Sen. Wyden Warned us in 2011 that the Government was Running wild on Surveillance (Video)

Juan Cole 06/08/2013

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) warned two years ago that when the US public discovered how the Patriot Act is actually interpreted by the FBI and NSA with regard to domestic surveillance, they will be stunned and angry:

He had to talk analogically about the issue, however, since PRISM was classified. So he told about a CIA program to keep 10,000 files on domestic surveillance targets, in contravention of the agency’s charter and US law.

What was Wyden trying to tell us? Do we yet know the extent of the abuses?

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan and an adjunct professor, Gulf Studies Center, Qatar University. He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page