ACLU Uncovers Memos Showing Obama Admin’s Spying Violated Civil Liberties

[IAMX 3,055]

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The American Civil Liberties Union has uncovered memos that show the National Security Agency (NSA) and FBI “violated specific civil liberty protections during the Obama administration by improperly searching and disseminating raw intelligence on Americans or failing to promptly delete unauthorized intercepts,” as reported by The Hill on Tuesday.

 

The memos, which The Hill was able to review, were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the ACLU. They cover compliance with privacy rules between 2009 and 2016. Equivalent assessments of the Trump administration’s first year will not be prepared until next spring.

 

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“Americans should be alarmed that the NSA is vacuuming up their emails and phone calls without a warrant. The NSA claims it has rules to protect our privacy, but it turns out those rules are weak, full of loopholes, and violated again and again,” countered ACLU lawyer Patrick Toomey.

“Our country’s founders required the government to get a warrant before searching Americans’ private papers. The same holds true for Americans’ phone calls, emails, and internet browsing today, whether a person is communicating with a friend around the corner or a family member around the world. The NSA should not be spying on us,” Toomey told the Daily Caller, which also reviewed the memos.

The memos uncovered by the ACLU offer a smorgasbord of just about every fear privacy advocates have ever expressed concerning secret government surveillance programs. Data on American citizens caught up in surveillance of foreign targets was retained, rather than being destroyed immediately. Improper searches of intercept data and the improper “unmasking” of Americans who were supposed to be kept anonymous in foreign intercepts are chronicled. One analyst is described as making the same improper query concerning a particular American “every work day” for “a period between 2013 and 2014.”

The NSA was also cited for acting too slowly to recall data that improperly exposed the names of American citizens. “The law requires a notification within five days, but some took as long as 131 business days and the average was 19 days,” notes The Hill.

Another problem is that the NSA sometimes grants itself waivers from the rule requiring the immediate destruction of improperly intercepted communications. There is evidence these waivers have been used improperly, and the offense was not speedily reported to the oversight court.

The Hill quotes former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra, previously a supporter of the warrantless surveillance program, saying he might vote against it if he was in Congress today. Contrary to agency assertions that a 1 percent violation rate is laudable, Hoekstra said, “In my mind, one percent is pretty sloppy when it can impact Americans’ privacy.”

 

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/07/26/declassified-memos-reveal-extent-obama-admin-spying-americans/

 

This issue goes to the very core of why I didn't vote for Obama back in 2008. 

 

I knew this guy was a lying pos who had no intentions of protecting Americans privacy, after all those years building up a reputation as a state and US senator blasting Bush on warrantless wiretapping. Soon as he became the Dem nominee, at that point he openly flipped on this stance, partied with company execs (AT&T) who were targets of lawsuits in conjunction with NSA spying, who likewise sponsored the 2008 DNC in Denver, defended the warrantless wiretapping in court, and signed the FISA retroactive immunity bill. Clearly the Obama admin had always been an enemy to American freedoms.

Edited July 27, 2017 by IAMX

[Dashinka 26,010]

2 minutes ago, IAMX said:

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/07/26/declassified-memos-reveal-extent-obama-admin-spying-americans/

 

This issue goes to the very core of why I didn't vote for Obama back in 2008. 

 

I knew this guy was a lying pos who had no intentions of protecting Americans privacy, after all those years building up a reputation as a state and US senator blasting Bush on warrantless wiretapping. Soon as he became the Dem nominee, at that point he openly flipped on this stance, partied with company execs (AT&T) who were targets of lawsuits in conjunction with NSA spying, who likewise sponsored the 2008 DNC in Denver, defended the warrantless wiretapping in court, and signed the FISA retroactive immunity bill. Clearly the Obama admin had always been an enemy to American freedoms.

I completely agree.  This is what people should be afraid of, not some bogeyman from Russia.  When politicians weaponize the NSA or the IRS, it is more than troubling.

[IAMX 3,055]

4 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

I completely agree.  This is what people should be afraid of, not some bogeyman from Russia.  When politicians weaponize the NSA or the IRS, it is more than troubling.

Yes, the IRS too.. is there any branch of government the Obama admin didn't use against the American people?

 

I use the term branch loosely.. it's pretty clear intelligence agencies operate as a next-level shadow government as evidenced by how they've acted since Trump.

Edited July 27, 2017 by IAMX