[Vision2020] NSA Database Fallout Growing

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (May 12, 2006) Spokesman Review -

It has now virtually become commonplace that articles concerning President
Bush begin or end with the same three words:  Bush defends actions.

When will such actions no longer be considered improper, but impeachable?

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NSA database fallout growing 

Bush, Hayden defend actions

Greg Miller 
Los Angeles Times
May 12, 2006

WASHINGTON - President Bush and his nominee to lead the CIA faced a new
furor Thursday over domestic spying operations following a news report that
the National Security Agency has secretly assembled the telephone records of
tens of millions of Americans.

Moving to limit the political fallout, Bush held a hastily arranged news
appearance at the White House in which he said the government is not
"trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans." But
the president did not specifically address whether the data-gathering
operation exists, except to refer to "new claims about other ways we are
tracking down al-Qaida."

His remarks did little to quell the reaction on Capitol Hill, where the USA
Today report prompted calls for hearings and added to existing concerns over
a separate program in which the NSA has eavesdropped on international phone
conversations of U.S. residents.

The revelations could be damaging to the confirmation prospects of Gen.
Michael V. Hayden, who was director of the NSA when the reported program is
said to have begun, and who was nominated by Bush on Monday to serve as the
next CIA director.

"All I would want to say is that everything that NSA does is lawful and very
carefully done," Hayden said Thursday as he emerged from the latest in a
series of closed-door meetings with lawmakers designed to line up support
for his nomination.

There were no immediate indications that Hayden's nomination would be
derailed. But there were signs that support for him was slipping, and that
confirmation hearings scheduled to begin Thursday would be more contentious.

"I believe we are on our way to a major constitutional confrontation on
Fourth Amendment guarantees of unreasonable search and seizure," said Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"I think this is also going to present a growing impediment to the
confirmation of Gen. Hayden."

Key Republicans also expressed concern.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said
he would summon telephone company executives to testify "to see if we can
learn some of the underlying facts."

The proposal rankled Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., chairman of the Senate
Intelligence Committee, who issued a statement saying that the NSA's
activities already are being scrutinized by a newly created subcommittee on
the panel and that "calls for further oversight are unnecessary."

Roberts said the operations being conducted by the NSA are "lawful and
absolutely necessary to protect this nation from future attacks."

As part of the data-collection operation, USA Today reported, AT&T, Verizon
and BellSouth have surrendered records on their customers to the NSA. The
records are said to include phone numbers and times that calls are made, but
not customers' names - although those data are readily available from other
sources.

All three companies declined to comment Thursday, saying they could not
discuss their cooperation in classified programs involving national
security. USA Today reported that a fourth major carrier, Denver-based
Qwest, was asked to participate in the program but refused over concerns
regarding the legality of turning over customers' records.

As described, the program is less intrusive than the other controversial NSA
domestic surveillance operation, but would affect a much greater number of
people. Among them, AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth have about 200 million
customers, and account for the bulk of the nation's telecommunications
traffic.

The White House previously acknowledged that Bush had authorized the NSA to
eavesdrop on conversations of U.S. residents without a court warrant. The
administration described the program as involving only international calls
or e-mails between U.S. residents and individuals overseas suspected of
having ties to al-Qaida.

The record-gathering program does not involve the NSA listening to or
recording conversations, according to USA Today. Instead, the aim is to
analyze calling patterns for possible clues about the ways that terrorist
networks communicate.

Some critics on Thursday questioned whether the two programs are linked,
suggesting that the NSA is combing through phone records to identify
suspects who then are subjected to wiretap surveillance. NSA spokesman Don
Weber declined to address the matter, saying "it would be irresponsible to
comment on actual or alleged operational issues."

Critics also questioned the usefulness of examining the phone records of
millions of Americans for clues to al-Qaida communications.

"Terrorist activity is so limited, and we have so little to go on, that
you're not going to be able to put together a pattern you can search for,"
said Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the libertarian
Cato Institute and a member of committee that advises the Department of
Homeland Security on privacy matters. "You can't put together an algorithm
that finds it."

Harper said such a program would "threaten the civil liberties and privacy
of hundreds of thousands of innocent Americans."

In his remarks Thursday, Bush said that "the government does not listen to
domestic phone calls without court approval" and that "the privacy of
ordinary Americans is fiercely protected in all our activities."

Bush and Hayden said that all of the NSA's activities are disclosed to
"appropriate" members of Congress, referring to leaders in both chambers and
members of newly created intelligence subcommittees that receive regular
briefings from NSA officials.

Some members indicated that they were familiar with the data-gathering
program, although none confirmed they had been directly briefed on it.

Several defended its merit. "Do we want security . or do we want to get in a
twit about our civil libertarian rights?" asked Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., a
member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

But other high-ranking Republicans said they were not aware of the program
and expressed some alarm.

"I am concerned about what I read with regard to the NSA database of phone
calls," said House Majority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio. "I don't know
enough about the details, except that I'm going to find out because I'm not
sure why it would be necessary for us to keep and have that kind of
information."

Hayden was director of the NSA from 1999 through 2005, when he was named the
top deputy to director of national intelligence John D. Negroponte. Hayden
has been a principal defender of the domestic eavesdropping program. He has
indicated that the NSA had launched other operations in the aftermath of
Sept. 11.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

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"In America, anybody can become president.  
That's one of the risks you take . . ."

- Adlai Stevenson

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