NSA mass gathering phone logs; getting called out by Congress – WPEC

NSA mass gathering phone logs; getting called out by Congress. (WPEC)

Busted!

The National Security Agency is being called out by Congress, and it's because the NSA is still monitoring phone habits with jaw dropping frequency; around 151 million calls last year, and even after Capitol Hill told the agency to stop it.

CBS12 News is investigating, consulting with a former CIA analyst about the controversy, and asking why is it still happening.

She says because tracking threats from ISIS and lone wolves involves casting a wide net.

Putting one person under surveillance can then lead to a dozen more. But many Americans are understandably frustrated.

"Somebody like myself or yourself, I think we should be off the radar," said Doc Brown.

Brown is in liqueur sales. He says he gets about 100 phone calls a day. He's frustrated to think the government is spying on his calls. Marketing his rum is honest work.

"I don't think it is right," Brown said.

Lisa Ruth, is now a consultant, but she worked for the CIA for 16 years. She says intelligence agents follow paths to leads, and those paths can split off in many directions.

"It's very easy to think about the privacy side of this," she said. "What we're not thinking about is the terrorist side of this, and it's not as clean as saying one guy, 'We're just gonna look at one guy,' because if he is calling 27 people, you want to look at those 27 people."

After the Edward Snowden scandal, Congress ordered intelligence agencies to get warrants for phone monitoring. Those warrants need to be issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court.

But the Director of National Intelligence has just come out with an annual report and only 42 such warrants were granted.

So how do you go from 42 to 151 million records?

The NSA Is dealing with that question.

These are not bugged calls but information about how often a number is being called and how long calls are lasting.

We wondered if Florida residents are more tolerant of this because of events like the Fort Lauderdale airport shooting and the Orlando nightclub shooting.

Continued here:
NSA mass gathering phone logs; getting called out by Congress - WPEC