All Entries Tagged With: "FISA"

Obama ‘Even Worse’ Than Bush On Secret Wiretapping Case, Says S.F. Lawyer

San Francisco attorney Jon Eisenberg thinks he’s learned a thing or two about Barack Obama over the past 15 months. Eisenberg, who won a landmark decision against the government in Northern California’s U.S. District Court Wednesday on a wiretapping case, says that when it comes to violating civil liberties in the name of national security, the present occupant of the White House is just as bad as — or “even worse” than — his predecessor.

“The Obama Administration stepped right into the shoes of the Bush Administration, on national security generally and on this case in particular,” Eisenberg said, referring to the lawsuit brought by his clients, an Oregon branch of an Islamic charity and two American lawyers. The plaintiffs argued successfully before federal Judge Vaughn Walker that their conversations were illegally wiretapped under the Bush Administration’s secret surveillance program.

Just as significant as the ruling, however, may be what the case demonstrates about the Obama Justice Department’s approach to surveillance of suspected terrorists. Eisenberg told SF Weekly that government lawyers working for Obama had been “more strident” than those working for Bush, refusing to let him see important federal documents related to the case even after he was approved for a top-secret security clearance.

Full Story: Obama ‘Even Worse’ Than Bush On Secret Wiretapping Case, Says S.F. Lawyer – San Francisco News – The Snitch.

OPS: maybe the ‘President’ isn’t really in charge?

Federal Judge Finds N.S.A. Wiretaps Were Illegal

Bush’s entire wiretapping program may have been illegal

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the National Security Agency’s program of surveillance without warrants was illegal, rejecting the Obama administration’s effort to keep shrouded in secrecy one of the most disputed counterterrorism policies of former President George W. Bush.

In a 45-page opinion, Judge Vaughn R. Walker ruled that the government had violated a 1978 federal statute requiring court approval for domestic surveillance when it intercepted phone calls of Al Haramain, a now-defunct Islamic charity in Oregon, and of two lawyers representing it in 2004. Declaring that the plaintiffs had been “subjected to unlawful surveillance,” the judge said the government was liable to pay them damages.

The ruling delivered a blow to the Bush administration’s claims that its surveillance program, which Mr. Bush secretly authorized shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was lawful. Under the program, the National Security Agency monitored Americans’ international e-mail messages and phone calls without court approval, even though the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, required warrants.

Full Story: Federal Judge Finds N.S.A. Wiretaps Were Illegal – NYTimes.com.

What Microsoft knows and keeps about you, abusing DMCA & kicking Cryptome… Oppss!

As the Patriot Act comes up for reauthorization by Congress, it’s time to reflect on the immense powers Americans have ceded to the government and potential for abuse by federal, state and local authorities. Last year, an FBI Inspector General report has excoriated the FBI Communications Analysis Unit for abusive warrantless surveillance of perhaps thousands of innocent people. FBI Director Robert Mueller promised Congress the FBI will be take steps to stop the abuses cited in the Inspector General’s report.

“The FBI’s use of exigent letters… circumvented, and in many cases violated, the requirements of the Electronic Communications Protection Act statute,” according to the report, which was referencing a leading federal wiretap law.

The global Internet and telecommunications infrastructure provides massive information on almost each and every person on the planet. In a twisted way, the only ones fortunate enough to maintain true privacy are the poorest of the poor in armpits of the world. If one has a cell phone no matter where they are on the planet, they could be subjected to the vast surveillance powers of states. But one power truly stands out — the all encompassing reach and technological capabilities of the US National Security Agency. If you want to be secure, don’t use a phone, a computer, credit card or any other technologically linked system because it guarantees that big brother will find you if they want to.

Full Story: City Brights: Yobie Benjamin : What Microsoft knows and keeps about you, abusing DMCA & kicking Cryptome… Oppss!.

