Do You Know What They Know?
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Don Herbert]
[Commentary] The attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, is scheduled to testify about the National Security Agency's illegal domestic eavesdropping program today at a public hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Here are some of the questions that need to be asked: Who is being spied upon, and why? How many Americans here in the United States — or others who were lawfully in the country — have had their phone conversations or e-mails intercepted without a warrant? Who determines what calls or e-mails are to be monitored in the U.S. without warrants, and what are their guidelines? How many of those who were spied upon were found to have been involved in terror-related activities? How many were referred to the F.B.I. or other agencies for further investigation? Of those who were referred, how many were cleared of wrongdoing? What kind of information is being collected about people who are spied upon without warrants but are not referred to law enforcement agencies? How is that data being used, and how is it stored? Is the government collecting information about the political views of the people who are being spied upon? With whom is that information being shared? What has been the nature and the extent of the objections from people inside the government to the warrantless spying?
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/02/06/opinion/06herbert.html
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Do You Know What They Know?