Exposed: NSA Spying
- Details
- Published on Saturday, 11 October 2008
- Written by ACLU
EXPOSED: NSA Spies On Innocent Americans
Reports all over the media yesterday and today confirm what we've known all along. Surveillance programs touted as critical to protect national security have in fact been used to monitor the private communications of innocent Americans abroad, including humanitarian workers and U.S. service-members.
Two former military intercept operators -- the people at the National Security Agency (NSA) who actually listen in to people's calls -- revealed the news in an ABC report released yesterday.
Contrary to direct assurances from Bush administration officials that NSA monitoring was directed at suspected terrorists, the intercept operators report that "hundreds of U.S. citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they call friends and family back home."
The NSA even intentionally directed its surveillance powers at well-established humanitarian organizations like Doctors Without Borders and the International Red Cross.
It is outrageous that service men and women and international aid workers have had their private conversations needlessly and wantonly invaded by our government.
That is why the ACLU's lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Congress's expansion of the NSA's surveillance authority under the FISA Amendments Act is so critical. Our case, Amnesty International v. McConnell -- brought on behalf of an impressive array of journalists, human rights organizations and lawyers -- shines a spotlight on the devastating effect of unchecked spying power on Americans doing indispensable work around the globe.
It's more important than ever that you support the ACLU's lawsuit and other actions challenging out-of-control government spying. Just as we warned -- and as our FISA lawsuit contends -- the NSA's new unchecked surveillance powers invade the privacy of innocent Americans and fundamentally undermine human rights workers, journalists and attorneys doing important work around the globe. This dragnet spying is ineffective, intrusive, unnecessary and most certainly unconstitutional.
The FISA Amendments Act -- rushed through a timid pre-election Congress -- gives the government nearly unfettered access to Americans' international communications without any meaningful judicial oversight.
As this week's news demonstrates, with unchecked and unaccountable spying powers, NSA officials will quickly run amok. That's why the ACLU is acting decisively to bring our government's behavior back in line with the Constitution.
We will not yield until we bring this reckless spying to an end. Please stand with us today.
Sincerely,
Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director
ACLU
P.S. To learn more about our lawsuit challenging unconstitutional spying, visit our website.
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