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Started By
Message
Rand Paul: Why I voted against CIA Dir. Nominee
Posted on 1/23/17 at 10:12 pm
Posted on 1/23/17 at 10:12 pm
quote:
I voted against the new CIA Director because I worry that his desire for security will trump his defense of liberty.
More than ever before, oversight of the secretive world of intelligence is critically important.
Programs are authorized, money is spent, and operations are carried out in the name of the American people, yet only a few members of Congress are even allowed to know what is happening in the dark corners of these U.S. intelligence programs.
Most of Congress was surprised to learn that the U.S. government was collecting all of our phone records in bulk. Most of what our intelligence community does is shielded from the rank and file of Congress. Only eight legislators are privy to the full extent of the surveillance state.
Under oath, the former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lied to Congress about the existence of the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records. Without the revelations of Edward Snowden, this gross violation of privacy might still remain unknown.
Only begrudgingly are the American people being told about the scope of the massive intelligence apparatus that has steadily grown in secret.
Yet when oversight of the intelligence community is most needed, Congress has demonstrated an insufficient appetite for curbing the worst excesses of our country’s domestic surveillance.
Some in Congress advocate that government collect “financial and lifestyle information” on Americans, combine it with their metadata, and store it in a government database.
A database that cross-references our every online action would be a devastating assault on liberty.
The new CIA Director described a congressional report on the CIA’s past use of torture as “a narcissistic self-cleansing.” He went on to say that those senators who voted to release the torture oversight report were “quintessentially at odds with [their] duty to [their] country.”
I couldn’t disagree more.
In the years following 9/11, we let fear get the better of our responsibility to liberty. Of the 119 people detained by the CIA, 39 were tortured. In our haste, at least 26 people were wrongfully detained, not even meeting the government’s own standard for detention.
If it was your husband or son that was “mistakenly” tortured, wouldn’t you want the world to know so that it never happened again?
Many of our military leaders, including incoming Sec. of Defense James Mattis, have acknowledged that waterboarding is torture, is ineffective, and sends a signal to our enemies that it is justified to torture U.S. soldiers when they are captured.
Despite this evidence, many in Congress have continued to maintain that waterboarding is not torture.
In addition, many in Congress support a comprehensive, searchable database equipped with “public” data like “lifestyle” choices, an incredible invasion of privacy in some ways more intrusive than the English soldiers that invaded American households to search for any untaxed papers.
Advocates of such a database argue that it will only be searched after obtaining some type of court order.
These advocates fail to understand that our privacy and the Fourth Amendment are breached merely in the collection of our personal data. Our privacy is invaded first by the collection of private information and only secondarily by searching that databank.
The existence of the database itself is a violation of our right to privacy.
Our intelligence community needs more oversight, not less.
There are many supporters of the Surveillance State in Congress. There is, however, a shortage of skeptics. Now that technology and fear have combined to allow the state to watch virtually our every action, someone must pledge to “watch the watchers.”
I swore an oath to defend the Constitution and the rights of the American people. Shielding the CIA from needed oversight is not consistent with that oath.
Protecting the entire Bill of Rights is one of the main reasons I ran for office, and I will remain vigilant in that cause.
LINK
Posted on 1/23/17 at 10:13 pm to cwill
Pompeo is one of the most highly qualified CIA directors since Bush. I get why Rand voted against him, but Pompeo will do a great job.
Posted on 1/23/17 at 10:13 pm to cwill
He should have been elected President. He'd be the best since Reagan.
Posted on 1/23/17 at 10:14 pm to cwill
This was actually posted earlier and got resounding praise on this board. Kind of amazing when you think about how this board voted in the primaries and the general.
