Posted on 12/31/2005 5:05:34 AM PST by johnny7
The Justice Department inquiry could extend into all branches of the federal government
WASHINGTON The Justice Department disclosed Friday that it was investigating who had leaked classified information about President Bush's top-secret domestic spying program paving the way for a potentially contentious criminal probe that could reach high into the White House, Congress and the courts. Several U.S. officials familiar with the investigation which is in its infancy said it would be conducted by FBI agents trained in probing national security and counterintelligence matters.
The officials said the investigation would focus primarily on disclosures in the New York Times that Bush had authorized the National Security Agency to conduct surveillance on people in the U.S. without getting warrants from a special federal court established to approve them.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
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The Information Assurance mission provides the solutions, products, and services, and conducts defensive information operations, to achieve information assurance for information infrastructures critical to U.S. national security interests.
The foreign signals intelligence or SIGINT mission allows for an effective, unified organization and control of all the foreign signals collection and processing activities of the United States. NSA is authorized to produce SIGINT in accordance with objectives, requirements, and priorities established by the Director of Central Intelligence with the advice of the National Foreign Intelligence Board.
Since there's no doubt that the leaker(s) will be identified, I wonder if they'll step forward themselves...with the whistleblower defense. Sort of a pre-emptive strike?
I hate to have to agree with both of you, but I can't expect the Republicans to grow a pair or Bush to stop appeasing since the pattern has been set from Day # 1 by this administration. I would love to see them prove us wrong, but I am a realist.
A whistleblower must also limit the disclosure to a member of Congress or staff of the executive or legislative branch holding the appropriate security clearance and authorized to receive the information disclosed. Federal
By law, the NSA is largely prohibited from conducting such domestic surveillance, and it is supposed to get permission in each specific case from a secret tribunal of federal judges formed under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Were they international or domestic? Or are they both? And does it make a difference? Inquiring minds want to know.
Hagel fits the description as well...and he sits on the Intelligence Committee. Interestingly enough he's also a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations...the one that gave Bolton such a hard time. It was during those hearings that I first remember charges that Bolton had requested/ordered information on US citizen conversations with foreign governments (through NSA). Nuts like Wayne Madsen have been alleging this abuse for a long time now...going back to the bugging of UN Security Council members (remember that charge in the run-up to the war in Iraq)?
http://cryptome.org/nsa-4th.htm
http://cryptome.org/nsa-4th-p2.htm
Agree completely. Rockefeller has the loosest lips ever.
Oh, boy, they can't wait to impeach you know who. They'll take a close look at Barney and Beazie, too. Having four legs and a tail doesn't mean you aren't a 'leaker'. (Sorry, guys.)
Link to the same letter in HTML form with links to most of the cited cases ...
It's quite clear that they want us to be attacked again. What's bad for the country is good for the Dems, in their heart of hearts.
Thanks for the link.
Why draw the line there? If both ends of a terrorist communication are located inside the US, the limited surveillance would be ineffective.
Were they international or domestic? Or are they both? And does it make a difference? Inquiring minds want to know.
Reports resemble this ...
Since 2002, the agency has been conducting some warrantless eavesdropping on people in the United States who are linked, even if indirectly, to suspected terrorists through the chain of phone numbers and e-mail addresses, according to several officials who know of the operation. Under the special program, the agency monitors their international communications, the officials said. The agency, for example, can target phone calls from someone in New York to someone in Afghanistan.Warrants are still required for eavesdropping on entirely domestic-to-domestic communications, those officials say, meaning that calls from that New Yorker to someone in California could not be monitored without first going to the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Speak of the devil, Daschle was on cable last night, MSNBC I think. Hmmm.
http://info.detnews.com/poll/result.cfm?topic=Spy_program_whistleblower&va=yes
The Justice Department is investigating whether classified information about the secret domestic eavesdropping program was unlawfully disclosed to the New York Times. Are those who leaked this information villains or heroes in your eyes?
Villains 46.84%
Heroes 53.16%
Sounds like the NYTimes is trying to hide behind numbers....saying 'nearly a dozen' current and former officials were their sources. If so many thought it was a good idea to leak national security secrets then it's okay. (Nobody in his right mind would buy that argument.)
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