WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Jim Himes (CT-4) questioned NSA Director Keith Alexander today at a Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on the NSA’s information collection programs. Himes told the panel, which also included Deputy Attorney General James Cole and FBI Deputy Director Sean Joyce, that he was troubled by the extent of the NSA’s data collection on American citizens. He also asked Alexander where they draw the line on the information they collect and retain and how material this collection was in thwarting planned terrorist attacks.
“I’d like to limit my questions and observations purely to section 215 in the Verizon disclosures which quite frankly trouble me,” said Himes at the hearing. “They trouble me because of the breadth and the scope of the information collection. They trouble me because I think this is historically unprecedented in the extent of the data that is being collected on potentially all American citizens and, the controls which you’ve laid out for us notwithstanding, that’s, I think, new for this country. We know that when a capability exists, there’s a potential for abuse.”
Click here for a video of the Congressman’s exchange.