The Spy at Harriton High

This investigation into the remote spying allegedly being conducted against students at Lower Merion represents an attempt to find proof of spying and a look into the toolchain used to accomplish spying. Taking a look at the LMSD Staff List, Mike Perbix is listed as a Network Tech at LMSD. Mr. Perbix has a large online web forum footprint as well as a personal blog, and a lot of his posts, attributed to his role at Lower Merion, provide insight into the tools, methods, and capabilities deployed against students at LMSD. Of the three network techs employed at LMSD, Mr. Perbix appears to have been the mastermind behind a massive, highly effective digital panopticon.

The primary piece of evidence, already being reported on by a Fox affiliate, is this amazing promotional webcast for a remote monitoring product named LANRev. In it, Mike Perbix identifies himself as a high school network tech, and then speaks at length about using the track-and-monitor features of LanRev to take surreptitious remote pictures through a high school laptop webcam. A note of particular pride is evident in his voice when he talks about finding a way outside of LANRev to enable “curtain mode”, a special remote administration mode that makes remote control of a laptop invisible to the victim. Listen at 35:47, when he says:

Full Story: Stryde Hax: The Spy at Harriton High.

School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home

The school district admits that student laptops were shipped with software for covertly activating their webcams, but denies wrongdoing.

According to the filings in Blake J Robbins v Lower Merion School District (PA) et al, the laptops issued to high-school students in the well-heeled Philly suburb have webcams that can be covertly activated by the schools’ administrators, who have used this facility to spy on students and even their families. The issue came to light when the Robbins’s child was disciplined for “improper behavior in his home” and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence. The suit is a class action, brought on behalf of all students issued with these machines.

If true, these allegations are about as creepy as they come. I don’t know about you, but I often have the laptop in the room while I’m getting dressed, having private discussions with my family, and so on. The idea that a school district would not only spy on its students’ clickstreams and emails (bad enough), but also use these machines as AV bugs is purely horrifying.

Full Story School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home Boing Boing.

OPS: The Corporations are going to love this. Wait till they get involved….

Spying on Americans: A Multibillion Bonanza for the Telecoms

America’s endless & highly profitable, “War on Terror.”

Court Tosses NSA Spy Suits, Sides with White House Over Illegal Surveillance

In late January, the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General released a report that provided startling new details on illegal operations by the FBI’s Communications Analysis Unit (CAU) and America’s grifting telecoms.

For years, AT&T, Verizon, MCI and others fed the Bureau phone records of journalists and citizens under the guise of America’s endless, and highly profitable, “War on Terror.”

Between 2002 and 2007, the FBI illegally collected more than 4,000 U.S. telephone records, citing bogus terrorism threats or simply by persuading telephone companies to hand over the records. Why? Because the FBI could and the telecoms were more than willing to help out a “friend”–and reap profits accrued by shredding the Constitution in the process.

So egregious had these practices become that “based on nothing more than e-mail messages or scribbled requests on Post-it notes, the phone employees turned over customer calling records” to the FBI, The New York Times reported.

Full Story Spying on Americans: A Multibillion Bonanza for the Telecoms.

Sprint manager: ‘Half’ of all police surveillance includes text messaging

According to a graduate student’s research into the spying policies of major U.S. telecommunications companies, at a recent security conference a Sprint surveillance manager told a group of onlookers that half of all police requests include the target’s text messages.

Half of millions — including some 8 million automated, web-based requests for GPS location, all in just over a year’s time.

The revelation was made by Indiana University grad Christopher Soghoian, as part of his PhD dissertation published Dec. 1, 2009.

He attributes the stunning number to Paul Taylor, an Electronic Surveillance Manager with Sprint Nextel, who was speaking recently at the Washington, D.C. International Securities Systems conference, otherwise known as ISS World.

Full Story Sprint manager: ‘Half’ of all police surveillance includes text messaging | Raw Story.

Gonzales evades criminal prosecution for misleading Congress on NSA spying

The Justice Department has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges against former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for allegedly misleading Congress about the Bush administration’s warrantless eavesdropping program.

The decision was first disclosed yesterday by Murray Waas in a little-noticed posting on the blog of New York Magazine. The magazine cited public court records and federal law enforcement officials as its sources.

Although Gonzales remains under investigation by the Justice Department for two other matters, it had been allegations that he gave false or purposely misleading testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the warrantless eavesdropping program that placed him by far in the greatest legal jeopardy.

