ACLU on the Hill: NSA Surveillance "Intrusive and Unconstitutional"
By Jameel Jaffer, Deputy Legal Director, ACLU at 11:28am

This morning, I am testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on why the recently revealed NSA spying programs are unconstitutional and what Congress can do to rein in these unlawful and intrusive programs. Read my opening statement below. You can watch it here, and click here for the full testimony.

Introductory Statement of Jameel Jaffer
House Judiciary Committee
Oversight Hearing on the Administration's Use of FISA Authorities
July 17, 2013

On behalf of the ACLU, thank you for the invitation to testify before the Committee.

Over the last six weeks it has become clear that the NSA is engaged in far-reaching, intrusive, and unconstitutional surveillance of Americans' communications.

Under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the NSA is tracking every single phone call made by a resident of the United States—who they called, when they called them, for how long they spoke. Until recently it was tracking ordinary Americans' Internet activity as well.
Under Section 702 of FISA, and on the pretext of monitoring people outside the United States, the NSA is using Section 702 of FISA to build massive databases of Americans' domestic and international communications—not just so-called metadata, but content as well.

These programs have been made possible by huge advances in the technology of surveillance, but in many respects they resemble the generalized surveillance programs that led to the adoption of the Fourth Amendment more than two hundred years ago. The FISA court orders resemble general warrants, albeit general warrants for the digital age.

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http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/aclu-hill-nsa-surveillance-intrusive-and-unconstitutional