Wiretap Report Questions Effectiveness Of Illegal NSA Spying

Dandelion Salad

American Civil Liberties Union
7/10/2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 202 675-2312 or media@dcaclu.org
212 549-2666 or media@aclu.org
WASHINGTON

Report Also Indicates White House Politicized “Threat Assessments” That Provided Foundation For Illegal Program

A report released today by several government agencies’ Inspectors General concludes that little, if any, useful information was collected by the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program and the National Intelligence Agency (NSA). The report also indicates that the Bush White House politicized the “threat assessments” that it then relied upon as a foundation for the illegal program. Detailed findings of the report are listed below.

The report was mandated by the 2008 FISA Amendments Act (FAA) that effectively legalized the unlawful warrantless surveillance program approved by President Bush in late 2001. The FAA also gave the government new spying powers, including the power to conduct dragnet surveillance of Americans’ international communications. News reports have since indicated that the NSA has exceeded the already overbroad limits granted to it under the FAA.

Scott Horton Interviews Jeff Stein on Jane Harman-AIPAC story

Dandelion Salad

AntiwarRadio

Jeff Stein, Spy Talk columnist for Congressional Quarterly, discusses his breaking news story about the alleged NSA wiretap recording of Rep. Jane Harmon agreeing to intervene on behalf of two AIPAC employees accused of espionage in exchange for help getting appointed chair of the House Intelligence Committee and why then-Attorney General Gonzales intervened to close the case before it could really begin.

more about “Scott Horton Interviews Jeff Stein 1 …“, posted with vodpod

Pt 2

Countdown: Jeff Stein on Jane Harman-AIPAC story

Dandelion Salad

firedoglake

Countdown-CQPolitics’ Jeff Stein – broke Jane Harman-AIPAC story 04_20_09
visit: http://firedoglake.com

more about “Countdown: Jeff Stein on Jane Harman…“, posted with vodpod

see

Sources: Wiretap Recorded Rep. Harman Promising to Intervene for AIPAC By Jeff Stein

NSA Spies On Americans Outside The Law

Sources: Wiretap Recorded Rep. Harman Promising to Intervene for AIPAC By Jeff Stein

Dandelion Salad

By Jeff Stein, CQ SpyTalk Columnist
http://www.cqpolitics.com
April 20, 2009

Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington.

Harman was recorded saying she would “waddle into” the AIPAC case “if you think it’ll make a difference,” according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the NSA transcript.

[...]

In exchange for Harman’s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, which the Democrats were heavily favored to win.

via CQ Politics | Sources: Wiretap Recorded Rep. Harman Promising to Intervene for AIPAC.

h/t: ICH

see also:

Major scandal erupts involving Rep. Jane Harman, Alberto Gonzales and AIPAC – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com h/t: ICH

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

NSA Spies On Americans Outside The Law

Domestic Spying

from the archives

Pres-Elect Obama, No To Anti-Freedom War-Hawk Jane Harman!! + ‘Thought crime bill’ writer on short list

Declassified letter exposes Democratic Party complicity in CIA torture By Joe Kay

Obama Administration Endorses Continued Spying on Americans by Tom Burghardt

Dandelion Salad

by Tom Burghardt
Global Research, April 13, 2009
Antifascist Calling…

Justice Department Moves to Squash NSA Spying Suits

Since fatuously declaring his to be a “change” administration, President Barack Obama has quickly donned the blood-spattered mantle of state secrecy and executive privilege worn by the Bush regime.

On Friday April 3, the Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss one of the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF) landmark lawsuits against illegal spying by the National Security Agency (NSA).

That suit, Jewell v. NSA, was filed last September against the NSA, NSA Director Keith B. Alexander, President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Mike McConnell, Director of National Intelligence. But with the departure of the Bush gang, the defendants now include President Barack Obama, NSA Director Keith B. Alexander, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Dennis C. Blair, Director of National Intelligence.

Countdown: Warrantless Wiretapping & The Military Industrial Complex

Dandelion Salad

VOTERSTHINKdotORG

http://earth2obama.org/

April 08, 2009 MSNBC Keith Olbermann

more about “Nancy Pelosi Warrantless Wiretapping …“, posted with vodpod

***

Pt 2

Obama Sides With Bush in Spy Case

Dandelion Salad

By David Kravets
Wired.com
January 22, 2009 | 4:32:47 PM

Spy The Obama administration fell in line with the Bush administration Thursday when it urged a federal judge to set aside a ruling in a closely watched spy case weighing whether a U.S. president may bypass Congress and establish a program of eavesdropping on Americans without warrants.

