National Security Agency (NSA)
295 Articles

More on Wittes and the Rights of Others
The debate on the privacy rights of foreign nationals goes on, at least in the blogosphere. Ben Wittes responds to my post here on Lawfare today by objecting that I have not…

Making Sense of the NSA Metadata Collection Program (Part II)
In a previous post here on Just Security, I discussed the constitutionality of the National Security Agency (NSA) program that sweeps up detailed “metadata” pertaining to essentially…

The Basis for the NSA’s Call-Tracking Program Has Disappeared, If It Ever Existed [Updated]
There’s a significant discrepancy, one that deserves more attention, between what the NSA told the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court five years ago about the call-tracking…

The Constitutionality of a FISA “Special Advocate”
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) is holding a day-long hearing today on possible reforms to the NSA’s surveillance activities—especially those conducted…

PCLOB Hearing on NSA Review
Today the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) is holding a public hearing on recommended changes to surveillance programs authorized under the USA PATRIOT Act and…

We Are All Foreign Nationals — Even Orin Kerr
The always thought-provoking Orin Kerr has responded, on Lawfare, to my plea here for respecting the privacy rights of foreign nationals. Kerr finds my arguments unpersuasive,…

Steve Vladeck Mention on Colbert Report
[Editorial note: Earlier this week, Co-Editor-in-Chief Steve Vladeck testified during the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s open hearing on the NSA and FISA…

Trick or Treat?: New FISA “Reform” Legislation Passes Senate Intelligence Committee
Earlier this week, Sen. Dianne Feinstein expressed outrage that “the Senate Intelligence Committee was not satisfactorily informed” of the NSA’s surveillance…

La Plus Ça Change: A Look Back at Intelligence Gathering Reform
“To understand the past in order to better propose guidance for the future” -Church Commission (1976) Today’s report that the NSA has been tapping into Google and Yahoo data…

On Trees Falling Silently in Oversight Forests: Three Reflections on Yesterday’s HPSCI Hearing
Although it’s been overtaken by subsequent events, I thought I’d post some reflections on yesterday’s rare open hearing before the House Permanent Select Committee…

A “Hardy Perennial”: US Intelligence Operations Targeting Foreign Leaders
At Tuesday’s House Intelligence Committee hearing, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said, it is a “hardy perennial as long as I have been in the intelligence…

Live Feed of HPSCI Hearing on Potential Changes to FISA [Update: hearing now complete]
[Update (5:15 pm): The HPSCI Hearing on Potential Changes to FISA is now complete. Recorded video of the hearing testimony is provided below in two parts, due to the length of…