How many in Congress were aware of NSA collecting phone records?

[Missourian]

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Thursday laid public concern over the National Security Agency's collection of phone records from millions of Verizon customers at the feet of President Barack Obama, declining to explain to reporters why such a program, approved by Congress years ago, is necessary.

"I trust the president will explain to the American people why the administration considers this a critical tool in protecting our nation from threat of terrorist attack," Boehner said at a weekly press briefing.

"Why isn't the burden also on you to explain why this act was passed?" a reporter pressed.

The Ohio Republican also would not say whether he was briefed or aware of the program.

“This is nothing particularly new," said Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA). "This has been going on for seven years under the auspices of the FISA authority, and every member of the United States Senate has been advised of this.”

“It’s called protecting America," added Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

More: Boehner Declines To Explain Why NSA Phone Tracking Is Necessary | TPM LiveWire, By IGOR BOBIC

So, it appears that Boehner's "concern" is phony - considering he likely knew about it. Also, Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) made it clear that the entire Senate knew about it.

i was surprised to learn that the prezbo

was less then honest with this statement today

“every member of Congress has been briefed on this program.”--obama

On Friday morning, President Barack Obama defended his administration’s massive telephone records surveillance programs by explaining that “every member of Congress has been briefed on this program.”

There’s only one problem: both Republican and Democrat Congresspeople say that isn’t true. On Friday afternoon, the press office for Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), one of the authors of the Patriot Act, tweeted, “Obama’s claim that ‘every Member of Congress’ was briefed is FALSE.”

It wasn’t just Sensenbrenner. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said that only certain members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees had been told about the program, and he only knew about it because he received “special permission” to be briefed after hearing about it through the grapevine. “I knew about the program,” he said on MSNBC, “because I specifically sought it out. It’s not something that’s briefed outside the Intelligence Committee.” Merkley added that the administration had ignored the law. “Clearly the administration has not followed what an ordinary person would consider to be the standard of the law here,” he said.

Merkely summed up: “when the president says all members of Congress were briefed … well, I think a very small number of Senators in Congress had full details on these programs.”

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said he only knew about the program after asking for a briefing under “classified circumstances.” The “average member,” he said, had no access to this information. “They don’t receive this kind of briefing.”

Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Jim Inhofe (R-OK) said they had not been briefed on the phone surveillance program, either. “Not quite!” Rep. Billy Long (R-LA) tweeted after hearing about Obama’s claim.

'FALSE': Congress Denies Obama Claim 'Every Member' Briefed on Surveillance

Not only was the program classified...the Administration had the INTERPRETATION of the law classified...

It's not only that the highly classified request was made to and approved by a highly classified court. But the legal interpretation of the 2001 Patriot Act that the court appears to have used was itself classified. In other words, there was no way for the public to know what the courts believed the law to mean. And that reality runs counter to the most basic principles of democracy and the rule of law.

The Secret Law Behind NSA's Verizon Snooping - Bloomberg
​

 

[percysunshine]

NSA Internet Spying Program Helped Foil Potential Attack On New York Subway

Public Documents Contradict Claim Email Spying Foiled Terror Plot

 

[flacaltenn]

NSA Internet Spying Program Helped Foil Potential Attack On New York Subway

Public Documents Contradict Claim Email Spying Foiled Terror Plot

I feel so safe right now.. Don't you?

 

[percysunshine]

NSA Internet Spying Program Helped Foil Potential Attack On New York Subway

Public Documents Contradict Claim Email Spying Foiled Terror Plot

I feel so safe right now.. Don't you?

Relax, there’s nothing to worry about..... You are in good hands....... Move along folks, nothing to see here..... Think of us as your rich benevolent uncle Fred....We safeguard your liberty....

 

[jon_berzerk]

Justice Department Fights Release of Secret Court Opinion Finding Unconstitutional Surveillance

In the midst of revelations that the government has conducted extensive top-secret surveillance operations to collect domestic phone records and internet communications, the Justice Department was due to file a court motion Friday in its effort to keep secret an 86-page court opinion that determined that the government had violated the spirit of federal surveillance laws and engaged in unconstitutional spying.

