by D. Cupples | In September, Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell misleadingly 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 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.
Remember those misleading statements if you read McConnell's op-ed, in today's New York Times.
Among other things, McConnell calls for retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that had illegally helped the Bush Administration spy on Americans without warrants. Retroactive immunity, also known as Telecom Amnesty, would do at least the following:
1) Bar lawsuits against telecoms, even those that broke laws;
2) Keep evidence of corporate and governmental lawbreaking out of court;
3) Save telecom companies money.
In a Huffington Post op-ed, Sen. Chris Dodd responded to McConnell's claims, stating that McConnell is "flat wrong." Dodd's piece is worth reading.
McConnell is not the only Bush Administration official who has made questionable or misleading statements about domestic spying. The Bush Administration's once-secret domestic spying programs became public in 2005 (USA Today). Since then, officials have repeatedly claimed that domestic spying grew out of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Recently released evidence suggests that the Bush Administration sought one telecom company's help getting Americans' private records without court approval months before 9/11.
In January 2006, President Bush said this about the surveillance program:
"This is a limited program designed to prevent attacks on the United States of America. And I repeat, limited. And it's limited to calls from outside the United States to calls within the United States. But they are of known -- numbers of known al Qaeda members or affiliates." (Press conference)
In June 2007 we learned from internal audits that the FBI engaged in domestic surveillance and might have violated laws and its own rules 1,000+ times. (WaPo-1)
This month, we learned that Verizon (America's second-largest telecom) had repeatedly given Administration officials domestic customers' records since 2005 and did not try to determine whether the requests were legal. (see WaPo-2 and Verizon's letter to congressional committee.) Verizon said that the FBI sought data not only on a customer making a call, but also on all the people that customer called -- and the people those people called.
Was all of that information related to terrorism? If not, for what purpose did Administration officials seek Americans' private records?
Memeorandum has other bloggers' reactions.
Related BN-Politics Posts:
* More Misleading Statements from Intelligence Chief re: Wiretapping?
* U.S. Intel Chief Made False Statements re: Domestic Spying
* Domestic Spying Started Before 9/11
* Connecting Some Domestic-Spying Dots
* Domestic Spying & Telecom Amnesty: the Bigger Issues
* Bush Wants New Agency for Domestic Spying
* Bush & Senate Republicans Protect Telecoms, Soil Privacy Rights
* Declassified Pre-War Intelligence Report
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