[Amezarak]

Yes, absolutely nothing has changed. The national security complex regards itself as above the law and superior to all democratic control mechanisms. It does not see any reason to bother itself with public consent or constitutionality. If anything, it has gotten much worse.

There are things like this going on right now. We won't find out about them until later, absent somebody leaking the details. Indeed a lot of stuff in the Church committee findings mentioned by a sibling commenter has not only been massively expanded, but is widely accepted as normal and a good thing, actually.

[FredPret]

The difficult thing is that the concept of law implies law enforcement, which leads to a national security complex.

Ideas like human rights etc are great but only get applied to the extent that the most powerful entities allow them to be applied.

This is why a proactive and well-informed (and some would say well-armed) citizenry is crucial. All entities like governments, corporations, the UN, the EU, down to individuals, will obey the laws of physics because they have to, and the laws of humans... if they are made to.