Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2015
Abstract
Due to the unauthorized leaks of classified information, we have come to learn that the National Security Agency (NSA), an executive branch arm of the U.S. military, has established several data collection programs. In this article, I am not going to get into the details of these programs. Instead, I will limit my focus to what I consider to be the serious constitutional problem with any such program, regardless of the details: the fact that the NSA is demanding that private companies, with which virtually all Americans contract to provide their voice communications, turn over the records of every phone call that is made on their systems. This metadata is then stored on NSA super computers for later analysis.
In this article, I am not going to address the legality of this program under existing statutes.
Publication Citation
38 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 3-20 (2015)
Scholarly Commons Citation
Barnett, Randy E., "Why the NSA Data Seizures Are Unconstitutional" (2015). Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works. 1659.
https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/1659