We are going to open up regional lines for this conversation this morning. That means if you are in the eastern or central time zones, we want to hear from you at 202 7488000. If you are in the mountain or pacific time zones, we want to hear from you at 202 7488001. In mind, you can always text us your opinion at 202 always3, and we are reading on social media. You can reach us on twitter at cspanwj and facebook at facebook. Com cspan. Again, the idea and concerns about government surveillance has been on peoples minds recently. Infact, there was a story nbc today that i wanted to read to you that talks about some of the concerns about government surveillance. The unsupported claims that President Donald Trump has made for two years about the fbis russia investigation, calling it a witch hunt cooked up by his political opponents, the conclusion by the Justice Department watchdog of the that the probe was justified was big news. But the other major findings of the Inspector Generals report, that there were Serious Problems with the way the fbi obtained a secret National Security warrant to spy on a Trump Campaign aide, were also noteworthy, yet somewhat overshadowed i the bigger headlines. For years, Civil Liberties activists have been warning that the process for obtaining secret warrants to spy on americans under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was dangerously part because it is onesided. The government tells judges behind closed doors why the spying is justified, and there is no what he in the room nobody in the room representing the target to question that evidence. Prosecutors have said that is exactly why the f dei and the Justice Department are extraordinarily careful and meticulous in how they present evidence to the fisa court, which is no rubberstamped. Horowitzt by michael severely undercut that after taking, at least when it comes to the fbis applications for surveillance of carter page, a trump Foreign Policy adviser who was never charged with a crime. The report found in fbi process so badly managed, so rife with errors that the bureaus director immediately issued a statement saying he was already implementing reforms. Now, on thursday, horwitz actually testified from the senate, Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee, on his report on fisa abuses in 2016. Senator rand paul questioned him about having a vice of war investigate any domestic political campaign. Here is that conversation. [video clip] i would make the argument that the process cannot be corrected. The reason i would say this is because the fisa court system requires this high, scrupulous nature for the agents and they are both the prosecutors and supposed to be defense at the same time. There is not anybody on the other side, and this is not the standard of the constitution. We have allowed this to happen because we are going after foreigners and frankly are going to say, we are not going to listen to gaddafis phone calls or saddam hussein, we are not going to have these protections. My point is, we are getting into something that is at the root of our democracy, political debate and discourse and the First Amendment i do not think the tweeps to the fbi will work. I think what we have to understand is, the fisa court is for foreigners. My question to you would be, do you think it is within the realm reforms we should consider, whether or not political campaigns should be investigated using a secret work where there is no legal representation for the defense . Excellent questions here. One of the things we are careful not to do when we make recommendations is made recommendations to congress on statutory. We try to work with the process, as you noted. There are a lot of debate that go well beyond what we are recommending to try and fix what is existing. There is going to be a legislative , the fisa court is going to look at some of these issues now, and i do think we are prepared to meet with legislators and talk through these issues, as you all consider things that go beyond the four corners of what exists. Think one of the issues here we reference to, having been a prosecutor, where you go to a court for search warrant warrants and wiretaps in the criminal process, but you also know that at some point the defense lawyer is going to get those, if there is a case made, and there is the potential for a litigation and an open courtroom before a judge with a defense lawyer crossexamining, and that alone, that understanding that that could happen has some effect. Important . S this so this is important because of the Fourth Amendment to the u. S. Constitution, which protects americans from surveillance. Let me remind you what the Fourth Amendment says the right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable search and seizures sell not be violated and no warrants shall issue without probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, particularly describing the place to be searched or the person or things to be seized. Have been pushing back against government surveillance, and there is a story in the hill that talks about what some members of Congress Want to do. Andns of progressive libertarian leaning lawmakers on wednesday threw their support behind significantly revising a set of government surveillance authorities that are set to expire within months. Leaders of the congressional progressive caucus and the conservative House Freedom caucus signed onto a letter calling for meaningful, bipartisan surveillance reform, just as congress voted to extend those controversial provisions for another three months. At the last minute, lawmakers took to the 90 day Surveillance Authority extension into the temporary government