Obama's 2007 Promise: 'No More Illegal Wiretapping of American Citizens'

His administration would not "spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime, " then-Senator Obama promised in a Woodrow Wilson International Center, Council on Foreign Relations speech on August 1, 2007:

"I will provide our intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the terrorists without undermining our Constitution and our freedom.

"That means no more illegal wiretapping of American citizens. No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. No more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient. That is not who we are.

Obama also declared that "the law is not subject to the whims of stubborn rulers":

"We will again set an example for the world that the law is not subject to the whims of stubborn rulers, and that justice is not arbitrary."

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