Justice Deputy Resisted Parts of Spy Program

NY Times ^ | January 1, 2006 | ERIC LICHTBLAU and JAMES RISEN

[nj26]

The top deputy to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft refused two years ago to approve important parts of the secret program that allows domestic eavesdropping without warrants, prompting two leading White House aides to try to win the needed approval from Mr. Ashcroft himself while he was hospitalized after a gall bladder operation, according to officials knowledgeable about the episode.

With Mr. Ashcroft recuperating from gall bladder surgery in March 2004, his deputy, James B. Comey, who was then acting as attorney general, was unwilling to give his certification to crucial aspects of the classified program, as required under the procedures set up by the White House, said the officials, who asked for anonymity because the program is classified and they are not authorized to discuss it publicly.

That prompted two of President Bush's top aides - Andrew H. Card Jr., his chief of staff, and Alberto R. Gonzales, then White House counsel and now the attorney general - to make an emergency visit to George Washington University Hospital to review the program with Mr. Ashcroft during what aides have described as a difficult recovery, the officials said.

The White House and Mr. Ashcroft, through spokesmen, declined to comment Saturday on the emergency meeting. "As the president has stated, the intelligence activities that have been under way to prevent future terrorist attacks have been approved at the highest levels of the Justice Department," said Jeannie Mamo, a White House spokeswoman.

Accounts from other officials differed as to exactly what was said at the meeting at the hospital. Some officials indicated that Mr. Ashcroft, like his deputy, was also reluctant to give his signoff to continuing with aspects of the program in light of concerns among some senior government officials about the program's legality and its operational controls.

[nj26]

NY Times at it again...

[golfisnr1]

More leakers or just guessing?

[There You Go Again]

James B. Comey, who was then acting as attorney general, was unwilling to give his certification to crucial aspects of the classified program, as required under the procedures set up by the White House

When you are filling in for someone, you often don't want to give approval to major things until the person you are filling in for has been briefed or has given the OK....very normal...but the NYTimes makes it sound so nefarious.....ugggghhhhh.....

[tet68]

the officials, who asked for anonymity because the program is classified and they are not authorized to discuss it publicly.


In which case they have broken the law!

Hang them.

[Steel Wolf]

I'm sorry, but what's the point of this article again?

[Mo1]

Risen is at it again

[TheEaglehasLanded]

Story doesn't make any sense. First they say Bush has been doing this for 4 years with approval of Justice Dept. So Bush had already been given Ok by Ashcroft and Comey long before his gall bladder surgery.

Why would you keep asking for the same thing you already have approved over and over again?

[digger48]

Enjoy it while you can boys. The Feds have your number and they're gonna be calling you up.

hope you like prison-sex

[nj26]

Actually, I think it's the Justice department leakers who are headed to prison... disclosing the information to the media is the crime, not printing it.

[Lancey Howard]

Blah blah blah. Who cares what the former "paper of record" says about anything?
I mean, you just can't believe them.

[Steel Wolf]

said the officials, who asked for anonymity because the program is classified and they are not authorized to discuss it publicly.

That's going to narrow down the search, now isn't it? How many people could have known about this story? Not very many. Which makes it increasingly likely that the leaker is a senior member of the government, and not a low or mid level analyst or agent.

[digger48]

Will these guys give them up though?

Or will lesser Senate staffers take the fall for a Senator or 2

[Miss Marple]

Risen is now providing additional leads to the Justice Department, even if he doesn't yet realize it.

What a stupid article. As if the Times is sympathetic to Ashcroft, whom they hated for 4 years.

[USNBandit]

This is an excerpt of what chapter of Risen's book.....?

[YOUGOTIT]

The new York Times is again committing TRWASON by printing TOP Secret Intel.

Further, the person who leaked along with the Times reporter should be in jail and scourged.

[Rome2000]

The "New York Times" is not some monolithic faceless alien oracle.

It is run by this homosexual, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and his cadre of socialist crook propagandists from NYC's 42nd st.

Sulzberger is an enemy of the state and should be surveilled and brought up on charges of sedition.

