Search This Blog

Divided We Stand

Divided We Stand
New book about the 2020 election.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Scandalabra Won't Go Away

At National Journal on Wednesday, Norman Ornstein dismissed Scandalabra, saying that there is "scant evidence of any corruption or serious malfeasance overall, Darrell Issa notwithstanding."

At The Washington Post on Thursday, Barton Gellman reported:
The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents.
Most of the infractions involve unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States, both of which are restricted by statute and executive order. They range from significant violations of law to typographical errors that resulted in unintended interception of U.S. e-mails and telephone calls.
The documents, provided earlier this summer to The Washington Post by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, include a level of detail and analysis that is not routinely shared with Congress or the special court that oversees surveillance. In one of the documents, agency personnel are instructed to remove details and substitute more generic language in reports to the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.