Almost four months after ludicrously claiming to be an “unrelenting libertarian” while on stage with Ron Paul Institute Board Member Andrew Napolitano, Michael Hayden — whose rotation through high-level United States intelligence offices included several years as director of the National Security Agency (NSA) — has found some true common ground with Napolitano. Like Napolitano, Hayden is now on record declaring that the US mass surveillance program will continue unhindered by the recently enacted USA FREEDOM Act.
Speaking Monday at the annual meeting of the Wall Street Journal CFO Network, Hayden said it is “cool!” that, after two years of exposure of the mass surveillance program, the only purported restraint on the program has been the enactment of the USA FREEDOM Act. Despite claims by many of the statute’s supporters, Hayden makes it clear he believes the USA FREEDOM Act allows government snoopers to continue accessing all the information they accessed before.
For more details and analysis regarding Hayden’s comments, as well as video of the comments, check out Dan Froomkin’s Wednesday article at The Intercept.
