TIME cnn
By AP Jul 10, 2009
(WASHINGTON) — A new internal government report says President George W. Bush authorized secret intelligence activities shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that went beyond wiretapping without court orders.
Details of those activities remain classified, but are referred to in the newly released report as the President’s Surveillance Program.
Congress required the review of the warrantless wiretapping program by five inspectors general last year when it revised the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
FISA is the 30-year-old law that created a secret court to oversee the government’s electronic surveillance.
The Bush White House acknowledged in 2005 that it intercepted international communications that passed through U.S. wires without court orders. The program is popularly known as “warrantless wiretapping.”…
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1909903,00.html
And back in 2006 the EXECUTIVE BRANCH of America’s government was quoted as telling the LEGISLATIVE BRANCH of America’s government(equal branches?):
Investigate surveillance, but be careful, Bush says
USATODAY
Date 1/11/2006
By John Diamond and David Jackson, USA TODAY
LOUISVILLE — President Bush on Wednesday dropped his opposition to upcoming Senate hearings into his program of conducting electronic surveillance on domestic targets without court-approved warrants. He said he welcomes such hearings. …
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-01-11-bush_x.htm
The Executive Branch of America’s government told the Legislative Branch of America’s government to investigate(Constitutional duty) but be careful.
What role did the “be careful” play in the Constitutional duty of the Legislative branch of America’s government to provide checks on the Executive branch of America’s government? Of the several possible meanings of “careful”, which one comes closest to what the Executive Branch may have had in mind:
Adjective: careful
- Exercising caution or showing care or attention”they were careful when crossing the busy street”; “be careful to keep her shoes clean”, “did very careful research”, “careful art restorers”; careful of the rights of others”; “careful about one’s behavior” …
WordWeb
Is it possible that the Executive Branch of America’s government was advising/warning the Legislative Branch of America’s government to be “careful about its behavior”?
If the “be careful” part of the comment did referenced behavior, could that not imply a possible “superior – inferior” relationship between the Executive and Legislative branches of America’s government?
The current article: “Surveillance: beyond warrantless wiretapping” adds to the list of neocon hidden candidates for legacy status.
But the first exposure of the discovered warrantless wiretapping of the neocons may not have operated according to what was told publically. The below article is the way Leslie Cauley, USA TODAY explained the first known instance of warrantless wiretapping.
USA TODAY
Washington/Politics
Date 5/11/2006
By Leslie Cauley, USA TODAY
NSA has massive database of Americans’ phone calls
The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren’t suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: The NSA record collection program
“It’s the largest database ever assembled in the world,” said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA’s activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency’s goal is “to create a database of every call ever made” within the nation’s borders, this person added.
For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made — across town or across the country — to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others.
The three telecommunications companies are working under contract with the NSA, which launched the program in 2001 shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the sources said. The program is aimed at identifying and tracking suspected terrorists, they said.
The sources would talk only under a guarantee of anonymity because the NSA program is secret.
Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, nominated Monday by President Bush to become the director of the CIA, headed the NSA from March 1999 to April 2005. In that post, Hayden would have overseen the agency’s domestic call-tracking program. Hayden declined to comment about the program.
The NSA’s domestic program, as described by sources, is far more expansive than what the White House has acknowledged. Last year, Bush said he had authorized the NSA to eavesdrop — without warrants — on international calls and international e-mails of people suspected of having links to terrorists when one party to the communication is in the USA. Warrants have also not been used in the NSA’s efforts to create a national call database.
In defending the previously disclosed program, Bush insisted that the NSA was focused exclusively on international calls. “In other words,” Bush explained, “one end of the communication must be outside the United States.”
As a result, domestic call records — those of calls that originate and terminate within U.S. borders — were believed to be private.
Sources, however, say that is not the case. With access to records of billions of domestic calls, the NSA has gained a secret window into the communications habits of millions of Americans. Customers’ names, street addresses and other personal information are not being handed over as part of NSA’s domestic program, the sources said. But the phone numbers the NSA collects can easily be cross-checked with other databases to obtain that information.
Don Weber, a senior spokesman for the NSA, declined to discuss the agency’s operations. “Given the nature of the work we do, it would be irresponsible to comment on actual or alleged operational issues; therefore, we have no information to provide,” he said. “However, it is important to note that NSA takes its legal responsibilities seriously and operates within the law.”
The White House would not discuss the domestic call-tracking program. “There is no domestic surveillance without court approval,” said Dana Perino, deputy press secretary, referring to actual eavesdropping.
She added that all national intelligence activities undertaken by the federal government “are lawful, necessary and required for the pursuit of al-Qaeda and affiliated terrorists.” All government-sponsored intelligence activities “are carefully reviewed and monitored,” Perino said. She also noted that “all appropriate members of Congress have been briefed on the intelligence efforts of the United States.” …
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm
