Why The NSA Scandal Matters

[MD_Vet]

This was written by Dan Bongino, former candidate for Senate in MD.


Why the NSA Scandal Matters:
For Immediate Release

June 11, 2013
Contact: Karla Graham

(410) 924-4577 or Karla@bongino.com

As a former federal agent who has appropriately used the judicial review provisions of our Constitution to gather information while investigating criminality, I am tired of the "If you are doing nothing wrong, then you have nothing to hide" argument concerning violations of privacy. You may continue to ignore the government's relentless pursuit of expansive new powers but I assure you, it is not ignoring you.

As Americans, we value our liberty and its corresponding privacy. We have the right to choose which part of our lives should be public and which should remain private. The fact that we do not want our private lives monitored by government representatives who can use the information for malicious purposes (exhibit 1: IRS), does not mean we have something criminal to hide.

It is the reason we put shutters on our windows, passwords on our accounts and phones and keep the doors to our homes closed. We want to choose when the public self begins and the private self ends and we certainly do not want the government to make that choice for us.

The overwhelming majority of Americans are good people who make mistakes on a regular basis but very few of these mistakes involve criminality or deadly intent and I object to being monitored using the exact same tactics for both.

If an American's private life does not include criminal behavior or infringe on the rights of others, why should government representatives be allowed an open door into our lives while using their expanding government bureaucracy to hide behind their own?

If you believe, like I do, that we should stand up against big government overreach, please join our campaign today and contribute to our cause. Donate Now

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Dan Bongino was the 2012 Republican Nominee for the United States Senate in Maryland. He served for over a decade in the United States Secret Service as a special agent and is currently a small businesses owner with his wife Paula.

You can follow Dan Bongino's at www.bongino.com; on Facebook at facebook.com/Dan.Bongino;

[muggsy]

Having served on active duty in the military for six years during a time of war, perhaps I better understand the need for secrecy and intelligence gathering. I am not the least bit concerned about the mining of telephone data since no one can point to one innocent person being harmed by it. I can vividly recall the murder of three thousand Americans at at time when intelligence agencies were not allowed to communicate with each other. I can still vividly see in my minds eye people jumping to their deaths from the 47 floor of the twin towers to avoid being burned to death. That is the reality that we have to fear. I don't fear my own government, because the founding fathers in their infinite wisdom gave the tools necessary to hold the government in check. The ballot box and the bullet box are all we need. God bless the USA.
_

[MD_Vet]

Ballot Box = 47% uninformed ignorant voters and growing (nevermind the coming illegal new citizens voters)

Good luck with your bullets (pea shooters) when a platoon of armored up goons from DHS comes a knocking because your said/wrote/implied something on your phone or internet that your all caring/all knowing big brother government takes issue with.

[deadeye]

So if they had this "program" in effect they could have stopped 9/11. Just like they stopped Boston, Fort Hood, the underwear bomber, and Benghazi? I hope you never say or do some small thing that doesn't seem important today and it comes back to haunt you when it gets blown out of proportion by some government appointed clown. Just heard an NSA official say the way they use the phone records is to investigate someone, someone under suspicion calls. I hope one doesn't accidentally dial your number by mistake. I'm glad someone trusts them. The IRS is sure being abused. We know they couldn't do what they are accused of. After all, it is against the law.
Just heard the ACLU has filed a formal lawsuit against the White House for attacking the 4th amendment.

[RevRay]

I usually try to be consistent in the application of the personal rules that I live by ... so under normal circumstances, I would have overlooked the NSA surveillance tactics as being necessary evils. But we are no longer living under normal circumstances.

The NSA surveillance has to be considered as not separate from ... but in the larger context of ... IRS scandal, Fox News reporter James Rosen, AP phone call monitoring, Susan Rice & Benghazi, etc., etc..

There comes a point when trust is exhausted, and you don't want to give the government any further opportunity to abuse you ... no matter how patriotic you might be.

[Longitude Zero]

I usually try to be consistent in the application of the personal rules that I live by ... so under normal circumstances, I would have overlooked the NSA surveillance tactics as being necessary evils. But we are no longer living under normal circumstances.

The NSA surveillance has to be considered as not separate from ... but in the larger context of ... IRS scandal, Fox News reporter James Rosen, AP phone call monitoring, Susan Rice & Benghazi, etc., etc..

There comes a point when trust is exhausted, and you don't want to give the government any further opportunity to abuse you ... no matter how patriotic you might be.

Very well said. There is just way too much poopoo stink with the current administration and infestations in Congress. It is too bad that voters do not kick all of them to the curb in the next few election cycles.

