:: Part 1: Dec 2005 - Feb 2006
-
19 December 2005
Times Sat on Wiretapping Story for a Year
The New York Times said that it had sat on the story about warrantless, domestic electronic surveillance, "for a year" at the request of the White House. In part, Executive Editor Bill Keller said that the Time revisited its decision to hold the story because the NSA had "authority to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States without a warrant ... It is that expansion of authority -- not the need for a robust anti-terror intelligence operation -- that prompted debate within the government, and that is the subject of the article."
-
19 December 2005
Bush Defends By-Passing Courts, Asserts Wiretaps Are Legal
In a press conference, President Bush peppered his remarks with 9-11 (seven references in 17 paragraphs in the press statement) and the cloak of the 9-11 Commission while asserting that the National Security Agency wiretapping reported by the New York Times last week was constitutional.
Moreover, he insisted he would continue the non-court-sanctioned program indefinitely: "so long as the nation faces the continuing threat of an enemy that wants to kill American citizens."
Bush said, "I want to make clear to the people listening that this program is limited in nature to those that are known al Qaeda ties and/or affiliates."
-
28 December 2005
Secret Court Modified Record Number of Bush Wiretap Requests
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) modified almost 100 times as many Bush administration wiretap requests (179) as it did in all prior administrations combined (2), according to an analysis of Department of Justice records by Hearst newspapers. Wiretaps issued without FISC due process include members of the United Nations Security Council, "to determine how foreign delegates would vote on a U.N. resolution that paved the way for the U.S.-led war in Iraq," US Liberals Guide Deborah White reports today.
-
17 January 2006
Gore Calls for Special Counsel to Investigate Wiretaps
Former Vice President and Presidential Candidate Al Gore called on the Attorney General to immediately appoint a special counsel "to remedy the obvious conflict of interest that prevents him from investigating what many believe are serious violations of law by the President." In response to a question from ABC News, Gore agreed that "President Bush's domestic spying program" might be an impeachable offense, noting that "Article II of the impeachment charges against President Nixon was warrantless wiretapping that the President said was 'necessary' for national security."
-
23 January 2006
McCain Contradicts Administration on NSA Wiretaps
David Mark, of Journalists Against Bush's B.S., suggests that either Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) or Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is "lying" regarding obtaining Congressional authority for the warrantless wiretaps program.
-
7 February 2006
Gonzales: Wiretaps Essential; Specter, Plan "Defies Logic"
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified -- but not under oath -- for eight hours before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, asserting the Administration's warrantless wiretapping program is both vital and legal. At the close of the testimony, Chair Arlen Spector (R-PA) said the assertion that program is legal "just defies logic and plain English." The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, established in the wake of Watergate and illegal wiretaps, sets up a special court that senators said should have first reviewed the wiretaps.
-
10 February 2006
Ipso Wiretap Poll : Half Believe Wiretap Warrants Necessary
These polls show only that about half of the American public believes the President should be required to use a warrant. Given the many other areas of public life where this country is divided almost 50-50, this should be no great suprise. Or news.
-
14 February 2006
Justice Agrees to Release Secret Wiretap Records
Facing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, the U.S. Department of Justice has conceded that it could by March 3, begin releasing the internal memos relied on by the White House in justifying and authorizing the controversial ÒwarrantlessÓ wiretap program conducted by the National Security Agency.
:: Introduction
:: Part 1: Dec 2005 - Feb 2006
:: Part 2: Apr 2006 - July 2006
:: Part 3: Aug 2006 -
:: Part 4: Sept 2007 - Jan 2008