In not bringing criminal charges, however, investigators for the Department’s Inspector General, which conducted the investigation, hardly let Gonzales off the hook completely. They concluded that Gonzales testimony before Congress about the eavesdropping program was “confusing,” “incomplete’ and had the “effect of misleading” both Congress and the public.

Full Story Gonzales evades criminal prosecution for misleading Congress on NSA spying | Raw Story.

White House readies phone-tap case concession

The Obama administration may be on the verge of a major concession in a long-running legal battle over records about so-called telecom immunity.

An email obtained by POLITICO shows that the Obama Administration is preparing for the possible release of some details of the Bush Administration’s lobbying for legislation giving telecommunications companies immunity from lawsuits over their involvement in warrantless domestic wiretapping.

But even if they do release those details, the administration may press on with a legal battle to keep secret the identities of the companies involved in the program.

Full Story: White House readies phone-tap case concession – Josh Gerstein and John Bresnahan – POLITICO.com.

Telephone Company is Arm of Government, Feds Admit in Spy Suit

The Department of Justice has finally admitted it in court papers: the nation’s telecom companies are an arm of the government — at least when it comes to secret spying.

Fortunately, a judge says that relationship isn’t enough to squash a rights group’s open records request for communications between the nation’s telecoms and the feds.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation wanted to see what role telecom lobbying of Justice Department played when the government began its year-long, and ultimately successful, push to win retroactive immunity for AT&T and others being sued for unlawfully spying on American citizens.

Full Story: Telephone Company is Arm of Government, Feds Admit in Spy Suit | Threat Level | Wired.com.

Bush’s wiretapping goes to court in S.F.

After years of wrangling over legal procedures, the lawyer for a defunct Islamic charity laid out his case Wednesday that former President George W. Bush’s secret wiretapping program was illegal – an argument that an Obama administration attorney refused to discuss.

“May the president of the United States break the law in the name of national security? … We’re asking this court to say, ‘no,’ ” Jon Eisenberg, lawyer for the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, told a federal judge in San Francisco.

Neither the president’s constitutional powers as commander in chief nor Congress’ authorization to use military force against terrorists after Sept. 11, 2001, entitled Bush to override a 1978 law requiring court approval for electronic surveillance of suspected terrorists, Eisenberg argued.

He cited presidential candidate Barack Obama’s declaration in 2007 that “warrantless surveillance of American citizens in defiance of (the 1978 law) is unlawful and unconstitutional.”

Full Story Here: Bush’s wiretapping goes to court in S.F..

Senators introduce bill to repeal telecom wiretapping immunity

Raw Story - Four Democratic senators have introduced a bill that would, if passed, repeal the legal immunity afforded the telecommunications industry for their participation in President George W. Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program.

Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Russ Feingold (D-WI), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) announced the measure Monday. In a release, they said the bill “eliminates retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that allegedly participated in President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program.”

The four senators, all liberal Democrats, emphasized that they believed granting the industry immunity violated the law and due process.

Full Story: Senators introduce bill to repeal telecom wiretapping immunity | Raw Story.

The NSA is still listening to you

The NSA is still listening to you   | Salon 

Bush went away, but domestic surveillance overreach didn’t. It’s now the law, and the ACLU is fighting back

This summer, on a remote stretch of desert in central Utah, the National Security Agency will begin work on a massive, 1 million-square-foot data warehouse. Costing more than $1.5 billion, the highly secret facility is designed to house upward of trillions of intercepted phone calls, e-mail messages, Internet searches and other communications intercepted by the agency as part of its expansive eavesdropping operations. The NSA is also completing work on another data warehouse, this one in San Antonio, Texas, which will be nearly the size of the Alamodome.

The need for such extraordinary data storage capacity stems in part from the Bush administration’s decision to open the NSA’s surveillance floodgates following the 9/11 attacks. According to a recently released Inspectors General report, some of the NSA’s operations — such as spying on American citizens without warrants — were so questionable, if not illegal, that they nearly caused the resignations of the most senior officials of both the FBI and the Justice Department.

via The NSA is still listening to you | Salon.

