Horowitz Admits FBI Conducted 3.4 Million Warrantless “Backdoor Searches” Americans’ Communications AKA FISA

 

FISA revisited. A worthy hearing that deserved attention. But of course, the media will not report a single sentence. Then again the GOP stacks up its hearings on top of each other, so the chances of any coverage fade even further. Then we will take a spin down memory lane.

On Thursday, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance concerning “How a Law Designed to Protect Americans Has Been Weaponized Against Them.”

Horowitz admitted to Rep. Matt Gaetz that the FBI has done 3.4 million warrantless “backdoor searches” of Americans’ communications.

“I want to get into the 3.4 million backdoor searches that the ranking member pointed out in his opening statement. Mr. Inspector General. How should the public think about those?” Gaetz asked.

“Well, I think what we’ve seen in the various public reports, and I’m limited in what I can say about what’s public, which I think is one of the issues, by the way, that’s worth talking about, is transparency here,” said Horowitz.

“It’s obviously very concerning that there’s that volume of searches and particularly concerning the error rate that was reported on in the last two years in the public reporting,” Horowitz continued.

Horowitz revealed an error rate of 30% or over a million erroneous searches.

“I’m a lawyer, not a mathematician, but 3.4 million about 30%, you’re talking about seven figures of error in terms of the searches,” said Gaetz.

 

 

Trump’s chances of being turned down for a FISA wire tap 0.02 percent

September 20, 2017 — bunkerville 

We learn that AG Lynch signed off on every single one of the FISA requests during her tenure. Better yet, we learn that it is simply a rubber stamp for the nefarious activities of our government. The fact that one has about as much chance of being struck by lightning than being turned down as a candidate for investigation tells us what rare company Trump is in. And her first request to the FISA court was turned down. Apparently she found a Obama Judge. Here we go:

Only two in over 10,000 applications were turned down by the FISA Court.

 

According to ABC News:

More than a thousand applications for electronic surveillance, all signed by the attorney general, are submitted each year, and the vast majority are approved. From 2009 to 2015, for example, more than 10,700 applications for electronic surveillance were submitted, and only one was denied in its entirety, according to annual reports sent to Congress. Another one was denied in part, and 17 were withdrawn by the government.

Finally, another very disturbing fact about the wire tapping request of President Trump is that the FISA Court turned down President Obama’s Administration’s first request to wire tap President Trump that was evidently signed off on by Attorney General Lynch.  With only two applications denied out of 10,700 from 2009 through 2015, the fact that the Obama Administration’s application was denied by the FISA Court the first time is very disturbing.  The odds of this happening are 0.02%.

 

FISA Judge: ‘If Americans don’t know they are being spied on, no harm’

November 24, 2014 — bunkerville

Last week there was a Senate vote that got zero coverage. An effort to rein in the abuse of spying on America. The GOP had no interest in supporting it. Now we get a bit of insight as to the impartiality of the FISA court.

Vote Tally Count Senate NSA Data Spying restrictions voted down November 19, 2014

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked a sweeping overhaul of the once-secret National Security Agency program that collects records of Americans’ phone calls in bulk.

Democrats and a handful of Republicans who supported the measure failed to secure the 60 votes they needed to take up the legislation. The vote was 58 to 42 for consideration.

Now I give you this absurd argument.

“You can’t have your privacy violated if you don’t know your privacy is violated.”

“Oral arguments presented by Yahoo Counsel (Mark Zwillinger) and the US Solicitor General Gregory Garre” reveal a frightening new govt. argument.

Garre then goes on to explain why the govt. feels it should have warrantless access to US persons’ communications, routed through and stored at US servers.He refers to satellite communications — something in use when FISA was enacted in 1978.

. . .But all of this pales in light of the words of Judge Morris S. Arnold. If they sound familiar, they are. This was the argument made, and roundly ridiculed, by Congressman Mike Rodgers, chair of the House Intelligence Committee.

Vladeck: But who would be complaining?

Rogers: Somebody who’s privacy was violated. You can’t have your privacy violated if you don’t know your privacy is violated.”

Read more at Investment watch blog with legal documents and video. (Link is now dead)

Warrantless spying passes with GOP- vote tally count.

December 29, 2012 — bunkerville

GOP and Feinstein join to fulfill Obama’s demand for renewed warrantless eavesdropping

The best of the swamp.