May 11 2006
Another Day, Another National Security Leak
*** Major Update: Mac Ranger has word those who leaked this story are known to authorities and this may be a political hit job ***
*** Major Update at the end – and make sure to check out the comments section for links (simply cursor over the name for the comment to find trackbacks) ***
Is anyone surprised the rogue CIA and their media counterparts are leaking more information and spinning it to sound really, really bad:
The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren’t suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations.
Emphasis mine because there are wo things to note. First off most recordings related to a warranted search cover the innocent. Picture yourself as the target of a surveillance warrant (drugs, organized crime, terrorism – pick one) and then realize how many people you contact via phone and compter. You parents, siblings, children, neighbors all get monitored and their phone number and address recorded.
That is why there is a distinction in the law (though I am not sure I am using the exact legal terms here) between the target of a surveillance and the contacts of the target. Everyone gets swept up in a surveillance. That is why judges are the only ones authorized to make a person in America or an American a target of surveillance. That includes FISA and normal courts depending on the suspected crime or activity.
Now the NSA has two roles: one to monitor our enemies overseas (their legitimate, warrentless targets) and one to investigate communications in response to warrants from US courts. What this means is they monitor a lot of targets and sweep up a lot of information regarding innocent contacts with those targets. This role is clearly stated in the NSA response:
The White House would not discuss the domestic call-tracking program. “There is no domestic surveillance without court approval,”
This is the same FISA-leak all dressed up in different spin. This is not news except to those ignorant of how things work in the news corpse. The second item I highlighted is the proof of this point. To note the contact details (Name, number, address) of a legitimate target under surveillance is obvious. There is no listening to the conversation and no records retained on the conversation of innocent discussions. There is more proof later in the article:
The program is aimed at identifying and tracking suspected terrorists, they said.
Why else monitor the calls? In fact, the reason to note contacts as innocent or suspicious is to whittle down who targets of surveillance are talking to who may be accomplices. These records are actually a record that these people are INNOCENT of any relationship with a possible crime.
Prior to 9-11 NSA would note who inside the US (or what American citizen) was in contact with our enemies while monitoring our enemies. If your neighbor had called Bin Laden prior to 9-11 the NSA would know (if they were listening in on Bin Laden) and note it. But prior to 9-11 they would retain that information and not distribute it within the government to law enforcement (who must submit permission for warrants to monitor Americans and people in the US). After 9-11 this changed. Now when the NSA gets a contact with one of their targets overseas they pass that to the FBI who investigates and, if concerned, takes a request to the FISA court for a warrant to monitor.
Same old story wrapped up in a different package and for one reason – Gen Hayden’s selection to head the CIA. Personally, I think the rogue CIA agents are fools to continue this game. This just exposes why Hayden must go, and why he should keep his uniform on. While in uniform he must do what the President orders (forget Rumsfeld). This is just a lame attempt to throw up disninformation. Here’s the sentence that pulls the facade off this hit piece:
In defending the previously disclosed program, Bush insisted that the NSA was focused exclusively on international calls. “In other words,” Bush explained, “one end of the communication must be outside the United States.”
As a result, domestic call records — those of calls that originate and terminate within U.S. borders — were believed to be private.
Who believed this? Anyone who is ignorant or naive I suppose. Are these people saying we don’t record who is in contact with targets and then make sure these contacts are innocent and of no concern? And as I said, each contact gets some designation (probably innocent, not sure, probably a terrorist sympathizer) so these records identify who was deemed to be irrelevant and simply caught up in the monitoring. Like the airline employee who makes the ticket reservations for a terrorists flight.
Take special note of where the words ‘could’ ‘can be’ are used. These are speculations of what is possible – not what the article is claiming is being done. For example:
But the phone numbers the NSA collects can easily be cross-checked with other databases to obtain that information.
See how the writer and those ‘sources’ are trying to make it sound like this is being done. That is how they sneak propaganda into these articles. And it takes forethought and careful wording.
