We might have a witness to the wiretapping case.

A former National Security Agency official wants to tell Congress about
electronic intelligence programs that he asserts were carried out illegally
by the NSA and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Russ Tice, a whistleblower who was dismissed from the NSA last year,
stated in letters to the House and Senate intelligence committees that he is
prepared to testify about highly classified Special Access Programs, or SAPs,
that were improperly carried out by both the NSA and the DIA..

 “I intend to report to Congress probable unlawful and
unconstitutional acts conducted while I was an intelligence officer with the
National Security Agency and with the Defense Intelligence Agency,” Mr. Tice
stated in the Dec. 16 letters, copies of which were obtained by The
Washington Times.

View complete article
here.

Something interesting in this article is the fact that Tice was fired for
being a whistle blower. Could be ironic if it turns out he was the source for
the New York Times article.

No matter what, it is good that Mr. Tice is willing to come forward and
address Congress on this issue. I hope Arlen Specter takes him up on that with
his hearings.

Also on the same subject, the FISA court is scheduled to hold a hearing
Monday on the legalities of the program:

The members of a secret federal court that oversees government
surveillance in espionage and terrorism cases are scheduled to receive a
classified briefing Monday from top Justice Department and intelligence
officials about a controversial warrantless-eavesdropping program, according
to sources familiar with the arrangements.

Several judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court said they
want to hear directly from administration officials why President Bush
believed he had the authority to order, without the court’s permission,
wiretapping of some phone calls and e-mails after the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks. Of serious concern to several judges is whether any information
gleaned from intercepts by the National Security Agency was later used to
gain their permission for wiretaps without the source being disclosed.

View complete article

here.

Sadly our information from this hearing will be limited if any given out at
all but at least the wheels are in motion to address this serious issue.

Perhaps we will know more about the reports that Bush secretly tapped the
conversations of Christine Armanpour by then.

AmericaBLOG has the details on that big story they unraveled.