Democrat Sen. Tom Wyden is once again warning that the government is surveilling trillions of American’s phone records, mostly without a warrant. The governments – federal, state, local, tribal – have been lying about it.
From His Website
Sen. Tom Wyden Urges Justice Department to Release Information About ‘Hemisphere’ Phone Surveillance Program that Would Outrage Americans and Congress
Unclassified Documents Contain Troubling Information About Dragnet Phone Surveillance Program
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to make public documents related to the Hemisphere phone surveillance program, which allows federal, state, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies to request searches of trillions of U.S. phone records, usually without warrants.
Although the documents are not classified, the Justice Department has marked them as “Law Enforcement Sensitive,” which is meant to prevent them from being publicly released. In a letter to Garland sent today, Wyden urged the department to remove those restrictions.
“I have serious concerns about the legality of this surveillance program, and the materials provided by the DOJ contain troubling information that would justifiably outrage many Americans and other members of Congress,” Wyden wrote. “While I have long defended the government’s need to protect classified sources and methods, this surveillance program is not classified and its existence has already been acknowledged by the DOJ in federal court. The public interest in an informed debate about government surveillance far outweighs the need to keep this information secret.”
Under the Hemisphere program, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) indirectly pays AT&T to allow any federal, state, local, or Tribal law enforcement agency to search AT&T customers’ phone records as far back as 1987, according to public records about the program.
This is a bipartisan concern.
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I am a retired Electrical Engineer who spent my life working in Telecom. I worked in all areas first for Pacific Bell to pay for college, and then AT&T after the Bell System was broken up by the US government. I then worked for Sprint for International Operation and then back to AT&T to setup their Mobile Network from 3G to what it is now.
One thing I learned early is that there is no such thing as a secure voice or data communication. This I learned back in the 70s. It has gotten much easier since then for the government as in mobile communication all companies by law have to provide the government access to everyone’s numbers and circuits. People cannot tell if they are being monitored.
Being nothing short of traitors, Merrick Garland and Chris Wray deserve a bullet to the temple.
Use a shot gun it’s more than a sure thing. Nothing traceable.
The government is building something and it’s not going to be good for us.