Rep. King: No Rights Have Been Violated by NSA

The National Security Administration's mass data collections programs have not violated Americans' rights, Rep. Peter King insisted Wednesday, despite a court ruling declaring the NSA's activities unconstitutional.

"Everything the NSA is doing is constitutional. But, not one American has had his rights violated by the NSA," the New York Republican who chairs the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence said on Fox News.



U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled Monday the NSA's mass collection of phone and Internet records unconstitutional. In his opinion, he called the practice "almost Orwellian" and said the government did not "cite a single instance" where the practice prevented an "imminent attack," according to The New York Times.

King defended the policy, and maintained the NSA was in compliance with the law. He said Judge Leon was "wrong" and the issue had been "misrepresented."

King credited the NSA with averting terrorist attacks in the U.S. and pointed specifically to a plot in 2009 to bomb a subway in New York City.

"To me, the 2009 subway plot is a dramatic example of the NSA playing a very, very key role in providing information . . . and saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives," he said.

The congressman said the information gained from the NSA collection of phone records is part of the "mosaic" that "enables us to follow what they are doing, to know what the terrorists are going to do, and stop it."

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