72% of Likely U.S. Voters Know the NSA Has Monitored the Private Communications of Congress, Military Leaders and Judges
The government keeps on lying [8] about how it's spying on Americans without authorization from a court.
It keeps lying about the scope of its spying [9].
It keeps lying about the need for mass surveillance [10] (and here [11]) and the way that the information gained from spying will really be used ... to harass political opponents [12].
Indeed, NSA whistleblower Russel Tice – a key source [13] in the 2005 New York Times report [14] that blew the lid off the Bush administration’s use of warrantless wiretapping –recently said that the NSA illegally spied on General Petraeus and other generals, Supreme Court Justice Alito and all of the other supreme court justices, the White House spokesman, Barack Obama, and many other top officials [15].
The mainstream media will not interview Tice about this explosive issue. (Tice made his revelations [16] to former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds - who has been deemed credible by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General, several senators [17] [free subscription required], and a coalition of prominent conservative and liberal groups [18] - and to James Corbett [19]. Edmonds and Corbett have small, alternative media web-based radio shows.)
And yet - in very heartening news - a new poll [20] by Rasmussen shows that the American public understands much of what is really going on:
Most voters think the National Security Agency is likely to have violated one of the country’s most cherished constitutional standards – the checks and balances between the three branches of government – by spying on the private communications of Congress and judges.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 72% of Likely U.S. Voters think it is at least somewhat likely that the NSA has monitored the private communications of Congress, military leaders and judges. That includes 45% who believe it is Very Likely.
Just 14% say it’s not likely that the Executive branch of the government monitored the private communications of the Legislative and Judicial branches. Another 14% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here [21].)
This concern takes on even more significance given that 57% of voters believe it is likely the NSA data will be used by other government agencies to harass political opponents [22].
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Despite the president’s assurance that "nobody is listening to your telephone calls," 68% believe it is likely that "government agencies are listening in on private conversations of American citizens.”
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Currently, 33% of voters approve of the recently disclosed NSA program [22] of monitoring Americans’ private phone and e-mail communications to fight terrorism. Fifty percent (50%) are opposed.
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The United States was founded on a belief that governments are created to protect certain unalienable rights. Today, however, more voters than ever (56%) view the federal government as a threat to individual rights [23] rather than a protector of those rights.