Swordsmyth
Member
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2016
- Messages
- 74,737
The National Security Agency has reportedly recommended that the White House abandon a controversial surveillance program that collects vast amounts of information about Americans' phone calls and text messages, claiming the legal and logistical burdens of maintaining it outweigh its benefits to the intelligence community.
The recommendation, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal and involved input from NSA, the FBI and the Department of Justice, appears to represent an about-face regarding a program – long criticized by privacy advocates – that federal officials previously said was vital to finding and disrupting terrorist plots against the United States.
The once-secret program known as Stellarwind, which was revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and has been seen as not viable for some time now, is now seen as something that provides limited intelligence to the U.S., according to the Journal.
Privacy advocates, while pleased with the move, said much more needs to be done.
"At this point, ending the call detail record authority is low hanging fruit, and far from enough," ACLU senior legislative counsel Neema Singh Guliani said in a statement provided to Fox News. "Unless Congress enacts broader reforms, the government will continue to have the power to collect countless sensitive records of Americans without a warrant under Section 215 and other surveillance powers. Congress must fully reform these authorities to prevent large-scale collection of information and unfair targeting of journalists, minorities, and vulnerable communities."
Last month, the ACLU and a coalition of nearly 40 groups sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee requesting that it hold hearings over the reauthorization of Section 215 and other provisions of the Patriot Act. Section 215 of the Patriot Act allows the government to obtain a secret court order requiring telephone companies to hand over any records or other “tangible thing” deemed “relevant” to international terrorism, counterespionage, or foreign intelligence investigations.
However, Congressional support for the metadata collection program also seems to be waning.
Sen. Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, told the Journal that he does not believe it should be renewed.
"At this point I think it's going to be a pretty tough argument for them to make," Warner said. "I'll listen to whatever case they want to present, but I'm not convinced at this point that the advantages of the program have been worth the trouble."
More at: https://www.foxnews.com/tech/nsa-recommends-dropping-controversial-mass-surveillance-program
The recommendation, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal and involved input from NSA, the FBI and the Department of Justice, appears to represent an about-face regarding a program – long criticized by privacy advocates – that federal officials previously said was vital to finding and disrupting terrorist plots against the United States.
The once-secret program known as Stellarwind, which was revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and has been seen as not viable for some time now, is now seen as something that provides limited intelligence to the U.S., according to the Journal.
Privacy advocates, while pleased with the move, said much more needs to be done.
"At this point, ending the call detail record authority is low hanging fruit, and far from enough," ACLU senior legislative counsel Neema Singh Guliani said in a statement provided to Fox News. "Unless Congress enacts broader reforms, the government will continue to have the power to collect countless sensitive records of Americans without a warrant under Section 215 and other surveillance powers. Congress must fully reform these authorities to prevent large-scale collection of information and unfair targeting of journalists, minorities, and vulnerable communities."
Last month, the ACLU and a coalition of nearly 40 groups sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee requesting that it hold hearings over the reauthorization of Section 215 and other provisions of the Patriot Act. Section 215 of the Patriot Act allows the government to obtain a secret court order requiring telephone companies to hand over any records or other “tangible thing” deemed “relevant” to international terrorism, counterespionage, or foreign intelligence investigations.
However, Congressional support for the metadata collection program also seems to be waning.
Sen. Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, told the Journal that he does not believe it should be renewed.
"At this point I think it's going to be a pretty tough argument for them to make," Warner said. "I'll listen to whatever case they want to present, but I'm not convinced at this point that the advantages of the program have been worth the trouble."
More at: https://www.foxnews.com/tech/nsa-recommends-dropping-controversial-mass-surveillance-program
