RUSSELL TICE
Posted on 01/10/2006 4:22:59 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
Russell Tice, a longtime insider at the National Security Agency, is now a whistleblower the agency would like to keep quiet.
For 20 years, Tice worked in the shadows as he helped the United States spy on other people's conversations around the world.
"I specialized in what's called special access programs," Tice said of his job. "We called them 'black world' programs and operations."
But now, Tice tells ABC News that some of those secret "black world" operations run by the NSA were operated in ways that he believes violated the law. He is prepared to tell Congress all he knows about the alleged wrongdoing in these programs run by the Defense Department and the National Security Agency in the post-9/11 efforts to go after terrorists.
"The mentality was we need to get these guys, and we're going to do whatever it takes to get them," he said.
Tice says the technology exists to track and sort through every domestic and international phone call as they are switched through centers, such as one in New York, and to search for key words or phrases that a terrorist might use.
"If you picked the word 'jihad' out of a conversation," Tice said, "the technology exists that you focus in on that conversation, and you pull it out of the system for processing."
According to Tice, intelligence analysts use the information to develop graphs that resemble spiderwebs linking one suspect's phone number to hundreds or even thousands more.
President Bush has admitted that he gave orders that allowed the NSA to eavesdrop on a small number of Americans without the usual requisite warrants.
But Tice disagrees. He says the number of Americans subject to eavesdropping by the NSA could be in the millions if the full range of secret NSA programs is used.
"That would mean for most Americans that if they conducted, or you know, placed an overseas communication, more than likely they were sucked into that vacuum," Tice said.
The same day The New York Times broke the story of the NSA eavesdropping without warrants, Tice surfaced as a whistleblower in the agency. He told ABC News that he was a source for the Times' reporters. But Tice maintains that his conscience is clear.
"As far as I'm concerned, as long as I don't say anything that's classified, I'm not worried," he said. "We need to clean up the intelligence community. We've had abuses, and they need to be addressed."
The NSA revoked Tice's security clearance in May of last year based on what it called psychological concerns and later dismissed him. Tice calls that bunk and says that's the way the NSA deals with troublemakers and whistleblowers. Today the NSA said it had "no information to provide."
Isn't Tice the guy who is so mentally unstable that it's kind of frightening to even contemplate that he held a sensitive government position?
He should be arrested now for revealing classified information.
My God this is horrible, they actually have some tools to catch the murderous terrorists. Oh, they did until this guy started revealing all the details to ABC News.
I thought international communications were fair game under the law??? Is it not strictly domestic communications that are protected by judicial due process?
Is Death-by-Hanging applicable in this case?
Employees with the NSA are exempt from "whistle-blowers" status.
Um, wasn't what he said classified?
Do you have a source for that?
"The mentality here is do whatever it takes...."
I think that makes Bush sound real good to me.
Revealing intelligence collection methods is akin to treason to me.
Well, thanks for posting this, but Tice can't claim whistleblower status because he didn't go through channels and because he is already a former employee, who had been demoted and disgruntled. Tice is not the real source of the leak, either. He was just a convenient scapegoat, who probably even volunteered to take the heat off the real leaker(s).
They are going to keep using this word, because they now realize the Justice Dept has the authority to prosecute this criminal behavior (the unlawful release of TOP SECRET information). This applies to the individual(s) at NSA who violated the law, and to the reporters who refuse to cooperate with the investigation.
Everytime you hear the MSM use the term "Whistleblower", think CRIMINAL.
"We called them 'black world' programs and operations."
Mr. Tice must be feeling rather invinceable. Why, I can't quite fathom; he has cause to be very concerned about black ops himself, now that he's making a public spectacle.
Seriously. If he's committing treason, yes. Unbelievable that the MSM is encouraging and facilitating something so dangerous to our national security....
Tice should be hung from the neck until dead as a traitor.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.