fighting nsa surveillance in exchange for political asylum. in a letter addressed to the brazilian people, snowden writes quote, many brazilian senators have asked for my assistance with their investigation of suspected crimes against brazilian citizens. i have expressed my willingness to assist. snowden appears emboldened by the groundbreaking decision by a federal judge monday ruling the nsa program that sweeps up americans phone call records is likely unconstitutional. in a scathing ruling, judge richard leon wrote quote, the government does not cite a single instance in which analysis of the nsa s metadata collection actually stopped an imminent attack. throughout, u.s. officials have justified the nsa s mass surveillance program saying they have been successful averting acts of terrorism. 54 separate acts, to be exact, although over time, that figure has evolved from 54 plots 54 times this and the other
hamburg, germany, a fact we tend to gloss over. top german officials admitted information from u.s. intelligence has disrupted several terrorist plots inside germany itself. this is a complicated picture. we re talking about millions of phone calls all in secret without the knowledge of those people in those countries on foreign soil. why is it why is it wronging to asking that question of whether or not this is legal or even right to do such a thing? well, i think legal is one question. spaunl is generally illegal when you re doing it. that s part of the rules of the game. that s why you re not supposed to get caught. but the reality, it is very complicated since so much data is also shared with european partner governments. this metadata collection is often shared with others. metadata collection, you hear figures about 60 million spanish calls a month. that s metadata, not intercepting of the phone calls
look, the government has lots of oceans of data. the govement demands that i tell them every penny i make and how i made it. that also is in one sense an invasion of privacy. but there s a larger national purpose, which that serves. that same applies to this metadata collection. what do we do with the data? what we do, chris, let me give you an example. we roll up a terrorist cell, let s say yemen, which james rosen referred to in his piece, we roll up a terrorist cell there, find a cellphone about which we had no knowledge prior to that raid. we take that cellphone number, metaphorically, we approach that ocean of data, and simply say has this phone been in contact with any of these phones inside this metadata database? let me bring congressman amash in. sounds recently. well, you re collecting the phone records of every single american in the united states. it s important to understand that what the justice department
oceans of data. the government demands that i tell them every penny i make and how i made it. that also is in one sense an invasion of privacy. but there s a larger national purpose, which that serves. that same applies to this metadata collection. what do we do with the data? what we do, chris, let me give you an example. we roll up a terrorist cell, let s say yemen, which james rosen referred to in his piece, we roll up a terrorist cell there, find a cellphone about which we had no knowledge prior to that raid. we take that cellphone number, metaphorically, we approach that ocean of data, and simply say has this phone been in contact with any of these phones inside this metadata database? let me bring congressman amash in. sounds recently. well, you re collecting the phone records of every single american in the united states. it s important to understand that what the justice department
look, the government has lots of oceans of data. the government demands that i tell them every penny i make and how i made it. that also is in one sense an invasion of privacy. but there s a larger national purpose, which that serves. that same applies to this metadata collection. what do we do with the data? what we do, chris, let me give you an example. we roll up a terrorist cell, let s say yemen, which james rosen referred to in his piece, we roll up a terrorist cell there, find a cellphone about which we had no knowledge prior to that raid. we take that cellphone number, metaphorically, we approach that ocean of data, and simply say has this phone been in contact with any of these phones inside this metadata database? let me bring congressman amash in. sounds recently. well, you re collecting the phone records of every single american in the united states. it s important to understand that what the justice department