General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Strange how the same people running around calling everyone Authoritarians [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)and actions are secret. We can only get the facts if they are made public by someone at the NSA, the FISA court or the administration or maybe Congress. Snowden set off the process of making facts, documents heretofore classified, public.
Obama's statement that he welcomes this discussion will be believable precisely when he gives us the facts.
Wyden tried to warn us about the unconstitutional programs and the excesses of the NSA. He was barred from giving details by the secrecy laws.
Snowden produced documents. It's a beginning. Those to my knowledge contain all the facts that have been made available to us thus far. I don't believe that Obama has produced any documents proving that his statements are true. If he has, I haven't heard of it.
We have seen documents that prove the fact that the NSA has violated the Constitution by gathering strictly American communications in its collection.
Judging from the infamous history of the NSA (Klaus Barbie? Good Heavens!), the coming months will either produce a lot of the facts that the NSA defenders are requesting or we really will see the worst fears of the NSA detractors come true.
Hopefully, our worst fears won't come true, but we have to agree that they are quite possible if the NSA continues to operate as it has in the past. The video shows the role of the NSA and the CIA in the history of Iran. It's really worth watching.