Executive Order 12333 from 1981:

1.1Goals. The United States intelligence effort shall provide the President and the National Security Council with the necessary information on which to base decisions concerning the conduct and development of foreign, defense and economic policy, and the protection of United States national interests from foreign security threats. All departments and agencies shall cooperate fully to fulfill this goal.

(a) Maximum emphasis should be given to fostering analytical competition among appropriate elements of the Intelligence Community.

(b) All means, consistent with applicable United States law and this Order, and with full consideration of the rights of United States persons, shall be used to develop intelligence information for the President and the National Security Council. A balanced approach between technical collection efforts and other means should be maintained and encouraged.

(c) Special emphasis should be given to detecting and countering espionage and other threats and activities directed by foreign intelligence services against the United States Government, or United States corporations, establishments, or persons.

(d) To the greatest extent possible consistent with applicable United States law and this Order, and with full consideration of the rights of United States persons, all agencies and departments should seek to ensure full and free exchange of information in order to derive maximum benefit from the United States intelligence effort.

The NSA's job is to get foreign signals intelligence, etc. The Executive Order says that they should maximize the benefit via free exchange of that information consistent with the law and the rights of US persons.

There's nothing new, and nothing nefarious, about what the NSA is doing. They don't care about snooping on US persons - it's not their job. It complicates their job to pick up US persons' information.

There are much, much bigger issues - like local police departments in too many areas - to worry about. :-/

Cheers,
Scott.

There's lots of "Oooh - people in the government are looking at information picked up by the NSA [a government agency] in doing their work [defined by law and executive order] in collecting data outside the USA. And they're passing it around inside the government [to people who have a valid need-to-know and who are subject to penalties and prosecution if they misuse or mishandle the information] as required by executive orders and other regulations [and has to be carefully processed if it contains any US persons' information to minimize the chance of violating the law or a person's rights]. Scary!"

Sorry, I'm not buying the scare-mongering.

YMMV.

I have no problem if a sensible Congress wants to clarify/tighten/otherwise sensibly change the law about this. It shouldn't be based on oooga-booga fearmongering though. IMHO.

Cheers,
Scott.