The Issue of Mass Surveillance

Mass surveillance has become a contentious issue, particularly regarding its effectiveness and legality. The podcast discusses how the intelligence community often operates with a belief that some constitutional norms, like the Fourth Amendment, do not apply to them. For example, Ray McGovern recounts a conversation with former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who seemed unaware of 'parallel construction,' a method used to hide the illegal sourcing of information gathered under surveillance. The implication is that a generation of federal agents has been trained to prioritize information gathering over lawful methods, creating a troubling precedent that still impacts current practices.