The government might be shut down, but both parties have agreed that the National Security Agency’s dragnet surveillance programs will not be impacted by the stoppage.

However, fulfilling the requests of citizens or journalists trying to obtain information about the government’s activities has been deemed not “an essential service.”

As journalist Glenn Greewald tweeted Wednesday morning:

The link is to a NSA/CSS press statement which reads:

The contradiction has been hit on by other commenters who say the selectivity of the shut down reveals much about the government’s priorities.