When did the USA become an electronic police state? Check out this recent report in the Times titled “Other Agencies Clamor for Data NSA Compiles.” Here is just one except from this fascinating report:

“Typically, the agencies request that the N.S.A. target individuals or groups for surveillance, search its databases for information about them, or share raw intelligence, rather than edited summaries, with them. If those under scrutiny are Americans, approval from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is required.”

This report also raises a larger question: who watches the watchers? Are there any meaningful checks and balances over this emerging surveillance state? Another point I would add is this: if Americans want to trade off liberty & privacy for security, that is certainly their choice to make, but they should make that choice openly and stop pretending to be “the land of the free,” which the USA is not.