Politico: Pols, pundits weigh in on NSA report
This is a photo gallery, but the mix of opinions on this is worthwhile to see, and some DUers might not be able to go to a page that has pics.
http://www.politico.com/gallery/2013/06/pols-pundits-weigh-in-on-nsa-report/001082-015252.html
“In digital era, privacy must be a priority. Is it just me, or is secret blanket surveillance obscenely outrageous?” Al Gore tweeted.
“This is yet another example of government overreach that forces the question, ‘What sort of state are we living in?’ There is clearly a glaring difference between what the government is doing and what the American people think they are doing,” Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) said in a statement.
“I’m glad the NSA is trying to find out what the terrorists are up to overseas and in our country,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on the Fox News show, “Fox & Friends.”
“As far as I know, this is the exact three-month renewal of what has been in place for the past seven years. … This renewal is carried out by the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court] under the business records section of the Patriot Act. Therefore, it is lawful. It has been briefed to Congress,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said.
“Why they would need that much data puzzles me. It just seems strange that they would collect all of that only to, I’m sure, drill down on certain aspects later on. That was a surprise and raises some questions that I think we ought to answer,” said Sen. Jeff Flake (R- Ariz.) to MSNBC’s Chris Jansing.
“This type of secret bulk data collection is an outrageous breach of Americans’ privacy. I have had significant concerns about the intelligence community over-collecting information about Americans’ telephone calls, emails and other records,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) in a statement.
“I’ve been a supporter of FISA and the FISA court process, but it does seem to me that on all fronts, the Obama administration is more expansive and aggressive — from drones to phone records — than the Bush administration,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said.
“This is nothing new. This has been going on for seven years … every member of the United States Senate has been advised of this. To my knowledge, there has not been any citizen who has registered a complaint. It has proved meritorious because we have collected significant information on bad guys, but only on bad guys, over the years,” Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) said.
“I think if what you’re trying to do is avoid the kind of terrorism that occurred in Boston or the kind of terrorism that almost occurred in Times Square a couple years ago, I am for whatever it takes as long as it’s restricted to the National Security Agency and doesn’t get involved in looking for criminal behavior or other kind of things,” Newt Gingrich, speaking to CNN’s Piers Morgan.
“When is it legitimate to gather this private information on citizens and collect, extort, and use it? That is going to be a conundrum for lawyers and policymakers going forward because technology is driving this right now. Our ability to gather so much information on individuals and store it on something as big as a microchip really changes the way we do this. That moral point, that ethical question is going to be permeating throughout this discussion going forward,” said former RNC Chairman Michael Steele to MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts.
“Within the last few years, this program was used to stop a terrorist attack in the United States. We know that. It’s important. It fills in a little seam that we have, and it’s used to make sure that there’s not an international nexus to any terrorism event that they may believe is ongoing in the United States,” Rep. Mike Roger (R-Mich) said.
“Drone strikes. Wiretaps. Gitmo. Renditions. Military commissions. Obama is carrying out Bush’s 4th term, yet he attacked Bush for violating the Constitution,” Ari Fleischer, George W. Bush’s press secretary, said.
“The United States should not be accumulating phone records on tens of millions of innocent Americans. That is not what democracy is about. That is not what freedom is about,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) said.
“Never thought I would agree with Al Gore but in the case of the #NSA he’s right. The secret blanket surveillance is obscenely outrageous,” Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) tweeted.
“Civil liberties are incredibly important in this country and to have a FISA court basically give a perpetual court order of telephone records …I think it goes against what this country is founded on.” Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said on MSNBC.
“The American people have a right to know whether their government thinks that the sweeping, dragnet surveillance that has been alleged in this story is allowed under the law and whether it is actually being conducted. Furthermore, they have a right to know whether the program that has been described is actually of value in preventing attacks. Based on several years of oversight, I believe that its value and effectiveness remain unclear,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said.
“The National Security Agency’s seizure and surveillance of virtually all of Verizon’s phone customers is an astounding assault on the Constitution. After revelations that the Internal Revenue Service targeted political dissidents and the Department of Justice seized reporters’ phone records, it would appear that this Administration has now sunk to a new low,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said.
“I do not believe the released FISA order is consistent with the requirement of the Patriot Act. How could the phone records of so many innocent Americans be relevant to an authorized investigation as required by the Act?” Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis) said in a letter.
“We believe this type of program is far too broad and is inconsistent with our nation’s founding principles. We cannot defeat terrorism by compromising our commitment to our civil rights and liberties,” Prominent Democrats including Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), on the House Judiciary committee said in a joint statement.
“Everyone should just calm down and understand this isn’t anything that is brand new. It’s been going on for some seven years. And we’ve tried often to try to make it better, and we’ll continue to do that,” Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters.
