“A panel of presidential advisers who reviewed the National Security Agency’s surveillance practices urged President Obama on Wednesday to end the government’s systematic collection of logs of all Americans’ phone calls, and to keep those in private hands, ‘for queries and data mining’ only by court order,” David E. Sanger and Charlie Savage report for The New York Times.
“In a more than 300-page report made public by the White House, the group of five intelligence and legal experts also strongly recommended that any operation to spy on foreign leaders would have to pass a rigorous test that weighs the potential economic or diplomatic costs if the operation becomes public,” Sanger and Savage report. “The decision to monitor those communications, it said, should be made by the president and his advisers, not the intelligence agencies. It also recommends new limits on surveillance of ordinary non-Americans. It argues for applying to foreign targets of intelligence the protections accorded to Americans under the Privacy Act of 1974, meaning the government could release very little information about them.”
“Taken together, the recommendations would remove from the N.S.A.’s hands the authority to conduct many of its operations without review by the president, Congress or the courts. But by themselves, they would terminate few programs,” Sanger and Savage report. “Taken together with a federal court decision this week that found some of the bulk collection of telephone data ‘almost Orwellian,’ and objections from Silicon Valley, the report adds to pressure on Mr. Obama to rein in the N.S.A. for the first time since its authorities began a rapid expansion after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks… It is not clear how many of the recommendations will ultimately become a reality. Some would require action by Mr. Obama alone, while others would require legislation from Congress.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The decision to spy on communications should be made by the president and his presidential advisers, a panel of presidential advisers told the president.
In related news, the henhouse should be guarded by the fox and his troop, the fox’s troop recommended to the fox.
United States Constitution, Amendment IV:
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. – Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
Visit reformgovernmentsurveillance.com today.
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