Ethics

NSA Whisteblowers Tell Us the Obvious

By Ed Brayton

Two whistleblowers from the NSA have revealed what should have been obvious to anyone paying attention, that the warrantless wiretaps and other surveillance programs went far beyond merely tracking terrorists:

The Senate Select Intelligence Committee is looking into allegations from two U.S. military linguists that the government routinely listened in on phone calls of American military and humanitarian aid workers serving overseas.

"These are extremely disturbing allegations," said Committee Chairman Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., in a statement issued Thursday. "We have requested all relevant information from the Bush administration. Any time there is an allegation regarding abuse of the privacy and civil liberties of Americans it is a very serious matter."

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on October 14, 2008 (boomark / email).