Blue Smoke and Mirrors in Washington

     

“Th[e NSA's] capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide. [If a dictator ever took over, the NSA] could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back.“

-- Senator Frank Church, 1975

If you read this brief piece by Glenn Greenwald, and you really ought to do that, you'll conclude that 99.9% of everything Church warned about has already come to pass:

People aren't buying Obama's game. Two U.S. District Courts have ruled that these programs fly in the face of the Fourth Amendment. People know that the "reform" bill introduced by Senator Diane Feinstein -- which "fixes" the problem by making legal all the illegal things the NSA is doing -- is a hoax. 

And they know that Obama's hand-picked advisory commission's recommendations don't go far enough.

Here's some suggestions:

➢ Repeal the authorities that have been used to justify these programs, e.g., § 215 of the Patriot Act and § 702 of FISA.

➢ Prosecute Director of National Intelligence Clapper and NSA Director Alexander for lying to Congress.

➢ Raze the facility in Bluffdale, UT, and others like it around the country, to the ground.

➢ Put the NSA under civilian control and install James Bamford as NSA Director for a period of no less than 10 years.

➢ Prohibit the government or any private entity from releasing consumer electronic data to any third party without a warrant based upon probable cause and naming in particular the persons or places to be searched and persons or things to be seized.

➢ Abolish the FISA Court and shift its functions to the regular Federal District courts.

➢ Demand Diane Feinstein's resignation as Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and require enhanced oversight of the NSA by Congress and the independent Government Accountability Office, including permitting average Congresspeople access to classified Congressional intelligence committee briefings and other classified materials relating to the NSA and its operations.

➢ As is the case in Germany, make each citizen the legal owner of his or her data, and make it illegal for any other party to use that information for any purpose other than that agreed to in writing by the owner.  Impose stiff fines and penalties for violations.

When they do those things, we'll know they're serious.

And if they don't? Well, a little bird told me that what Ed Snowden has already released pales by comparison to what will come next. Remember, you heard it here first.