This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Friday, December 8th,

2003. I'm Caleb Brown.

As lawmakers consider renewing surveillance authorities,

what is the status currently of warrantless federal surveillance

of American communications?

It is Patrick Eddington gives us a refresher.

Because our memories aren't perfect, Patrick, let's go back a little more than 10 years to a Senate

hearing in which James Clapper was called to discuss the ways in which intelligence agencies collect data

and the extent to which they collect collect data from Americans communications with each other or with people outside the United States.

Can you set the tone there for that general discussion?

Well, as I recall, this was a hearing that took place in 2013. I believe it was either the Senate Intelligence

Committee or the Senate Judiciary Committee, one of the two.

And it was probably Intel because the questioner, as I recall, was Senator Ron Wyden,

Democrat of Oregon, who asked the question, you know, in this context at least, you know, does the National Security

Agency essentially collect data and create so-called dossiers on Americans and General Clapper who at the time was a senior US

intelligence official answered in the negative and subsequently of course we learned that that was a falsehood, that was an absolute direct falsehood.

Now he never paid for that, right?

Was never in any way censored sanctioned there was there was no perjury charge

made and submitted to DOJ at least as far as I know and that's just's just one of the examples we have of folks in the executive branch,

and particularly in the national security community, and especially in the intelligence

community, lying, including under oath, about whether or not they're collecting data on

Americans.

...