The National Security Agency (NSA) has failed to share detailed information about surveillance of U.S. citizens and foreigners with Congress or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, thwarting checks on its powers. NSA has overstepped its powers granted by Congress in 2008. (The Washington Post, August 15, 2003, by Barton Gellman)
The American Civil Liberties Union called the government’s violation of Congressional restrictions “jaw-dropping.” The surveillance court also says it does not have the ability to evaluate the government’s presentations so rubber stamps their requests to conduct surveillance. The ACLU reported that the government is not complying with Freedom of Information Act requests for a more complete accounting of the surveillance activity. (ACLU, August 16, 2013, by Jemeel Jaffer)
In commenting on the Post report that, according to a NSA audit, the agency had violated the privacy of thousands of U.S. citizens each year, the Electronic Freedom Foundation said that the evasion of accountability extended to using secret definitions of ordinary words to mislead Congress. (EFF, August 16, 2013, by Trevor Timm)
An editorial in The New York Times, August 16, 2013, argues that the public should be informed about the government’s policies on spying U.S. citizens, “It is distressing that the administration, which claims to welcome a debate over the government’s surveillance practices, time and again refuses to be transparent about those practices.”