The Surveillance Transparency Act of 2013 sponsored by Al Franken- D Minnesota

Good Day ATS, I first learned of this bill when I watched part of a debate held by The Judiciary Committee, lead by Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman, on NSA last sun.,on C SPAN, There were several things about this whole debate that concerned me, but before I get into that, here is the basics about this bill.


www.franken.senate.gov...

The Surveillance Transparency Act of 2013 would:

Require the government to report annually on:

The number of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court orders issued under key provisions of the PATRIOT Act and FISA;
The number of searches run on that data, including the number of searches run based on data from American citizens and permanent residents;
The general categories of information collected;
The number of American citizens and permanent residents whose information was collected under the categories and;
The number of American citizens and permanent residents whose information was actually reviewed by federal agents.
Allow companies to voluntarily disclose:

The number of orders they received and complied with;
The general categories of information they produced; and
The number of users whose information was produced in the categories.
You can read more about the Surveillance Transparency Act of 2013 here and find bill text here. You can watch video of Sen. Franken discussing the need for increased transparency during yesterday's Judiciary Committee here.

I was quite impressed with how Sen. Franken handled the debate with James Cole, DAG, Sean Joyce, FBI director and others "sent to defend this program and applaud his efforts and ability to articulate the public's concerns.

Prior to this debate beginning I was puttering around down stairs doing chores, and what caught my attention was several Senators warning of some sort of High Alert due to "Threats" that were obtained due to Surveillance, and although they didn't know where,"they knew the nature" They all kept driving home the message "Intelligence is the best Defense against Terrorism" I thought that was odd right before the NSA Judiciary hearing that was really rather candid and asked some hard questions and put some feet to the fire.

I made some notes before I had to leave, horrible time and day for something this important to be debated, lol, but hey....we know that "move", something about the timing of all of this is very strange, the Day Sen. Frankens bill is introduced, the Nation is on "High Terror" alert, Embassies closing , just very weird....it's almost so obvious, I almost doubt my own instincts.....does that make sense?

I'm so sorry I need to go....hope maybe others can offer some insight.......will finish my thoughts when I can.....

Sen. Patrick Leahy- D- Vermont ...these are summaries and might not be exact

I think our government is completely transparent. This isn't what Obama was mouthing on his way up the ladder?

Originally posted by shaneslaughta
I think our government is completely transparent. This isn't what Obama was mouthing on his way up the ladder?

So True.....This whole thing is beyond weird.....you know when I tried to get video of the c-SPAN secession that happened last Sun., I was directed to this very TELLING video...really...does it get more obvious??

I so much want to stay and discuss this further....but really need to go... Hope you guys might come back later to further discuss.....

Closing the embassies are countermeasures to threats gathered from intel.

Al Franken is proposing countermeasures to the US ability to gather intel.

Al Franken wrote comedy skits, had his own radio station, basically was an agent of propaganda. Now he performs subversion directly from a position of power.

"Preventing" terrorist attacks over PRESERVING liberty is not the way. Not even close. Vague terror threats "until August 31"?.. please. Why not call it Threat Level Red Vector Storm, or rather, Brown, as it's a sh__-storm they're engaging, terrorising their dubious grip on the "truth". Operation Stay the Same Lying Course

reply to post by kkrattiger


Dammit, mister: They have to take our liberties away to protect our freedoms. Why is that so hard to understand?

It's for our own protection. They have to lie to us constantly because we're such big babies. Aren't you aware that the odds of getting killed by terrorists (not counting our own government) are only slightly worse than winning the $400million Powerball jackpot? What are you--some kinda Commie?

reply to post by MountainLaurel


Geez, and here I was looking forward to voting against this clown in 2014. Might have to rethink that if he actually gets something accomplished with this bill. Good job, Senator Franken.

So, You actually think the "Throw some numbers at people and it's cool if you spy on them act" will do anything? how does it hold them accountable? Does anyone think the numbers given by the ultra corrupt government will be correct? Who will have oversight over the secret courts....ridiculous.

This should be called the "Vote me back in for 2014 regardless of my crap record, just remember this act, act".
A total placation from start to finish. The mass collection should be stopped period!

I don't buy this "act".