funding the househich passed on tuesday. The continuing resolution, which allowed congress to avoid immediate Government Shutdown, gave key committees a more month to debate what they want to do about the set of controversial surveillance authorities. The House Judiciary Committee and House Intelligence Committee have jurisdiction over the usa freedom act. The bill that is set to expire, which allows governments to comb through americas phone records and track targets during terrorism investigations. This is now actually in effect because trump signed the cr last some think the surveillance is still needed. The founder of the George Mason University law school National Security institute was asked to discuss how the nsa is protecting americas privacy and surveillance of their phone calls. Here is what he had to say. [video clip] listen to what we are talking about. The records of phone calls, the to, nodialed, from and content whatsoever. We are talking about only phone calls made from a terrorist identified, potentially terrorist identified number. That is all. Billions billions of of records we keep talking about, hundreds of billions of phone calls annually in the United States. A huge number,s it is a tiny number relative to the overall collection potentially available and needed to identify potential threat. So we are talking about not a few him amount. It is tiny compared to the volume of calls that take place in the United States today. Host we want to know what you think about government surveillance. Are you concerned about government surveillance in the United States . Up ouroing to open regional lines for this conversation. If you are in the eastern or central signed zone time zone we want to hear from you at 202 7488000. If you are in the mountain or pacific time zone, we want to hear from you at 202 7488001. We are getting some comments online about this topic, so look at a few of our Facebook Posts and twitter posts. I dont have says, anything to hide. Those that were he must have skeletons in the closet. If it helps National Security, survey away. Another says no, the government has all of my info anyway. Concernan that trump wants to form a joint cybersecurity unit with russia so they will have it too. Here is a text that has come in that says i am not doing anything wrong, so the government watching me has no issues. However, tracking by retailers, google, etc. , is very concerning. , i amr that says concerned about the fbi spying on private citizens for political gain. Thisess needs to shut behavior down. See what our callers are thinking about government surveillance. Lets talk to marie, calling from florida. Good morning. Caller yes. Host good morning, marie. Go ahead. Caller yes. Government the already has everybodys info from your birth certificate to your Social Security, to your retirement. re born day you until the day you are dead. Its too much, its too much. Host what do you think should be done . The government should collect the information and destroy it . The government should not collect the information . What we were told after the september 11 incident, the government needs this power to keep america safe. To havethey do not need your information like that, and they are dealing with foreign entities already and your information is shared all overseas. Host how to you think the government should surveillance surveil people in this day and age . Do you think they do not need that information, or is there another way to do it . Caller theres another way to do it. And you pointing the finger at me and saying, im a terrorist, you are doing way worse than any civilians here. Host ok. Lets go to robert, calling from oregon. Good morning. Caller hi, good morning from the Cascade Mountains of oregon here. , that theat the whole whole experience of what is to our privacy, everything ranging from what you are discussing here today, as well as what the introduction, what the internet and the things that folks have been talking about with regards to facebook, not to mention governmental intrusion, is really a phenomenon that i dont think that we held the we have fully come to grass with grasp with as far as the intrusion. BringsFourth Amendment to life. Ishink all tyrrany really local, that is my feeling. Said ite government needed a lot of these different and new surveillance powers after september 11 to fight terrorism. Ofyou think that the threat terrorism has reduced, or do you think the government is over using the surveillance powers that the American People have given them . Caller well, as a 20 year Armed Services officer, i take full measure of the necessity of having efficiency and technology to help us. I have no difficulty with that at all, but what i am saying, the phenomena itself really needs to be examined and appreciated so it does not stray off the reservation, shall i say. Become to have just the dawn of this whole experience in our country. No, i am entirely supporting any measure that can anticipate enemy, foreign intrusion, sabotage, you name it. I am entirely supportive of that. , withat comes with it that technology, is a phenomenon that i do not think the population is necessarily we have not come to grasp with it at all. Really have a lot of work to do as far as safeguarding our privacy, while at the same time protecting our freedoms from the bad actors out there. I dont know how far we can go without an abridgment of our freedoms, sad to say. Any of the newas government surveillance, the idea that the government is collecting telephone numbers, has that made you change any behaviors, anything that you would have done otherwise . Or is it life as usual . Think it wasnot necessarily that, although