In a stunning display of unintentional irony, the Obama Administration released a statement two days ago in opposition to the Amash Amendment (limiting the NSA's domestic spying abilities) which accuses the amendment's backers of the exact same things that are so disconcerting about the NSA's surveillance program. Here is what the Administration had to say about the amendment:
Recall that the NSA's approach has been to sweep up all possible information (blunt), using secret rulings from a secret court to do so (not open or informed); which court has been characterized by insiders as little more than a rubber stamp factory (not deliberative).
Unlike the NSA's programs, the Amash Amendment was debated and voted on in public, but that didn't stop the Obama Administration from running with this bit of absurdity.
Fortunately, the amendment went down by an incredibly slim margin, which means we'll likely get another chance to have an open and informed deliberative process regarding just how much power we want our "intelligence" agencies to have.
This blunt approach is not the product of an informed, open, or deliberative process.
Recall that the NSA's approach has been to sweep up all possible information (blunt), using secret rulings from a secret court to do so (not open or informed); which court has been characterized by insiders as little more than a rubber stamp factory (not deliberative).
Unlike the NSA's programs, the Amash Amendment was debated and voted on in public, but that didn't stop the Obama Administration from running with this bit of absurdity.
Fortunately, the amendment went down by an incredibly slim margin, which means we'll likely get another chance to have an open and informed deliberative process regarding just how much power we want our "intelligence" agencies to have.
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