On Saturday, thousands gathered in Washington DC to protest the spying on American citizens by the NSA and the U.S. government. The rally, organized by the Stop Watching Us group, was joined by groups as diverse as FreedomWorks, Occupy Wall Street, and the ACLU. Even NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was there via prepared remarks which were read at the event. Americans are starting to wake up to the chilling surveillance state, and TheBlaze's National Security Expert joined Glenn on TV to discuss the issue.
The conversation kicked off with a Wall Street Journal report where data collected by the NSA was used in a criminal prosecution, even though the data was gathered without a warrant.
The Wall Street Journal reported:
The notification was filed to the lawyer of Jamshid Muhtorov, who is charged in Colorado with providing material support to a designated terrorist organization, specifically the Islamic Jihad Union. Authorities say he sought to travel to Syria to join a group of fighters there.The notification to Mr. Muhtorov's lawyer marks the first time the government has acknowledged a criminal case against a terror defendant was derived at least in part from communications gathered by the NSA. Based on court documents, it appears in Mr. Muhtorov's case the government monitored his emails and Internet usage, though they also tracked his telephone.
According to the WSJ, this will be the first time that someone's communication was intercepted with their secret surveillance program, and as a result od that data they are being charged with a criminal case.
“This was against a suspected would-be terrorist, somebody who was going to travel overseas allegedly to join the fighting in Syria,” Buck said. “But in the court documents given over to his lawyer, it’s become clear that some of the knowledge that the government had derived from the NSA.”
“This was not with some special warrant,” he added. “The NSA had this stuff, they decided to give it to criminal authorities.”
Buck warned that while the information was only being used against a terrorist at this point, it's not inconceivable that they could use the vast amount of data to come after other citizens as well. He warned that some people in government have certainly appeared "vindictive" lately, and that there is plenty of data out there on people.
"Any federal agency at any point in time can go through your entire life, essentially, going back to your childhood looking for something," Buck warned.
Is there anyone who can stand against this?
“I think right now we’re getting to the point of no return; we haven’t crossed it yet," Buck told Glenn.
Watch the full interview below:
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