When Laws Apply

Once upon a time, the Central Intelligence Agency could not spy on Americans (Executive Order 12333).  It seems like a quaint idea now that your own government would not spy on you.  That was the stuff of the old Soviet Union.

Now, we have a CIA Director who freely admits his employees spied on the Senate Intelligence Committee, the elder house of Congress whose committee's responsibility includes overseeing the CIA.  What?

Something has gone very wrong when the employees of the government can spy on those titulary in charge of the government.  What might be more concerning is the 2008 amendments to Executive Order 12333 indicated that senior authorization had to occur for spying on Americans to occur.  The question that no one seems to be asking is who authorized the spying on the United States Senate, or like the IRS, was this simply "rogue employees."

Finally, how big a leap is it to ask, if the CIA is brazen enough to spy on the United States Senate, why would it worry about a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to spy on a regular individual?  If you were wondering about your rights eroding, look no farther than your leaders.  If they have their rights being dismantled systematically, you and I have no chance at all.

America...land of the almost free, home of the sheep.