More than 40 civil liberties groups have forged the Stop Watching Us coalition to call on Congress to rein in the National Security Agency's overwrought surveillance program that it believes violates the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution.
In a letter to Congress, the coalition argues the "dragnet surveillance" strikes at the guarantees to speak and associate anonymously and guards against unreasonable searches and seizures that protect the right to privacy.
The coalition wants a full public accounting of the NSA's and FBI's data collection programs and expects the officials who authorized the programs to be held accountable.
Reform of Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act and the FISA Amendments Act is another priority "to make clear that blanket surveillance of Internet activity and phone records of any person residing in the U.S. is prohibited by law and that violation can be reviewed in adversarial proceedings before a public court."
The American Library Assn., Greenpeace, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Freedom Works, Mozilla, The Other 98%, MoveOn, Entertainment Consumers Assn, Competitive Enterprise Institute and Rocky Mountain Civil Liberties Assn. are among members of the coalition. [Also: The ACLU sued the NSA today.]
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is warning security directors not to look at any classified information that they may inadvertently stumble upon on the web. If that forbidden material magically appears either on a work or personally owned computer, the individual is to report the event to the Director of Security Policy and Oversight in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence.
What’s the next step?
From the memo: "The offending material will be deleted by holding down the SHIFT key while pressing the DELETE key for Window-based systems and clearing of he Internet browsing cache."
Employees and contractors are reminded that those who "seek out classified information in the public domain, acknowledge it accuracy or existence, or proliferate the information in any way will be subject to sanction."
Curiosity killed the cat.
Maggie Moran, who is well-connected in New Jersey and New York Democratic politics, has established Moxie Strategies in Asbury Park, NJ.
Husch Blackwell Strategies has added FleishmanHillard alum Michael Slatin as a principal in its public affairs group.
Rory Cooper, a veteran Republican operative and policy specialist, has joined Teneo’s Washington office as senior managing director in its strategy & communications practice.
Brian Fallon, who served as national press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run, is signing on next month as Vice President’s Kamala Harris’ campaign communications director.
TikTok is nothing more than a Chinese propaganda tool that poses “a grave threat to America’s national security and, in particular, impressionable children and young adults,” say two Congressmen who want the platform registered as a foreign agent.
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