There is a fine line but a concrete line on "who" is allowed to surveil "who". The CIA and the NSA are allowed to conduct surveilance (and the CIA, operations) on foreign countries. The FBI has responsibility to conduct actions within the US, and provided all done within the context of the law. The NSA will periodically assist the FBI in technical means and and provide personnel as members of a FBI operation. The FBI is a law driven organization and executes it's mission "legaly" as its members really consider themselves federal Law Enforcement Officers so they are given a mission to do, they understand the legal portion, and they execute it. The NSA people are often proffesional geeks, do what they are told, have certain legal constraints to operate in, but they are not Law Enforcement Officers or have that mentality. Certainly the field people are given a mission and told to execute it - but while aware of what they can and can't do - they are not law enforcement officers.
This has worked - properly for the most part - for decades.
I'm uncomfortable to see that changed. But if these actions were being carried out with the court that they are legally supposed to, I'd feel a lot better....
The NSA like the CIA and FBI are staffed by real American people. People that honor this country and its ideals just like those who are in the military. They are not necessarily like the people depicted in movies and books, they are not evil, bent on circumventing the law and establishing world dominance with "sharks with frickin' laser beams" but real people, real Americans. Now what happens with the data they collect and what decisions are made with that data by politicians - THAT is the scary part
Hybrid Mode