it did get my attention. But like the majority of the country, i use internet mediums forfacebook and so forth many Different Reasons personal interest in various subjects and all of that, but yes. It did make a difference to me in this respect. Anymore, i dont answer a phone number directly if i am not familiar with it. They can leave a voicemail. I have privacy safeguards without being new roddick neurotic, you know, on my internet and on my phone. I have nothing to hide and that is a good place to start. Rost lets go to anothe robert, calling from washington. Robert, good morning. Caller good morning. How are you today . Host im good, go ahead. Caller id say for me, i would say the government needs to , but there are a few things that stick in my neck very bad. One thing, we have people in government who are in Public Office as far as im concerned, if you are in Public Office, you should open yourself up to every type of surveillance there is. You should be vetted before you and ilowed to be elected, believe it is very important that people are surveilled. Host you are saying people in Public Office should be vetted. Can you tell me more about what you mean by that it . Vetted . Caller i believe anyone elected should gooffice through the same things i had to go through to get work on an air force base. I believe there are certain background checks that should be made. Robert, for you, what is the line between your privacy and security . At what point do you think the government is going to far to keep americans safe . Caller the other guy shared it, and i will share it to. There are ways with yourself on you can shut off everything and no one can serve value. If you want to do it, you can. Matter of fact, it has come up on the National News more than ise, that the government very upset when they can get messages off of people cell because they are on a Virtual Private Network and the renault storage on the cloud, and even the people that make the devices cannot get them. One of the applications is whatsapp, you can communicate all over the world with it and not be surveilled. Host i think we know what you are talking about is called whatsapp. Caller yeah. It is there and nobody gets them. Anybody can use it. Surveillanceso the has to be boots on the grounds type of surveillance and needs to be not abused. Are going to chase down stories that are not true and youre going to hear things that are nothing but hearsay, but when someone gives you reason to believe that something is going on, the public should be able to surveilled, the fbi should be able to surveilled. That is their job. Last month, the senate Judiciary Committee the fisaeauthorized act. Diane feinstein did express her concerns on collecting american phone records via the cdr, meaning the call detail records program. Here is what she had to say. In june 2018, nsa publicly announced that due to technical irregularities, the cdr program had received data that it was not legally authorized to receive. Noeover, the agency could longer distinguish between records that were obtained lawfully and those that were obtained unlawfully. Announced thata it would delete all call detail records acquired over the last three years. In august, the director of , dannal intelligence coats, confirmed the nsa had suspended the cdr program indefinitely due to its lack of intelligence value as well as its cost and compliance issues. The administration is asking congress to permanently authorize this program. Now, it is really not clear to me why a program with limited intelligence value and clear compliance problems should be reauthorized. Unless there is good reason to believe that it should, i do not believe we should reauthorize it. Lets talk to jake, calling from southridge, massachusetts. Good morning. Caller good morning, sir. I want to point out, didnt adam schiff use this against a member of the opposite party . And all these people saying we are not doing nothing wrong so it is our right, we have regulations out there that nobody knows about. You can break the law without knowing it in this country. They can use that against you. That is all ive got to say about it. Host lets go to rebecca, calling from california. Caller good morning, can you hear me . Host go ahead. Caller on a slow day, the government will be listening and for your phone call. This is a slippery slope. They say they want to do it for our security i understand that again, a very slippery slope. I think Edward Snowden tried to warn us about some of it in the past, and that is my comment for the day. Have a happy holiday, everyone. Lets speak to ray, calling from tennessee. Good morning. Caller good morning. I wonder what people in this country have forgotten about the patriot act. The patriot act destroyed the Fourth Amendment of the constitution. It also gave the United States the ability to deem you a terrorist, send you to charges,o on secret your attorney or your family cannot find what you are charged for, and the constitution is annulled and destroyed by the patriot act. Mentioned this with the patriot act. Was one of the reporters who covered the passing and creation of the patriot act in congress. At the time, Lawmakers Said the patriot act was needed to fight terrorism. Do you think the patriot act is no longer needed for the war on terrorism . Caller the patriot act gives the government the right to come into your home you are not there come into your home, search your home, leave, not tell you, no reason to come in, and if they find evidence, they can turn it into your local Police Department or anyone that is what the patriot act is about. It is an invasion of your privacy, it is an invasion of your life, and y