Obama Admin Considered Ending NSA Phone Records Program In '09, Opted Not To
Source: Associated Press
KEN DILANIAN News
Obama Admin Considered Ending NSA Phone Records Program In '09, Opted Not To
11/19/2014 17:44 PM EST
WASHINGTON (AP) Years before Edward Snowden sparked a public outcry with the disclosure that the National Security Agency had been secretly collecting American telephone records, some NSA executives voiced strong objections to the program, current and former intelligence officials say. The program exceeded the agency's mandate to focus on foreign spying and would do little to stop terror plots, the executives argued.
The 2009 dissent, led by a senior NSA official and embraced by others at the agency, prompted the Obama administration to consider, but ultimately abandon, a plan to stop gathering the records.
The secret internal debate has not been previously reported. The Senate on Tuesday rejected an administration proposal that would have curbed the program and left the records in the hands of telephone companies rather than the government. That would be an arrangement similar to the one the administration quietly rejected in 2009.
The now-retired NSA official, a longtime code-breaker who rose to top management, had just learned in 2009 about the top secret program that was created shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He says he argued to then-NSA Director Keith Alexander that storing the calling records of nearly every American fundamentally changed the character of the agency, which is supposed to eavesdrop on foreigners, not Americans.
Alexander politely disagreed, the former official told The Associated Press.
Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/obama-considered-ending-nsa-phone-surveilance
Autumn
(45,107 posts)I say that because he's the only President of my lifetime to ever campaign on transparency.
840high
(17,196 posts)vote I cast was for JFK.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)I got 4 calls today, all phone scams. My favorite was the heavy accented (Pakistan?) guy who assured me there was someone trying to hack my computer. All I had to do was go to the website. When I asked how he knows that someone is trying to hack my computer if I had to connect to them, he said that they had done a "demographic survey". I told him that I wasn't interested in their scam and he just wouldn't let go. I told if I was happy to waste his time. Eventually he gave up, but I've never had someone so persistent.
PSPS
(13,601 posts)Response to Hissyspit (Original post)
1000words This message was self-deleted by its author.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)billhicks76
(5,082 posts)They threatened Obama. Now he is their poodle.
OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)billhicks76
(5,082 posts)We will see Obamas true colors when he either publishes the report uncensored or not.
Autumn
(45,107 posts)Township75
(3,535 posts)no fun not having someone to cheer for