The US government is currently operating under the theory that it must collect the entire haystack to find the needle. But what happens to the rest of the haystack – information about law-abiding citizens that gets swept up in the mix?
U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies not only collect massive amounts of innocent Americans’ data, but share and store this data for up to 75 years or more, clogging national security data bases and creating opportunities for abuse.
The Brennan Center and good government groups sent a letter to the DOJ urging the Attorney General to release any reports by the Inspector General regarding the collection of Americans’ telephone records. The DOJ responded stating it would review whether to declassify previous reports.
The Obama administration released a white paper explaining the legal basis for the government's collection of information about all Americans' phone calls — a paper that raises more questions than it answers.
