more troubling than the NSA?

The surveillance state now goes beyond issues of national security. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is funneling questionably obtained wiretaps, intercepts, and telephone records to police departments around the country, Reuters reports. According to a former federal judge, the program "sounds like they are phonying up investigations" -- and it's potentially worse than National Security Agency surveillance because it doesn't involve issues of terrorism or national security.

Despite that, Reuters reports, much of the program is classified. For instance, the documents obtained by the news agency are marked "Law Enforcement Sensitive", a government categorization that is meant to keep them confidential.

The DEA unit that runs the program is named the Special Operations Division, or SOD, and it includes representatives from the FBI, CIA, NSA, Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Homeland Security.

Sod off, of course, is British slang for "fuck off." And that's exactly what I want to say to the DEA and the NSA and all of the Obama Administration's security apparatus.