SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Groups Ask Top US Spy: Just How Many Americans Swept Up in NSA Dragnet?
"It does not serve Americans' privacy to keep them in the dark about how often the NSA scoops up their phone calls and e-mails," says Brennan Center for Justice
Oct 29, 2015
In an effort to discern how many Americans are being swept up in NSA surveillance under a law that authorizes the agency to target foreigners overseas, a coalition of more than 30 privacy and civil liberties groups on Thursday demanded that U.S. spy chief James Clapper determine and publicly disclose such information.
In a letter (pdf) addressed to Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Clapper, groups including the ACLU, the Brennan Center for Justice, and the Sunlight Foundation request "certain basic information about how Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) affects Americans and other U.S. residents."
The law known as Section 702—which will expire in 2017 unless it is reauthorized—allows the NSA to collect the phone calls and e-mails of anyone reasonably believed to be a foreigner overseas as long as acquiring "foreign intelligence" is a significant purpose of the surveillance.
Yet, as the Brennan Center explained in a press statement:
Because the law doesn't require the target to be suspected of any crime, and because international communication is common, Section 702 surveillance is virtually guaranteed to acquire millions of communications between innocent Americans and foreigners. Moreover, the FBI routinely searches Section 702 data for Americans' communications, according to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, thus evading the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement for domestic investigations.
Despite all this, the NSA "refuses to provide even an estimate of how many Americans' communications are picked up and handed over to the FBI," said Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Brennan Center's Liberty and National Security Program. "And the FBI won't reveal how many times it searches this data, without a warrant or any judicial oversight, for information about American citizens."
The letter declares that this information is critical to an informed public debate over pending reauthorization.
"Americans deserve to know the truth about so-called 'foreign intelligence' surveillance," Goitein added. "The fact that the NSA has made no effort to determine how much of its intake consists of Americans' communications is actually quite alarming."
The letter notes that U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and former U.S. Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) made repeated requests for such an estimate. While the NSA has said that doing so would violate Americans' privacy because it would require the NSA to examine the content of communications, the privacy organizations begged to differ.
"It does not serve Americans' privacy to keep them in the dark about how often the NSA scoops up their phone calls and e-mails," said Goitein. "The law requires the NSA to minimize collection of Americans information, and the NSA's mission statement includes protection of privacy and civil liberties. How can the NSA claim to be protecting Americans' privacy if it has no idea how much data about Americans it's collecting?"
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
aclubig brotherbrennan center for justicecivil libertiesfisaforeign intelligence surveillance actfourth amendmentjames clappernational security agencynsaprivacysection 702surveillancemass surveillance
In an effort to discern how many Americans are being swept up in NSA surveillance under a law that authorizes the agency to target foreigners overseas, a coalition of more than 30 privacy and civil liberties groups on Thursday demanded that U.S. spy chief James Clapper determine and publicly disclose such information.
In a letter (pdf) addressed to Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Clapper, groups including the ACLU, the Brennan Center for Justice, and the Sunlight Foundation request "certain basic information about how Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) affects Americans and other U.S. residents."
The law known as Section 702—which will expire in 2017 unless it is reauthorized—allows the NSA to collect the phone calls and e-mails of anyone reasonably believed to be a foreigner overseas as long as acquiring "foreign intelligence" is a significant purpose of the surveillance.
Yet, as the Brennan Center explained in a press statement:
Because the law doesn't require the target to be suspected of any crime, and because international communication is common, Section 702 surveillance is virtually guaranteed to acquire millions of communications between innocent Americans and foreigners. Moreover, the FBI routinely searches Section 702 data for Americans' communications, according to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, thus evading the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement for domestic investigations.
Despite all this, the NSA "refuses to provide even an estimate of how many Americans' communications are picked up and handed over to the FBI," said Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Brennan Center's Liberty and National Security Program. "And the FBI won't reveal how many times it searches this data, without a warrant or any judicial oversight, for information about American citizens."
The letter declares that this information is critical to an informed public debate over pending reauthorization.
"Americans deserve to know the truth about so-called 'foreign intelligence' surveillance," Goitein added. "The fact that the NSA has made no effort to determine how much of its intake consists of Americans' communications is actually quite alarming."
The letter notes that U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and former U.S. Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) made repeated requests for such an estimate. While the NSA has said that doing so would violate Americans' privacy because it would require the NSA to examine the content of communications, the privacy organizations begged to differ.
"It does not serve Americans' privacy to keep them in the dark about how often the NSA scoops up their phone calls and e-mails," said Goitein. "The law requires the NSA to minimize collection of Americans information, and the NSA's mission statement includes protection of privacy and civil liberties. How can the NSA claim to be protecting Americans' privacy if it has no idea how much data about Americans it's collecting?"
Deirdre Fulton
Deirdre Fulton is a former Common Dreams senior editor and staff writer. Previously she worked as an editor and writer for the Portland Phoenix and the Boston Phoenix, where she was honored by the New England Press Association and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. A Boston University graduate, Deirdre is a co-founder of the Maine-based Lorem Ipsum Theater Collective and the PortFringe theater festival. She writes young adult fiction in her spare time.
In an effort to discern how many Americans are being swept up in NSA surveillance under a law that authorizes the agency to target foreigners overseas, a coalition of more than 30 privacy and civil liberties groups on Thursday demanded that U.S. spy chief James Clapper determine and publicly disclose such information.
In a letter (pdf) addressed to Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Clapper, groups including the ACLU, the Brennan Center for Justice, and the Sunlight Foundation request "certain basic information about how Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) affects Americans and other U.S. residents."
The law known as Section 702—which will expire in 2017 unless it is reauthorized—allows the NSA to collect the phone calls and e-mails of anyone reasonably believed to be a foreigner overseas as long as acquiring "foreign intelligence" is a significant purpose of the surveillance.
Yet, as the Brennan Center explained in a press statement:
Because the law doesn't require the target to be suspected of any crime, and because international communication is common, Section 702 surveillance is virtually guaranteed to acquire millions of communications between innocent Americans and foreigners. Moreover, the FBI routinely searches Section 702 data for Americans' communications, according to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, thus evading the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement for domestic investigations.
Despite all this, the NSA "refuses to provide even an estimate of how many Americans' communications are picked up and handed over to the FBI," said Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Brennan Center's Liberty and National Security Program. "And the FBI won't reveal how many times it searches this data, without a warrant or any judicial oversight, for information about American citizens."
The letter declares that this information is critical to an informed public debate over pending reauthorization.
"Americans deserve to know the truth about so-called 'foreign intelligence' surveillance," Goitein added. "The fact that the NSA has made no effort to determine how much of its intake consists of Americans' communications is actually quite alarming."
The letter notes that U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and former U.S. Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) made repeated requests for such an estimate. While the NSA has said that doing so would violate Americans' privacy because it would require the NSA to examine the content of communications, the privacy organizations begged to differ.
"It does not serve Americans' privacy to keep them in the dark about how often the NSA scoops up their phone calls and e-mails," said Goitein. "The law requires the NSA to minimize collection of Americans information, and the NSA's mission statement includes protection of privacy and civil liberties. How can the NSA claim to be protecting Americans' privacy if it has no idea how much data about Americans it's collecting?"
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.