The House Judiciary Committee is expected to address the FISA Amendments Act on Tuesday, as the 2008 law expires this year. (VN: Not that it would do any good, but call and harass your senators anyway, at least make it cost them to betray their constitutents. Let them know, that "we know" and they are fooling no one anymore.)
Longtime intelligence watchers found the stonewalling of an “entirely legitimate oversight question” to be “disappointing and unsatisfactory,” as Steve Aftergood, a secrecy expert at the Federation of American Scientists told Danger Room. (VN: Oh, what a pathetic response. Where is the outrage that we used to see years ago when our Senators were treated with such disrespect. Is this an illumati way to get us used to the idea that the bureaucracy has the power and the people do not??? A necessary element in globalizing is to slowly and incrementally take power away from the elected and give it to the bureaucracy..... its what destroyed Russia after their revolution. Its an essential part of moving toward fascism)
“If the FISA Amendments Act is not susceptible to oversight in this way,” Aftergood said, “it should be repealed, not renewed.”
Even though McCullough said the spy agencies wouldn’t tell the senators how many Americans have been spied upon under the new authorities, he told them he “firmly believe[s] that oversight of intelligence collection is a proper function of an Inspector General. I will continue to work with you and the [Senate intelligence] Committee to identify ways we can enhance our ability to conduct effective oversight.”
The article is reproduced in accordance with Section 107 of title 17 of the Copyright Law of the United States relating to fair-use and is for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
Sorry for all the VN's throughout this article, but you can tell this is one of my pet peeves.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/06/nsa-spied/
By Spencer Ackerman
Date: 2012-06-18
(VN: This is their small satellite office, LOL)
The surveillance experts at the National Security Agency won’t tell two powerful United States Senators how many Americans have had their communications picked up by the agency as part of its sweeping new counterterrorism powers. The reason: it would violate your privacy to say so.
That claim comes in a short letter sent Monday to civil libertarian Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall. The two members of the Senate’s intelligence oversight committee asked the NSA a simple question last month: under the broad powers granted in 2008's expansion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, how many persons inside the United States have been spied upon by the NSA? (VN: Uh oh, Mark Udall must be up for re-election to the Senate. LOL He has never fought against anything gutting our Bill of rights, no matter how many times you call his office, all you get is a recorded run around from one of his AIPAC hand selected STAFFERS. Or a rude "who cares what you think" response from one of his satellite branches, also staffed by AIPAC picked people. This is a must get out of office Senator. Bennet is no different.)
The query bounced around the intelligence bureaucracy until it reached I. Charles McCullough, the Inspector General of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the nominal head of the 16 U.S. spy agencies. In a letter acquired by Danger Room, McCullough told the senators that the NSA inspector general “and NSA leadership agreed that an IG review of the sort suggested would itself violate the privacy of U.S. persons,” McCullough wrote.
“All that Senator Udall and I are asking for is a ballpark estimate of how many Americans have been monitored under this law, and it is disappointing that the Inspectors General cannot provide it,” Wyden told Danger Room on Monday. (VN: this is the good guy, Wyden, his constituents are lucky, he at least tries. More than I can say for our poor Colorado people given Udall could care less. He is the least accessible Senator I have ever seen in my long life. I guess he doesn't want to have those filthy masses rub off on his nice clean suit. I can just see him now, brushing himself off after having to visit with a constituent. ) “If no one will even estimate how many Americans have had their communications collected under this law then it is all the more important that Congress act to close the ‘back door searches’ loophole, to keep the government from searching for Americans’ phone calls and emails without a warrant.”
What’s more, McCullough argued, giving such a figure of how many Americans were spied on was “beyond the capacity” of the NSA’s in-house watchdog — and to rectify it would require “imped[ing]” the very spy missions that concern Wyden and Udall. “I defer to [the NSA inspector general's] conclusion that obtaining such an estimate was beyond the capacity of his office and dedicating sufficient additional resources would likely impede the NSA’s mission,” McCullough wrote. (VN: See??? They really do think us goyim are stupid. They can afford to build one of the largest spy centers ever, but can't afford to provide our elected senators with the information about violating our rights to privacy. I worked as a research analyst and chief of staff for a house of reps committee in a state, and this is all just a game they play pretending they are trying to get something and the bureacracy refuses to give it to them. Its ridiculous because they have the POWER to obtain any damn thing they want or need from those bureaucracies since they hold the purse strings, AND THE AUTHORITY to supeona, or at least they used to under the Constitution.)
The changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 2008 — which President Obama, then in the Senate, voted for — relaxed the standards under which communications with foreigners that passed through the United States could be collected by the spy agency. The NSA, for instance, no longer requires probable cause to intercept a person’s phone calls, text messages or emails within the United States as long as one party to the communications is “reasonably” believed to be outside the United States. (VN: how ironic, half our readers are from overseas. They will use whatever excuse and our senators will buy it, like I said, its an election year so they have to pretend. Notice all the quotes and communications are with Senator Wyden, nary a word from Udall, but it looks good to have his name on there, just so long as he doesn't have to actively do anything. Yes, a man of true courage..... lol He makes a chickhawk look brave.)
The FISA Amendments Act of 2008, as it’s known, legalized an expansive effort under the Bush administration that authorized NSA surveillance on persons inside the United States without a warrant in cases of suspicion of connections to terrorism. As my colleague David Kravets has reported, Wyden has attempted to slow a renewal of the 2008 surveillance authorities making its way through Congress. (VN: Uuuhhhh, Wyden, its called Fillibuster.... yes, you and Udall have the right to fillibuster that bill into oblivion. So now will we see that courage we so desperately need from you all? I have a sneaky feeling our senators do not know what power they have based on the Constitution. Or they do and are afraid to use it. OR, they are bought off. ) The House Judiciary Committee is expected to address the FISA Amendments Act on Tuesday, as the 2008 law expires this year. (VN: Not that it would do any good, but call and harass your senators anyway, at least make it cost them to betray their constitutents. Let them know, that "we know" and they are fooling no one anymore.)
Longtime intelligence watchers found the stonewalling of an “entirely legitimate oversight question” to be “disappointing and unsatisfactory,” as Steve Aftergood, a secrecy expert at the Federation of American Scientists told Danger Room. (VN: Oh, what a pathetic response. Where is the outrage that we used to see years ago when our Senators were treated with such disrespect. Is this an illumati way to get us used to the idea that the bureaucracy has the power and the people do not??? A necessary element in globalizing is to slowly and incrementally take power away from the elected and give it to the bureaucracy..... its what destroyed Russia after their revolution. Its an essential part of moving toward fascism)
“If the FISA Amendments Act is not susceptible to oversight in this way,” Aftergood said, “it should be repealed, not renewed.”
Even though McCullough said the spy agencies wouldn’t tell the senators how many Americans have been spied upon under the new authorities, he told them he “firmly believe[s] that oversight of intelligence collection is a proper function of an Inspector General. I will continue to work with you and the [Senate intelligence] Committee to identify ways we can enhance our ability to conduct effective oversight.”
The article is reproduced in accordance with Section 107 of title 17 of the Copyright Law of the United States relating to fair-use and is for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
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