National Security isn’t a regular topic on ScottsdaleTrails. However, a few friends have corresponded with me about the PRISM program recently and I wanted to point out something about its history.
From Wikipedia’s PRISM entry:
PRISM replaced the Terrorist Surveillance Program, which was implemented in the wake of the September 11 attacks under the George W. Bush Administration. While the Terrorist Surveillance Program was widely criticized and had its legality questioned because it was not conducted subject to the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), PRISM was authorized by an order of the Court. The NSA access was enabled by changes to US surveillance law introduced under President Bush and renewed under President Obama in December 2012.
PRISM isn’t new, and it wasn’t thought up by Obama…but that doesn’t give him a pass to infringe on our Constitutional rights by continuing or expanding it.