There are those who might say that this situation came about because of the incompetence of this Congress in carrying out their monitoring and oversight of government agencies, and that certainly was a contributing factor. But while Congress can be accused of allowing this to happen, there is no justification for the NSA to have bypassed Congressional authority as mandated by the Constitution.
Therefore, if it's determined that the officials of this agency have indeed misled and lied to the Congress then it makes this a very serious infraction of the law. If there is adequate evidence a Congressional investigation should be launched, and if the NSA is found to have violated the law and lied to Congress, then wholesale resignations going straight to the top should follow and the Obama administration should be made to fully explain why it fully and vigorously supported and defended actions that they should have known were illegal.
Some writers are comparing this NSA spying scenario with the President Nixon's Watergate Scandal but what's going on now is far more serious and threatening to our democracy. When Nixon sent his "plumbers" to do his spying they performed their work against the Democratic Party. But this current scandal in the making is one where the harm being done is not to any political party but, rather, to the people of America and our democracy.
This new war within America may be shocking to many Americans but, you know what? It's just the beginning and it's very likely to get a lot worse. First we witnessed PFC Bradley Manning and Wiki leaks' Julian Assange as they found ways by which to expose highly questionable government actions; and now it's Edward Snowden. Well, there are many more of these computer geeks and masters at hacking and other means by which to extract information from electronic files -- and many of them are greatly disillusioned and angry at the actions of the government as it restricts the freedoms of Americans and invades their privacy.
Going into the future I believe that we will see this current scenario played out time and again with ever more whistleblowers finding new ways to gather governmental information. They may or may not flee the country for safe overseas havens but based on the reactions from nations around the world relative to the Snowden affair, it looks like there will be many countries that will give them political asylum as a way to get back at what they consider to be an America that has plans for world domination.
How about this for turning on your friends? America's NATO allies that helped it fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, those that still allow thousands of U.S. troops to remain in their countries, are now finding out that their great friend and ally is also spying on them. German officials are incensed after they learned of NSA surveillance of their phone and internet communications; and, as a result, German Federal Prosecutors are preparing criminal charges against U.S. and British spies that may be involved.
Besides that, a U.S. new trade pact with the European Union is now threatened because of revelations that EU offices in Washington and the UN in New York have been bugged and phone calls and emails of EU officials intercepted. What in the world is going on with America, formerly known as the "beacon of hope for the world?"
In case we think that our government is only spying on its people in this country and those in other nations, here's an article that talks about the fact that the Obama administration is developing an "Insider Threat Program" in which millions of government employees will be required to spy on their co-workers and report any suspicious behavior. What we have here is a case whereby whistleblowers in this government will be reporting on their fellow whistleblowers.
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