They do get a warrant. A judge signs off on it, heard it this morning on radio and it's very interesting. They have a "secret" court so to speak that is mainly for dealing with spy-related issues. It's called FISA.

This is no excuse to do what they do, it's just a BS legal system they make up so when caught by the public, they can point to FISA and say they are keeping it legal because a judge signed off on warrant to search.

Well, their warrants are different from your average criminal warrant. Agents "do not need to demonstrate that commission of a crime is imminent." A FISA wiretap requires no showing of a crime, just evidence amounting to probable cause that the target of the wiretap is an agent of a foreign power. No, that would never be abused.

Or lies by the Agents wanting a warrant for a POLITICAL AGENDA.
Look at all the lies the FBI and CIA past leaders are spewing. Look at how crazy Loretta Lynch has shown herself to be.

I normally agree with you on most things Clem, but.....
There is a new "They" in town. As bat sheet crazy as Trump is , he will make sure Ob*ma pays a price.

Now that this has come to light is there any way plausible deniability can fit for Obama???
Its no secret we get spied on every day when every veteran from Vietnam to present day is on a terrorist watch list and has been since the Clinton admin

I am familiar with the FISA court.
And how things are SUPPOSED to work.

Does anyone actually believe our $50 Billion a year intelligence community actually obeys the limits of the
4th Amendment and/or the FISA law as applied to U.S. citizens???

IMO there is no way. I am totally skeptical about that.
That's why I am never going to own a vehicle that is connected
to the internet or cell towers or blue tooth or whatever - not gonna give them a chance to cut my car or truck off when I am driving down the highway.

FISA court and warrants are a smoke screen. Heard a past NSA whistleblower interviewed on the radio and he referenced an Executive Order 12333 and that all intelligence gathering efforts done under EO 12333 are conducted outside of FISA and Congress.

"Binney told Fox the laws that fall under the FISA court's jurisdiction are 'simply out there for show' and 'trying to show that the government is following the law, and being looked at and overseen by the Senate and House intelligence committees and the courts.'"

"'That's not the main collection program for NSA,' Binney said."

We only have ourselves to blame for this. Because we want smartphones and internet accessibility everywhere, we can be tracked where we are and what our interests are.

I quit my job last year and one of the main reasons was this kind of schitt. The company owner had an app on all company cell phones which located the phone. When he started asking on Mondays why I was here or there over the weekend, I told him it was none of his damn business. When I got home everyday, I left his phone at home and on the weekends, which he didn't like because he wanted to be able to reach me anytime. I can't stand this kind of invasive behavior and I finally decided I couldn't tolerate it any longer, among several other things.

The reason we end up with this stuff is because the "brilliant" minds who conceive so many new technologies never stop to consider the downsides and whether they should pursue these ideas. There is always someone who is willing to use this schitt to screw someone else. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

And I thought my TWIC card was intrusive...

I think those brilliant minds knew exactly what they were doing all along.

I'm sitting in front of my smart tv with my nuts hanging out!

Note to self. If ever invited to bamabarts house, do not sit on furniture

better idea...

All those crazy conspiracy theory guys have been harping on this happening for a long time now. Its not surprising.

I was listening to hannity yesterday and he talked in detail on how bad it is. Over 100billion dollars is what our government spent on this. In my opinion, the cell phone companies need their asses kicked over this crap.

Didn't the patriot act allow all of this? What happened to allow the patriot act? What agencies were created after this event?

Yes they have to go to the Fisa "court" which is a joke, they ok like 98% of the warrants they are asked for, if you know anything about obtaining warrants then you know this is not normal...

Yep, Ted Kaczynski tried to tell everybody.

Exactly, that’s my point. You can obtain a FISA warrant much easier than a criminal warrant with very little oversight

The problem is when a whistle blower comes out they are treated like a quack. You know anytime there is a secure environment where top secret issues are discussed, there are electronic security sweeps done. They are usually scheduled and done periodically. Has anyone considered one of these sweeps could have revealed issued that pushed President Trump to make the tweets. It's very believable that such a sweep would have been conducted after the Flynn leak.