CQ Politics has an article up worthy of a full read. In short, the NSA was listening in on an Israel operative, with court approval. During these intercepts, a call from Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) is picked up. Its reported that Harman said she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce charges against an Israeli […]
The Patriot Act has passed in the House and is not set to be signed by Bush. In the AP article about this passing they had a paragraph that made me laugh: The vote, 280-138 under special rules that required a two-thirds majority, marked a political victory for Bush and will allow congressional Republicans facing […]
The Christian Science Monitor gives us this nice little piece of information: ASHLAND, ORE. – Of all the lawsuits seeking to halt the National Security Agency’s program to eavesdrop on certain Americans’ electronic communications, a new one filed last week in Oregon may provide the federal courts with the most detailed glimpse yet into the […]
It looks like Pat Roberts has made somewhat a change in how he feels the wiretapping program should operate: The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Friday that he wanted the Bush administration’s domestic eavesdropping program brought under the authority of a special intelligence court, a move President Bush has argued is not necessary. […]
Senator Kennedy said we are sending a message to the people conducting the taps they may be prosecuted for illegal taps, also we are sending a message to the telecommunication companies that they are under siege and could result in criminal prosecution and has already lead to a civil case. He also brought up the […]
Patrick Leahy asked if Gonzalez came to the conclusion that the authorization to use force gave the power to the President to authorize the taps before the authorization was passed by Congress. Gonzalez said he hadn’t come to the conclusion but would not answer if others had. The authorization for force was on September 14, […]
Specter just asked Gonzalez if when they do go to the FISA court for a warrant if they disclose that their information for the warrant was obtained by warrantless taps. Gonzalez would not answer because he didn’t feel comfortable going in to it. This was a very important question. If FISA is denying warrants because […]
Here is an interesting tidbit from Think Progress. Colin Powell on spying program: “My own judgment is that  it didn’t seem to me, anyway, that it would have been that hard to go and get the warrants [through FISA]. And even in the case of an emergency, you go and do it [begin surveillance]. […]