UPDATE: And here is why this reporting is dangerous. Of course the leftwing nuts want to point out the brave groups ‘speaking to power’, so they alert the terrorists to shift all their communications over to Qwest because Qwest is not partnering with the NSA to help find potential 9-11 terrorists here in the country:
Among the big telecommunications companies, only Qwest has refused to help the NSA, the sources said. According to multiple sources, Qwest declined to participate because it was uneasy about the legal implications of handing over customer information to the government without warrants.
Qwest’s refusal to participate has left the NSA with a hole in its database. Based in Denver, Qwest provides local phone service to 14 million customers in 14 states in the West and Northwest.
USA Today just tipped off the terrorist how to avoid detection and put the people in Qwest’s areas in danger because now it is known those areas have the least protection and should be targeted! What are these people THINKING! Someone needs to go to jail.
Update: Rick Moran has a good round up of the lemmings from the left – responding on cue.
Update: As Druge points out, the liberal fringe forgot to get all upset when their hero Clinton was establishing a much more invasive and legally shakey system during his term. Clinton’s system actually checked CONTENTS, not just who was talking to whom.
Update: Group Intel has a good explanation of how things really work when people are reviewing phone records and searching for terrorists. As much as KoS would wish otherwise, I am afraid he is completely irrelevant to the NSA’s mission to protect America.
New NSA Leaks From USA Today…
In an attempt to rekindle the scaremongering of the paranoid left, USA today has taken upon itself to “declassify” more classified information about programs aimed at protecting us.
The National Security Agency has been secretly collecti…
The latest non-scandal scandal news involving the NSA…
Yet one more in a long line of hyped stories about the NSA and datamining. The USA Today breathlessly reports, starting off with an eye-catching headline:
NSA has massive database of Americans’ phone calls
The National Security Agency has been …
Wait until the Pelosi Democrats take over (thanks for nothing, conservatives). This will look like peanuts compared to that.
The information published by USA Today is really “repackaged old news” as the same information was circulating in the blogosphere when the original NSA leak by the Times was published. Obviously, somebody is trying to stir the pot in response to Gen Hayden’s selection to head the CIA. But, what else is new?
Unfortunately, this tactic of repeating ad nauseam the same half-truths seems to be effective in reducing support for President Bush.
Is it not what has happened with the public perception of the war in Iraq? After endlessly repeating that the war is “lost” when it is actually practically won, are not now public opinion pols showing that a majority of respondents believe the war is lost?
What adjective other than CRIMINAL would you apply to the MSM?
Just Checking On Your Phone Calls…
Members of Congress should be able to check up on the government. They should ensure that the NSA is not breaking the law. At this moment, that seems to be quite impossible for Congress to do. […] AJ Strate from The Strata-Sphere supports the NSA on …
Today’s Bogus/Manufactured NSA Anti-Civil Rights Story…
***UPDATE*** Both sides of the blogosphere are weighing in. The left is looney as ever, you’ve got to scroll down to see what the DailyKOS has to say. Outside the Beltway sums the media spin of this up in one……
Trust No One…
This government trusts no one, not even itself. George Bush’s NSA won’t give George Bush’s Justice Department security clearances to review possible abuses. And the government is analyzing the records of most every phone call you make.
…
NSA Expose…
Scary piece on NSA’s supposed evils in USA Today this morning. Will have a more thorough treatment up later today, but in the mean time, allow me to do my bit for the environment and recycle another post that should provide some insights and bala…
SURRENDER, REPUBLICANS…
AJ Strata reports Another Day, Another National Security Leak: USA Today just tipped off the terrorist how to avoid detection and put the people in QwestÂ’s areas in danger because now it is known those areas have the least protection and should be ta….
The left has always gotten its panties into a bunch when anyone but them exercises power.
It’s wrong for the government to track foreign terrorist contacts in the U.S., but it’s OK for gays or Islamists or femiNazis to show up in school and tell your kids what to think.
