NSA Surveillance System Unprecedented, Without Safeguards

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The warrantless electronic surveillance by the National Security Agency secretly authorized by President Bush and outed by the New York Times is being cast as a prudent and controlled extension of existing authority or as a horrific threat to civil liberties. Slate reports that the NSA surveillance is, in fact, part of an expansion from mere wiretapping to data mining of an “unprecedented” magnitude that pre-dates 9/11. “The current program seems to involve a remarkable level of cooperation with private companies and extraordinarily expansive data-mining of questionable legality,” Slate says. (1/6/06).