Posted on 06/06/2013 5:53:04 PM PDT by kristinn
The National Security Agency's monitoring of Americans includes customer records from the three major phone networks as well as emails and Web searches, and the agency also has cataloged credit-card transactions, said people familiar with the agency's activities.
The disclosure this week of an order by a secret U.S. court for Verizon Communications Inc.'s phone records set off the latest public discussion of the program. But people familiar with the NSA's operations said the initiative also encompasses phone-call data from AT&T Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp., records from Internet-service providers and purchase information from credit-card providers.
The agency is using its secret access to the communications of millions of Americans to target possible terrorists, said people familiar with the effort.
The NSA's efforts have become institutionalized—yet not so well known to the public—under laws passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Most members of Congress defended them Thursday as a way to root out terrorism, but civil-liberties groups decried the program.
"Everyone should just calm down and understand this isn't anything that is brand new,'' said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), who added that the phone-data program has "worked to prevent'' terrorist attacks.
Senate Intelligence Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) said the program is lawful and that it must be renewed by Congress every three months. She said the revelation about Verizon, reported by the London-based newspaper the Guardian, seemed to coincide with its latest renewal.
Civil-liberties advocates slammed the NSA's actions. "The most recent surveillance program is breathtaking. It shows absolutely no effort to narrow or tailor the surveillance of citizens," said Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law expert at George Washington University.
The arrangement with the country's three largest phone companies means that every time the majority of Americans makes a call, NSA
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Is the work of obama’s Deep Throat?
Can you say: “diversion”?
Reggie Love? lolol
Heaven help them, should they get what they're asking for.
Yes. .having some light on what’s really going on. .if that’s even possible.
Perhaps I should learn arabic...not a bad idea.
Just like the old Soviet Union spied on everyone about everything. Obastard is a worse disaster than anyone could imagine.
It's not Obama's fault he has almost no input into it’s creation, maintenance, expansion, and scope.
I trust noone in politics and not many outside of politics. None of the critters care about the citizenary just their own little kingdoms.
All Senators on both sides of the sleazy Isle are tap dancing around this one. THEY KNEW, AGREED AND SAID NOTHING!
Maybe that’s why this is being leaked. The GOP knew about the program and did nothing. The kenyan will just say the GOP signed off on EVERYTHING the NSA has done.
The Daily Bell suggests that the reason the War on Drugs is over is that it was an opportunity to build holding facilities and gulags. They have enough and now they need the space for other issues.
Seems that Holder when asked by Senator Kirk today had a great response.
“Can you assure us no members of the Capitol building were monitored?” asked Kirk. When Holder said he wouldn’t be able to answer that question in an “open forum,” Kirk interrupted him. “I think the correct answer is ‘we stayed within our lane and we did not spy on members of Congress.”
Not only little Lindsey but I caught part of Greta tonight with Karl Rove. Poor Greta had no voice and was furious but old Karl was defending this and the bipartisan committee!!!
“”Everyone should just calm down and understand this isn’t anything that is brand new,’’ said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), who added that the phone-data program has “worked to prevent’’ terrorist attacks. “
And naturally this is not used for campaign fundraising, campaigns, collecting opposition research for campaigns, hurting opposing campaigns, suppressing opposition turnout, “pressuring” opposition candidates, Supreme Court members, blackmail of key opposition people, or any other act that might be considered at all partisan.
It’s all about keeping you safe from the terrorists that we import to justify all this.
“I wonder how all this helped prevent the Boston bombing...? Oh wait,,it didn’t”
But Warren got elected as the Mass senator.
Tracking republicans and sanitizing data of democrats. That’s how it works when you are steering the ship of state.
“Obama did NOT create this apparatus.
He has almost no input into it’s creation, maintenance, expansion, and scope.”
So who is it?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.