NSA is a Rogue Agency

Patrick Leahy – the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and member of the Subcommittees on Defense and Homeland Security for the Appropriations Committee – has top secret clearance.

Leahy said today:

We sometimes find we get far more in the newspapers — we get crossword puzzles as well — we get more in the newspapers than in classified briefings.

As we’ve repeatedly noted, most Congress members had no idea what the NSA is doing. Even staunch defenders of the NSA – and congress members on the intelligence oversight committees – now saythey’ve been kept in the dark.

Likewise, a Federal judge who was on the secret spying court for 3 years says that it’s a kangaroo court.  Even the current judges on the secret spying court now admit that they’re out of the loop and powerless to exercise real oversight.  When these judges raised concerns about NSA spying, the Justice Department completely ignored them.

In short, there is no real oversight by Congress, the courts, or the executive branch of government. And see this and this.

While leaker Edward Snowden is treated as a traitor by the fatcats and elites, he is considered a hero by the American public.  Members of all 3 branches of government – Executive, Legislative and Judicial – have praised the debate on spying which Snowden’s leaks started.