Has the NSA been collecting all Americans’ phone records, and for how long?
It’s not entirely clear.
What surveillance powers does the government believe it has under the Patriot Act?
That’s classified.
Has the NSA’s massive collection of metadata thwarted any terrorist attacks?
It depends which senator you ask. And evidence that would help settle the matter is, yes, classified.
How much information, and from whom, is the government sweeping up through Prism?
It's not clear.
So, how does Prism work?
In his statement Saturday, Clapper described Prism as a computer system that allows the government to collect “foreign intelligence information from electronic communication service providers under court supervision.”
That much seems clear. But the exact role of the tech companies is still murky.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Some Basic Questions re NSA
ProPublica asks five basic questions that have yet to be answered:
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3 comments:
It seems to me, on balance,that I want to be protected against suicide or other bombers sent to this country by Al Qaeda. It is war, after all, that Al Qaeda is waging and we must use whatever weapons we have to protect ourselves. This is a new kind of war but it is still war. Some Americans do not fully accept or understand this, because it is new.
Federal govt. agencies are unwieldy by nature. It starts with the extraordinary difficulty of firing a Civil Service employee who has over 3 years working for Uncle Sam.
Perhaps I have more faith in people than others do but that's the way I think. I believe we may be dealing more with the enormous difficulties of running a large bureaucracy efficiently, public or private.
And, when I stamp a paper or an operation Top Secret, I am putting myself in the elite circle of those in the know. Don't ignore that hidden,perhaps unadmitted motivator.
Al - if PRISM is capable (under the constitution) of capturing, storing and analyzing potential terrorist communications; why then is the Federal Government unable to capture, store and analyze nation-wide firearm sales data?
After all - isn't all just software, Al?
If they can get data out of Verizon, they can get data out of Freeman, Corp. - the company that runs all the big gun shows which fly under the radar!
Woodpond,
You're far more likely to die in an auto accident than a terrorist raid. See
http://devitoblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/death-comes-to-all-of-us.html
for some numbers. What is the government doing to prevent an auto accident?
Dean,
Good point
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