BURLINGTON, Vt., Jan. 3 - U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today asked
the National Security Agency director whether the agency has monitored
the phone calls, emails and Internet traffic of members of Congress and
other elected officials.
"Has the NSA spied, or is the NSA currently spying, on members of
Congress or other American elected officials?" Sanders asked in a letter
[1] to Gen. Keith Alexander, the NSA director. " 'Spying' would include
gathering metadata on calls made from official or personal phones,
content from websites visited or emails sent, or collecting any other
data from a third party not made available to the general public in the
regular course of business?"
Sanders said he was "deeply concerned" by revelations that American
intelligence agencies harvested records of phone calls, emails and web
activity by millions of innocent Americans without any reason to even
suspect involvement in illegal activities. He also cited reports that
the United States eavesdropped on the leaders of Germany, Mexico, Brazil
and other allies.
Sanders emphasized that the United States "must be vigilant and
aggressive in protecting the American people from the very real danger
of terrorist attacks," but he cited U.S. District Court Judge Richard
Leon's recent ruling that indiscriminate dragnets by the NSA were
probably unconstitutional and "almost Orwellian."
Sanders has introduced legislation to put strict limits on sweeping
powers used by the National Security Agency and Federal Bureau of
Investigation to secretly track telephone calls by millions of innocent
Americans who are not suspected of any wrongdoing.
The measure would put limits on records that may be searched.
Authorities would be required to establish a reasonable suspicion, based
on specific information, in order to secure court approval to monitor
business records related to a specific terrorism suspect. Sanders' bill
also would put an end to open-ended court orders that have resulted in
wholesale data mining by the NSA and FBI. Instead, the government would
be required to provide reasonable suspicion to justify searches for each
record or document that it wants to examine.
To read Sanders' letter,
click here
CONTACT: Michael Briggs (202) 224-5141
