老澳门开奖结果

How many different ways does Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) have to ask the government the number of Americans it has spied on under its warrantless wiretapping program before he can get a straight answer? So far, it鈥檚 at least three and counting.

Wyden鈥檚 public inquiry concerning surveillance of Americans under the FISA Amendments Act (FISA) started with a . The DNI told him 鈥溾�� of Americans who had been spied on.

Wyden then asked the Inspectors General for the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Intelligence Community to 鈥渄etermine the feasibility of estimating鈥� the number. The NSA IG - the watchdog whose is to 鈥渆nsure that the Agency respects Constitutional rights鈥� - determined that 鈥渟uch an estimate was 鈥� and that 鈥渁 review of the sort suggested would itself violate the privacy of U.S. persons.鈥�

Still determined to get an answer, Wyden and a bipartisan group of 12 other senators, including Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO), who joined Wyden in previous inquiries, asked the DNI to estimate 鈥渢he order of magnitude of this number.鈥� Hoping to get any helpful response, they set the , and asked whether it was 鈥渃loser to 100, or 100,000, or 100 million鈥� Americans. Even when given a split of 999,999,900, the DNI told the senators that . But, it did take the opportunity to scold them about questioning a 鈥渓oophole鈥� in the law that allows 鈥榖ack door searches鈥� of Americans鈥� communications, proclaiming that 鈥渋n enacting these standards for collection, Congress understood that some communications of U.S. persons would be incidentally acquired.鈥�

In addition to at least 13 senators, the 老澳门开奖结果, a coalition of 21 privacy and civil liberties groups, and countless Americans want to know how many of us are picked up in this massive surveillance program, before Congress reauthorizes these powers for another five years.

While we don鈥檛 know how many Americans have been spied on under FISA, or even how it is interpreted and applied, we do know the law has been . Wyden revealed that 鈥渙n at least one occasion the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court [FISC] held that some ,鈥� and that FISC concluded at least once that 鈥渢he government鈥檚 implementation of [FISA] circumvented the spirit of the law.鈥�

Next week, the Senate is expected to consider its extension of FISA. to tell Congress to Fix FISA.

Learn more about warrantless wiretapping: Sign up for breaking news alerts, , and .