Republican Party Calls For End To NSA Domestic Phone Records Program

Loading

In the latest indication of a growing libertarian wing of the GOP, the Republican National Committee passed a resolution Friday calling for an investigation into the “gross infringement” of Americans’ rights by National Security Agency programs that were revealed by Edward Snowden.

The resolution also calls on on Republican members of Congress to enact amendments to the Section 215 law that currently allows the spy agency to collect records of almost every domestic telephone call. The amendment should make clear that “blanket surveillance of the Internet activity, phone records and correspondence — electronic, physical, and otherwise — of any person residing in the U.S. is prohibited by law and that violations can be reviewed in adversarial proceedings before a public court,” the resolution reads.

The measure, the “Resolution to Renounce the National Security Agency’s Surveillance Program,” passed by an “overwhelming majority” by voice vote, along with resolutions calling for the repeal of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and reaffirming the party’s pro-life stance, according to Reince Priebus, the RNC chairman.

Among other points, the resolution declares “the mass collection and retention of personal data is in itself contrary to the right of privacy protected by the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution,” a claim embraced by civil libertarians of both parties.

The revelation of the NSA programs has caused deepened a rift within the Republican Party between national security hawks and libertarians, but at the meeting, no RNC member rose to speak against the resolution.

More

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
3 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

When a Muslim can go to a packed nightclub, pour gasoline down its stairway entrance and light the gas on fire – all without this NSA spying catching him, it is proof the net is spread too wide.
A real terrorist can hide among all the innocent static.
Good thing the owners of the nightclub obeyed all Fire Codes and kept their emergency doors unlocked.
750 people were able to get out alive and well.
Jan 1st 2014.
Seattle.

A grad student at Atlanta, Georgia’s Georgia Tech was burned over 90% of his body with 3rd degree burns when some of his home-made Molotov Cocktails, filling his apartment caught fire and spread to the rest.
Saamer Akhshabi completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Tehran in Iran.
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/1-severely-burned-in-10th-street-home/ndC9z/?icmp=ajc_internallink_textlink_homepage
How did his suspicious phone calls get missed?
Easy, they were lost in the massive static of all of OUR innocent phone calls.

Republican Party Calls For End To NSA Domestic Phone Records Program

And what, exactly, do republicans intend to replace this domestic security tool with? How do they expect to find needles in the haystack to begin with, without some automated system that sifts through all the hay and alerts human minds to meaningful patterns? Without such a system—which apparently keeps the data largely anonymous until a suspicious pattern emerges—how do you even know where to look?

If anyone imagines there are no looming internal threats to the nation, I suggest they watch this short segment that appeared last night on the Rachel Maddow Show. It’s about what appears to have been a dry run for an attack on one of the most important and vulnerable components of America’s infrastructure. I wasn’t even aware of the event. It took me a moment to realize its full significance. Want a serious threat to the entire nation? Something that threatens nearly everyone? Look no further than this. We’re wearing all of our protective armor on the outside.