The Battle Over The Government’s Massive Surveillance Powers Has Arrived
“The NSA is maybe the most risk-averse group in the world — maybe second to the CIA,” Arthur Rizer, national security and justice policy director for the think tank R Street institute told TheDCNF. “It is important that we do not start the conversation by demagoguing the professionals in the intelligence community.”
Rizer, who has extensive military and intelligence experience, says he never saw anyone “twiddling their fingers together thinking of ways to violate the rights of the citizenry. These people dedicate their profession to upholding the law.”
He says the question should not be specifically centered around NSA’s conduct, but rather what the law should be.
“I strongly support a warrant requirement for criminal investigations — national security does not trump the 4th Amendment of our Constitution,” says Rizer, before adding that requiring a warrant for “pure national security investigations” is different and a difficult question to answer. He says that perhaps if “national security” was more narrowly defined, then surveillance could be limited to only what is the most necessary.
“Congress needs to make itself great again,” Rizer continued. “The real question is NOT how horrible the NSA is for exerting the law to the best of their ability.
