That controversy, Bamford said, also involved the NSA. "And back then, the NSA was also used to do the eavesdropping on King and others through its Operation Minaret. A later review declared the NSA’s program 'disreputable if not outright illegal,'" he said.

Baker said that until there is evidence the tactic is being abused, the NSA should be trusted to use its discretion. "The abuses that involved Martin Luther King occurred before Edward Snowden was born," he said. "I think we can describe them as historical rather than current scandals. Before I say, 'Yeah, we've gotta worry about that,' I'd like to see evidence of that happening, or is even contemplated today, and I don't see it."

Jaffer, however, warned that the lessons of history ought to compel serious concern that a "president will ask the NSA to use the fruits of surveillance to discredit a political opponent, journalist or human rights activist."

"The NSA has used its power that way in the past and it would be naïve to think it couldn't use its power that way in the future," he said.

为了保护国家免遭恐怖袭击，美国国家安全局

据美国媒体11月26日报道，上述内容来自最新披露的一份美国国安局内部机密文件，由该局前雇员爱德华•斯诺登公之于众。文件中，国安局以6名穆斯林“人物样本”为例，说明“如何通过电子监控手段来知悉目标人物的个人弱点，然后利用这些弱点来削弱其声誉、可信度和权威性”。

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