Bush FBI sent 18 armored agents to search my house, wiretap whistleblower says

Bush FBI sent 18 armored agents to search my house, wiretap whistleblower says

The Bush Administration’s FBI sent 18 agents in body armor to the home of a man who revealed details of the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program, according to a little-noticed account of the whistleblower published Thursday.

Thomas Tamm, a former Justice Department lawyer in the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, revealed details of the wiretapping program to the New York Times in 2004. In 2007, FBI agents raided his Potomac, Maryland home.

Tamm wasn’t there. His college-aged son, wife and young daughter were — but their father had never told them of his leak to the Times.

“They asked me questions like ‘Are there any secret rooms or compartments in the house’?” Terry Tamm, his son, told Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff last December. “Or did we have a safe? They asked us if any New York Times reporters had been to the house. We had no idea why any of this was happening.”

via Raw Story » Bush FBI sent 18 armored agents to search my house, wiretap whistleblower says.

What State Secrets Lurk in Unresolved NSA – FISA Wiretap Case Showdown Between White House, Courts and Congress? | BuzzFlash.org

What State Secrets Lurk in Unresolved NSA – FISA Wiretap Case Showdown Between White House, Courts and Congress?

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT  by Christine Bowman

There actually may be no more secrets in this ongoing case — but there’s serious wrangling between the branches of government.

The Washington Post and the website Wired have noted in recent headlines that a “showdown” could come as soon as Friday over claims of state secrets being made in court cases where government wrong-doing or cover-ups in the “war on terror” are suspected. The legal face-off pits government lawyers, now representing President Barack Obama’s Executive Branch, against an increasingly impatient, Reagan-nominated, GHW Bush-appointed judge in California — Vaughn R. Walker. The Senate, too, is poised to join the fray.

Although at this point it is a fight over use of the state-secrets privilege, originally the case before Judge Walker challenged the legality of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) wiretapping of phone calls in secret and without FISA court approval as a tactic in fighting the “war on terror.” In this instance, the NSA monitored phone calls between lawyers and their client, the director of a now defunct Islamic charity suspected of having ties with al Qaeda — the al-Haramein Islamic Foundation. The case involves surveillance of what were probably “privileged” conversations between U.S. lawyers and their client. Early in the case, the government, in apparent sloppiness, let the wiretap transcripts be seen by the al-Haramein attorneys, who then alleged that there can be no “state secrets” claim since the wiretap contents were already made known.

via What State Secrets Lurk in Unresolved NSA – FISA Wiretap Case Showdown Between White House, Courts and Congress? | BuzzFlash.org.

Showdown Looms Over Use of ‘State Secrets’ Privilege in Wiretapping Case

Showdown Looming On ‘State Secrets’  -  - washingtonpost.com

Judge Threatens To Penalize U.S. In Wiretap Case

President Obama vowed last week to rein in the use of a legal privilege that allows the administration to discard lawsuits that involve “state secrets,” promising that a new policy is in the works that will quell criticism by civil libertarians.

But hours after Obama’s speech laid out a “delicate balance” on national security, his Justice Department was criticized by a federal judge in California overseeing a case that has delved deeper than any other into one of the government’s most highly classified data-gathering programs.

The Obama administration has invoked the state-secrets privilege in resisting a lawsuit filed by an Oregon charity whose attorneys may have been subjected to warrantless wiretapping. Late Friday, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker issued a terse order that raised the prospect of “sanctions” for government lawyers who have not responded to his order for a plan for how the case should proceed. The sanctions may include awarding monetary damages to the charity, the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation.

via Showdown Looms Over Use of ‘State Secrets’ Privilege in Wiretapping Case – washingtonpost.com.

FCC’s Warrantless Household Searches Alarm Experts

FCC’s Warrantless Household Searches Alarm Experts

You may not know it, but if you have a wireless router, a cordless phone, remote car-door opener, baby monitor or cellphone in your house, the FCC claims the right to enter your home without a warrant at any time of the day or night in order to inspect it.

