Eavesdropping powers abused without oversight
(updated below - Update II - Update III)
In the most unsurprising revelation imaginable, two former Army Reserve
Arab linguists for the National Security Agency have said that they
routinely eavesdropped on — “and recorded and transcribed” — the private
telephone calls of American citizens who had absolutely nothing to do
with terrorism. The two former NSA employees, who came forward as part
of journalist James Bamford’s forthcoming book on the NSA, intercepted
calls as part of the so-called “Terrorist Surveillance Program,”
whereby George Bush ordered the NSA in 2001 to eavesdrop on Americans’
calls in secret, without first obtaining judicial approval as required
by the law (FISA). That illegal eavesdropping continued for at least
six years — through 2007.
The two NSA whistleblowers, Adrienne Kinne and David Murfee Faulk, were
interviewed by ABC News’ Brian Ross. Kinne said that “US military
officers, American journalists and American aid workers were routinely
intercepted and ‘collected on’ as they called their offices or homes in
the United States.” He also said his co-workers “were ordered to
transcribe these calls.” Faulk told Ross: ”when one of my co-workers
went to a supervisor and said: ’but sir, there are personal calls,’ the
supervisor said: ‘my orders were to transcribe everything’.” He said
that the intercepted calls included highly personal and intimate
conversations and even phone sex.
When Ross showed Kinne a video excerpt of George Bush insisting to the
nation that only those with links to Al Qaeda were eavesdropped on as
part of his illegal spying program, the following exchange occurred:
ROSS: Kinne says she listened to hundreds of Americans simply
calling their families …
KINNE: Personal, private things with Americans who are not in any
way, shape or form associated with anything having anything to do with
terrorism. It was just personal conversations that nobody else should
have been listening to.
ROSS: President Bush has reassured Americans again and again:
GEORGE BUSH: It’s phone calls of known Al Qaeda suspects making
a phone call into the United States.
KINNE: I would say that that is completely a lie — I would call
it a lie — because we were definitely listening to Americans who had
nothing to do with terrorism…
more...
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/10/09/eavesdropping/
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