WYDEN AND JAYAPAL CALL FOR GAO INVESTIGATION OF DHS SURVEILLANCE; COURTS MUST PROTECT PUBLIC FROM SUBPOENA ABUSES AND GOVERNMENT INTIMIDATION TACTICS USED TO KEEP SURVEILLANCE OF AMERICANS SECRET

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 -- Sen. Ron Wyden issued the following press release:

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., called for an investigation into decades-long abuses of authority by federal law enforcement agencies to coerce silence from subpoenaed private companies and on federal courts to protect the public from misleading demands for secrecy related to government surveillance.

In a letter to Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS), John Roberts, and Acting Comptroller of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Orice W. Brown, Wyden and Jayapal requested action to address federal agencies' abuse of subpoena powers to surveil Americans. It has been the routine practice of f...