Sanders says he is 'deeply concerned' about NSA's data collection practices. Sanders to NSA: Spying on Hill?

Sen. Bernie Sanders sent a letter Friday to the director of the National Security Agency asking if the agency is spying or has ever spied on members of Congress.

The Vermont independent said he was “deeply concerned” about the NSA’s collection of information on Americans and called reports that the agency listens in on foreign leaders “disturbing.”


“I am writing today to ask you one very simple question,” Sanders wrote in the letter addressed to NSA Director Keith Alexander. “Has the NSA spied, or is the NSA currently spying, on members of Congress or other American elected officials? ‘Spying’ would include gathering metadata on calls made from official or personal phones, content from websites visited or emails sent, or collecting any other data from a third party not made available to the general public in the regular course of business.”

Sanders wrote that while he believes in securing America against terrorism, he worries strategies to do so undermine citizens’ constitutional rights.

The longtime member of Congress has introduced legislation to curb the NSA and has spoken out strongly against its surveillance measures.

On Saturday, the NSA said it had received Sanders’s letter and will continue to work with Congress.

“NSA’s authorities to collect signals intelligence data include procedures that protect the privacy of U.S. persons. Such protections are built into and cut across the entire process. Members of Congress have the same privacy protections as all U.S. persons,” the NSA public affairs office said.

“NSA is fully committed to transparency with Congress,” the statement continued. “Our interaction with Congress has been extensive both before and since the media disclosures began last June. We are reviewing Sen. Sanders’s letter now, and we will continue to work to ensure that all members of Congress, including Sen. Sanders, have information about NSA’s mission, authorities, and programs to fully inform the discharge of their duties.”