Today we learned from the Guardian newspaper that Federal judges and Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on an NSA request to make use of information it “inadvertently” collected on Americans without a warrant. According to the paper, the NSA was given permission to retain our intercepted information for a broad and vaguely defined variety of reasons, including “if they contain usable intelligence, information on criminal activity, threat of harm to people or property, are encrypted, or are believed to contain any information relevant to cybersecurity.” That could cover almost anything.
This revelation suggests that the president was not telling the truth recently when he assured us that “nobody is listening to your phone calls.” Not only is someone listening, but they have been given secret permission to keep the information they collected for future use against us!
When the White House and Congressional leaders were pressuring Members into voting for the PATRIOT Act and the FISA Amendments, they assured Congress that Americans would not be targeted. The skeptics who voiced concerns about the unconstitutionality of the measures were said to be over-reacting. But as many of us suspected at the time, they were not being honest. Does it make any difference whether the information collected on us without a warrant and kept for future use was the result of “targeted” or “inadvertent” collection?
The Administration and Congress is angry over recent revelations of the full extent of the US government spying on its citizens not because it threatens national security, but because they expose the morally indefensible actions of police state tactics in what is supposed to be a society under the rule of law.
Copyright 2013, The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. Article may be freely reproduced in whole or in part provided full credit is given and a live link provided.
