I’m sure it won’t be long before Michael Hayden is declared to be a “liar” or somebody says “Well, it’s different under Obama because there’s more “oversight” with how he’s doing it.” Regardless, Senator Obama would probably be all over President Obama:
The former director of the US National Security Agency has indicated that surveillance programs have “expanded” under Barack Obama’s time in office and said the spy agency has more powers now than when he was in command.
Michael Hayden, who served most of his tenure as NSA director under George W Bush, said there was “incredible continuity” between the two presidents.
Hayden’s comments came as the debate around the extent of government surveillance in the US and the UK intensified on Sunday. In Washington, some US senators demanded more transparency from the Obama administration. Libertarian Republican Rand Paul said he wanted to mount a supreme court challenge.
It’s going to be very interesting to see where this goes.