NSA eavesdropping on personal calls of Americans

Jay Tamboli speaks with James Bamford about his new book, The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America. Bamford talks about the NSA's monitoring of communications and the lack of oversight of the NSA, the largest intelligence agency in the world. (9:24)
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Congress needs to know legal justifications, says Feingold

Senator Feingold (D-WI), speaking at a hearing of the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights Subcommittee on "Secret Law and the Threat to Democratic and Accountable Government," says that it is important for the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) to release its legal justifications for executive-branch programs. He says the OLC changes its justifications in response to Congressional legislation, so the Congress needs to know the OLC's reasoning. (0:31)
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Congressman Reyes says that "we will not go dark" when the Protect America Act expires

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), speaking at a press conference on Capitol Hill, says that the National Security Agency will still be able to conduct surveillance by getting court approval in a matter of minutes or even after the fact. (0:23)
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Majority Leader Hoyer says that the Bush Administration prefers to act without oversight, but that that is "neither necessary nor proper"

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), speaking at a press conference on Capitol Hill, says that the Bush Administration would rather act unilaterally without oversight than to go to court, but that is "neither necessary nor proper," and both the Senate and House FISA reform bills include the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. (0:24)
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Congressman Conyers says that Congress cannot pass telecom immunity without knowing the specifics of the wiretapping program

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI), speaking at a press conference on Capitol Hill, addresses the White House's failure to grant the full House Judiciary Committee access to documentation of the Terrorist Surveillance Program. He says that the Congress cannot grant immunity to the telecommunications companies until they know what they are granting immunity for. (0:28)

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Congressman Conyers says that FISA reform can protect security and liberties at the same time

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI), speaking at a press conference on Capitol Hill, says that the Democrats will work with Republicans to pass FISA reform that protects both security and liberties, but they will need to reject rhetoric of fear. (0:32)
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ACLU describes the immunity provisions in the FISA revision passed by the Senate

Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the Washington Legislative Office of the ACLU, explains that the new law provides immunity to companies who provided call information even if they knew the requests by the government were illegal. (0:44)
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ACLU says Senate passage of new FISA law is a "bad deal for America"

Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the Washington Legislative Office of the ACLU, says that the FISA bill passed by the Senate removes court oversight from decisions by the president about who to monitor as well as giving immunity to companies that illegally turned over call information. (0:35)
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ACLU says administration attempt to keep warrantless wiretapping out of court is "extremely dangerous for democracy"

Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the Washington Legislative Office of the ACLU, reacts to Attorney General Mukasey's comments yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee that the telecommunications companies should be granted immunity in order to keep the president's warrantless wiretapping program out of the courts. Frederickson says insulating these kinds of activity from accountability would damage us as a nation. Moreover, courts are equipped to handle sensitive and classified information. (1:46)
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