NSA grapples with huge increase in records requests

In the next three months, the NSA received 2,538 requests. The spike has continued into the fall months and has overwhelmed her staff, Phillips said.

Joel Watts, 35, of Charleston, W.Va., put in an open-records request in June, days after learning about Snowden’s leaks and the NSA’s surveillance tactics. Some three weeks later, he received a letter telling him the agency wouldn’t say if they had collected information on the health and safety administrator.

“It’s a sign of disrespect to American citizens and the democratic process,” he said. “I should have the right to know if I’m being surveilled if there’s no criminal procedures in process.”

Watts said he understands the need for secrecy when dealing with terrorism but thinks the NSA is violating constitutional rights by withholding information it might have on the American public. He also said the NSA’s non-responses highlight problems with FOIA requests.

“We should not have to fill out forms and pay money for the government to be transparent,” he said. “It’s just a way for them to legally say no.”

The spike in requests, a large backlog in responses and lack of information illustrates the limits of open-records requests and the determination of NSA to remain mum despite Snowden’s historic leaks, experts say.

“People are legitimately troubled by the idea that the government is monitoring and collecting information about their e-mail traffic, phone calls and who knows what else,” said Anne Weismann, chief counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group. “There is a growing sense of horror every time there is a new report about the data.”

She said the NSA’s failure to provide people with answers shows that the agency is burying its head in the sand despite Snowden’s huge document dump. The tactic is successful, she said, because most people don’t have the resources to fight for information through appeals or in court.

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