The Impeachment Hearing Room

NSA Caught Monitoring The Private Communications Of Innocent Americans!

Dear ACLU Supporter,

Reports all over the media yesterday and today confirm what we’ve known all along. Surveillance programs touted as critical to protect national security have in fact been used to monitor the private communications of innocent Americans abroad, including humanitarian workers and U.S. service-members.

Two former military intercept operators -- the people at the National Security Agency (NSA) who actually listen in to people’s calls -- revealed the news in an ABC report released yesterday.

Contrary to direct assurances from Bush administration officials that NSA monitoring was directed at suspected terrorists, the intercept operators report that "hundreds of U.S. citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they call friends and family back home."

The NSA even intentionally directed its surveillance powers at well-established humanitarian organizations like Doctors Without Borders and the International Red Cross.

It is outrageous that service men and women and international aid workers have had their private conversations needlessly and wantonly invaded by our government.

That is why the ACLU’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Congress’s expansion of the NSA’s surveillance authority under the FISA Amendments Act is so critical. Our case, Amnesty International v. McConnell -- brought on behalf of an impressive array of journalists, human rights organizations and lawyers -- shines a spotlight on the devastating effect of unchecked spying power on Americans doing indispensable work around the globe.

Stand up to warrantless and unnecessary government spying. Donate now to support the ACLU’s lawsuit, and help us put an end to out-of-control government eavesdropping.

It’s more important than ever that you support the ACLU’s lawsuit and other actions challenging out-of-control government spying.

Just as we warned -- and as our FISA lawsuit contends -- the NSA’s new unchecked surveillance powers invade the privacy of innocent Americans and fundamentally undermine human rights workers, journalists and attorneys doing important work around the globe. This dragnet spying is ineffective, intrusive, unnecessary and most certainly unconstitutional.

Donate now to support the ACLU’s lawsuit and put an end to out-of-control government eavesdropping.

The FISA Amendments Act -- rushed through a timid pre-election Congress -- gives the government nearly unfettered access to Americans’ international communications without any meaningful judicial oversight.

As this week’s news demonstrates, with unchecked and unaccountable spying powers, NSA officials will quickly run amok. That’s why the ACLU is acting decisively to bring our government’s behavior back in line with the Constitution.

We will not yield until we bring this reckless spying to an end. Please stand with us today.

The Shadow President
New York Times, United States - 3 hours ago
He thus treated the State Department and the National Security Council as foreign enemies,spying on them and humiliating Condoleezza Rice (when she was the ...

USATODAY.com - NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls

Democracy Now! | EXCLUSIVE: National Security Agency Whistleblower ...

EXCLUSIVE: National Security Agency Whistleblower Warns Domestic Spying Program Is Sign the U.S. is Decaying Into a “Police State” ...

Will Senate actually investigate NSA spying on Americans?
CNET News, CA - 12 hours ago
The US Senate is investigating allegations by two National Security Agency whistleblowers who have described widespread monitoring of innocuous telephone ...

Big Brother's Big Failure Washington Post

Inside Operation Highlander: the NSA's Wiretapping of Americans ... Wired News

Report: US spied on Americans' intimate conversations abroad CNN

Spy agency accused of improper listening
United Press International - 10 hours ago
The allegations made by two former military intercept officers with the National Security Agency include claims that US intelligence officials routinely ...