Originally posted by Privateinquotations

[...]

This should be called the "Vote me back in for 2014 regardless of my crap record, just remember this act, act".

[...]

Good one.

And you're absolutely right. "Never mind the criminal and unconstitutional surveillance, just show us some numbers"? When has ANY 3-letter agency EVER told us the truth about anything? Remember the MKULTRA hearings, and how the CIA promised never to do it again? I'd bet any amount that they didn't do anything more than change the damn name!

In the meantime NSA is getting more out-of-hand every day. What the hell difference does "transparency" make at this point?

reply to post by Ex_CT2


I think it becomes a matter of making one branch of government lie to another. That's the only way anything is ever going to get done -- we the people are ignored, but if we can set one bunch of elites against another... something is going to happen.

reply to post by adjensen


I have to say that that's an interesting perspective. I'm trying to view that in my mind. I suppose anything is possible....

When this fails does it make him look:

Good because he did this?

Like a jackass because there is no way in hell this happens?

Often folks put stuff like this forward knowing full well it will be shot down, therefore I doubt the sincerity of anyone who is paid to lie to the people who pays him/her.

@ thinking that these "countermeasures" aren't anything BUT a response to the US Government, a band of thug rogues in suits, being caught with their pants down after the revelations about how they are spying on and viewing EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN outside of the elite circles as an enemy of the state

GET REAL.

Good Morning from West Coast , USA....hope your all well.....

Thank-You for such thought provoking responses, and I will respond to all of them directly. I probably shouldn't have started a thread when I couldn't participate, it was just something that I wanted to get out there, so my apologies if that was rude.....multi-tasking is either a curse or a gift....honestly it's exhausting......

I think what really struck me about this whole hearing and Al Franken's bill was the fact that not only him, but other Senators on both sides of the isle "seemed" to really be fighting for the people.....a few great quotes I wrote down,,,hopefully they are exact, but I think I got the jest of it....

Sen. Patrick Leany D-Vermont..." Executive Branch needs to be FULL Partners".... " They are not being Straight Forward" ...."How effective is the Surveillance"........"Illegal Interpretation of the Law"......

Sen. Mike Lee R-Utah...." places limitations to vague relevance, left the station of relevance"....." secrets to secret procedures to secrets that were secret laws" ...."What do I tell the people ?".....

IDK.....maybe it's all smoke and mirrors....but for a minute I at least felt that we have made enough of a fuss that an "illusion" of concern is being addressed...lol....of course Ron Paul called a "spade a spade"....Love that Guy..

The video that I came across while looking for the hearing on C Span last sun., gave me this result.....BIZZARE....is this all some Hollywood Movie?......This is our President having a good old time rubbing elbows with the celebs....

reply to post by TinfoilTP


I'm curious...

How many freedoms are you willing to give up for your security?

No, they've not come for you, or me, yet... But I'm sure that many of us are on watch lists as possible "terrorists", or "subversives"...

FBI using drones for surveillance? On who? Where's the warrant? How many people can they survey with one of those things? Lots, is my guess...

NSA listening in on phone, internet conversations? On who? Where's the warrant?

When does this go too far for you? When the press is totally subservient to the govt? No news but what "we" feel is pertinent to you "proles".

Originally posted by seagull
reply to post by TinfoilTP

 

I'm curious...

How many freedoms are you willing to give up for your security?

No, they've not come for you, or me, yet... But I'm sure that many of us are on watch lists as possible "terrorists", or "subversives"...

FBI using drones for surveillance? On who? Where's the warrant? How many people can they survey with one of those things? Lots, is my guess...

NSA listening in on phone, internet conversations? On who? Where's the warrant?

When does this go too far for you? When the press is totally subservient to the govt? No news but what "we" feel is pertinent to you "proles".

The people who should worry about these capabilities are the same ones calling for radical overthrow of the US govt. If a real Socialist regime were to rise in the US, this technology would be used by the Socialists who seize power to eradicate all radicals who helped destabilize the US in the first place. This technology is out there, the cat is out of the bag and never going back in, someone will use it. I'd rather have the Constitutional govt we have to wield this power than anything resembling some Sandinista blood bathers.