This important case—all the more relevant in the wake of this week’s disclosures—was triggered after Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Senate intelligence committee, started crying foul in 2011 about US government snooping. As a member of the intelligence committee, he had learned about domestic surveillance activity affecting American citizens that he believed was improper. He and Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), another intelligence committee member, raised only vague warnings about this data collection, because they could not reveal the details of the classified program that concerned them. But in July 2012, Wyden was able to get the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to declassify two statements that he wanted to issue publicly. They were:

* On at least one occasion the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court held that some collection carried out pursuant to the Section 702 minimization procedures used by the government was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment.

* I believe that the government’s implementation of Section 702 of FISA [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] has sometimes circumvented the spirit of the law, and on at least one occasion the FISA Court has reached this same conclusion.

For those who follow the secret and often complex world of high-tech government spying, this was an aha moment. The FISA court Wyden referred to oversees the surveillance programs run by the government, authorizing requests for various surveillance activities related to national security, and it does this behind a thick cloak of secrecy. Wyden’s statements led to an obvious conclusion: He had seen a secret FISA court opinion that ruled that one surveillance program was unconstitutional and violated the spirit of the law. But, yet again, Wyden could not publicly identify this program.

Enter the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a public interest group focused on digital rights. It quickly filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Justice Department for any written opinion or order of the FISA court that held government surveillance was improper or unconstitutional. The Justice Department did not respond, and EFF was forced to file a lawsuit a month later.

Justice Department Fights Release of Secret Court Opinion Finding Unconstitutional Surveillance | Mother Jones

 

[waltky]

For those interested in anti-surveillance security...

Top four anti-surveillance apps
June 8, 2013 -- Summary: After a week of leaks of NSA citizen surveillance and Internet company denials, Violet Blue reports which mobile apps are best for privacy.

Did they or didn't they? That's the question at the end of this week's ground-shaking news that two highly classified programs reveal the U.S. government has been spying on its citizens behind closed doors for years, made public in leaks as reported by Guardian U.K. One NSA program brought to light this week harvests phone records via Verizon. The second program is called Prism, in which the NSA data-mines user information directly from nine Internet giants, including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Skype.

No one has contested the Verizon data/surveillance exchange deal. President Obama today confirmed the existence of both NSA programs and acknowledges Prism, tech companies Google and Facebook issued carefully-worded statements with each company saying it had never head of Prism. If the NSA is getting their intel without our knowledge or consent straight from the tap, there's nothing we can do to protect ourselves. Except maybe yell at them really loud. Just like in a classic scary movie, the calls are actually coming from inside the house.

Add to this the element of outside information seekers: data dealers who work to make a buck by scraping sites, exploiting security holes, or making direct data sales with the very same companies alleged to be part of Prism. Now we can extend the horror film analogy, where we find out (always too late!) that the serial killer is also the babysitter. Even against odds, I felt that at the very least we can make someone's job a little bit harder.

Hence the title of this post. I asked not just one, but several hackers who work professionally in high-level security environments what the best anti-surveillance, pro-privacy phone apps are. What is on their phones? What should be on mine? After they finished laughing at my question (especially in light of the Prism revelations), I got solid answers. You can tell me what I left out in the comments, but I only wanted to post apps that were tested and in use by people whose jobs (or more) depend on personal communication security.

Keep in mind that the sudden activation of encryption tools can draw attention to you, when before there might have been none. However, now might be a good time to take advantage of the fact that in the middle of this news storm, suddenly lots of people are going to be trying out anti-surveillance software.

Most recommended:

 

[Lakhota]

I would guess that corporations have been spying on us longer than the government.

 

[Glensather]

I would guess that corporations have been spying on us longer than the government.

Corporations haven't been around as long as government.

 

[buckeye45_73]

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Thursday laid public concern over the National Security Agency's collection of phone records from millions of Verizon customers at the feet of President Barack Obama, declining to explain to reporters why such a program, approved by Congress years ago, is necessary.

