US tech giants knew of NSA data collection, agency's top lawyer insists | World news | theguardian.com

It appears that the US Government forced companies to lie to their customers, and Government officials from all countries.  This Government policy seems to be different from that which the military has used for decades.  .



US tech giants knew of NSA data collection, agency's top lawyer insists | World news | theguardian.com:



The guidelines we always heard was not to "lie" but to say "no comment" and dis-engage with the conversation.  This is a big difference!



I believe that now that the cat is out of the bag, Congress needs to clarify the use and constraints of this type of wiretapping. The databases are valuable and useful, and it would be crazy to not use a tool such as this to protect our country.

1. Top-level set of unclassified and public guidelines established that define when, who and how the wiretap & database search is to be conducted, and how long each database is to be kept.  Another, subordinate set of guidelines created but kept classified will provide details of the process but must comply with the top-level unclassified general principals. The subordinate set of guidelines must be approved by the Administration and the Intelligence Committees of the House and Senate.

2. An independent watchdog organization totally separate from the intelligence agencies with power and privileges to be able to really see what is going on.  The watchdog will verify that the spy agencies comply with the set of classified guidelines. The watchdog organization should have budget and staff adequate to do the job, including  installing tamper-proof watchdog software on the wiretaps and databases. The watchdog should be required to report annually to President and Intelligence Committees in the House and Senate

3. Rotate and release the names of the "secret court judges" every 4 or 5 years as they leave the position and new judges. If those individuals think they can hide forever, they may be tempted to do something illegal.

4. Release of information about the wiretap targets and amount of collection to the individuals targeted (or made public) after some reasonable amount of time (5 years?)  But allow for one time extension (3 more years) for valid on-going investigations if applied for and approved by the "secret court judges."  As long as that information can be kept secret forever, misdeeds can take place which can be buried.

5. Allow for targeted searches through the database, with court approval, by prosecutors and defense attorneys for criminal cases (not civil cases) that involve national security, defense of charges involving national security, or murder & kidnapping.  It should not be used, for example, for prosecution or defense in charges of patent or copyright infringement, lawsuits, income tax evasion etc.   All approved searches should be performed by certified NSA employees and should be paid for by the person or agency requesting it.