FISA Approves EVERY Secret Surveillance Warrant in 2011: Reportselfnews Post An anonymous counterterrorism official said the increase was in response to materials seized in relation to the raid on Osama Bin Ladens compound in Pakistan and the resulting investigations. Although the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) is secretive and does not reveal the type of surveillance that was approved, it may be the most transparent surveillance program the Feds admit to. At least the warrants are issued and can be counted. FISA has only been one of the tools used to spy on the communications of Americans. The FBI, under the authority of the PATRIOT Act, issues administrative subpoenas in order to get citizens telephone, Internet and banking records, while these organizations turning over personal information have also been conveniently exempt from invasion of privacy lawsuits. According to Huffington Post, 16,511 FBI subpoenas were issued in 2011, down from 24,287 the year before. Since Bush authorized the NSA to bypass the FISA court to spy on electronic communications of Americans to fight the war on terror after 9/11, the number of reported warrants seems moot however much they increase or decrease. Since that ruling, the government and the NSA has been far less public about whether they have the right to secretly, but openly, spy on Americans communications. But they never seem to give up their goal of invading everyones privacy in the name of security. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the new cybersecurity bill CISPA that passed the House and waits for the Senate vote, authorizes the NSA to spy on email and other electronic communications. The NSAs new $2 billion dollar facility set to open in September 2013 all but guarantees it. So, despite government reports attempting to give the facade of accountability for secret surveillance programs, the details and extent of how much spying is occurring remains hidden from the public. One thing is certain: if the admitted cases of spying are increasing, Americans can only assume that hidden cases are too; and if CISPA becomes law, expect intrusions into privacy to become even more commonplace. Read other articles by selfnews Post here. You can help support this information by voting on Reddit: HERE linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 