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Senators demand answers on expired surveillance programs:
Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Mike Lee (R-Ut.) on Thursday pressed the Trump administration on whether and how mass surveillance programs authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act have been halted since the act's expiration.
The letter to Attorney General William Barr and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe raises concerns that the administration may be be continuing to conduct surveillance operations by relying on Executive Order 12333.
The order, issued on 1981, has been used before to conduct operations without statutory authorization or congressional oversight.
"Congress and the American people have a right to know if this or any other administration is spying on people in the United States outside of express congressional approval, with no or diminished guardrails," Sens. Leahy and Lee wrote.
"The rights of all Americans depend on their government exercising its power responsibly, adhering to the rule of law, and upholding its duty to act transparently. Any surveillance conducted in the absence of statutory authorities and congressional oversight would be extraordinarily concerning and illegal."
Reauthorization of the key FISA provisions under the USA Freedom Act has stalled.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by epitaxial on Thursday July 23 2020, @12:50PM (2 children)
I believe the FBI can't find their way out of a wet paper bag. They were alerted on two occasions about the Parkland school shooter being a threat. Each of those went straight to the trash. The first was about a Youtube video he posted threatening violence. The FBI claims they had no idea who posted it and didn't bother going further. Guess he didn't use any copyrighted music in his video or else shit would have gotten real. The second was a direct tip of this person is a threat, here is his name and here is the school. A two minute call to the school would have confirmed that asshole was off his rocker. He wasn't allowed to carry a backpack and teachers were to alert the police if he was seen with one. It was even the running joke at the school that he would shoot up the place. That massacre could easily have been prevented had they bothered looking into the tips.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 23 2020, @02:15PM
Sadly, that's because the FBI isn't supposed to stop things like that. They're supposed to be looking for kiddie diddlers and creating fake terrorists so that the American people can feel safe.
The FBI has always been irredeemably corrupt. People get all bent out of shape about the police, but the FBI is up there with the CIA and NSA in terms of being a corrupting influence on our "Democracy."
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday July 23 2020, @03:14PM
Don't forget the Boston Marathon bombers. The Russians TOLD US those two boys were trouble, and our guys dismissed the warning.