"I trust the president will explain to the American people why the administration considers this a critical tool in protecting our nation from threat of terrorist attack," Boehner said at a weekly press briefing.

"Why isn't the burden also on you to explain why this act was passed?" a reporter pressed.

The Ohio Republican also would not say whether he was briefed or aware of the program.

“This is nothing particularly new," said Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA). "This has been going on for seven years under the auspices of the FISA authority, and every member of the United States Senate has been advised of this.”

“It’s called protecting America," added Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

More: Boehner Declines To Explain Why NSA Phone Tracking Is Necessary | TPM LiveWire, By IGOR BOBIC

So, it appears that Boehner's "concern" is phony - considering he likely knew about it. Also, Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) made it clear that the entire Senate knew about it.

Wow looking to blame the pubs again, what a suprise. Lakhota cant ever say a critical thing of Obama. Lakhota you're a joke.

 

[buckeye45_73]

I would guess that corporations have been spying on us longer than the government.

LOL, wow you're crazy, maybe ones run by liberals like.....Google? but then again they havent been around as long as the government, you know the entity you love has been PROVEN to spy, yet all you can do is try and blame someone else......wow, how does it feel to be THAT dumb?

 

[Seawytch]

Internet Shrugs Off NSA Data Mining: People 'Numb To The Fact That They're Being Watched'

This does not surprise me in the least. Do you see what people post on Facebook and Twitter? Over sharing has become an art form.

 

[Stephanie]

When has anyone pretended to be angry at only the President?

Do you not pay attention to anything we write on this board?

I try not to.

So you hang around all day at a message board and respond to posts you try not to read?

I will never understand some people.

that about sums it up

 

[Stephanie]

Aren't we happy to know none of this bothers Lakhota...

maybe you need to get back to what does bother you... the Washington RedSkins name being racist

 

[depotoo]

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Thursday laid public concern over the National Security Agency's collection of phone records from millions of Verizon customers at the feet of President Barack Obama, declining to explain to reporters why such a program, approved by Congress years ago, is necessary.

"I trust the president will explain to the American people why the administration considers this a critical tool in protecting our nation from threat of terrorist attack," Boehner said at a weekly press briefing.

"Why isn't the burden also on you to explain why this act was passed?" a reporter pressed.

The Ohio Republican also would not say whether he was briefed or aware of the program.

“This is nothing particularly new," said Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA). "This has been going on for seven years under the auspices of the FISA authority, and every member of the United States Senate has been advised of this.”

“It’s called protecting America," added Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

More: Boehner Declines To Explain Why NSA Phone Tracking Is Necessary | TPM LiveWire, By IGOR BOBIC

So, it appears that Boehner's "concern" is phony - considering he likely knew about it. Also, Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) made it clear that the entire Senate knew about it.

i was surprised to learn that the prezbo

was less then honest with this statement today

“every member of Congress has been briefed on this program.”--obama

On Friday morning, President Barack Obama defended his administration’s massive telephone records surveillance programs by explaining that “every member of Congress has been briefed on this program.”

There’s only one problem: both Republican and Democrat Congresspeople say that isn’t true. On Friday afternoon, the press office for Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), one of the authors of the Patriot Act, tweeted, “Obama’s claim that ‘every Member of Congress’ was briefed is FALSE.”

It wasn’t just Sensenbrenner. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said that only certain members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees had been told about the program, and he only knew about it because he received “special permission” to be briefed after hearing about it through the grapevine. “I knew about the program,” he said on MSNBC, “because I specifically sought it out. It’s not something that’s briefed outside the Intelligence Committee.” Merkley added that the administration had ignored the law. “Clearly the administration has not followed what an ordinary person would consider to be the standard of the law here,” he said.

Merkely summed up: “when the president says all members of Congress were briefed … well, I think a very small number of Senators in Congress had full details on these programs.”