OFFICERS

Chairman Emeritus: Arthur Ochs "Punch" Sulzberger, age 71, $1,397,200 pay (prior to title change)

Chairman; Publisher, The New York Times: Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., age 46, $960,200 pay (prior to promotion)

VC and SVP: Michael Golden, age 48

President and CEO: Russell T. Lewis, age 50, $882,235 pay (prior to promotion)

SVP Operations and Acting CFO: John M. O'Brien, age 54

SVP and Deputy COO: David L. Gorham, $796,000 pay

[Rome2000]

SVP Broadcasting, Real Estate, and Corporate Communications: Katharine
P. Darrow, age 53
SVP Corporate Development, New Ventures, and Electronic Businesses: Leonard
P. Forman, age 51
SVP Human Resources: Donald S. Schneider, age 50
SVP and General Counsel: Solomon B. Watson IV, age 52
Chairman and CEO, Globe Newspaper Co.: William O. Taylor, age 64, $789,653
pay
President, Magazine Group: James W. FitzGerald, age 58
President and Publisher, The Boston Globe: Benjamin B. Taylor, age 49
President, Regional Newspaper Group: James C. Weeks, age 54
VP, Secretary, and Corporate Counsel: Laura J. Corwin, age 52
VP Forest Products, Health, Safety, and Environmental Affairs; President
and General Manager, Forest Products Group: Stephen Golden, age 50
VP and Project Administrator: Donna C. Miele
VP Human Resources, The New York Times: Dennis L. Stern, age 50
VP and Corporate Controller: Stuart Stoller, age 41

LOCATION
Headquarters: 229 W. 43rd St., New York, NY 10036
Web Site: http://www.nytimes.com
Phone: 212-556-1234
Fax: 212-556-4011

The New York Times Company publishes newspapers in Alabama, California,
Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, and South
Carolina.

PRODUCTS/SERVICES
1997 1997
Sales Operating Income
$ mil. % of total $ mil. % of total
Newspapers &
information services 2,557 89 434 -
Magazines 165 6 28 -
Broadcasting 144 5 39 -
Adjustments - - (46) -

Total 2,866 100 455 -

Selected Daily Newspapers
"The Boston Globe"
"The Daily Comet" (Thibodaux, LA)
"The Dispatch" (Lexington, NC)
"The Gainesville Sun" (Florida)
"International Herald Tribune" (50%, with the Washington Post Co.; Paris)
"The Ledger" (Lakeland, FL)
"The New York Times"
"The Press Democrat" (Santa Rosa, CA)
"Santa Barbara News-Press" (California)
"Spartanburg Herald-Journal" (South Carolina)
"Star-Banner" (Ocala, FL)
"The Tuscaloosa News" (Alabama)
"Wilmington Morning Star" (North Carolina)

Selected Information Services
The New York Times Electronic Media Co.
The New York Times Index (print, microform, CD-ROM)
The New York Times News Service (650 newspaper and magazine customers)
The New York Times Syndication Sales Corp.
TimesFax (fax-, satellite-, and PC-delivered "Times" summary)

Magazines
"Golf Digest"
"Golf Shop Operations"
"Golf World"

Broadcasting
KFOR-TV, Oklahoma City
KFSM-TV, Fort Smith, AR
WHNT-TV, Huntsville, AL
WHO-TV, Des Moines, IA
WNEP-TV, Scranton, PA
WQAD-TV, Moline, IL
WQEW (AM), New York City
WQXR (FM), New York City
WREG-TV, Memphis
WTKR-TV, Norfolk, VA

Forest Products
Donohue Malbaie Inc. (49%, Canada)
Madison Paper Industries (partnership, Maine)

[Soul Seeker]

said the officials, who asked for anonymity because the program is classified and they are not authorized to discuss it publicly.

Cool. More buddies for the other leakers to play a deck of cards with in a jail cell.

And since when did the NYT's like Ashcroft? LOL!! Next to G.W.B. he was first on their hit list. Even above Cheney and Rummy. Now they are trying to paint him as the conscience of the administration? I loved Ashcroft, don't get me wrong, I wish he was still there, but I find it laughable the NYT's is now trying to paint him as the methodical conscience of the administration that sought to restrain the tyrannical G.W.B and Al Gonzales. Especially when they used to be such fans of Al!

Oh, and buried in the article is this...

it was the Justice Department that oversaw an audit conducted on the program. The audit examined a selection of cases to see how the N.S.A. went about determining that it had probable cause to believe that someone in the United States, including American citizens, had sufficient ties to Al Qaeda to justify the extraordinary step of eavesdropping on their phone calls and e-mail messages without a court warrant. That review is not known to have found any instances of documented abuses.

Yeah, I like how they toss that right in the middle in hopes people miss this admission. Doesn't quote sqaure with the perception that the administration gets its kicks spying on our grandmother's recipe exchanges they've tried to convey.

[nwrep]

I hope the phones of all the communist faggots that run the NYT are being tapped.

[grey_whiskers]

Which Twin has the Toni?