Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog [3],
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the chairman of the committee, said he was surprised that the programs had been kept secret for so long.
“Do you think a program of this magnitude gathering information involving a large number of people involved with telephone companies could be indefinitely kept secret from the American people?” Goodlatte asked.
“Well,” ODNI general counsel Robert S. Litt said with a slight smile, “we tried.”
- From a Washington Post article yesterday [4]
The backlash in Congress against the government’s monstrous spy program and the ridiculous notion that a secret court (the FISA court) grants any sort of oversight is growing, and it is a bipartisan effort. More from the Washington Post:
Lawmakers of both parties expressed deep skepticism Wednesday about the government’s bulk collection of Americans’ telephone records and threatened not to renew the legislative authority that has been used to sanction a program described as “off the tracks legally.”
“This is unsustainable, it’s outrageous and must be stopped immediately,” said Rep. John Conyers Jr. (Mich.), the highest-ranking Democrat on the panel.
Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) — who sponsored the USA Patriot Act, which ostensibly authorized the collection — warned that the House might not renew Section 215 of the act, a key provision that gives the government its authority.
“You’ve got to change how you operate 215. . . or you’re not going to have it anymore,” Sensenbrenner said.
When the sponsor of the Patriot Act says it’s gone too far, [5] you know you are in totalitarian territory.
Cole said the programs are legal and overseen by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. He also said the programs “achieved the right balance” between protecting Americans’ safety and their privacy.
Remember this is a secret court, the ruling of which are never made public.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the chairman of the committee, said he was surprised that the programs had been kept secret for so long.
“Do you think a program of this magnitude gathering information involving a large number of people involved with telephone companies could be indefinitely kept secret from the American people?” Goodlatte asked.
“Well,” ODNI general counsel Robert S. Litt said with a slight smile, “we tried.”
Yeah, you sure did.