WASHINGTON, March 9 -- Sen. Ron Wyden issued the following press release:
I rise to speak in opposition to the nomination of Joshua Rudd to be Director of the National Security Agency.
During his confirmation hearing, General Rudd demonstrated a lack of familiarity with basic constitutional rights, which should be a bare minimum qualification for this extremely powerful position. His responses to questions about privacy and transparency were simply unacceptable. I asked the nominee if he would pledge to not secretly violate existing public guardrails on NSA surveillance, and he refused.
Few Americans understand the incredible scope of NSA's surveillance operations or the broad authorities under which the NSA operates. The agency plays a ...