In a filing in San Francisco federal court, President Barack Obama adopted the same position as his predecessor. With just hours left in office, President George W. Bush late Monday asked U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker to stay enforcement of an important Jan. 5 ruling admitting key evidence into the case.

[...]

via Obama Sides With Bush in Spy Case | Threat Level from Wired.com.

h/t: CLG

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”

Countdown: What Did Congress Know About Domestic Spying

Countdown: Russell Tice, former NSA analyst, discloses NSA surveillance procedures, night 2 + No pardon for Libby

Domestic Spying on Dandelion Salad

Countdown: What Did Congress Know About Domestic Spying

Dandelion Salad

heathr456

Keith talks to Rep. Stephen Cohen about what members of Congress knew about domestic spying and what they plan to do about it.

more about “Countdown: What Did Congress Know Abo…“, posted with vodpod

***

Countdown: John Dean on the Domestic Spying

Countdown: Russell Tice, former NSA analyst, discloses NSA surveillance procedures, night 2 + No pardon for Libby

Dandelion Salad

firedoglake

Countdown – Russell Tice, former NSA analyst, discloses NSA surveillance procedures, night 2
01_22_09

more about “Countdown: Russell Tice, former NSA a…“, posted with vodpod

***

John Dean – Why DIDN’T Bush pardon Libby?

Bush Used Domestic Spy Program On American Journalist! + In Final Legal Act, Bush Appeals Spy Ruling

Dandelion Salad

Here’s part 2: Countdown: Russell Tice, former NSA analyst, discloses NSA surveillance procedures, night 2

VOTERSTHINKdotORG

http://cspanjunkie.org/

January 21, 2009 MSNBC Keith Olbermann

more about “Bush Used Domestic Spy Program On Ame…“, posted with vodpod

***

In Final Legal Act, Bush Appeals Spy Ruling

By David Kravets
blog.wired.com
January 20, 2009 | 7:42:50 PM

With a mere 64 minutes left in its last full day in office, the Bush administration asked a federal judge to stay enforcement of a ruling that would keep alive a lawsuit which tests whether the president can bypass the Congress and eavesdrop on Americans without warrants.

[...]

The Bush administration asked Walker’s permission to appeal his Jan. 5 decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Walker had ruled that “sufficient facts” exist that two U.S.-based lawyers for an Islamic charity might have been spied upon for the case to proceed to the next stage.

[...]

via In Final Legal Act, Bush Appeals Spy Ruling | Threat Level from Wired.com.

h/t: CLG

see

Countdown: Russell Tice, former NSA analyst, discloses NSA surveillance procedures, night 2

Domestic Spying on Dandelion Salad

“The Fed Who Blew the Whistle”

Dandelion Salad

Democracy Now!
Dec. 16, 2008

The whistleblower behind the exposure of the Bush administration’s domestic spy program has revealed his identity. In an interview with Newsweek, former Justice Department official Thomas Tamm says he personally called the New York Times from a Washington, D.C. subway pay phone in 2004 to tell them about the program. Tamm was working as an attorney in the Justice Department’s Office of Intelligence Policy and Review. The secretive unit oversees surveillance of terrorist and espionage targets. [includes rush transcript]

Real Video Stream

Real Audio Stream

MP3 Download

Guest:

Michael Isikoff, investigative correspondent for Newsweek. He has the cover story in the latest issue of the magazine. It’s called ‘The Fed Who Blew the Whistle’

via Democracy Now! | “The Fed Who Blew the Whistle”.

***

DN!!! LEGENDARY  WHISTLE BLOWER!!!

StartLoving1

more about “DN!!! LEGENDARY WHISTLE BLOWER !!!“, posted with vodpod

.

