If you read only one article today, read Barton Gellman’s article in the Washington Post, “U.S. surveillance architecture includes collection of revealing Internet, phone metadata.”
As I read it, I found myself wondering, “How many members of Congress really knew/know about these programs – and of them, how many understood the programs?”
Did Congress totally abrogate its responsibility to us or did the Executive branch subvert our systems of checks and balances by misleading or flat-out lying to Congress?
In recent weeks, there have been calls for a Church-style commission. Sooner would be better than later.
In recent weeks, there have been calls for a Church-style commission. Sooner would be better than later.
How would this help, exactly?
In 1975, in response to abuses by the Nixon administration, a Senate committee headed by Senator Frank Church was formed to investigate what appeared to be illegal domestic surveillance and other activities by government. Their work led to a permanent intel oversight committee and the original FISA law, which was an attempt to rein in some of the surveillance activities. Wikipedia has a summary, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Committee
The Church committee really exposed a lot of what had been going on, which is why some people are calling for that kind of committee again.