Apparently, the only way to get many self-identified Democrats or Republicans concerned about government surveillance is to put their opposing party in the White House. There has been a truly shocking reversal of opinions on this issue from the Bush administration to the Obama administration. From Pew:

This issue with this massive domestic surveillance program is not simply if you can trust it with President Obama or who ever ends up the next president. The important question is, are you willing to entrust this massive information gathering machine to all the people who could potentially come to power over your lifetime?

Why not apply spy technology to money laundering, tax evasion and other financial issues?

Not only are the prepared deceptive answers given by Director of National Intelligence General James Clapper in Congressional testimony potentially serious crimes, but the entire incident completely undermines President Obama defense of the newly reviled NSA domestic surveillance programs.

I thought one of the most interesting but mostly overlooked parts of President Obama’s defense of his government surveillance programs was when he talked about how he would probably be targeted once he becomes a private citizen.

The whistleblower inside government, who is providing The Guardian‘s Glenn Greenwald with information on top secret government surveillance programs that eight years ago would have been alarming to those in Congress has not only provided the public with information citizens have a right to know. This source has also forced the government to be more transparent about the programs because officials believe the disclosures are “misleading” about the nature of the programs.

Dear Senator Feinstein:

On Thursday, when you responded to news about massive ongoing surveillance of phone records of people in the United States, you slipped past the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. As the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, you seem to be in the habit of treating the Bill of Rights as merely advisory.

National Security Agency whistleblower Thomas Drake on “Democracy Now!” this morning said, “You’ve got to remember, none of this is probable cause. This is simply the ability to collect. And as I was told shortly after 9/11, ‘You don’t understand, Mr. Drake. We just want the data.’ And so, the secret surveillance regime really has a hoarding complex, and they can’t get enough of it.”

A court order that was classified as top secret indicates Verizon was ordered by a US secret surveillance court to provide call data of millions of communications of Americans on an “ongoing, daily basis” to the National Security Agency (NSA) from April 25 to July 19.

The order authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was published by The Guardian and columnist, Glenn Greenwald, wrote about the order for the media organization, concluding that it showed for “the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing.”

A legal group of criminal defense attorneys has formed to combat what they describe as the FBI and Justice Department’s use of harassment and over-prosecution to chill and silence those who engage in journalism, Internet activism or dissent.

The group, the Whistleblower Defense League, will defend individuals engaged in investigating the United States government and those who are “in positions to reveal truths about this government and its relationships with other governments and corporations.”