If they delayed 10 hrs, heads should have rolled. Only US government officials would be so unimaginative and bureaucratic (and Constitutionally ignorant) to think that foreign terrorists have 4th Amendment protections. B
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/200 7/September/focusoniraq_September195.xml <http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/20 07/September/focusoniraq_September195.xml§ion=focusoniraq> §ion=focusoniraq US details wiretap delays in Iraq kidnap case (Reuters) 28 September 2007 WASHINGTON - US authorities racing to find three kidnapped American soldiers in Iraq last May labored for nearly 10 hours to get legal authority for wiretaps to help in the hunt, an intelligence official told Congress on Thursday. The top US spy agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, sent Congress a timeline detailing the wiretap effort as the Bush administration makes its case to wary Democrats for a permanent expansion of its authority to eavesdrop on the foreign communications of terrorism suspects. 'In order to comply with the law, the government was required to spend valuable time obtaining an emergency authorization ... to engage in collection related to the kidnapping,' Ronald Burgess, principle deputy director to McConnell, said in a letter to US Rep. Silvestre Reyes. Reyes, a Texas Democrat, is chairman of the House of Representatives intelligence committee. Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell has been under fire from some Democrats in control of Congress who say misstatements have eroded his credibility. Some Democrats and civil liberties advocates say a temporary expansion of the eavesdropping authority passed in August threatens the rights of Americans and any permanent law needs more protections. The timeline shows that at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on May 15, after three days of developing leads on the whereabouts of the three soldiers who went missing south of Baghdad, US agencies met to discuss ways of obtaining more intelligence. Concluding at 12:53 p.m. EDT (1653 GMT) that requirements for emergency eavesdropping approval had been met, officials spent more than four hours debating 'novel and complicated issues' in the case. They spent about more two hours to obtain final approval from then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who was traveling. The wiretap began at 7:38 p.m. (2138 GMT). Authorities then had 72 hours to obtain a special court's endorsement of the emergency authority, which was granted, a US official said. McConnell told the committee last week that an outdated provision in the eavesdropping law made the approval necessary because the targeted foreign communications were carried in part on a wire inside the United States. 'We are extending Fourth Amendment (constitutional) rights to a terrorist foreigner ... who's captured US soldier,' he said, arguing that this was unnecessary and burdensome. Congress temporarily broadened the law in August so such approval would no longer be required, but that legislation expires in February and US President George W. Bush wants a permanent law enacted. An Al Qaeda-led group in June said it had killed the three soldiers, and showed pictured of ID cards of two of the men. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
