Justice Deputy Resisted Parts of Spy Program

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

[Edit35]

More leakers or just guessing?

these sources ("officials") are so disconnected from the truth the NYTimes cant even name them as 'former' administration officicials like they usually do. (which really means Clinton sychophants)

Heck, they dont even call them 'government offials,' do they?

[Cboldt]

At some point, the operation was suspended as controls and checklists were either refined or put in place. Maybe the balking by DoJ official or officials was in that timeframe.

Approval for warrantless surveillance is given on a case by case basis, as are warrants, hence the ongoing nature of the approval process.

[Txsleuth]

Thanks for the blog link...it is a good one.

[Cboldt]

At some point, the operation was suspended as controls and checklists were either refined or put in place. Maybe the balking by DoJ official or officials was in that timeframe.

The evidence is equivocal, but appears to point to a different reason for the balk by Comey.

SUNDAY, MARCH 14, 2004
WWW.USDOJ.GOV

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Attorney General John Ashcroft was discharged from the George Washington University Hospital shortly after noon today, March 14, 2004.

Attorney General Ashcroft entered G.W. Hospital on March 4, 2004 with a severe case of Gallstone Pancreatitis. On March 9, 2004, Attorney General Ashcroft underwent surgery to remove his gallbladder which contained several gallstones that were of concern to the doctors.

http://www.gwhospital.com/p13762.html

---

In mid-2004, concerns about the program expressed by national security officials, government lawyers and a judge prompted the Bush administration to suspend elements of the program and revamp it.

For the first time, the Justice Department audited the N.S.A. program, several officials said. And to provide more guidance, the Justice Department and the agency expanded and refined a checklist to follow in deciding whether probable cause existed to start monitoring someone's communications, several officials said.

A complaint from Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, the federal judge who oversees the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court, helped spur the suspension, officials said. The judge questioned whether information obtained under the N.S.A. program was being improperly used as the basis for F.I.S.A. wiretap warrant requests from the Justice Department, according to senior government officials. While not knowing all the details of the exchange, several government lawyers said there appeared to be concerns that the Justice Department, by trying to shield the existence of the N.S.A. program, was in danger of misleading the court about the origins of the information cited to justify the warrants.

Bush Lets US Spy on Callers Without Courts
By JAMES RISEN and ERIC LICHTBLAU | New York Times | December 16, 2005

[philetus]

More leakers or just guessing?

Government CYA?

[KCRW]

We can certainly blame the NY Times for alot of things, but right now- we still have people leaking stuff to them. It appears there is a leak in the justice department. Perhaps, that nice FISA judge that just retired???????

[BARLF]

Thanks for MacRanger blog site. Is he a Freeper?

President Bush:

"When I take action, I’m not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It’s going to be decisive."

[Sacajaweau]

This is on the FISA site: "Amending the Foreign Surveillance Act" 2003 I'll do an exerpt beginning on page S5922:

Mr Rockefeller speaks: "We live in a time in which we can never feel completely safe. There are terrorists around the world and here at home who have sworn to kill Americans"....

"Our challenge is to write the laws that stregthen our security without undermining privacy and liberty. This is something our Nation has never faced before".....

"The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 was designed to regulate the collection of foreign intelligence inside the United States using electronic wiretaps. Later, physical searches were added to the Law."

BEFORE FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH RAN WIRETAPS FOR NATIONAL SECURITY PURPOSES WITHOUT JUDICIAL REVIEW, WITHOUT APPROVAL OF ANY SORT." (Then he does the civil liberties bit...which makes security secondary. Please note that ACLU has already LOST its' case over FISA on the grounds that National Security comes first.

My Comment: FISA was in no way enacted to diminish the Powers of the President. It was so that the Justice Department could operate effectively in an electronic world..a world without bounds......period.

IMHO: Rockefeller is very clear as to his PERSONAL feelings about wiretapping and "that's nice". He just has some weird idea that everyday FISA rules apply to Presidential Powers. The use of an Executive Order for Pardons is another good example of a Power over which Congress has no say.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for MacRanger blog site. Is he a Freeper?

No idea...I got there by reference from Michelle Milkin's blog!

[piasa]

(recall the famous cell call among Repubs spied on by Dem operatives who picked it up on their cell, gave it to the Dems, and caused a big stink)

As it happens, an agent of Saddam Hussein [an American citizen who had received oil vouchers from the regime ] donated substantial funds to the defense fund of the Democrat who participated in the leak of that call between Gingrich and Boehner [and maybe others] after the Republicans sued.