CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The National Security Agency wants a system that can monitor all electronic communications, according to an expert on the agency.
The FBI director and the general heading the NSA are testifying to Congress that keeping phone call metadata - who called whom and for how long - has stopped numerous terrorist attacks. However, author James Bamford said the NSA has put technology in place that does a lot more.
Pointing to an AT&T whistleblower who revealed in 2006 that the agency was secretly bugging the backbone of the Internet, Bamford said the NSA is monitoring many different things.
"Our telephone records, our e-mail, our Google searches and so forth," he said. "This shouldn't be decided in secret. This should be decided publicly. We should have a right."
Internet companies deny letting the NSA see people's data, but Bamford said eight years ago a retired phone company technician disclosed a system of secret fiber optic splitters at a key AT&T juncture in San Francisco. Bamford said that could enable monitoring of all net traffic in the Northwest before it even got to the servers at Google or Microsoft.
The NSA has or wants the same thing for the rest of the nation, Bamford said, adding that they're using it for what's called deep-packet inspection - monitoring for key words and numbers.
"Trigger words - a name, a phrase, an address, a telephone number," he said. "They don't need their permission because they have access flowing in and out of the companies, since they already have access to the cables."
The NSA has a large satellite listening station in Sugar Grove, W.Va., but Bamford said it's winding down as communications have moved online.
Last year, Bamford reported that the NSA had a huge data center in Utah it was using to track phone records. The agency denied it, although leaks by NSA contractor Ed Snowdon later proved Bamford correct. He said he's surprised there hasn't been more outrage similar to gun owners' reaction to legislation to track gun sales.
"But at least that's done publicly. It's debated whether we should have it or not," Bamford said. "This is not debated. The government has access to all of your telephone records - and unlike guns, where only a certain percentage of the public has them, everybody has a telephone."
Agency defenders say little privacy has been lost, but Bamford is not reassured, contending that the NSA still operates in secret and has been dishonest with the public in the past.
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Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has emerged from a long court case with another win.
After nine years and multiple delays, prosecutors are going to drop securities fraud charges against the embattled official. As part of the deal, Paxton must perform 100 hours of community service, pay almost $300,000 in restitution and take advanced legal education courses.
Dan Cogdell, attorney for Ken Paxton, said they welcomed the deal.
"It is not a plea bargain, he didn't plead," Cogdell emphasized. "There is no admission of guilt, there will never be an admission of guilt, because he's not guilty."
In 2015, Paxton was accused of persuading investors to buy stock in a tech startup, without disclosing he would be compensated for the deal. He was also accused of steering clients to a friend's investment advising business without registering with the Texas State Securities Board.
The deal is the second recent legal ruling in Paxton's favor. Six months ago, he was acquitted on 16 corruption charges in an impeachment trial in the Texas Senate but he has not been cleared of all accusations against him. Paxton is being sued by four of his former deputies, who say they were fired after making reports to the FBI he was using his office to help a supporter.
Cal Jillson, professor of political science at Southern Methodist University, said the federal investigation will be handled differently.
"They're taking their time turning over all the rocks," Jillson observed. "If they think there has been illegal behavior on the part of the attorney general, that will be a much different process than the political process that we saw in the Texas Senate."
Despite his legal troubles, Paxton has remained a popular politician. He's been reelected two times since he was indicted. Prosecutors in the case said if Paxton does not comply with the terms of the deal, he could still be tried on the original fraud charges.
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The New Hampshire House passed a bill to eliminate any exceptions to the state's voter ID law and requires documented proof of citizenship in order to register.
The bill would eliminate "affidavit voting" for those without ID and give any registered voter the right to challenge a person's voter registration on Election Day.
Rep. Heath Howard, D-Strafford, said challenges would require the lowest burden of legal proof and could prevent eligible voters from casting a ballot.
"It doesn't seem logical to me or fair that somebody could walk into a polling place, sign an affidavit, and take away somebody else's right to vote," Howard stressed.
Howard explained people would have to visit a state superior court to reclaim their eligibility, an often lengthy and costly process. Supporters said the bill simply aims to solidify existing ID law and prevent voter fraud.
Voting-rights advocates said more than 2,000 Granite Staters without identification used affidavits to vote in the 2022 midterm election and strict voter ID laws disproportionately impact Black, Native, elderly and student voters.
Howard noted not everyone has their birth certificate, and passports or naturalization papers can take months to receive. He emphasized several state investigations of voter fraud in 2020 yielded zero criminal proceedings.
"I think that we've experienced enough of this nonsense when it comes to accusations of voter fraud," Howard asserted. "This is just further perpetuation of that's not necessarily grounded in facts."
Howard added the latest attempt to tighten ID requirements could also be in violation of the Help America Vote Act and National Voter Registration Act. A similar law in Kansas was struck down in 2020 by a federal appeals court as unconstitutional.
Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.
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More than 86,000 Wyoming voters have been purged from voter rolls, thanks to a state law requiring county clerks to remove people who did not vote in the most recent election, according to a new analysis by AARP Wyoming.
Wyoming is one of 20 states to purge inactive voters, a policy affecting more than one in three Americans.
Tom Lacock, associate state director for AARP Wyoming, said it is important for people who sat out the midterm elections to make sure their registration is up-to-date.
"For folks who have not voted during the 2022 election, it's really the right time now to get to their county clerk's office and register for the 2024 presidential election," Lacock emphasized.
The high number of purged Wyoming voters is largely attributed to higher than normal turnout in the 2020 presidential election followed by near record low turnout in the 2022 general election. Lacock noted county clerks typically send postcards to those being purged, encouraging voters to contact their clerk to remain registered.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray has also proposed changes to the state's voting rules, which could make it much harder for people who do not have a valid driver's license to vote, such as nursing home residents or older voters who have stopped driving. Lacock noted the window for early voting is also closing.
"The other big change this year is we're going to see the number of days that voters can participate in early voting dropped from 45 days to just 28 days," Lacock pointed out.
A new state law also changes how Wyoming voters can vote in primary elections. Lacock explained people must now pick which party's primary they want to vote in no later than May 15.
He encouraged all eligible voters to make sure they can participate in the upcoming November election, which will determine the makeup of half the U.S. Senate, the entire House of Representatives...
"... and the presidential election, all hitting in the same year," Lacock stressed. "This is really an opportunity to make sure that candidates understand what is important to you, and to stand up and be counted."
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