How many of us really believe that Dianne Feinstein cares whether the NSA was spying on the German Chancellor?
I think that there is another side of the story here, and it's a story that the public deserves to understand. Is the NSA also spying on Congressional leaders? Members of the Obama administration?
There have been dark whispers about this before.
Following the Snowden revelations, there are a lot of questions about both the aims and the execution of NSA spying programs. Intelligence agencies are supposed to be apolitical, but there is no question that deep links exist between these institutions and conservative groups and our conservative party.
Who is the NSA spying on?
Do they have aims that go beyond national security?
Is the NSA meddling in U.S. politics?
When you build a giant secret organization, with a giant secret budget, which relies deeply on defense contracting companies for sourcing labor and which in return acts as a major conduit of money to big business and a highly politicized sector of industry, what happens?
Does it serve the interests of the nation?
Does it serve its own interests and the interests of those who profit from it?
We know that this is a threat -- a realized threat -- to privacy. Is it also a threat to our political process? Is the NSA merely a surveillance organization, or does it -- as part of the process of protecting its existence and its cash flow -- also attempt to play puppeteer?
Yes, we need a full review of NSA activities. But one that goes beyond a "report to Congress" and a "report to the president." We need a full and public accounting of what this agency is doing.
I think that Dianne Feinstein should the full review that she is demanding.
But I want to know what the NSA has been up to as well.