Ted Poe: “Millions of data sheets spit out of the printer inside a thick-walled, secure facility. Across the top are Americans'…”

“Millions of data sheets spit out of the printer inside a thick-walled, secure facility. Across the top are Americans' names, a list of phone numbers dialed, the time and date called, and the frequency in which they called or texted a person. ``Who is doing this?'' you might ask. A criminal organization? A private investigator? Who is intentionally stalking and gathering data on innocent American citizens without their knowledge? Well, it is not a nefarious organization operating behind closed doors. It is not the Russians. It is the spying eyes of the United States Federal Government. In the aftermath of 9/11, the government authorized once-secret programs by the NSA to collect information on bad actors, primarily terrorists, who wish to create mayhem. They were terrorists overseas. As the subcommittee chairman of Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, I agree that we should go after terrorists. Our government should use techniques they have on those people who wish to destroy America and find out what those terrorists are doing. But despite the overall intention of the law, the program has been corrupted. Not only does the NSA collect information on terrorists, which they should do, but it collects data on ordinary American citizens, including communications, emails, and text messages. The government does not have a specific Fourth Amendment warrant to collect and search this data on Americans, but it does it anyway.…”