No End in Sight for Secret Federal Surveillance

Unaccountable and uncontrollable

The federal government will probably continue to keep secret even the most basic data involving "warrantless wiretapping" despite calls for transparency.

The U.S. Senate in December voted to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008, and both members of Pennsylvania's delegation — Democrat Sen. Bob Casey and Republican Sen. Pat Toomey — voted for it.

The act allows the National Security Agency, under the guise of foreign intelligence, to intercept communications to or from an American citizen without a traditional court order as long as one party is outside the United States.