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said he only knew about the program after asking for a briefing under “classified circumstances.” The “average member,” he said, had no access to this information. “They don’t receive this kind of briefing.”

Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Jim Inhofe (R-OK) said they had not been briefed on the phone surveillance program, either. “Not quite!” Rep. Billy Long (R-LA) tweeted after hearing about Obama’s claim.

'FALSE': Congress Denies Obama Claim 'Every Member' Briefed on Surveillance

no surprise there. He is either incompetent or the biggest liar in chief I have seen in my lifetime.

 

[Wry Catcher]

The collection of data by the NSA is a classic double edged sword. Democrats whined when the Patriot Act passed and now the Republicans whine on how its implementation makes us less free. Putting partisan bullshit aside, the plane truth is had we suffered another attack like the one on 9-11 both Bush and Obama (depending on the timing of such an attack) would be lambasted for not doing enough.

Let's be honest, protecting our nation from this new breed of criminals - the terrorists - has no playbook. The stakes are high and both parties want to avoid future terror attacks on our citizens. That is their duty, and as citizens with families they have a personal understanding of what their duty requires.

I'm really sick and tired of all the partisan bullshit. Lincoln's sagacious comment should be on the mind of every member of Congress and every citizens - "A house divided against itself cannot stand". Yet it seems some of you who post on this message board don't care that our Union, forged over two centuries ago, survives and some seem to hope for a new Civil War.

 

[Stephanie]

oh dear leader lying again..tsk tsk
links in article at site

SNIP:

On Friday morning, President Barack Obama defended his administration’s massive telephone records surveillance programs by explaining that “every member of Congress has been briefed on this program.”

There’s only one problem: both Republican and Democrat Congresspeople say that isn’t true. On Friday afternoon, the press office for Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), one of the authors of the Patriot Act, tweeted, “Obama’s claim that ‘every Member of Congress’ was briefed is FALSE.”





It wasn’t just Sensenbrenner. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said that only certain members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees had been told about the program, and he only knew about it because he received “special permission” to be briefed after hearing about it through the grapevine. “I knew about the program,” he said on MSNBC, “because I specifically sought it out. It’s not something that’s briefed outside the Intelligence Committee.” Merkley added that the administration had ignored the law. “Clearly the administration has not followed what an ordinary person would consider to be the standard of the law here,” he said.


Merkely summed up: “when the president says all members of Congress were briefed … well, I think a very small number of Senators in Congress had full details on these programs.”

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said he only knew about the program after asking for a briefing under “classified circumstances.” The “average member,” he said, had no access to this information. “They don’t receive this kind of briefing.”

all of it here
'FALSE': Congress Denies Obama Claim 'Every Member' Briefed on Surveillance

 

[Stephanie]

good grief, now we get post about how Internet shrugs off NSA data mining..

I guess that is suppose to make it all better..where would we be without all that important info from the Hufferpost

 

[flacaltenn]

For those interested in anti-surveillance security...

Top four anti-surveillance apps
June 8, 2013 -- Summary: After a week of leaks of NSA citizen surveillance and Internet company denials, Violet Blue reports which mobile apps are best for privacy.

Did they or didn't they? That's the question at the end of this week's ground-shaking news that two highly classified programs reveal the U.S. government has been spying on its citizens behind closed doors for years, made public in leaks as reported by Guardian U.K. One NSA program brought to light this week harvests phone records via Verizon. The second program is called Prism, in which the NSA data-mines user information directly from nine Internet giants, including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Skype.

No one has contested the Verizon data/surveillance exchange deal. President Obama today confirmed the existence of both NSA programs and acknowledges Prism, tech companies Google and Facebook issued carefully-worded statements with each company saying it had never head of Prism. If the NSA is getting their intel without our knowledge or consent straight from the tap, there's nothing we can do to protect ourselves. Except maybe yell at them really loud. Just like in a classic scary movie, the calls are actually coming from inside the house.