That’s the upshot of the rules the agency has followed for years to monitor licensed television and radio stations, and to crack down on pirate radio broadcasters. And the commission maintains the same policy applies to any licensed or unlicensed radio-frequency device.

“Anything using RF energy — we have the right to inspect it to make sure it is not causing interference,” says FCC spokesman David Fiske. That includes devices like Wi-Fi routers that use unlicensed spectrum, Fiske says.

The FCC claims it derives its warrantless search power from the Communications Act of 1934, though the constitutionality of the claim has gone untested in the courts. That’s largely because the FCC had little to do with average citizens for most of the last 75 years, when home transmitters were largely reserved to ham-radio operators and CB-radio aficionados. But in 2009, nearly every household in the United States has multiple devices that use radio waves and fall under the FCC’s purview, making the commission’s claimed authority ripe for a court challenge.

via FCC’s Warrantless Household Searches Alarm Experts | Threat Level | Wired.com.

U.S. judge warns Justice Dept.

U.S. judge warns Justice Dept.

A federal judge in San Francisco lashed out Friday at the Obama administration for its refusal to share a classified document with an Islamic group that claims it was illegally wiretapped, and said he may declare the group the winner by default in its lawsuit against the government.

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who has expressed increasing frustration with the Justice Department’s hard line in the case, raised the stakes in his latest order by suggesting he would issue a final ruling against the government and order it to pay damages.

He ordered the department to tell him, by next Friday, why he should not declare the government responsible for violating the rights of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation as a penalty for “failing to obey the court’s orders.”

Such a ruling would stop short of the conclusion Al-Haramain seeks in its lawsuit – that it was wiretapped as part of the program authorized by President George W. Bush in 2001 to intercept calls between Americans and suspected foreign terrorists. Walker could not issue such a finding because the case has been stuck in a dispute over the organization’s right to sue.

via U.S. judge warns Justice Dept..

Obama DOJ Asks Court to Okay Seizure of Cell Phone Location Data Without Probable Cause

Obama DOJ Asks Court to Okay Seizure of Cell Phone Location Data Without Probable Cause

via Obama DOJ Asks Court to Okay Seizure of Cell Phone Location Data Without Probable Cause – TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime.

Harman begins to backtrack denials of wiretap story

OPS: Strap in – here we go...

Harman begins to backtrack denials of wiretap story

The California Democrat who was allegedly caught on an FBI wiretap promising to aid accused Israeli spies in 2005 has begun walking back her original denials.

Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) originally denied — emphatically — that she had in any way agreed in a plot to get herself appointed chairwoman of the House Intelligence Committee by getting an Israeli agent to work a major California donor to threaten to withhold campaign contributions from then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). The call between Harman and the Israeli national was caught on an FBI wiretap as part of a broader Israeli espionage case.

But in an interview on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” Harman began qualifying her answers under heavy questioning.

“We don’t know if there was a phone call,” Harman said, backtracking on her previous statements.

via The Raw Story | Harman begins to backtrack denials of wiretap story.

Pelosi Knew About Harman Wiretap

Pelosi Knew About Harman Wiretap

The National Security Agency briefed Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “a few years ago” that they had wiretapped Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), Pelosi revealed Wednesday.

But Pelosi said she was not told what federal eavesdroppers picked up on the call — and never alerted Harman to it.

“It was not my position to raise it with Jane Harman,” Pelosi told reporters at the Christian Science Monitor lunch. “In fact, I didn’t even know if what they were talking about was real. All they said was that she was wiretapped.”

Pelosi also offered her strongest support to date for Harman, a sometimes-foe that has been rattled this week by charges that the wiretap caught her agreeing to seek leniency for two suspected spies in return for help securing the gavel of the House Intelligence Committee. Harman was ranking member on Intelligence at the time of the alleged wiretap, and she was ultimately passed over for the chairmanship by Pelosi when Democrats won the House majority in 2006.

“I have great confidence in Jane Harman,” Pelosi said. “She’s a patriotic American. She would never do anything to hurt her country.”

via Pelosi Knew About Harman Wiretap – Roll Call.

