Sen. Leahy on NSA spying: We need to stop government from
controlling American people [VIDEO]
10:30 AM 01/19/2014
Sen. Patrick Leahy says the American people are at risk
of being controlled by their government due to the expansive surveillance
powers of the National Security Agency.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” the Vermont Democrat and
chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee told host Chris Wallace that the
nation’s lawmakers must act to return control of the government to the people.
“I think that we are going to maintain our ability to
protect the United States,” Leahy began. “That’s extremely important.”
“The concern everybody has is allowing our government to
have such a reach into your private life, my private life, and everybody
else’s, that we are, we have the government controlling us instead of us
controlling the government.”
“And that’s what both Republicans and Democrats are
joined together on the Hill to try to change,” Leahy concluded.
Earlier in the program, Leahy suggested that viewers
consider history when deciding whether the government should have so much
access to the private communications of American citizens.
“I just think that there should be oversight,” Leahy
said. “Think back in the history of this county, in J. Edgar Hoover’s day and
all — if he had had the power when he was spying on protesters and those
against the Vietnam War and Martin Luther King — if he had had the power that’s
in here, think what might have happened. We Americans believe in our safety. We
also believe in our ability to be private.”
“You still have to have some checks and balances before
you have a government that can run amok,” Leahy said.
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