Daily Archives: June 21, 2009

The NSA’s Ongoing Illegal Spying Game

For years now, the NSA has blatantly spied on Americans illegally — committing crimes that are far worse than Watergate — originally under the orders of appointed President George W. Bush several months before he allowed the attacks of 9/11, and some in Congress have not only condoned it, they have actively tried to justify it by illegally passing retroactive laws, or, as in the case of Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, by trying to say that they see nothing wrong with it. It’s not only wrong, it’s illegal and America needs to put an end to it.

Recently, the New York Times (NYT) ran another story on how the National Security Agency (NSA) was again caught snooping on private telephone calls and emails of Americans beyond legal limits in late 2008 and early 2009. The abuse — which is backed up by a former NSA analyst and two intelligence officials — is widespread and was and is done routinely and without court warrants.

Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) is one of a few in Congress who has been investigating the incidents. The politicized Justice Department and other national security officials say that the overcollection of America’s communications was inadvertent, but as noted by Rep. Holt, some actions are so flagrant that they can’t be accidental.

The NSA says that when such errors are identified, they are reported to the appropriate officals who take corrective actions. Right. That’s why the ‘errors’ keep happening. Only a couple months ago, the NSA was found to be violating laws. The Justice Department said they had installed new safeguards, but those appear to be pointless. The illegal spying hasn’t stopped. Some NSA analysts reportedly spied on their own wives and girlfriends too. Until the NSA is dismantled or the proper oversight is put in place, the illegal spying will undoubtedly continue.

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