Harman ‘Disappointed’ NSA Wiretapped Her, After Allowing Warrantless Wiretapping

YouTube – Harman ‘Disappointed’ NSA Wiretapped Her, After Allowing Warrantless Wiretapping.

Gonzales Stopped FBI Probe Of Rep. Harman Because He ‘Needed Jane’ To Support Warrantless Wiretapping

Gonzales Stopped FBI Probe Of Rep. Harman Because He ‘Needed Jane’ To Support Warrantless Wiretapping

gonzo0409web.jpgCQ’s Jeff Stein reports that sometime before the 2006 elections, the National Security Agency wiretapped Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) offering a quid pro quo to unnamed Israeli agents: Harman would lobby the Justice Department to “reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee,” while the Israelis would lobby soon-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to name Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee.

While this story has been previously reported, “what is new,” Stein reports, is the court-approved NSA wiretap. Previous reports also said that an investigation of Harman was dropped because of “lack of evidence.” However, Stein reports that one official “with first-hand knowledge” of the case “called that ‘bull****’” and that “according to knowledgeable officials,” it was actually then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who intervened on Harman’s behalf to stop the FBI’s investigation in exchange for her help selling the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretap program:

via Think Progress » Gonzales Stopped FBI Probe Of Rep. Harman Because He ‘Needed Jane’ To Support Warrantless Wiretapping.

‘A Ton More People Were Wiretapped Than We’ve Been Led to Believe’: FBI Whistleblower Thomas Tamm

‘A Ton More People Were Wiretapped Than We’ve Been Led to Believe’: FBI Whistleblower Thomas Tamm

The man who blew the lid off Bush’s spying program believes more details on government spying must, and will, come to light.

This week the New York Times revealed that the National Security Agency has continued spying on Americans well into the Obama era, with government officials listening in on phone conversations and monitoring e-mails on a massive scale.

Times reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau — who broke the story of the Bush administration’s domestic spying program in December 2004 — reported that “in recent months,” the NSA has engaged in an “overcollection” of domestic communication, far exceeding the already broad legal limits Congress established when it passed legislation to legalize the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program and granting immunity for the telecoms that enabled it.

The same article reveals that in 2005 or 2006, the NSA attempted to wiretap an unidentified member of Congress, lending further credence to speculation earlier this year by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., that he might have been spied on.

For many who have followed the long political saga that saw warrantless wiretapping revealed, debated and ultimately legalized at the hands of Congress, this report comes as no surprise.

via ‘A Ton More People Were Wiretapped Than We’ve Been Led to Believe’: FBI Whistleblower Thomas Tamm | Rights and Liberties | AlterNet.

Department of Justice officials: NSA broke the law

OPS: In the words of Darth Cheney: “So?”
Obama isn’t going to to anything about it confirming the Bush assertion that the “Rule Of Law” is history.

Department of Justice officials: NSA broke the law

A key US spy agency overstepped legal limits in intercepting private e-mail messages and phone calls, Justice Department officials said Thursday, as top lawmakers in Congress said they would launch an investigation.

The National Security Agency (NSA), an important intelligence-gathering arm of America’s vast espionage network, undertook the eavesdropping of US citizens’ electronic communications in a bid to thwart global terrorism.

But the agency exceeded the authority laid out by Congress, US officials said, adding the problems, which have since been corrected, were detected during “routine oversight” of the domestic eavesdropping program.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, who heads up the US Senate Intelligence Committee, said the charges were “serious” and warranted congressional investigation.

“These are serious allegations and we will make sure we get the facts,” the Democratic lawmaker said, vowing to hold hearings “within one month.”

via The Raw Story | Department of Justice officials: NSA broke the law.

NYT Report On ‘Significant’ Surveillance Abuses Confirms Progressive Criticisms Of 2008 FISA Compromise

NYT Report On ‘Significant’ Surveillance Abuses Confirms Progressive Criticisms Of 2008 FISA Compromise

Last night, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists James Risen and Eric Lichtblau reported in the New York Times that “the National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year.” According to intelligence officials, the problems grew “out of changes enacted by Congress last July in the law that regulates the government’s wiretapping powers.”

