Wyden Upset Over Subpoena Abuse, Not Systemic Surveillance
The Intercept reports Senator Wyden is blasting Kristi Noem for using a subpoena to unmask an ICE watcher. A noble defense of free speech, perhaps, but it sidesteps the bigger picture. We're meant to focus on Noem's 'abuse' of power, not the vast, opaque powers of agencies like ICE, Customs, and DHS that allow for such 'unmasking' in the first place. One might wonder why outrage only sparks when
the 'wrong' person wields the state's ever-growing surveillance hammer, rather than at the hammer itself. Wyden's concern appears to be about who gets to spy, not that rampant spying is possible against citizens engaging in protected speech. The US government continuously expands its surveillance capabilities against its own populace, while politicians selectively decry the misuse when it suits
their partisan narratives. Is the real scandal that Noem used a tool to dox a critic, or that such tools for doxing critics even exist, readily available for anyone in power?