Posted on 12/15/2005 6:05:45 PM PST by One_who_hopes_to_know
NYT FRIDAY: Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the NSA has monitored international calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants... MORE...
Umm, I don't think this is "news". The NSA has been monitoring international phone calls for decades.
"Then STOP Leaking Classified Intel Info, you P.O.S.!"
Ever hear of Echelon???
This is not new.
Ever hear of "Chatter"??? What the h*ll did you think they were talking about?
This has been going on for decades. It's nothing new.
I don't buy this.
It has been relatively common knowledge for some years now that in order to circumvent the prohibition on monitoring an agency's own nationals, that Fort Meade monitors UK traffic and Bletchley Park monitors US traffic.
And the cooperative agreement involves the sharing of any inteligence gleaned from these efforts.
Arlen Specter has been working with Congressman Sensenbrenner to get a Senate Bill passed
Senator Sununu says it needs work and wants a 3 month extention to work on it more
And majority of the Dems just want to kill it
Yes, I agree with you .. we will be seeing other BS like this from the lib papers
Like that nice little Iraqi lady Mrs. Dawishi said, the Times can go to Hell.
It was against the law for the NSA to intercept messages from the US. This may have been amended by the Patriot Act which permits certain surveillance. Only the NSA is capable of providing the intel the phone intel.
Further consideration indicates that this is not now unlawful and one of the primary reasons the Executive Branch requires the renewal of the Patriot Act.
It may be that the NYSlimes are just trying to stir up American unease about illegal wiretaps, when in fact this added lawful capability could be instrumental in the Drug war as well. Also, illegal campaign contributions from Soros Group, Rich, Saudis, Chinese, etc.
A powerful tool in good hands, a powerful weapon in the wrong hands.
Hmmm ~ do you imagine that our courts have extraterritorial powers?
There's arguably no need for the NSA to intercept messages from the US if foreign intelligence agencies did that for us. I thought that was how Echelon worked.
"There's arguably no need for the NSA to intercept messages..."
The assets are most likely UK/USA. The USA assets are most likely NSA. Sharing Intel is meaningful - "Actionable intelligence".
Echelon may be nothing more than a UK/USA agreement, but that has existed since post WWII and was effective during the Cold War.
Until the EO or Patriot Act, NSA was forbidden from directing its surveillance towards Domestic targets.
I'm sure you're right, Oxen, that this isn't just a coincidence and may well impact how legislators vote on the Patriot Act.
-- Old college computer room joke
Extraordinary powers have always been granted presidents in war time. Abraham Lincoln even suspended habeas corpus during the civil war. That means the executive branch could arrest anyone and hold them without telling anyone the person had been arrested. Lincoln could and did order people picked up and held. To their family, friends and acquaintances they just disappeared. No one knew what happened to them. When their lawyers tried a writ of habeas corpus (do you have the body) the government refused to answer. They didn't answer in cases where they had the person under arrest and they refused to answer when they didn't have the person under arrest.
Many personal freedom were removed in WWI and WWII as well though never as many as Lincoln removed during the Civil War.
What happens to freedom? It is always taken away in war time and returned when the war is over.
Our freedoms are not absolute. Our government has always retained the right to remove our freedoms. The only real right we possess is the right to vote those whose actions we disapprove out of office.
If after the war, freedoms are not returned, we elect people who then give us back our freedom.
I seem to recall a legal investigatory technique (used by Justice Dept. investigators for years) called the 'sneak and peek' in which investigators who are hot on the trail of a dastardly terrorist can slip a quick listen/peek to see if it would be justified to apply for a full wiretap.
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