In July 2008, as Congress — including then-Sen. Barack Obama — moved towards approving the re-write of surveillance law, progressives mobilized against the legislation. As Glenn Greenwald points out, many of the concerns held by progressives at the time are proven by the NYT report. Here’s how Greenwald summarized the opposition in June 2008:

via Think Progress » NYT Report On ‘Significant’ Surveillance Abuses Confirms Progressive Criticisms Of 2008 FISA Compromise.

U.S. phone intercepts go beyond legal limits: report

U.S. phone intercepts go beyond legal limits: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The National Security Agency intercepted Americans’ e-mails and phone calls in recent months on a scale that went beyond limits set by the U.S. Congress last year, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Citing unnamed intelligence officials, it said the NSA had engaged in “‘over-collection’ of domestic communications of Americans.” The sources variously characterized the practice as significant, systemic or unintentional, the Times said.

“A series of classified government briefings have been held in recent weeks in response to a brewing controversy that some officials worry could damage the credibility of legitimate intelligence-gathering efforts,” the paper said.

It said the Justice Department acknowledged in a statement on Wednesday that there had been problems with NSA surveillance operations and said they were resolved.

A bill passed by Congress in July 2008 authorizes U.S. intelligence agencies to eavesdrop without court approval on foreign targets believed to be outside the United States.

Critics complained that this allowed warrantless surveillance of phone calls and e-mails of Americans who communicate with the foreign targets. The bill sought to minimize such eavesdropping on Americans, but critics said the safeguards were inadequate.

via U.S. phone intercepts go beyond legal limits: report.

NSA spied on member of Congress, report says

NSA spied on member of Congress, report says

In an article detailing new violations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by The New York Times, the paper reveals that the National Security Agency spied on a member of Congress and sought to wiretap the lawmaker without a warrant. Reports the Times:

“And in one previously undisclosed episode, the N.S.A. tried to wiretap a member of Congress without a warrant, an intelligence official with direct knowledge of the matter said.

“The agency believed that the congressman, whose identity could not be determined, was in contact — as part of a Congressional delegation to the Middle East in 2005 or 2006 — with an extremist who had possible terrorist ties and was already under surveillance, the official said. The agency then sought to eavesdrop on the congressman’s conversations, the official said.

“The official said the plan was ultimately blocked because of concerns from some intelligence officials about using the N.S.A., without court oversight, to spy on a member of Congress.”

via The Raw Story | NSA spied on member of Congress, report says.

National Security Agency tried to spy on a member of Congress.

NYT report: National Security Agency tried to spy on a member of Congress.

The New York Times’ Eric Lichtblau and James Risen report that the National Security Agency engaged in “overcollection” of e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans last year. The legal authority given to the NSA authorizes the surveillance of targets “reasonably believed” to be outside the United States. The Obama Justice Department said it “detected issues that raised concerns,” but claims that the problems have now been resolved. “[T]he issue appears focused in part on technical problems in the N.S.A.’s ability at times to distinguish between communications inside the United States and those overseas.” Lichtblau and Risen document one particular instance of misconduct involving the wiretapping of a member of Congress:

And in one previously undisclosed episode, the N.S.A. tried to wiretap a member of Congress without a warrant, an intelligence official with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The agency believed that the congressman, whose identity could not be determined, was in contact — as part of a Congressional delegation to the Middle East in 2005 or 2006 — with an extremist who had possible terrorist ties and was already under surveillance, the official said. The agency then sought to eavesdrop on the congressman’s conversations, the official said.

via Think Progress » NYT report: National Security Agency tried to spy on a member of Congress..

The NYT’s predictable revelation: new FISA law enabled massive abuses

The NYT’s predictable revelation: new FISA law enabled massive abuses – by - Glenn Greenwald

In The New York Times last night, James Risen and Eric Lichtblau — the reporters who won the Pulitzer Prize for informing the nation in 2005 that the NSA was illegally spying on Americans on the orders of George Bush, a revelation that produced no consequences other than the 2008 Democratic Congress’ legalizing most of those activities and retroactively protecting the wrongdoers — pass on leaked revelations of brand new NSA domestic spying abuses, ones enabled by the 2008 FISA law. The article reports that the spying abuses are “significant and systemic”; involve improper interception of “significant amounts” of the emails and telephone calls of Americans, including purely domestic communications; and that, under Bush (prior to the new FISA law), the NSA tried to eavesdrop with no warrants on a member of Congress traveling to the Middle East. The sources for the article report that “the problems had grown out of changes enacted by Congress last July in the law that regulates the government’s wiretapping powers.”

