The real capabilities and behavior of the US surveillance state are almost entirely unknown to the American public because, like most things of significance done by the US government, it operates behind an impenetrable wall of secrecy. But a seemingly spontaneous admission this week by a former FBI counterterrorism agent provides a rather startling acknowledgment of just how vast and invasive these surveillance activities are.
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"All of that stuff" - meaning every telephone conversation Americans have with one another on US soil, with or without a search warrant - "is being captured as we speak".
Link
I understand that folks are scared, some of their own shadows, and want "security" from the Government, but how many realize that this "security" now comes at the cost of every phone call they make being stored in some database just waiting for Government interest??
Personally, I'd rather run the rather miniscule risk that some douchebag with a pressure cooker and some gunpowder is out and about.
As Greenwald sums up:
Mass surveillance is the hallmark of a tyrannical political culture. But whatever one's views on that, the more that is known about what the US government and its surveillance agencies are doing, the better. This admission by this former FBI agent on CNN gives a very good sense for just how limitless these activities are.