Letter to the editor

In a letter published in The Guardian on October 25, Representative Alan Grayson (D-FL) said the following:
“Despite being a member of Congress possessing security clearance, I've learned far more about government spying on me and my fellow citizens from reading media reports than I have from ‘intelligence’ briefings. If the vote on the Amash-Conyers amendment is any indication, my colleagues feel the same way. In fact, one long-serving conservative Republican told me that he doesn't attend such briefings anymore, because, ‘they always lie’.”

Senators Leahy and Sanders, let me introduce you to Russ Tice.  He is a former intelligence analyst for the U.S. Air Force, the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and the National Security Agency (NSA). During his nearly 20-year career with various United States government agencies, he conducted intelligence missions pertaining to the Kosovo War, Afghanistan, the USS Cole bombing in Yemen, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
He was also the first-ever whistleblower from within the NSA, and you may recall that he took some heat when, in 2005, he revealed that the NSA and the DIA were engaged in unconstitutional and unlawful surveillance on American citizens.
On June 19, he participated in a radio interview with former FBI agent Sibel Edmonds (who later founded the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition) and talk radio host Peter B. Collins.  In that interview he named you in particular, Senator Leahy, as a senator on whom the NSA was spying.  I urge you and all readers to listen to the entire interview, which can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPyxeqcCjkc

It is entirely clear that this man is not a liar.  The scope and significance of these revelations are terrifying.  The Fourth Amendment no longer exists except as nice-sounding words.  And the First Amendment will be soon to follow—in fact, one foot is already out the door.

It is also entirely clear that the laws which “permitted” these injustices must be dismantled.  The so-called “PATRIOT Act” and the FISA Amendments Act have to be repealed in their entirety.  Clapper and Alexander must be tried for perjury for lying to Congress.

And CISPA, which is advocated by the NSA (and has been defeated twice already by privacy advocates), must not even reach the floor for a vote.  Use the fact that you cannot be prosecuted for anything you say on the Senate floor for the good of the people by reading the transcript of Russ Tice’s interview.

The NSA is a rogue agency, and it needs to be dismantled in its entirety.  I’m not saying that we don’t need signals intelligence, but the NSA is corrupted through and through, and it must be stopped at all costs.

I remember watching a lecture featuring another NSA whistleblower, William Binney, not long ago, and he said that unless we derailed this train, we’ll be living in a totalitarian state within the next five to ten years.

I am convinced that he is correct.