subject: The NSA hears your concerns posted: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 14:37:11 -0000
[Outrageous but not unprecedented, similar crimes led to the
impeachment of Nixon, indeed they formed the second of the articles
of impeachment. They also led to the creation of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). As written on Commondreams:
"Passed in 1978 after the Senate’s Church Committee documented in
detail the Nixon administration’s widespread use of U.S. intelligence
agencies to spy on the anti-Vietnam war movement and other political
dissidents, FISA “expressly made it a crime for government officials
'acting under color of law' to engage in electronic eavesdropping
'other than pursuant to statute.’”, as the director of the Center for
National Security Studies, Kate Martin, told the Washington Post this
past weekend. And the FISA statute required authorization of the
secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to make such domestic
spying legal. Bush and his NSA sought no such authorization before
invading American citizens’ right to privacy -- a blatant flouting of
the law..." http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1219-34.htm ]
Details and commentary continue to emerge after the New York Times
broke the story just recently of how U.S. President Bush secretly
authorized the NSA to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the
United States, despite having knowledge of the situation for more
than a year. The respected newspaper chose not to publish the
information until recently, due to national security concerns. CNN
confirms that Bush issued the domestic eavesdropping orders, therby
circumventing the U.S. court system. The Associated Press discusses
some of the legal issues. The Washington Post reports that the
campaign was used to, "secretly collect information on American
citizens on a scale unmatched since the intelligence reforms of the
1970s."
Commentary from Ars technical speculates on the technology behind the
massive eavesdropping. Bruce Schneier has a long commentary on
historical abuses as well as the NSA's use of Echelon, a massive
initiative that monitors voice, fax, and data communications and is
used for data mining of perhaps 3 billion communications per day.
At issue are the broad, sweeping powers the NSA now have to eavesdrop
on Americans without their knowledge. The orders that circumvent
privacy were cloaked under the popular banner of "fighting terrorism"
but it has impact on all forms of communication and security now
passing throught the U.S. The government continues to allow for
secret surveillance without the court-approved warrants that would
normally be required for domestic spying.
Update 2005-12-21: added the affirmation that the New York Times knew
about the story for more than a year but chose not to release it to
the public until recently, citing national security concerns.
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