CD037: NSA Spying Debate

Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan tried to attach an amendment to the Department of Defense funding bill for 2014 which would have limited the government's authority to collect our telephone records. The amendment failed but not by much; the episode highlights the debate. Links to Information in This Episode Text of the Amash Amendment At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following new section: Sec. __. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to execute a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order pursuant to section 501 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1861) that does not include the following sentence: ``This Order limits the collection of any tangible things (including telephone numbers dialed, telephone numbers of incoming calls, and the duration of calls) that may be authorized to be collected pursuant to this Order to those tangible things that pertain to a person who is the subject of an investigation described in section 501 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1861).''. Who Voted for/against the Amash Amendment? The FISA court In Secret, Court Vastly Broadens Powers of the N.S.A by Eric Lichtblau, published by The New York Times, July 6, 2013. The death of Thinthread: The system that could have stopped 9/11 Obama's War on Whistleblowers by Tom Shorrock, published by The Nation, March 26, 2013 The Secret Sharer by Jane Mayer, published by The New Yorker, May 23, 2011 Total Information Awareness Wikipedia The NSA is Building The Country's Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say) by James Bamford, published by Wired, March 15, 2012. The Secret War by James Bamford, published by Wired, June 12, 2013 NSA Slides Expain the PRISM Data-Collection Program, Washington Post, updated July 10, 2013 Edward Snowden worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, not the U.S. government "Company filings show that 99% of Booz Allen's revenue comes from various levels of the federal government" from Booz Allen Hamilton In Spotlight Over Leak by Charles Riley, published by CNN, June 10, 2013. Representatives Quoted in This Episode Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota Rep. Ted Poe of Texas Rep. Joe Barton of Texas