..Judge John Robertson....liberal stooge
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 ...
WOT - war on terror.
This 'Reach into the White House' line is so much boilerplate from the dems. They're desperate and they should be.
The DoJ investigations are premised on a request, and the requests come from outside. The Plame investigation started with a request from CIA, where the CIA request was prompted by Novak's article.
Reports are that the NSA investigation was "instigated" by a request from the NSA. We don't know when that request was transmitted to the DoJ. Pukin Dog asserts that the investigation predates publication, based on inside information.
Would there be an arrest and prosecution if the story had not been published? I think that's a good question, because without publication, an arrest and prosecution would serve to publicize the existence of the program. That doesn't mean the investigation would wait, only that the results of the investigation would be closely held until if and when needed.
I would go one step further. Tell the American people that if he had not authorized the NSA surveillance he would be derelict. And that would definitely be an impeachable offense.
You put it in a nutshell. '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.'
Your post #26 should be mandatory reading for every conservative talk show host, commentator, writer, Republican member of Congress ( at least those that haven't already gone to the dark side ) the RNC and especially Scott McClellan at the White House.
McClellan would have never had the gravitas to say what Trent Duffy said yesterday.
In fact, Trent Duffy has been doing an awesome job while Scott McClellan is on vacation-if the WH had any PR savvy, they'd elevate Duffy and allow McClellan to resign to run his mother's campaign in Texas.
It looks like Bush set them up like a Poker master, and now the tag of "weak on security" is tattooed on the Democrats for another 10-20 years.
..AGREED
That's understandable. Can you tell us a little more about the "Left is in a full scale panic over this" part? It sounds like such a heartwarming tale.
My letter to the Baltimore Sun, [associated with the LA Times] ---
Editor:
Calling the exposure of the NSA program monitoring communications to and from suspected al-Qaida members a leak, is like calling the flooding of New Orleans the results of a leak.
From the article by Josh Meyer "Leak of NSA Spying is Probed" in the Sun, Dec 31, 2005:
“The existence of the warrantless spying program has caused an uproar in Congress and among privacy experts, who said the Bush administration may have broken the law by intentionally bypassing the secret federal court that is supposed to oversee sensitive investigations involving suspected espionage and terrorism.”
Perhaps in the interest of completeness in reporting, the following from the mission statement of the National Security Agency, available on their website, should also be included:
“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.”
While “privacy experts” may be concerned about the practices of NSA, I believe that the opinion of most American citizens is that our defense agencies SHOULD be attempting find out what enemies of our country are plotting against us. While our enemies are using our technology to harm us, it would seem that “privacy experts” want to stay in the Twentieth Century, ceding every advantage to those who live to kill us.
maica
But it would be an investigation just the same. Given the high profile rebuke by President Bush, I can see the minions at NSA scrambling to make sure a proper request is before the DoJ, pronto.
There is no hint that the NSA knew of the leak before the NYT published), and the administration has said that it did not request the investigation, yet it was the administration that requested non-publication by the NYT.
I like to think the administration practices aggressive policing of leaks; and if it doesn, and is successful, there will be no public news of the policing.
But back to the timing of statup of this leak investigation, what are the ramifications either way? The damage is done, and honest prosecution will nail all of the people guilty of criminal activity in the leak. Meanwhile, the President is able to limit his information sharing to protect any additional secrets.
..Judge John Robertson....liberal stooge
IMO, calling this spin "manure" is way too kind.
From Amazon:
State of War : The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration (Hardcover)
by James Risen
^^^^^^^^^^^
Availability: This title will be released on January 3, 2006. You may order it now and we will ship it to you when it arrives. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
%%%%%%%
The cover of this book leaves no doubt about who the writer, editor and publisher believe to be the enemy. It consists of pictures of Rice, Bush, Rumsfeld and Tenet which are dreadful and printed in black on a deep sinister red.
From your keyboard to God's ears....
Okay...be warned. Keep this up, and you'll owe me a new keyboard ;-)
Maybe someone on the same level as "deep Throat."--that would mean someone in the agency.
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