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unhappycamper

(60,364 posts)
Wed Oct 1, 2014, 06:00 AM Oct 2014

Revealed: The Little-Known Executive Order Behind Our 'Collect It All' Spy State

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/09/29/revealed-little-known-executive-order-behind-our-collect-it-all-spy-state



ACLU Freedom of Information request exposes how Reagan-era order has been used by the Obama administration as the "primary source" of NSA surveillance authority

Revealed: The Little-Known Executive Order Behind Our 'Collect It All' Spy State
Lauren McCauley, staff writer
September 29, 2014

The powers granted to the National Security Agency to spy on millions of Americans and people abroad were vested by a little-known executive order that—until now—has received scant scrutiny or oversight, newly uncovered government documents revealed on Monday.

Executive Order 12333, passed in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan, is the "main game in town for NSA surveillance," according to Alex Abdo, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained internal documents on the order through a Freedom of Information request.

One of the documents, an internal surveillance manual published by the NSA, describes EO 12333 as the "primary source" of their intelligence-gathering authority. And a "Legal Fact Sheet," distributed by the NSA two weeks after Edward Snowden disclosed their widespread surveillance, says that the agency conducts the majority of their intelligence gathering through signal interruption (or SIGNIT) "pursuant to the authority by EO 1233."

Unlike Section 215 of the Patriot Act or the FISA Amendments Act—which thus far have been the focus of public debate—the executive branch is alone in implementing EO 12333, meaning that there is essentially no oversight from Congress nor the court system.
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Revealed: The Little-Known Executive Order Behind Our 'Collect It All' Spy State (Original Post) unhappycamper Oct 2014 OP
The Republicans Will Stop At Nothing To Peak In Our Bedrooms cantbeserious Oct 2014 #1
Did you happen to read the italics below the photo in the OP? merrily Oct 2014 #3
Blinded by partisanship. ... pipoman Oct 2014 #4
Any President can revoke or modify and Executive Order, merrily Oct 2014 #2

merrily

(45,251 posts)
2. Any President can revoke or modify and Executive Order,
Wed Oct 1, 2014, 07:08 AM
Oct 2014

including Presidents Clinton (who instituted the practice of "extraordinary rendition) and Obama (who has drone killed more than six times as much as Bush).

So, no, Reagan's order is not behind all this. Maybe Reagan was the first President to order it, but that was 33 damn years ago. A lot can be done in 33 years. Just ask Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

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