Mukasey & McConnell Backtrack re: FISA Statements

by  D. Cupples |  Apparently, the Bush Administration has recognized that its use of fear-mongering in order to secure Telecom Amnesty has included the use of untrue statements.  The Los Angeles Times reports:

"A day after warning that potentially critical terrorism intelligence was being lost because Congress had not finished work on a controversial espionage law, the U.S. attorney general and the national intelligence director said Saturday that the government was receiving the information -- at least temporarily."

"On Friday evening, Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence J. Michael McConnell had said in an unusually blunt letter to Congress that the nation 'is now more vulnerable to terrorist attack and other foreign threats' because lawmakers had not yet acted on the administration's proposal for the wiretapping law.

"But within hours of sending that letter, administration officials told lawmakers on the House and Senate intelligence committees that they had prevailed upon all of the telecommunications companies to continue cooperating with the government's requests for information while negotiations with Congress continue." (LA Times)

This is not the first time that National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell has made an untrue statement to Congress.  It's not even the second time.

In September, McConnell told the House Intelligence Committee that Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) requirements prevented agents form quickly tapping Iraqi insurgents' communications, which enabled insurgents to capture three U.S. soldiers in May. 

IN REALITY: officials didn't even seek wiretapping approval until 86 hours after the soldiers had been captured.

McConnell also told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the "Protect America Act" had led to the capture of terrorists in Germany.  

IN REALITY: German agents had uncovered the terrorist plot based on info they'd received 10 months before the Act was passed.  After other intelligence officials shared the facts with Congress, McConnell retracted that statement.

See Memeorandum for other bloggers' reactions: RADAMISTO, The Corner, Washington Monthly and American Street

Other BN-Politics Posts:

* McConnell Retracts False Statement Given to Congress

* Mukasey & McConnell Admit Spying outside FISA is Illegal

* So, Let him Veto FISA (and "Protect Terrorists")

* McCaskill Likes Telecom Amnesty...

* Domestic Spying Started Before 9/11, Money Changed Hands

* CBS' Video on Questionable Siegelman Prosecution

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