In reacting to these leaks, I share Digby’s sentiments entirely: “It was so inevitable that I can’t even find the energy to get worked up about it.” I also don’t want this news to distract from what ought to be the singular big story of the day — namely, whether Obama will release the 3 key Bush DOJ memos that legalized specific torture techniques (as Andrew Sullivan correctly says, a failure of full disclosure “will betray all [] who supported him to restore the rule of law”). Nonetheless, there are some critical facts that need to be highlighted in order to prevent distortion of the meaning of the Risen/Lichtblau article.

via The NYT’s predictable revelation: new FISA law enabled massive abuses – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.

N.S.A.’s Intercepts Exceed Limits Set by Congress

N.S.A.’s Intercepts Exceed Limits Set by Congress

N.S.A.’s Intercepts Exceed Limits Set by Congress: “The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews.” Obama Administration Claims to Have Made “Corrections,” But That is Not Verifiable Because the Program is Secret.

WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews.

Several intelligence officials, as well as lawyers briefed about the matter, said the N.S.A. had been engaged in “overcollection” of domestic communications of Americans. They described the practice as significant and systemic, although one official said it was believed to have been unintentional.

via N.S.A.’s Intercepts Exceed Limits Set by Congress – NYTimes.com.

Obama’s efforts to block a judicial ruling on Bush’s illegal eavesdropping – Glenn Greenwald

Obama’s efforts to block a judicial ruling on Bush’s illegal eavesdropping

The Obama DOJ’s embrace of Bush’s state secrets privilege in the Jeppesen (torture/rendition) case generated substantial outrage, and rightly so. But it’s now safe to say that far worse is the Obama DOJ’s conduct in the Al-Haramain case — the only remaining case against the Government with any real chance of resulting in a judicial ruling on the legality of Bush’s NSA warrantless eavesdropping program. Here’s the first paragraph from the Wired report on Friday’s appellate ruling, which refused the Obama DOJ’s request to block a federal court from considering key evidence when deciding whether Bush broke the law in how he spied on Americans:

via Obama’s efforts to block a judicial ruling on Bush’s illegal eavesdropping – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.

Court rejects Obama bid to stop wiretapping suit – Salon.com

Court rejects Obama bid to stop wiretapping suit

Feb 27th, 2009 | WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has lost its argument that a potential threat to national security is a good enough reason to stop a lawsuit challenging the government’s warrantless wiretapping program.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Friday rejected the Justice Department’s request for an emergency stay. The Obama administration, like the Bush administration before it, cited the so-called state secrets privilege as its defense. The government claimed national security would be compromised if a lawsuit brought by the U.S. chapter of an Islamic charity was allowed to proceed.

The case was brought by the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, a defunct charity with a chapter in Oregon.

via Court rejects Obama bid to stop wiretapping suit – Salon.com.

The Raw Story | NSA aims to expand power: Eavesdropping agency looks to take over cybersecurity

NSA aims to expand power: Eavesdropping agency looks to take over cybersecurity

The spy shop that brought you the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program wants to expand its power under President Barack Obama, the nation’s top intelligence chief told Congress Wednesday, in a little-noticed intelligence grab.

While acknowledging that many distrust the agency for its role in eavesdropping, Obama Director of National Intelligence Admiral Dennis Blair said he believed the agency should expand into a permanent role in handling government cybersecurity efforts.

In essence, his agency’s move is an effort to take the responsibilities away from the Homeland Security Department. The head of Obama’s cybersecurity transition team, Paul Kurtz, said he supports giving the NSA more power in handling cybersecurity.

via The Raw Story | NSA aims to expand power: Eavesdropping agency looks to take over cybersecurity.