It's a pity that so many senators skipped the NSA's classified briefing
on its secret spying program, because if they'd attended, they'd have
heard something shocking: the NSA can and does access the content of
emails and phone calls of Americans on US soil without a warrant. It's
an important insight into the President's secret interpretation of FISA,
one of America's most notorious spying laws.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, disclosed this week that
during a secret briefing to members of Congress, he was told that the
contents of a phone call could be accessed "simply based on an analyst
deciding that."
If the NSA wants "to listen to the phone," an analyst's decision is
sufficient, without any other legal authorization required, Nadler said
he learned. "I was rather startled," said Nadler, an attorney and
congressman who serves on the House Judiciary committee.
Not only does this disclosure shed more light on how the NSA's
formidable eavesdropping apparatus works domestically, it also suggests
the Justice Department has secretly interpreted federal surveillance law
to permit thousands of low-ranking analysts to eavesdrop on phone
calls.
Because the same legal standards that apply to phone calls also apply to
e-mail messages, text messages, and instant messages, Nadler's
disclosure indicates the NSA analysts could also access the contents of
Internet communications without going before a court and seeking
approval.
The NSA is supposed to only spy on us dirty foreigners. As sketchy as it
is to divide the world into the spied-upon and the un-spied-upon, it is
nevertheless the law, and should be comforting to those the latter
category. This revelation confirms that the Obama administration has
doubled down on GW Bush's project of lawless, authoritarian
surveillance, treating the Constitution and Congress's laws as mere
formalities. So much for "the most transparent administration in
history."
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