General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Can someone please explain how the NSA Slurp and Burp doesn't violate wiretap law? [View all]jmowreader
(50,447 posts)He would have been better off not using metaphors:
"First, we get a list of all the phone calls made in the US on any given day. We use a very fast computer to compare that list to another list we have, that has the phone numbers of people associated with terrorists on it. If someone not on that list makes several calls to someone that's on it, or several people that are on it, the computer will alert an analyst, a person skilled in working against terrorists. The analyst will decide whether a person might be what we call a 'person of interest,' and whether we should step up our efforts against that person."
"And what would those efforts be?"
"If we have determined that a person is working with terrorists, we can apply for what's called a FISA warrant. FISA means the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Once we have that, we can record their phone calls, listen to them and find out what they're doing, a process that we call collection."
"Are there any safeguards to ensure you're not conducting collection against Americans?"
"Yes. After President Nixon resigned, there were many safeguards put in place to ensure the American intelligence community isn't spying on Americans. The standards we work under are very high. We use the same criteria - beyond a reasonable doubt - when we decide to collect against someone."
Better that than the library metaphor, which I'm sure has current NSA guys sitting there going "what the fuck?"