#veil

The sinner will not confess, nor will the priest receive his confession, if the veil of secrecy is removed. ↗

— DeWitt Clinton

#confession #his #nor #priest #receive

For those who believe executive branch officials will voluntarily interpret their surveillance authorities with restraint, I believe it is more likely that I will achieve my life-long dream of playing in the NBA. ↗

— Ron Wyden

#national-security #nba #secrets #surveillance #dreams

If we had failed to pursue the facts as far as they led, we would have denied the public any knowledge of an unprecedented scheme of political surveillance and sabotage. ↗

— Katharine Graham

#as far as #denied #facts #failed #far

You would like me to say that the veil will be ripped from the voters' eyes sometime between now and November, thereby restoring the proper version of Democracy to the House and Senate. I won't say that, of course. The simple reason is, I don't know. ↗

— Gwen Ifill

#course #democracy #eyes #house #i

Many of Bush's defenders have praised him for keeping the country safe since Sept. 11, 2001. He deserves that praise, and I'm perfectly happy to defend most of his surveillance, interrogation and counterterrorism policies against his critics. ↗

— Bill Kristol

#bush #counterterrorism #country #critics #defend

While Congress saw some need to loosen the standard in the initial days of a war, it wanted the president to comply with FISA in carrying out surveillance in the United States. ↗

— Jonathan Turley

#comply #congress #days #fisa #initial

Yes." His gaze grew distant. "If I'd have the chance, if my position permitted, I would have pleaded with her not to accept the mission because of the danger, and because I couldn't bear the thought of..." "Of losing her? ↗

— Kristen Britain

#karigan #king-zachary #love #mapstone #love

Unless I’m at a wedding, I don’t like veiled threats.
 ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#cynical #cynicism #marriage #threats #veil

We do not take away the powers of surveillance. We do not take away the right and the power of the government to go after those who would do us wrong. ↗

— Larry Craig

#away #go #government #power #powers

It is a fundamental principle of American democracy that laws should not be public only when it is convenient for government officials to make them public. They should be public all the time, open to review by adversarial courts, and subject to change by an accountable legislature guided by an informed public. If Americans are not able to learn how their government is interpreting and executing the law then we have effectively eliminated the most important bulwark of our democracy. That’s why, even at the height of the Cold War, when the argument for absolute secrecy was at its zenith, Congress chose to make US surveillance laws public. Without public laws, and public court rulings interpreting those laws, it is impossible to have informed public debate. And when the American people are in the dark, they can’t make fully informed decisions about who should represent them, or protest policies that they disagree with. These are fundamentals. It’s Civics 101. And secret law violates those basic principles. It has no place in America. ↗

— Ron Wyden

#law #national-security #secrets #surveillance #change