USA - Patriot Act drama continues:Congress Girds For Patriot Act Fight Over NSA Spying - by Matt Sledge and Ali Watkins

Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, sat down to talk face to face with his fiercest critics in a House office in January.

The visit was more than just a courtesy call. With the legal authority for the NSA's phone data dragnet set to expire June 1, Rogers needs his enemies. Reformers are girding for a fight with congressional leaders, and the looming deadline to reauthorize several Patriot Act provisions gives the former group unprecedented leverage.

This time, "we're in a different moment. ... This is the first reauthorization debate that's happened post-Snowden," said Neema Singh Guliani, a legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, who was referring to whistleblower Edward Snowden's exposure of the spy agency's mass surveillance in 2013.

But House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are dead-set against major reforms. So the legislative battle lines are drawn -- and no one knows who will win.

Civil liberties advocates in Congress almost certainly don't have the votes to kill the phone surveillance program outright. They may, however, be able to force a significant change supported by the White House: shifting the responsibility to hold onto Americans' phone records from the NSA to the phone companies.

President Barack Obama's administration has already asked for and received new limits from the secret court that permitted the bulk phone data collection in the first place, forcing the NSA to obtain approval from a judge for searches and limiting phone inquiries to two connections away from the initial search term. Congress could enshrine those limits into legislation.

Then there are the other surveillance programs authorized by the Patriot Act's expiring Section 215, which allows the government to seek companies' business records as part of foreign intelligence investigations.

Last year, The Wall Street Journal reported that the CIA is building a massive database of international money transfers that includes data on many Americans.

Some reform groups opposed legislation sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) last year on the grounds that it would not have limited non-telephone spy programs. But Senate Republicans filibustered even that bill's more modest reforms in November, setting a probable ceiling for changes in this Congress.

Since the November vote, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told HuffPost, the issue of NSA reform has been lingering in three corners of Capitol Hill: the House Intelligence Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee and a joint effort of both chambers’ Judiciary committees. But none of those panels seems particularly likely to do much before the last minute.

Note EU-Digest: the obvious excuse for renewing the Patriot Act will obviously be : the Middle East, Ukraine, Kenya,  Yemen, etc.,  etc., and spying will go on happily ever after.

Read more: Congress Girds For Patriot Act Fight Over NSA Spying

Spying Scandal: U.S. companies are cozier with the NSA than previously thought - by Jeff Larson and Julia Angwin

Newly disclosed National Security Agency documents suggest a closer relationship between American companies and the spy agency than has been previously disclosed.

The documents, published last week by The Intercept, describe “contractual relationships” between the NSA and U.S. companies, as well as the fact that the NSA has “under cover” spies working at or with some U.S. companies.

While not conclusive, the material includes some clear suggestions that at least some American companies are quite willing to help the agency conduct its massive surveillance programs.

The precise role of U.S. companies in the NSA’s global surveillance operations remains unclear. Documents obtained by Edward Snowden and published by various news organizations show that companies have turned over their customers’ email, phone calling records and other data under court orders.

But the level of cooperation beyond those court orders has been an open question, with several leading companies, such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook, asserting that they only turn over customer information that is “targeted and specific” in response to legal demands.

Read more: U.S. companies are cozier with the NSA than previously thought - Salon.com

Latin America: Snowden affair dampens US-Latin American ties - by Deb Riechmann

America is pivoting to Asia and focused on the Mideast. Yet the region Secretary of State John Kerry once called the U.S. "backyard" is sprouting angry weeds fed by the scandal involving intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.

Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua have already said they'd be willing to grant asylum for Snowden, who is wanted on espionage charges for revealing the scope of National Security Agency surveillance programs that spy on Americans and foreigners. Ecuador has said it would consider any request from him.

U.S. relations with these countries were already testy. But the Snowden affair also has dampened the Obama administration's effort to improve ties with friendlier nations in the region like Mexico and Brazil.

Read more: Snowden affair dampens US-Latin American ties - Yahoo! News

USA: NSA Whistle Blower Edward Snowden to host press conference in Moscow Sheremetyevo airport at 5 pm local time today

Edward Snowden has e-mailed journalists and news agencies inviting them to a press conference hosted in the transit zone of Moscow Sheremetyevo airport. Human Rights Watch representative Tatyana Lokshina, one among many recipients of the email invitation, shared the text in Facebook which reads as follows:

“I have been extremely fortunate to enjoy and accept many offers of support and asylum from brave countries around the world. These nations have my gratitude, and I hope to travel to each of them to extend my personal thanks to their people and leaders. By refusing to compromise their principles in the face of intimidation, they have earned the respect of  the world”.

“Unfortunately, in recent weeks we have witnessed an unlawful campaign by officials in the U.S. Government to deny my right to seek and enjoy this asylum under Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The scale of threatening behavior is without precedent: never before in history have states conspired to force to the ground a sovereign President's plane to effect a search for a political refugee. This dangerous escalation represents a threat not just to the dignity of Latin America or my own personal security, but to the basic right shared by every living person to live free from persecution”.

“I invite the Human Rights organizations and other respected individuals addressed to join me on 12 July at 5:00PM at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow for a brief statement and discussion regarding the next steps forward in my situation. Your cooperation and support will be greatly appreciated in this matter”.
Sincerely,
signed
Edward Joseph Snowden

EU-Digest