of Selected Government Surveillance Programs
Here are answers to some widely-asked questions about the FBI’s and National Security Agency’s surveillance programs revealed last week.
Q: What is the National Security Agency doing?
A: Two major surveillance programs have been revealed:
1. Since 2006, the National Security Agency (NSA) has been secretly collecting the phone records of millions of Americans from some of the largest telecommunications providers in the United States, via a series of regularly renewed requests by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI). Although the NSA is not collecting the contents of all phone calls, it is collecting records of who called whom, when and for how long. There are also reports that the NSA has been …show more content…
Q: What about individuals?
A: Persons whose records are targeted do not have the right to appear before the FISA court.
Moreover, since the surveillance programs are classified, targeted persons generally have no way of knowing that their records are the subject of specific government scrutiny. Although individuals or organizations can submit requests under the Freedom of Information Act or the Privacy Act asking for information about whether the government has been spying on them or others, these requests are likely to be denied.
Q: If these laws were passed by Congress, and the FBI and NSA are securing the required court approval and making the required disclosures to Congress, what’s the problem? Isn’t everything working the way it’s supposed to?
A: It is debatable whether Congress intended the sort of dragnet information collection of phone records that the FISA court has approved under Section 215. Section 215 is dangerously broad, but its plain language does not permit wide-scale surveillance on
Here are answers to some widely-asked questions about the FBI’s and National Security Agency’s surveillance programs revealed last week.
Q: What is the National Security Agency doing?
A: Two major surveillance programs have been revealed:
1. Since 2006, the National Security Agency (NSA) has been secretly collecting the phone records of millions of Americans from some of the largest telecommunications providers in the United States, via a series of regularly renewed requests by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI). Although the NSA is not collecting the contents of all phone calls, it is collecting records of who called whom, when and for how long. There are also reports that the NSA has been …show more content…
Q: What about individuals?
A: Persons whose records are targeted do not have the right to appear before the FISA court.
Moreover, since the surveillance programs are classified, targeted persons generally have no way of knowing that their records are the subject of specific government scrutiny. Although individuals or organizations can submit requests under the Freedom of Information Act or the Privacy Act asking for information about whether the government has been spying on them or others, these requests are likely to be denied.
Q: If these laws were passed by Congress, and the FBI and NSA are securing the required court approval and making the required disclosures to Congress, what’s the problem? Isn’t everything working the way it’s supposed to?
A: It is debatable whether Congress intended the sort of dragnet information collection of phone records that the FISA court has approved under Section 215. Section 215 is dangerously broad, but its plain language does not permit wide-scale surveillance on