U.S. reasserts need to keep domestic surveillance secret

[unhappycamper]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-reasserts-need-to-keep-domestic-surveillance-secret/2013/12/21/9d2b4538-6a7e-11e3-a0b9-249bbb34602c_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines



U.S. reasserts need to keep domestic surveillance secret
By Ellen Nakashima, Published: December 21

The Obama administration Friday reasserted its claim of ­state-secrets privilege to try to block a court from ruling on the constitutionality of the National Security Agency’s interception of e-mails and phone calls on U.S. soil without a warrant.

The reassertion of the privilege in two long-running lawsuits comes despite recent disclosures about the NSA’s programs and as President Obama is considering curbs to the NSA’s programs based on recommendations by a review panel he appointed.

“In my judgment, disclosure of still-classified details regarding these intelligence-gathering activities, either directly or indirectly, would seriously compromise, if not destroy, important and vital ongoing intelligence operations,” Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper said in a declaration filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California on Friday.

In court filings, the government also acknowledged for the first time that sweeping collections of Americans’ phone and Internet metadata began under the Bush administration, in concert with a program of intercepting phone and e-mail content without warrants — programs that operated for years solely under executive power before being brought under court and congressional oversight. Clapper said in his declaration that President George W. Bush authorized the collection efforts on Oct. 4, 2001, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

[cantbeserious]

1. Chris Hedges On The Surveillance State