Liberty vs Safety. I'll take Liberty every time.

[MikeyKahr]

Re: Why The NSA Scandal Matters

Notice any differences between Candidate Obama and President Obama?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bmd...e_gdata_player

[Bawanna]

I was only able to last 14 seconds before I threw up a little bit in my mouth.

What am I doing in politics. I knew this would happen.

[muggsy]

So if they had this "program" in effect they could have stopped 9/11. Just like they stopped Boston, Fort Hood, the underwear bomber, and Benghazi? I hope you never say or do some small thing that doesn't seem important today and it comes back to haunt you when it gets blown out of proportion by some government appointed clown. Just heard an NSA official say the way they use the phone records is to investigate someone, someone under suspicion calls. I hope one doesn't accidentally dial your number by mistake. I'm glad someone trusts them. The IRS is sure being abused. We know they couldn't do what they are accused of. After all, it is against the law.
Just heard the ACLU has filed a formal lawsuit against the White House for attacking the 4th amendment.

Data mining has stopped dozens of terrorist attacks on this country. The terrorists can screw up all they want. The NSA program can't afford to screw up even once or Americans die. Your own list proves this. The ACLU is one of the most liberal organizations in America. Are you saying that you support them? I don't support abuses of civil liberties resulting from data mining, but I do support data mining to protect American lives. I hope that makes my position clear.

[downtownv]

When will the people rise up?

[deadeye]

Just imagine. Wholesale data mining and a U.N. gun registry. We are going to be so safe we won't know what to do. I support any organization while it works to protect our Constitution. I cannot trust the same bureaucracy that is trying to take our guns. We both have clear positions. I do respect yours. Isn't America a great country. Because of our Constitution.

[chrish]

Data mining has stopped dozens of terrorist attacks on this country.

Doubtful. Heard this claim by the suit on CSPAN the other day. Calling BS on his statement. I'll bet a dollar he either lied or they are 'attacks' outside of the US or they were not the direct result of the mining and predominantly due to some chatter picked up on other gov't eaves-dropping.

Anything claimed by someone in a suit, or a military officer turned politician is at best a half-truth...on a REALLY good day.

I will cease and desist my griping when I hear from a reputable source that this program has a MASSIVE amount of protection built into it...and even then I might STILL have a huge constitutional problem w/ it. By reputable I mean NOT John McCain or Lindsay Graham or a military/government bureaucrat or a top secret hidden 'court' (FISA). Get Ted Cruz or Rand Paul to say they've seen it and they have been given full access to the system and how it works...then maybe, just maybe, I'll shut my pie hole for awhile.

[deadeye]

I still won't. The NSA, a huge, powerful entity of the government was brought to it's knees by a young GED educated clerk. What? Who in the hell is running that show. And we are supposed to trust them? The kid shook the tree and a whole bunch of rotten apples fell out. Wow.

[RevRay]

For the sake of discussion, let's assume that collecting cell phone data is actually able to highlight some meaningful data worth following up on. Certainly, one could easily argue that when the Russians told us twice that the Tsarnaev brothers should be looked at, that was also meaningful data worth following up on. So here's my question ... what good is it to have a data collection system that produces meaningful data if the follow-up isn't there. 9/11 & Boston both show that data collection is not the issue ... follow-up is the issue. And if the retort is that there is so much data that sometimes follow-up is just way too difficult ... then be more selective on how much data you collect. Don't collect it on every American, collect it on only those who appear to be more like an Islamic terrorist.

[LorenzoB]

Why The NSA Scandal Matters

Analyzing massive amounts of data will be much easier in the (not so distant) future. Computers will be able to put all the stuff together as a clear profile on you and EVERY American. They will know what you buy and where you go, and who you email and what those emails say. They will know how you and EVERY individual feels about them at any given time. So now here is the point...

We have plenty of examples of ultra controlling tyrannical governments around the world (now and in the past) and how they treat humans that don't "agree" with them. People in other countries currently live in fear of saying anything in public to reporters or to anyone else that is even slightly critical to their government. Yet, they can at least still talk to their closest friends and family in private. Well imagine the most advanced technology in the hands of the most powerful government being able to listen to you through a cell phone without even a call being made, or watch you because there is an Xbox in the living room, etc. That is just the beginning. You would have to watch EVERY word you said... You would be living in fear because they could target you very easily.

That wouldn't be "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". In essence, it would not be America. But this is the "slippery slope" we are already sliding down.

I don't fear our current administration truly abusing these powers to the extent I described above, but I'd never put it past someone 20 years from now after we slid down the slope a little further.