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
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
General Keith B. Alexander, the Director of the National Security Agency, walked to a closed-door meeting with the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.
After Closed Door Meeting, Senators Toe NSA Line
Jun 13, 2013
The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee met with officials from the NSA, Justice Department, and the FBI in a closed door briefing Thursday to learn more about the telephone and Internet surveillance programs within the NSA that were revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden over the past week.
NSA director Keith Alexander announced that the agency will be making public more information in the coming days about its surveillance programs--in a bid to shape public opinion on the effectiveness and scope of the programs--including the program's success in targeting "terrorists."
As the Senators filed out of the secretive meeting, Guardian reporter Spencer Ackerman was there to gather first impressions.
Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, toed the NSA's line, stating, "We were given some very specific and information about how these programs have helped keep Americans safe." Corker did not specifically answer Ackerman on whether the NSA programs had helped prevent "dozens of terrorist events," as NSA director Keith Alexander claimed on Wednesday.
Regarding this claim, Senators Mark Udall and Ron Wyden, both members of the Senate intelligence committee, released a statement earlier on Thursday stating that they are not convinced by the testimony of the NSA director.
"We have not yet seen any evidence showing that the NSA's dragnet collection of Americans' phone records has produced any uniquely valuable intelligence," the statement read.
"When you're talking about important liberties that the American people feel strongly about, and you want to have an intelligence program, you've got to make a case for why it provides unique value to the [intelligence] community atop what they can already have," Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, told the Guardian in an interview on Thursday.
"Gen Alexander's testimony yesterday suggested that the NSA's bulk phone records collection program helped thwart 'dozens' of terrorist attacks, but all of the plots that he mentioned appear to have been identified using other collection methods," Wyden and Udall said in the statement. "The public deserves a clear explanation."
Heading out of the Committee hearing, Senate intelligence chair Dianne Feinstein said Alexander "wants to be exact."
"What he wants to give us are the cases where this stopped a terrorist attack, both here and in other places. And he wants to be exact about the detail and we should have that Monday," she said.
Feinstein added that it's her "understanding" that an individual NSA query of the phone records metadata database does not require a court order.
Thus, as Ackerman reports, "seemingly according to this description of her understanding, NSA can search through phone records unilaterally."
_______________________
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. 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. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee met with officials from the NSA, Justice Department, and the FBI in a closed door briefing Thursday to learn more about the telephone and Internet surveillance programs within the NSA that were revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden over the past week.
NSA director Keith Alexander announced that the agency will be making public more information in the coming days about its surveillance programs--in a bid to shape public opinion on the effectiveness and scope of the programs--including the program's success in targeting "terrorists."
As the Senators filed out of the secretive meeting, Guardian reporter Spencer Ackerman was there to gather first impressions.
Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, toed the NSA's line, stating, "We were given some very specific and information about how these programs have helped keep Americans safe." Corker did not specifically answer Ackerman on whether the NSA programs had helped prevent "dozens of terrorist events," as NSA director Keith Alexander claimed on Wednesday.
Regarding this claim, Senators Mark Udall and Ron Wyden, both members of the Senate intelligence committee, released a statement earlier on Thursday stating that they are not convinced by the testimony of the NSA director.
"We have not yet seen any evidence showing that the NSA's dragnet collection of Americans' phone records has produced any uniquely valuable intelligence," the statement read.
"When you're talking about important liberties that the American people feel strongly about, and you want to have an intelligence program, you've got to make a case for why it provides unique value to the [intelligence] community atop what they can already have," Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, told the Guardian in an interview on Thursday.
"Gen Alexander's testimony yesterday suggested that the NSA's bulk phone records collection program helped thwart 'dozens' of terrorist attacks, but all of the plots that he mentioned appear to have been identified using other collection methods," Wyden and Udall said in the statement. "The public deserves a clear explanation."
Heading out of the Committee hearing, Senate intelligence chair Dianne Feinstein said Alexander "wants to be exact."
"What he wants to give us are the cases where this stopped a terrorist attack, both here and in other places. And he wants to be exact about the detail and we should have that Monday," she said.
Feinstein added that it's her "understanding" that an individual NSA query of the phone records metadata database does not require a court order.
Thus, as Ackerman reports, "seemingly according to this description of her understanding, NSA can search through phone records unilaterally."
_______________________
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee met with officials from the NSA, Justice Department, and the FBI in a closed door briefing Thursday to learn more about the telephone and Internet surveillance programs within the NSA that were revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden over the past week.
NSA director Keith Alexander announced that the agency will be making public more information in the coming days about its surveillance programs--in a bid to shape public opinion on the effectiveness and scope of the programs--including the program's success in targeting "terrorists."
As the Senators filed out of the secretive meeting, Guardian reporter Spencer Ackerman was there to gather first impressions.
Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, toed the NSA's line, stating, "We were given some very specific and information about how these programs have helped keep Americans safe." Corker did not specifically answer Ackerman on whether the NSA programs had helped prevent "dozens of terrorist events," as NSA director Keith Alexander claimed on Wednesday.
Regarding this claim, Senators Mark Udall and Ron Wyden, both members of the Senate intelligence committee, released a statement earlier on Thursday stating that they are not convinced by the testimony of the NSA director.
"We have not yet seen any evidence showing that the NSA's dragnet collection of Americans' phone records has produced any uniquely valuable intelligence," the statement read.
"When you're talking about important liberties that the American people feel strongly about, and you want to have an intelligence program, you've got to make a case for why it provides unique value to the [intelligence] community atop what they can already have," Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, told the Guardian in an interview on Thursday.
"Gen Alexander's testimony yesterday suggested that the NSA's bulk phone records collection program helped thwart 'dozens' of terrorist attacks, but all of the plots that he mentioned appear to have been identified using other collection methods," Wyden and Udall said in the statement. "The public deserves a clear explanation."
Heading out of the Committee hearing, Senate intelligence chair Dianne Feinstein said Alexander "wants to be exact."
"What he wants to give us are the cases where this stopped a terrorist attack, both here and in other places. And he wants to be exact about the detail and we should have that Monday," she said.
Feinstein added that it's her "understanding" that an individual NSA query of the phone records metadata database does not require a court order.
Thus, as Ackerman reports, "seemingly according to this description of her understanding, NSA can search through phone records unilaterally."
_______________________
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.