In 2001, the Patriot Act opened the door to US government monitoring of Americans
without a warrant. It was unconstitutional, but most in Congress over my
strong objection were so determined to do something after the attacks of
9/11 that they did not seem to give it too much thought. Civil liberties
groups were concerned, and some of us in Congress warned about giving up
our liberties even in the post-9/11 panic. But at the time most Americans
did not seem too worried about the intrusion.
This complacency has suddenly shifted given recent revelations of the extent
of government spying on Americans. Politicians and bureaucrats are faced
with serious backlash from Americans outraged that their most personal communications
are intercepted and stored. They had been told that only the terrorists would
be monitored. In response to this anger, defenders of the program have time
and again resorted to spreading lies and distortions. But these untruths
are now being exposed very quickly.
In a Senate hearing this March, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper
told Senator Ron Wyden that the NSA did not collect phone records of millions
of Americans. This was just three months before the revelations of an NSA
leaker made it clear that Clapper was not telling the truth. Pressed on his
false testimony before Congress, Clapper apologized for giving an "erroneous" answer
but claimed it
was just because he "simply didn't think of Section 215 of the Patriot Act." Wow.
As the story broke in June of the extent of warrantless NSA spying against
Americans, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers assured
us that the project was a strictly limited and not invasive. He described
it as a "lockbox with only phone numbers, no names, no addresses in it, we've
used it sparingly, it is absolutely overseen by the legislature, the judicial
branch and the executive branch, has lots of protections built in..."
But we soon discovered that also was not true either. We learned in
another Guardian newspaper article last week that the top secret "X-Keyscore" program
allows even low-level analysts to "search with no prior authorization through
vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories
of millions of individuals."
The keys to Rogers' "lockbox" seem to have been handed out to everyone but
the janitors! As Chairman of the Committee that is supposed to be most in
the loop on these matters, it seems either the Intelligence Community misled
him about their programs or he misled the rest of us. It sure would be nice
to know which one it is.
Likewise, Rep. Rogers and many other defenders of the NSA spying program promised
us that this dragnet scooping up the personal electronic communications of
millions of Americans had already stopped "dozens" of
terrorist plots against the United States. In June, NSA director General
Keith Alexander claimed that
the just-disclosed bulk collection of Americans' phone and other electronic
records had "foiled 50 terror plots."
Opponents of the program were to be charged with being unconcerned with our
security.
But none of it was true.
The Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday heard dramatic testimony from NSA
deputy director John C. Inglis. According to the Guardian:
"The NSA has previously claimed that 54 terrorist plots had been disrupted
'over the lifetime' of the bulk phone records collection and the
separate program collecting the internet habits and communications
of people believed to be non-Americans. On Wednesday, Inglis said
that at most one plot might have been disrupted by the bulk phone
records collection alone."
From dozens to "at most one"?
Supporters of these programs are now on the defensive, with several competing
pieces of legislation in the House and Senate seeking to rein in an administration
and intelligence apparatus that is clearly out of control. This is to be
commended. What is even more important, though, is for more and more and
more Americans to educate themselves about our precious liberties and to
demand that their government abide by the Constitution. We do not have to
accept being lied to - or spied on -- by our government.