Posted on 1/23/17 at 10:14 pm to cwill
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." -Benjamin Franklin
Posted on 1/23/17 at 10:14 pm to cwill
TL;DR.
too libertarian, didn't read. (because I already know he is right)
too libertarian, didn't read. (because I already know he is right)
Posted on 1/23/17 at 10:15 pm to cwill
Thread From Earlier
This post was edited on 1/23/17 at 10:16 pm
Posted on 1/23/17 at 10:20 pm to cwill
He voted against him because he's a Clinton lackey and a POS.
Posted on 1/23/17 at 10:23 pm to cwill
Rand is grandstanding because he knows Pompeo would get confirmed without him.
The libs and cucks are cheering him on but will turn on Rand again as soon as the next time comes around where he agrees with TRUMP.
The libs and cucks are cheering him on but will turn on Rand again as soon as the next time comes around where he agrees with TRUMP.
Posted on 1/23/17 at 10:36 pm to cwill
I'm not so sure Rand is not correct on his reasons for voting no. I was a victim of the OPM (Office of Personnel Mgmt)hack a few yrs back and I was clueless at first when I was notified of the hack and why I was involved.
I found out when I applied for a job at a government facility that my employment application and background check was kept on file along with all my references so everybody I listed in my application and background check that required a SSN were also hacked. People this was 15 yrs after I had applied and was not hired, why in the hell is the government keeping these records indefinitely? they should be purged every 3 yrs if you're not hired.
I found out when I applied for a job at a government facility that my employment application and background check was kept on file along with all my references so everybody I listed in my application and background check that required a SSN were also hacked. People this was 15 yrs after I had applied and was not hired, why in the hell is the government keeping these records indefinitely? they should be purged every 3 yrs if you're not hired.
This post was edited on 1/23/17 at 10:37 pm
Posted on 1/23/17 at 10:36 pm to cwill
too bad Paul didn't run a better campaign but nobody is giving him shite because he "should have won"
sounds like the people whining about hillary
This act is also meaningless, dude is in, dude needs to be, is a vast improvement over brennan and anybody the bitch would have picked
sounds like the people whining about hillary
This act is also meaningless, dude is in, dude needs to be, is a vast improvement over brennan and anybody the bitch would have picked
Posted on 1/23/17 at 10:51 pm to cwill
The question is can we put the genie back into the bottle. No way the Feds ever stop monitoring all of us.
Posted on 1/23/17 at 11:07 pm to cwill
I mostly like Rand Paul but his paranoia in regards to security breaching our privacy is really off- putting.
I got nothing to hide. Do what you can to protect me and my fellow Americans!
I got nothing to hide. Do what you can to protect me and my fellow Americans!
Posted on 1/23/17 at 11:12 pm to cwill
Maybe congress will exercise the right to impeach if they do cross the line...
These birches were scared to hold Clinton, Kerry and other jackasses that should have been fired...
I would hope Trump keeps the Cabinet on their toes anyway
These birches were scared to hold Clinton, Kerry and other jackasses that should have been fired...
I would hope Trump keeps the Cabinet on their toes anyway
Posted on 1/24/17 at 7:03 am to cwill
I suppose after all the grandstanding and better than thou statements, ole Rand suggested a better appointment.
No...well frick him then.
No...well frick him then.
Posted on 1/24/17 at 7:04 am to cwill
I don't care if CIA reads by Facebook, BC I don't have it lol
Posted on 1/24/17 at 8:11 am to cwill
quote:
Many of our military leaders, including incoming Sec. of Defense James Mattis, have acknowledged that waterboarding is torture, is ineffective, and sends a signal to our enemies that it is justified to torture U.S. soldiers when they are captured.
This is political grandstanding and "moral compass" BS at it's finest. It was confirmed that waterboarding and other interrogation techniques led to the capture of OBL. In addition, US soldiers and innocent civilians captured by Al Qaida and ISIS aren't being tortured because they were water boarded first. That is an absolute logical fallacy. They are tortured and gruesomely murdered because Islamic extremism wants a grand show of Terror to shock the world into letting them take over the middle east.
I like Rand, and he was my first choice for POTUS. But he is dead wrong.
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