Electronic surveillance

Whistleblower: Expansion of NSA Spy Powers Exposes Bipartisan Hypocrisy

The US Senate followed a hypocritical double standard by approving the extension of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), allowing warrantless spying on non-US citizen terror suspects, AT&T/NSA whistleblower Mark Klein told Sputnik.

The Senate passed the measure on Thursday by 65 votes to 34, with many Democrats joining majority Republicans in renewing it. Requests to identify Americans in intelligence intercepts under FISA program reportedly numbered in the hundreds during the final days of the Obama administration.

"The latest Senate passage of section 702 of FISA is a routine exercise in total hypocrisy which does nothing to curtail abuses," Klein stated on Friday.

Klein noted that the Republican majority in the Senate could have included practical measures to try and strengthen privacy protection for ordinary citizens in renewing the legislation, but they chose not to do so.