Senator Ron Wyden has hereby expressed alarm in the highest order once again. He’s been at the forefront of pushing back against the methods the U.S. government uses to collect citizens’ communications. The senior Democratic appropriator has long been known as a privacy and surveillance watchdog. Most recently, he released shocking data on some of the clandestine actions that federal authorities have taken.
Wyden’s announcement that the Justice Department is preventing tech behemoths Apple and Google from warning the public. They can’t even tell you when the feds come knocking for users’ push notification content. This secrecy in turn leads to troubling questions about the scope of government surveillance, and how it may be harming our civil liberties.
In the larger picture as well, Wyden seemed almost apoplectic at these recent actions by the CIA. He pointed out that there is an unclassified report, but that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has denied requests to publish it. This report allegedly contains “explosive information” about national security threats against U.S. phone companies.
Wyden is known for dropping the occasional bombshell, implying high levels of malfeasance or even illegality in the way the feds operate. This trend is better known as the “Wyden siren.” Since taking the job, he’s challenged ruling after ruling secret and intelligence gathering techniques as illegal or unconstitutional. His prophetic insights are especially important because he’s the head of our intelligence community. As one of the few lawmakers provided access to subcommittee classified information, he is privy to information about continuing surveillance operations.
Wyden has earned every ounce of their wariness as an effective and tenacious watchdog. Civil liberties groups have a keen interest in his statements and actions around intelligence and surveillance issues. His earlier 2011 warnings received international headlines. This is the beginning of his warning on the government’s use and abuse of a secret, unwritten interpretation of the Patriot Act which Edward Snowden would eventually vindicate when he disclosed the National Security Agency was using these interpretations to coerce phone companies into turning over customer records.
Wyden is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He isn’t allowed to discuss in detail what the government is doing to surveil Americans with anyone outside the small circle of Senate staff with security clearance. Even with these limitations, his dedication to transparency can still be seen in his public comments and his willingness to advocate on behalf of civil liberties.
The CIA public affairs officer responded Senator Wyden’s criticism with this snide comment. As they observed, “It’s ironic but not surprising that Senator Wyden is disappointed,” further arguing that such disappointment is a desired “badge of honor” for the agency.
“This highlights ongoing tensions between national security interests and the need for transparency.” – CIA spokesperson via the Wall Street Journal’s Dustin Volz