We are witnessing another swing of the pendulum in the way the U.S. conducts surveillance. This time, to ensure that National Security Agency programs remain effective without violating people's privacy, Congress needs to ensure that the NSA is subject to better judicial oversight.
For decades, domestic surveillance in the United States was practiced widely and somewhat indiscriminately — for 30 years, every telegram leaving the country was collected.
In 1978, Congress put its foot down by passing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Chastened, NSA leaders took extraordinary measures to avoid collecting any domestic information at all.