NSA Accused of Protecting U.S. From Terrorists
Leaks, Leaks, and more Leaks
Posted By Froggy
Right off the top, I DO NOT want to question the timing of this leak whatsoever. I see absolutely no connection between a link analysis program that begun in the NSA in 2001, and the recent nomination of the former head of the NSA to DCI. It would be ridiculous to even speculate that the leak of this highly classified program was timed to affect the outcome of upcoming Senate Intelligence Committee hearings. NO PHREAKING WAY!
[Read on here.]
NSA Accused of Protecting U.S. From Terrorists
John Hinderaker
Liberals are jumping up and down about USA Today's publication of another leak relating to the National Security Agency. It's considered a news flash that the NSA is collecting data on phone calls, with the cooperation of almost all of the major telecom companies, to look for suspicious patterns. This is a "data mining" project that does not involve listening in on conversations, but merely identifying phone numbers involved in possible terrorist communications.
[Read on here.]
I guess this is the big story of the day that the blogosphere's supposed to be buzzing about, but I just can't get excited about it. The NSA's doing its job. And that's news?
More here, here, here, here and here if you're that interested.
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Excavating For Bones of a Scandal
Dafydd ab Hugh
The scandal du jour is that the National Security Administration (NSA) has evidently been data-mining records of phone calls, which has every Democrat and a few hand-wringing Republicans in an uproar. (And does anyone doubt that USA Today chose yesterday, of all days, to release their original story in an effort to torpedo the nomination of Gen. Michael Hayden to head up the CIA?)
Alas, but hardly unexpectedly, many medioids and politicians appear to be conflating this story with the unrelated NSA al-Qaeda intercept story (Reuters most obviously, which I'll highlight below). But I'm way ahead of myself; let's first describe what is actually going on, assuming USAToday can be believed.
[Read on here.]
Michelle Malkin: Let The Posturing Begin
The more I hear about this, the more upset I get -- not at the NSA for doing its job or at Bush for approving of it, but at the asshole(s) who leaked information about it and the ones that published it.
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Subject: Cooperation with NSA by phone companies
Kevin J. Martin, Chairman
Federal Communications Commission
Dear Chairman Martin and fellow Commissioners:
The USA Today story about the NSA program to assemble a nationwide database of telephone records is, as you all know, splashed all over the evening news.
The Big Story, oddly enough, is that Qwest Communications has "courageously" refused to cooperate in the NSA effort. Some sappy Senator--I refuse even to type his name--went so far as to go public with his commendation of Qwest for their refusal.
What does Qwest's refusal really mean? It means that Qwest has issued an open invitation to terrorists, mobsters, malefactors and would-be malefactors of all sorts: "Come one, come all. If you wish to use the telephone to attack the United States or to damage its people or institutions in any manner whatsoever, we--courageous Quest Communications--will shield you from government surveillance."
By implication, Qwest has in effect tarred every one of its subscribers with the suspicion that they may be hiding criminal or terrorist activity.
This is unconscionable. OK, we are the land of the free. But since when does the freedom of governmentally licensed businesses extend to frustrating government efforts to track down lawbreakers, let alone enemy agents in wartime? FDR would not have stood for it, nor would Harry Truman or John F. Kennedy.
I'm no lawyer, but I am confident that if your own legal beagles do due diligence, they can find in the statutes that create and direct the operations of the FCC a massive club to hold over the heads of chief executives of communication companies that defy the government. I urge you to find that club, and brandish it with maximal menace.
Thank you for your attention.
Very truly yours,
John Van Laer
John Hinderaker: Those Phone Records Sure Are Secret!
Ed Morrissey: Needles, Haystacks, Phone Calls, And NSA
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