Why Wont They Tell Us the Truth About NSA Spying?Dr. Ron Paul This complacency has suddenly shifted given recent revelations of the extent of government spying on Americans. Politicians and bureaucrats are faced with serious backlash from Americans outraged that their most personal communications are intercepted and stored. They had been told that only the terrorists would be monitored. In response to this anger, defenders of the program have time and again resorted to spreading lies and distortions. But these untruths are now being exposed very quickly. In a Senate hearing this March, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Senator Ron Wyden that the NSA did not collect phone records of millions of Americans. This was just three months before the revelations of an NSA leaker made it clear that Clapper was not telling the truth. Pressed on his false testimony before Congress, Clapper apologized for giving an erroneous answer but claimed it was just because he simply didnt think of Section 215 of the Patriot Act. Wow. As the story broke in June of the extent of warrantless NSA spying against Americans, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogersassured us that the project was a strictly limited and not invasive. He described it as a lockbox with only phone numbers, no names, no addresses in it, weve used it sparingly, it is absolutely overseen by the legislature, the judicial branch and the executive branch, has lots of protections built in The keys to Rogers lockbox seem to have been handed out to everyone but the janitors! As Chairman of the Committee that is supposed to be most in the loop on these matters, it seems either the Intelligence Community misled him about their programs or he misled the rest of us. It sure would be nice to know which one it is. Likewise, Rep. Rogers and many other defenders of the NSA spying program promised us that this dragnet scooping up the personal electronic communications of millions of Americans had already stopped dozens of terrorist plots against the United States. In June, NSA director General Keith Alexander claimed that the just-disclosed bulk collection of Americans phone and other electronic records had foiled 50 terror plots. Opponents of the program were to be charged with being unconcerned with our security. But none of it was true. The Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday heard dramatic testimony from NSA deputy director John C. Inglis. According to the Guardian: The NSA has previously claimed that 54 terrorist plots had been disrupted over the lifetime of the bulk phone records collection and the separate program collecting the internet habits and communications of people believed to be non-Americans. On Wednesday, Inglis said that at most one plot might have been disrupted by the bulk phone records collection alone. From dozens to at most one? Supporters of these programs are now on the defensive, with several competing pieces of legislation in the House and Senate seeking to rein in an administration and intelligence apparatus that is clearly out of control. This is to be commended. What is even more important, though, is for more and more and more Americans to educate themselves about our precious liberties and to demand that their government abide by the Constitution. We do not have to accept being lied to or spied on by our government. This article first appeared on Ron Pauls website The-Free-Foundation.org. linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 