"The American government has never done anything as sinister as PRISM," said J. Christian Adams, a former Justice Department civil rights lawyer. "No war, no threat, no nothing, justifies the National Security Agency obtaining a direct pipeline to the Skype chats of every American."
"We begin to see the wages of having an administration that abuses its awesome powers, then ... misleads Congress and the public," said former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy. "Crucial national security measures, which operate on the forgiving assumption that government officials will conduct themselves honorably, are put at risk."
"It's fascism," declared Democratic political operative Bob Beckel.
The Obama administration "has now lost all credibility," said The New York Times.