It’s wrong for the military to aggressively respond to terror cells abroad which are armed to the teeth, but it’s OK to bring terrorists into this country to attend college.
And it’s wrong for any of us to criticize Islam (the religion of peace) but it’s OK for any and every left-wing whack job in the country to draw cartoons of Jesus nailed to the cross with an erection.
The New CIA Leak…
Surprise surprise. Another leak from someone inside Government, cough CIA cough, just as Gen. Hayden is set to go up for confirmation hearings to lead the CIA.
The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens …
All this tells me is that these people want us to lose. They hate America.
Our votes will count this November…and we don’t ever want a single one of them in any form of power.
More “Good” Leaks…
Though I’m sure this latest leak of NSA programs will again be a good leak that the media loves, I’d like to make something clear: The government, in keeping us safe, has done and will continue to do many things…
NSA – Leaking in the USA Today…
Just when I was about to go off on this new “leak”, AJ Strata and Rick Moran beat me to it….
The Latest Leak…
USA Today is reporting a new NSA program based on new leaks of classified information. Doesn’t that strike anyone the least bit odd?…
Disgust And Hopelessness…
Why don’t we just throw in the towel now? Let’s tell the terrorists all of our national security secrets, give them control of our nukes, turn the United States into an Islamofacist state, and call it a day. Allah Akhbar…….
Data Mining…
It’s called data mining. They have computer programs that take the data and look for patterns. Joe Blow at the NSA isn’t listening in on phone conversations or looking at your phone records unless, of course, you’ve fallen into a pattern of contac…
If A Democrat Were President……
…He’d be hailed a hero for analyzing phone call patterns to detect terrorist movement….
Folks,
This is exactly why we can not abandon the republican party while we fight this war on terror. People whom think we should set an example with Bush and the GOP because of some policies differences are very short-sighted.
Policies differences do not matter if you are dead. We face an enemy that the world has never seen because they can obtain and are trying obtain weapons that could kill 100,000’s of innoncent people, including elderly, women and children.
First off, I will go on the record as a proud conservative that thinks POTUS Bush is a great president and a good man. We are lucky to have him during these times. NO PRESIDENT during our history has had to deal with so many big important issues during their tenure.
To PEGGY NOONAN and La Shawn Barber and other conservatives that want Bush impeached or for the GOP to lose power so they will learn a lesson. GROW TFU. You guys make me sick. You are acting so darn spoiled and it is disgusting.
If we lose power to the dems, you will rue the day you played your damn games. The courts, including the supreme and legislation that has been enacted to advance our conservative agenda will be set back many years. You will have no one to balme but yourselves. How are you going to pay for gas when your taxes go up and the economy is wrecked and unemployment rises?
Peggy, please do not carry on as being a sweet nice lady anymore because you truly are not. I have decided there is literaly no difference betwen you and Hillary except registration and agendas. You are both fake individuals. With a friend like you, you do not need an enemy. La Shawn barber, you are just ignorant.
Yes, as you can see, I am very upset because the idea of taking your marbles and going home because you are not getting everything you want is truly ridiculous. Every relationship, yes we have a relationship with this administration, is difficult. There is give and take with any good relationship. If all you want is to take and when things do not go your way, you opt out, a realtionship fails. Noonan, Barber and others – if you are currently in a successful relationship you know what I am talking about. Maybe you should think about trying that same formula with POTUS Bush and the GOP.
Abdandoning POTUS Bush during these times does not reflect on him but you. Long after POTUS Bush is gone, we will remember your actions. If you stay home or vote third party in Nov. and we lose power, I hope the agenda of the dems affects you guys allot more than my family and me.
Shame, shame on you.
“To note the contact details (Name, number, address) of a legitimate target under surveillance is obvious.”
Are you being purposely misleading, or are you honestly too dense to follow the issue? How is a database noting call details for *every* call made by or to *every* customer of AT&T, Verizon, and Bellsouth associated with “a legitimate target under surveillance?”
By your logic, picking up a telephone makes one a legitimate target.