According to the Justice Department, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court — the oversight body established to approve or deny surveillance requests in the United States — approved 100% of such requests in 2010.
That’s right. A perfect game.
These spectacular results are sending ripples through the intelligence community. Not since the introduction of the Patriot Act has the United States been such a strong contender for the George Orwell Cup.
Long-time fans described the achievement as “doubleplusgood”.
One paranoid schizophrenic, who requested to remain anonymous, went on record as saying “I told you so.”
China, the long-favoured frontrunners, dismissed the underdog’s impressive record as a “lucky break.”
Still, the FISC has displayed some remarkable efficiency.
Critics accuse the court of merely rubber stamping the requests in lieu of a critical review process, but an official from the FISC denies such allegations: “we do more than just stamp things. We sign them, date them, file them… it’s a full time job.”
Photo by Charles Fettinger. Used with permission under Creative Commons License 2.0