Obama, Gitmo, and Rendition

Dandelion Salad

Democracy Now!
Nov. 17, 2008

Ex-CIA Officials Tied to Rendition Program and Faulty Iraq Intel Tapped to Head Obama’s Intelligence Transition Team

John Brennan and Jami Miscik, both former intelligence officials under George Tenet, are leading Barack Obama’s review of intelligence agencies and helping make recommendations to the new administration. Brennan has supported warrantless wiretapping and extraordinary rendition, and Miscik was involved with the politicized intelligence alleging weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the war on Iraq. We speak with former CIA analyst Melvin Goodman and Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights. [includes rush transcript]

Real Video Stream

Real Audio Stream

MP3 Download

via Democracy Now! | Ex-CIA Officials Tied to Rendition Program and Faulty Iraq Intel Tapped to Head Obama’s Intelligence Transition Team

***

Obama, Gitmo, and Rendition

IWantDemocracyNow

more about “Obama, Gitmo, and Rendition“, posted with vodpod

see

Methinks they do protest too much By William Bowles

The Obama Conundrum: Progress and Protest in the Face of Reality by John Caelan

Bush will NEVER be able to set foot outside the U.S.! Jeremy Scahill & Naomi Klein

Countdown: Special Comment on Prop 8 + Gitmo + ACLU

Michael Ratner on Obama and civil liberties

Obama-Barack

Obama’s Intelligence Agenda by Tom Burghardt

Dandelion Salad

by Tom Burghardt
Global Research, November 14, 2008
Antifascist Calling

More of the Same from the “Change Administration”

While expectations may be high that the incoming Obama administration will reverse many of the worst features of the Bush regime–from warrantless wiretapping, illegal detention, torture, “targeted assassinations” and preemptive war–now that the cheering has stopped, expect more of the same.

According to The Wall Street Journal, “President-elect Barack Obama is unlikely to radically overhaul controversial Bush administration intelligence policies, advisers say, an approach that is almost certain to create tension within the Democratic Party.”

With hyperbolic “change” rhetoric in the air, Obama is relying on a gaggle of former intelligence insiders, warmed-over Clinton administration officials and “moderate” Republicans, many of whom helped Bush craft his administration’s illegal policies.

With U.S. street cred at an all-time low, due in no small measure to Washington’s hubristic fantasies that it really is an empire and not a rapidly decaying failed state, ruling elites have literally banked on Obama to deliver the goods.

During his run for the White House, the Illinois senator may have mildly criticized some of the administration’s so-called “counterterrorism” policies including the Bushist penchant for secrecy, the disappearance of “terrorist” suspects, driftnet surveillance of American citizens and legal residents, CIA “black site” gulags and the crushing of domestic dissent.

Senior Corporate Executives Warned to Leave N.Y. on 9/11: Source

By Jeremy R. Hammond
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
Foreign Policy Journal
November 3, 2008

Crossposted on Foreign Policy Journal

Foreign Policy Journal has learned that senior executives of a major U.S. international corporation may have been warned to leave New York on September 11, 2001.

According to an inside source, one of the senior executives of the corporation told him beforehand that “something big” was going to occur and so other corporate executives would be travelling out of New York.

The source, who spoke to the Journal on the condition of anonymity, worked at a European branch of the media giant Warner Bros. He served as the number two under the managing director of that office, a man with whom he had developed a close personal friendship. His boss was also friends with one of the senior executives at the head office in Los Angeles. According to the source, he had been told by his director that the executive in L.A. had formerly worked for the CIA and still kept in touch with the agency.

It is not an uncommon practice for the CIA to recruit business executives, particularly individuals who do a lot of international travelling and might be able to use their business contacts to gather information.

The CIA is also known to have recruited journalists and media executives. According to Carl Bernstein, the former Washington Post reporter who worked with Bob Woodward breaking open the Watergate story during the Nixon administration, executives who lent their cooperation to the CIA included Henry Luce of Time Inc., founder of Time and Life magazines. C.D. Jackson, a Time Inc. vice-president and publisher of Life magazine until his death in 1964, approved arrangements to provide the CIA with cover under Time-Life, according to an article Bernstein wrote for Rolling Stone magazine in 1977.

AT&T Promises Not To Spy on You … Sort of

Dandelion Salad

by tkarr

http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog

October 13th, 2008

You would think that AT&T, Verizon and Time Warner execs had turned a page and formed a new front in defense of your online rights.

Late last month, they lined up before the Senate to mouth principles that would, in their words, ensure that “consumers have ultimate control over the use of their personal information and guards against privacy abuses.”

The issue spins around the use of a content-filtering technology called “deep packet inspection” or DPI, which allows network managers to inspect, track and target user Internet content as our information passes along the Information Superhighway.

[...]

via Save the Internet Blog

h/t: http://www.freepress.net/

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

AT& T, Verizon to Refrain From Tracking Users Online

James Bamford: The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America