Rand Paul: ‘Appalled’ By NSA Spying on Members of Congress

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) says he is “appalled” by the recent revelation that the National Security Administration eavesdropped on Israeli leaders, American-Jewish groups, and members of Congress.

“I’m appalled by it,” Paul said on Fox News’ Fox and Friends. “This is exactly why we need more NSA reform.”

Paul said that since the San Bernardino terrorist attack, the NSA debate has been focused on more surveillance.

“Since the San Bernardino shooting everybody’s saying ‘oh, we need more surveillance of Americans'” Paul said. “In reality what we need is more targeted surveillance.”

“I’m not against surveillance” Paul added. “But I am against indiscriminate surveillance.”

“It’s a real invasion of our privacy,” said Paul. “You can see how we stifle speech if you’re going to eavesdrop on congressmen, and that it might stifle what they say or who they communicate with. And this is a big, big problem. And it’s not a new one, but we absolutely need more controls over the NSA and more controls on our intelligence agencies.”

Paul also spoke about the January 14 Republican presidential debate, where Paul says he hopes that surveillance will be a topic of discussion. He did express concern about the debate rules, which will only allow for six candidates.

“I am concerned about fairness,” said Paul. “At the very last minute with only three weeks to go, what kind of message do you think it tells the public that basically the media gets to choose who the candidates are that will be considered?”