How do we know they don't still?
> The CIA used to frequently replace foreign leaders and > even pulled that trick on us one time.
It will be really interesting in a couple decades if we ever get to see a glimpse of what has been happening behind the scenes in Ukraine and Venezuela, not to mention throughout the Middle East.
I just feel sorry for all the people who are having to endure such violence. I can't even imagine the horror.
"Trust us, everything is fixed now. No, we can't go into detail for national security reasons."
There's no way to hold above-the-law institutions to the same standards as the public, by definition. Curb the NSA's budget and they turn to the black budget. Restrict them legally, and they find ways around it.
The only way to win is through ubiquitous deployment of anonymizing technologies that take the power away from corrupt, centralized institutions permanently.
Another thing you can do is find out who of your friends is or has ever worked at the NSA, and refuse to communicate with them. Refuse to give them jobs. Refuse to sell them products and services. Shun them, stomp them, and starve them out!
DOX the NSA.
Let them feel America's outrage for real, and in public. Let's embarrass these asshats, and make their lives a living Hell. Treat them like dirt until they wish they were in Russia with Snowden.
Now we have a much more subtle form of unconstitutional behavior. Like Bush before him, Obama thinks it's his "#1 job is to protect America." He forgot that he swore an oath making it his #1 job to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution."
Better technology will provide us real privacy, an informed society, and eventually the truly free countries all humans deserve.