Has the NSA spied, or is the NSA currently spying, on members of Congress or other American elected officials?” asks Sen. Bernie Sanders

(DEB) The openly Socialist Senator Benie Sanders pressed the NSA on Friday to come clean on whether its highly questionable spying practices extended to members of Congress. “Has the NSA spied, or is the NSA currently spying, on members of Congress or other American elected officials?” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked in a letter to NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander released from the senator’s office.

Fox News reported:

Sanders, who has introduced legislation to curtail the agency’s spying capabilities, said the United States must be “vigilant and aggressive” in protecting the nation from terrorism, but he also cited U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon’s recent ruling that certain practices by the NSA are “almost Orwellian.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, responded to Sanders’ letter, saying it’s a question “millions of Americans would like answered.”

On Saturday, the NSA responded to Sanders’ query, saying Congress has “the same privacy protections as all U.S. persons.” Not the most reassuring of answers given the fact that the NSA has been spying on all US persons.

“NSA’s authorities to collect signals intelligence data include procedures that protect the privacy of U.S. persons. Such protections are built into and cut across the entire process. Members of Congress have the same privacy protections as all U.S. persons,” said the agency in a statement obtained by CNN.

The response goes on to promise the agency will continue to work with Congress on the issues – without ever addressing the senator’s real question.

Via the WaPo:

The answer is telling. We already know that the NSA collects records on virtually every phone call made in the United States. That program was renewed for the 36th time on Friday. If members of Congress are treated no differently than other Americans, then the NSA likely keeps tabs on every call they make as well.

It’s a relief to know that Congress doesn’t get a special carve-out (they’re just like us!). But the egalitarianism of it all will likely be of little comfort to Sanders.”

I was very unhappy to see the Volokh Conspiracy turn this into an attack on Ted Cruz. It is no joke. All Americans… including our reps are subject to surveillance based on meta words. People lapped it up when a socialist said it… not realizing he was actually coming from a jaded view. Cruz merely provided the reality in a less jaded fashion. I could tell this was a political jab by the way Volokh turned off comments.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has written a letter to NSA’s director, asking whether the agency has spied on members of Congress. It sounds like he’s uncovered a scandal, until you read the fine print. It turns out that Sen. Sanders is simply asking whether NSA collects the metadata for calls made by members of Congress, and every sentient American already knows that answer: NSA’s program collects metadata for all US calls. So Sen. Sanders’s letter isn’t an inquiry, it’s a stunt.The Guardian is an enthusiastic participant in the stunt, with Spencer Ackerman writing that NSA “did not deny collecting communications from legislators of the US Congress.” Well, duh. Unfortunately, it looks as though Ted Cruz, who so far has avoided the worst fever swamps of NSA paranoia, also fell for the stunt, tweeting “@SenSanders asks ? millions of Americans would like answered: Are any law-abiding citizens safe from NSA spying?”
At the risk of being repetitive, Sen. Cruz, we’ve all known the answer for months. NSA’s 215 program collects all domestic call metadata, and it protects all that data by requiring that any search of the data be based on a reasonable suspicion of terrorism. All means all. All Americans’ metadata is collected. All Americans’ privacy is protected by the minimization requirements. Sen. Sanders’s stunt adds precisely nothing to what we know about the program, or to the debate.

The bloggers obviously knew their attack would not hold water with the comments section,,, so I’m commenting here in hope that if I link to it… he will notice.

Knesset speaker blasts US hypocrisy for refusing to release Pollard

America has been spying on Israel. So why the big deal about Pollard? let him go...

(Carl) Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, a former prisoner of conscience in the Soviet Union, has blasted the United States government for its hypocrisy in refusing to release convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard. 

Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud Beytenu) assailed Washington for “hypocrisy,” saying that “this is a severe case and I hope this is the iceberg rather than the tip of the iceberg. Otherwise, this case is liable to do damage to our relations with the US.”

“For 28 years, the US administration has been preaching to Israel about the danger and the lack of trust that results from spying on allies and today it turns out the shoe is on the other foot,” the speaker said. “There is no other way to characterize it other than hypocrisy.”

Edelstein wasn't the only senior Israeli politician to take a swipe at the United States.
"The secret is out,” Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz said on Sunday. “The US is systematically spying on the defense and diplomatic leadership here in Israel. Is this how friends treat each other?”“Pollard was arrested for much less,” Katz said. “I plan on proposing in today’s cabinet meeting that Israel demand an American statement vowing to put an end to the surveillance and to immediately release Pollard in light of the most recent revelations.”
Bayit Yehudi MK Ayelet Shaked, who heads the parliamentary lobby devoted to advancing the cause of Pollard’s release, said on Sunday that “the most recent revelations about spying and surveillance by the US against its ally needs to light a red light of morality for any logical person.”
“There needs to be reciprocity in any relationship between countries,” Shaked said. “It is inconceivable that while Pollard has been rotting in an American prison for decades for spying, which was considered an unforgivable crime by the American government, we are now informed that the US has been spying against Israel, and this is just swept under the rug.”
And it wasn't just coalition MK's who spoke out.
Opposition leader Isaac Herzog told Israel Radio that he hopes Snowden's revelations will lead to new thinking by the Israeli government about how to bring about Pollard's release in an effective manner.
"There needs to be new thinking because the time has come," Herzog said.
...
Labor MK Nachman Shai, who heads the Knesset Caucus on US-Israel Relations, called for a special meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to discuss the American espionage.
He said that Israel has not spied on the US since Pollard was caught in 1985.
“The silence of Israeli officials following these reports is disappointing and shameful,” Shai said.
“We cannot let such revelations pass quietly. Like Germany and Brazil, we should ask the US for clarification, or at least confirmation that such spying has stopped.” 

And in case you've forgotten why Pollard's sentence is so ridiculous:
Pollard has already spent 28 years of the life sentence in a federal prison for passing classified information to an ally. No one else in the history of the United States has ever received a life sentence for this offense, whose median time served is two to four years. It's time to free Pollard.