It is like an AA meeting where the first step is admitting you have a problem. Because until now our spy apparatus has been in denial. James Clapper lied to Congress about widespread spying on Americans. Former NSA head Keith Alexander denied it. Even Obama repeatedly told us that “no one is reading your emails or listening to your phone calls.”
The NSA claimed that they were only looking at metadata. Even though the documents released by Edward Snowden showed that the NSA was indeed reading our emails and listening to our phone calls.
So it is interesting that in a letter to Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), the NSA finally admitted what everyone already knows. That the NSA has been reading innocent Americans’ emails and text messages and listening to digital recordings of their telephone conversations that have been stored in NSA computers, without obtaining warrants required by the Constitution.
Now that we know that our government spies have been wantonly violating the constitution, and then have lied to Congress about it, what do we do now? How do we stop the madness?
Giving full amnesty to Snowden would be a good first step.
2 Comments
Congress should force the President to dismantle the leadership of the NSA and CIA and if he doesn’t then they should impeach him. As for Snowden he should be given amnesty for the domestic disclosures because they are clearly violate our 4th amendment rights, but the foreign spying does not so that does need to be considered for prosecution.
Unfortunately I don’t think either side of the aisle will get too aggressive here. Not with big elections over the next few years and the quick soundbite issue of national security possibly being used against them.