NSA spying ups anti-US sentiment: Sen.

In a letter to NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander on Friday, Sanders called Washington™s spying on foreign government leaders and citizens œdisturbing.”

œThis particular revelation has caused serious foreign policy setbacks for the United States, weakened our ability to work cooperatively with our allies, and caused an increase in anti-American sentiment throughout the world,” he wrote.

Last year, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden disclosed that the US government was monitoring the phone calls of government leaders of countries such as Brazil, Germany, France, and Mexico among other nations.

œIn my view, these actions are clearly unconstitutional. As US District Court Judge Richard Leon wrote recently, the NSA programs are ˜almost Orwellian,™” Senator Sanders said.

The senator also asked the head of the NSA to say if the agency has monitored members of Congress or other elected officials.

œI am writing today to ask you one very simple question. Has the NSA spied, or is the NSA currently spying, on members of Congress or other American elected officials?” he asked.

œ˜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,” he added.

In June, Sanders proposed legislation that would limit the NSA™s and FBI™s domestic surveillance powers.

The White House is expected to announce reforms to the massive spying programs in January.

AGB/AGB