Your Privacy Is Protected

The question asked by Senators Wyden and Udall of the Select Committee on Intelligence was "How many people inside the United States have had their communications collected or reviewed under the authorities granted by section 702?"  They asked the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, L. Charles McCullough, on May 4.   He passed it to the NSA Inspector General, as he thought the matter would be expedited by so doing.  

The NSA IG, Mr. Ellard, did not see it quite the same way.  He responded to Mr. McCullough on a classified basis.  He felt that his NSA office was not equipped to do the job and, furthermore, it would violate the privacy of Americans.

If Mr. Ellard had complied, we would have witnessed a magical act when his answer of a certain number would be automatically expanded so that millions of Americans would have had their privacy violated.  I'm thankful he refused Mr. McCullough, who is presumably his boss.  Ellard obviously knew that Wyden and Udall were magicians who were so skilled that they could have violated my privacy.