It's not new, though. 43 years ago, the NSA went in front of the Church Committee and claimed all of their warrantless phone surveillance against American citi

It's not new, though. 43 years ago, the NSA went in front of the Church Committee and claimed all of their warrantless phone surveillance against American citizens had been been closed more than a year earlier. This was a naked lie - the program was continuing unaltered even as the testimony was given. The Church Committee went further than anything we have today - there was a major investigation aiming at criminal prosecution of NSA officials. The eventual conclusion was that their actions were obviously illegal, but that prosecution was impossible; the agency's charter appeared to exempt it from following surveillance laws, and broader charges would be deflected by "buck-passing" and subpoenaing high-level officials to disrupt government operations. This is where we've been since the 1970s, if not earlier. https://theintercept.com/2014/10/02/the-nsa-and-me/ https://theintercept.com/2014/10/02/the-nsa-and-me/