United States NSA spying scandal continues

This video from the USA says about itself:

Glenn Greenwald Mocks ‘Robust Oversight’ Of NSA Spying On ABC This Week 8/04/13

Aug 4, 2013

Glenn Greenwald appeared on This Week With George Stephanopoulos to decry what he describes as the difficulty legislators have been experiencing in gaining details about NSA surveillance programs, telling guest host Martha Raddatz that far from being able to apply strict congressional oversight to the programs, some lawmakers have been getting their information about them from his articles.

“Members from both political parties came to us and showed us all kinds of letters and emails they’ve been exchanging, in which they’re trying to get the most basic information about what the NSA is doing, in spying on American citizens, and what the FISA court has been doing in terms fo declaring some of this illegal, some of it legal,” Greenwald said. “They’ve being blocked from getting it.”

“We keep hearing that there’s all kinds of robust oversight by Congress, and need not worry,” Greenwald continued, but alleged that the lawmakers who have contacted him “have said that they’re being forced to learn about what the NSA is doing from what they learn about in our reporting.”

Greenwald also referenced a secret FISA court opinion that called the expansive reach of the NSA’s data mining programs unconstitutional and illegal. The Guardian journalist said that the FISA court has no objection to releasing the decision, but that the Obama administration is keeping it classified.

“That’s extraordinary, to have a court opinion ruling that our government violated the constitution and the law, and not only can’t we read it, but neither can our representatives in Congress,” Greenwald said.

See also here.

US Drug Enforcement Agency conceals use of information from NSA mass surveillance programs: here. And here.

After feigning outrage over the US spying on European citizens, the European Union has proposed the creation of what amounts to a pan-European equivalent to the National Security Agency (NSA), armed with a European drone programme and a spy satellite network: here.

South American ministers met UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon on Monday night to raise their concerns about US spying: here.

US officials cite deadly drone strike in Yemen to defend NSA spying operations: here.

N.S.A. Said to Search Content of Messages to and From U.S.: here.

Fresh revelations show that the NSA has been trolling through emails and text messages between Americans and individuals abroad, even when those individuals are not suspected of terrorist connections: here.

Unhappy With U.S. Foreign Policy? Pentagon Says You Might Be A ‘High Threat’: here.

The NSA’s Alarming Misbehavior: here.

David Miranda, partner of Guardian interviewer of whistleblower Edward Snowden, questioned under Terrorism Act: here.

Related articles

• Glenn Greenwald: There Is A FISA Court Ruling That Says NSA Spying is Unconstitutional And Illegal (nkornitankwa.com)
• Greenwald: Congress ‘forced to learn about what the NSA is doing’ from newspapers (rawstory.com)
• Glenn Greenwald: Is U.S. Exaggerating Threat to Embassies to Silence Critics of NSA Domestic Surveillance? (dandelionsalad.wordpress.com)
• US NSA spying on millions of Internet users (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Glenn Greenwald slams ‘robust oversight,’ says Congress learned about NSA spying via media (activistpost.com)
• Glenn Greenwald: ‘I Defy’ the NSA to Deny Edward Snowden’s Most Radical Claims Under Oath (readersupportednews.org)
• Michael Hayden, Bob Schieffer and the media’s reverence of national security officials | Glenn Greenwald (theguardian.com)
• Greenwald: Low-Level NSA Analysts Have ‘Powerful and Invasive’ Search Tool… (abcnews.go.com)
• NSA spies confuse Washington and Egypt (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• ‘Uncontrolled by FISA court, NSA commits thousands of privacy violations per year’ (rt.com)