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NSA Collected Americans' Phone Records Despite Law Change, Says Report (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The U.S. National Security Agency collected more than 151 million records of Americans' phone calls last year, even after Congress limited its ability to collect bulk phone records, according to an annual report issued on Tuesday by the top U.S. intelligence officer. The report from the office of Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats was the first measure of the effects of the 2015 USA Freedom Act, which limited the NSA to collecting phone records and contacts of people U.S. and allied intelligence agencies suspect may have ties to terrorism. It found that the NSA collected the 151 million records even though it had warrants from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court to spy on only 42 terrorism suspects in 2016, in addition to a handful identified the previous year. The report came as Congress faced a decision on whether to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which permits the NSA to collect foreign intelligence information on non-U.S. persons outside the United States, and is scheduled to expire at the end of this year.
Despite the mounting evidence that the phone surveillance was in full force even last year, most of the news media will still pretend that those 151 million phone records couldn't possibly include Donald Trump or his associates. Obama allowed and expanded the surveillance despite promisingâ during his campaign to abolish it. It should be clearer than ever that Obama was indeed responsible for monitoring the phones of Trump and his associates.
Trump's allegation was that he was specifically wiretapped at the orders of Obama. Not that his conversations were swept up in a dragnet. Not that expect him to actually stand by what he says, because he's Donald Trump and changes positions daily. But the rest of us can at least be clear.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
So, you're going to blame Trump for everything his administration does, but the one true Obama only takes credit for what his department does, no blame for what his underlings did.
Obama is responsible for everything his cabinet appointees did and approved. He was the head of the executive branch, it's his responsibility. Trump is responsible now for everything his cabinet appointees do. He's responsible for everything the executive branch does. Yup, it's a big responsibility, but you gotta put on your big boy britches when you ask for the job.
/. (or another "news" site) had a recent post about N.S.A. technicians having low morale and there being high turnover there
Well no wonder, when they're being told to do fucking blatantly illegal things for their job.
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