Senator MONDALE. Given another day and another President, another perceived risk, and someone breathing hot down the neck of the military leader then in charge of the NSA; demanding a review based on another watch list, another wide sweep to determine whether some of the domestic dissent is really foreign based, my concern is whether that pressure could be resisted on the basis of the law or not.
General ALLEN. Well, it is very hard for me, of course, to project into a future unknown situation. And there are certainly risks that seem to have occurred in the past. I can certainly assure you that at the present time, under any combination of the present players, as I understand the rules and the players themselves, there is no possibility of that.
Senator MONDALE. I will accept that. But what we have to deal with is whether this incredibly powerful and impressive institution that you head could be used by President “A” in the future to spy upon the American people, to chill and interrupt political dissent. And it is my impression that the present condition of the law makes that entirely possible. And therefore we need to, in my opinion, very carefully define the law, spell it out so that it is clear what your authority is and it is also clear what your authority is not. Do you object to that?
h/t to BC
If Mondale were alive today he’d certainly also be upset about what’s happening with wind today in the UK, and the US also but it’s not quite as horrific here… yet. From the telegraph and James Delingpole:
Steven, that’s actually a significant point made by Mondale… about a serious issue. I didn’t mean to downplay that seriousness by failing to stick to the topic. I thought it’d be a harmless insertion here. So, good point, and if we could just re-animate the Mr. Excitement Mondale I’m sure he’d rise from the grave in Frankenstein fashion and give his full support to the Obamna administration in every way.
Good catch Steve!
BC found it, actually.
I have a more-than-average interest in what these assholes are doing to this country, especially with the intelligence gathering apparatus. I’ve actually worked inside the Puzzle Palace on a few occasions and everything I did outside of it ended up in the place in the end. (It’s not like they don’t know who I am with all of their illegal bullshit monitoring of every person’s surfing habits, so I might as well not be too shy about it anymore, right?) We worked under USSID 18* (and many others) and we were all well-versed in and, more importantly, abided by the laws and procedures put into place to protect our fellow citizens’ privacy rights.
*United States Signals Intelligence Directive 18