Add to this the element of outside information seekers: data dealers who work to make a buck by scraping sites, exploiting security holes, or making direct data sales with the very same companies alleged to be part of Prism. Now we can extend the horror film analogy, where we find out (always too late!) that the serial killer is also the babysitter. Even against odds, I felt that at the very least we can make someone's job a little bit harder.

Hence the title of this post. I asked not just one, but several hackers who work professionally in high-level security environments what the best anti-surveillance, pro-privacy phone apps are. What is on their phones? What should be on mine? After they finished laughing at my question (especially in light of the Prism revelations), I got solid answers. You can tell me what I left out in the comments, but I only wanted to post apps that were tested and in use by people whose jobs (or more) depend on personal communication security.

Keep in mind that the sudden activation of encryption tools can draw attention to you, when before there might have been none. However, now might be a good time to take advantage of the fact that in the middle of this news storm, suddenly lots of people are going to be trying out anti-surveillance software.

Most recommended:

The part I bolded above reminds me how long this struggle with Govt surveillance capabilities has been going on.. In the mid 90s, we were fighting to maintain even slight protections from encryption, while the govt was out "standardizing" encryptions and demanding "back doors" into data and prosecuting folks who DARED to try and write ANYTHING that the Govt didn't have the keys to.. They treated it EXACTLY as a weapon of mass destruction and put export restrictions on IDEAS and ALGORITHMS to allow EXACTLY NSA to always be a step ahead..

That's great for the bad guys... THey'll develop and use it anyway.. You and Me? We're not important and whatever we are trying to protect must be criminal.. Recognize that argument?????????

Why not give the Treasury a key to your Safe Deposit Box.. Just in case -- you're hiding something eh???

 

[Wry Catcher]

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Thursday laid public concern over the National Security Agency's collection of phone records from millions of Verizon customers at the feet of President Barack Obama, declining to explain to reporters why such a program, approved by Congress years ago, is necessary.

"I trust the president will explain to the American people why the administration considers this a critical tool in protecting our nation from threat of terrorist attack," Boehner said at a weekly press briefing.

"Why isn't the burden also on you to explain why this act was passed?" a reporter pressed.

The Ohio Republican also would not say whether he was briefed or aware of the program.

“This is nothing particularly new," said Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA). "This has been going on for seven years under the auspices of the FISA authority, and every member of the United States Senate has been advised of this.”

“It’s called protecting America," added Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

More: Boehner Declines To Explain Why NSA Phone Tracking Is Necessary | TPM LiveWire, By IGOR BOBIC

So, it appears that Boehner's "concern" is phony - considering he likely knew about it. Also, Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) made it clear that the entire Senate knew about it.

The fact is the data collection by the NSA has been common knowledge for years. Any member of Congress who denies such knowledge must be an issa, i.e. a liar, or too uninformed to serve in the Congress.

 

[Mustang]

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Thursday laid public concern over the National Security Agency's collection of phone records from millions of Verizon customers at the feet of President Barack Obama, declining to explain to reporters why such a program, approved by Congress years ago, is necessary.

"I trust the president will explain to the American people why the administration considers this a critical tool in protecting our nation from threat of terrorist attack," Boehner said at a weekly press briefing.

"Why isn't the burden also on you to explain why this act was passed?" a reporter pressed.

The Ohio Republican also would not say whether he was briefed or aware of the program.

“This is nothing particularly new," said Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA). "This has been going on for seven years under the auspices of the FISA authority, and every member of the United States Senate has been advised of this.”

“It’s called protecting America," added Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

More: Boehner Declines To Explain Why NSA Phone Tracking Is Necessary | TPM LiveWire, By IGOR BOBIC

So, it appears that Boehner's "concern" is phony - considering he likely knew about it. Also, Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) made it clear that the entire Senate knew about it.

As a general rule, the leadership of both parties is notified, along with the members of the relevant Senate and House committees (in this case, the Intelligence committees of both the Senate and the House). Although, as I seem to remember happening sometime in recent years, notification has been restricted from the full committee membership due to leaks. Instead, the majority and and ranking minority leaders of relevant oversight committees were notified.