MidPoint | Larry Klayman to discuss the suit he has filed against the NSA
A former Justice Department attorney and the founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch joins MidPoint to discuss the suit he has filed against the NSA for eavesdropping which will be heard...
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MidPoint | Larry Klayman to discuss the suit he has filed against the NSA - Video
This undated photo provided by the National Security Agency (NSA) shows its headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. NSA via Getty Images
WASHINGTON - Three U.S. appeals court judges struggled Tuesday over whether the National Security Agency's phone data surveillance program is an intelligence-gathering tool that makes the nation safer or an intrusive threat that endangers privacy.
The judges - all appointed by Republican presidents - expressed uncertainty about where to draw the line between legal surveillance and violations of constitutional rights.
Since 2006, the FBI has obtained orders from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court directing phone companies to produce telephone "metadata" - outgoing phone numbers dialed and numbers from incoming calls - to the government.
The NSA consolidates the records into a searchable database in the hunt for terror suspects.
During the hour-and-a-half hearing, Judge David Sentelle questioned whether it is an invasion of privacy if the NSA simply collects the data, stopping short of using it.
Is it not an invasion "with mere collection?" asked Sentelle.
It is not, replied Justice Department lawyer H. Thomas Byron.
Arguing against the NSA program, activist attorney Larry Klayman disputed Byron, telling Judge Janice Rogers Brown that "collection is enough" to justify pursuing the lawsuit against the government.
Klayman won the first round in December when U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, a Republican appointee, ruled that the NSA's surveillance program likely runs afoul of the Constitution's ban on unreasonable searches. The government is seeking to have Leon's ruling thrown out.
Excerpt from:
Federal appeals court struggles over NSA program's legality
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Washington (CNN) -- The scope and legality of the government's warrantless electronic surveillance programs was discussed Tuesday as a federal appeals court reviewed a lower U.S. court's injunction that would block collection of data from two plaintiffs who are suing
Activist Larry Klayman, an attorney who heads the group "Freedom Watch," filed suit last year based on published reports of wrongdoing from whistleblower Edward Snowden. The former contractor with the National Security Agency accused authorities of misusing some of the capabilities he observed, and acting without a judicial or statutory basis.
Klayman, using himself as an aggrieved party from the surveillance, used the lawsuit to accuse the government of conducting "a secret and illegal government scheme to intercept and analyze vast quantities of domestic telephonic communications," along with communications "from the internet and electronic service providers."
Tuesday he said he has the standing to bring the suit as a customer of Verizon, one of the companies known to be cooperating with warrantless surveillance. But when the appeals panel asked him for documented proof he had been targeted, Klayman said only that the broad scope of the surveillance made it likely.
The other plaintiff is Charles Strange, whose son Michael was an NSA cryptologist and Navy SEAL in Afghanistan in 2011 when he was killed in the downing of his helicopter by insurgents. The father told reporters he has been the target of secret intelligence gathering because he's been asking questions about the circumstances surrounding his son's death.
Both men late last year won a preliminary injunction that would have barred the government from collecting data on them, and it ordered authorities to destroy any data already gathered.
But the District Court judge immediately stayed his order pending the appeal that was heard Tuesday, because of "significant national security interests" that could be affected.
Justice Department attorney Thomas Byron, defending the government, asked the appeals court judges to reverse the injunction, saying a phone company's business records are not protected by the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches.
Byron said there was no documentation that any records gathered were "intrusively acquired." He said Congress passes laws to protect privacy, such as for hospital records and banking, and that the government's surveillance is constrained by the provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, with activities judged by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
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NSA snoop case reaches appeal
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PALO ALTO (KCBS) We come in peace. That was the message delivered by the head of the National Security Agency (NSA) to a Silicon Valley crowd as the nations spy chief is searching for recruits.
The governments top cyber spy made a stop at Stanford University on Monday with a message that they wanted to mend fences with the tech community.
Admiral Michael Rogers, director of the NSA, spoke to about 100 students and professors and said he understood why there is mistrust of the government.
Many tech companies have increased encryption in the wake of the Edward Snowden release of classified documents that detailed the NSAs spying techniques. However, Roger stressed the importance of public and private partnerships in cybersecurity; the same message that he recently delivered to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
You cant start out by distrusting each other with, Hey, you cant trust the government because theyre big brother. Or, you cant trust the private sector because theyre all about money. That is not what is going to work, he said.
Rogers also encouraged Stanford Students to consider a career with the NSA, saying that they offer rewards that no benefits package from Google or Apple could match; with opportunities to do some neat stuff you cant do anywhere else.
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NSA Luring Stanford Students; Claims Rewards Outweigh Any Google-Apple Benefits
After the FBI and Britain's top spy agency criticized Silicon Valley for encrypting and protecting user data, Michael Rogers, director of the NSA, came to Palo Alto to make peace. "I am not one who jumps up and down and says either side is fundamentally wrong," Rogers told a crowd of students and professors at Stanford University on Monday. "I understand what drives each side to their viewpoint on this." He said that he understood FBI Director James Comey's desire for "some mechanism on the technical side" where, "using a legal framework," encrypted data could be accessed by the government.
He also claimed that the NSA did not know about or exploit the Heartbleed bug before news of it broke in April. When it comes to cybersecurity threats, Rogers said it was "unrealistic to expect the private sector to withstand the actions of nation-states," but equally unrealistic to "expect the government to deal with this all by itself." Rogers also tried to woo away computer science students from lucrative Silicon Valley jobs. "We are going to give you the opportunity to do some neat things that you can't legally do anywhere else," he said.
First published November 4 2014, 10:55 AM
Originally posted here:
NSA Head Makes Nice with Silicon Valley Over Privacy