Urge Your Elected Officials to Hold Hearings on NSA Surveillance

posted on: Jun 12, 2013

As you know, we have just learned about the secret National Security Agency (NSA) programs, PRISM and Boundless Informant, being used to spy on Americans. According to many news sources, communication between the US and many Arab countries, such as Jordan and Egypt, have been disproportionately targeted by these programs.

On April 25, 2013, it was revealed that NSA forced Verizon to turn over all of their call records–from their 98.9 million customers–for a three month period. This was followed by the revealing of NSA’s PRISM program. This program gives NSA permission to obtain all emails, photos, and any other personal data from nine major internet companies, including Google, Facebook, and AOL. This information was then transferred to another program, Boundless Informant, where it was used to create a “global heat map.” Based on this information, NSA could easily monitor and catalogue data from each country in the world. These surveillance programs have not only violated the privacy of all Americans, but are also unconstitutional.

Members of Congress have come out against these secretive surveillance programs. In a joint statement criticizing the Obama administration and NSA, several congressmen, including Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), asserted that NSA’s seizure of Verizon phone records was “far too broad and is inconsistent with our nation’s founding principles.” The letter also called for oversight hearings and the introduction of legislation which would prevent the government from conducting such pervasive surveillance.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, several senators, including Sen. Harry Reid and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, have expressed support for holding hearings on NSA programs. Even Senator John McCain, who generally supports NSA programs, has called for hearings.

<a href=”http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=M6tmzTvc5NvYoVn1YelEClLw4oULUqco”>Contact your Senator now and ask them to support holding hearings in the Senate about NSA’s secret programs.</a>

Background Information: For more information on these NSA programs, you can read The Guardian’s coverage of them <a href=”http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=zPJ8w86sIRJ0jocZkrm3AlLw4oULUqco”>here.</a> The Guardian was the newspaper that originally leaked the information about these programs, and so far has the most up-to-date coverage of the issue. For Rep. Conyers’ statement on the seizure of Verizon phone records, click <a href=”http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=NpRuh8HJ9ofhpZ%2BD82oPM1Lw4oULUqco”>here.</a>