FC: The Echelonization of America: NSA to spy domestically?

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Mon Oct 21 2002 - 19:30:43 PDT

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    The head of the National Security Agency said last week that Congress might 
    want to aim the most powerful surveillance system in the world at American 
    citizens.
    
    Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, in a rare public appearance before the Senate 
    Intelligence committee, said the ongoing terrorist threat means America 
    needs to debate where to draw the line between foreign and domestic 
    surveillance. Currently the NSA is prohibited from spying domestically.
    
    Here's an excerpt:
    
    "Where do we draw the line between the government's need for 
    (counter-terrorism) information about people in the United States and the 
    privacy interests of people located in the United States? This line-drawing 
    affects the focus of NSA's activities, foreign versus domestic... the type 
    of data NSA is permitted to collect and how, and the rules under which NSA 
    retains and disseminates information about U.S. persons."
    
    Until the 1970s, when the Senate's Church Committee revealed what had been 
    going on in secret, the CIA and the NSA conducted illegal surveillance on 
    American citizens. In response, Congress enacted a series of reforms, 
    notably the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
    
    "These are serious issues that the country addressed, and resolved to
    its satisfaction, once before in the mid-1970's," Hayden said. "In light of 
    the events of September 11th, it is appropriate that we, as a country, 
    readdress them. We need to get it right."
    
    Statement:
    http://intelligence.senate.gov/0210hrg/021017/hayden.pdf
    
    -Declan
    
    
    
    
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