On NSA Spying

I don't think there's any doubt now that the NSA or other agencies monitor or record almost every telephone call made in the United States, including cellphones, and I presume email as well. We've gone a long way down the road of violating Americans' basic civil rights, as far as privacy is concerned.

For the last two or three years, when I want to write a highly personal letter to a foreign leader, or even some American leaders, I hand-write it and mail it, because I feel that my telephone calls and my email are being monitored, and there are some things I just don't want anybody to know except me and my wife.

When I was in office I was deeply concerned by the intrusion of the security agencies, the intelligence agencies, on American privacy. When I left office, they couldn't do that with even one American person.

After 9/11 took place, under President George W. Bush and later under President Obama, the FISA Act has been drastically modified. [It is now] mainly a rubber stamp.