-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: July 31, 2007 6:57:02 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Bush Used Cover of "National Security" in 2004 to
Manipulate the ELECTIONS
Ever since Bush STOLE the presidential election in 2000, his top
priority has been to devote all the resources of the federal
government --Justice Dept, courts, FBI/NSA/CIA-- to PURGING
Democrats from the "democratic process," to guarantee one-party
rule by the Nazi --er, REPUBLICAN-- Party
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Data mining, the NSA, DOJ corruption and impeachment
http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2007/07/data-mining-nsa-doj-
corruption-and.html
In all the controversy over Attorney General Alberto Gonzales'
testimony, no-one has noticed a key fact: The latest stories about
data mining -- stories based, it is said, on administration leaks
intended to aid the embattled Gonzales -- confirm the report of an
unfairly tarnished NSA whistleblower.
Remember Russell Tice?
He was a source for the original New York Times reportage on the
FISA-free wiretapping program. When he first indicated that he
disagreed with the administration's scheme to spy on Americans, the
vengeance squads targeted him. First, he was subjected to a bogus
psychiatric examination. (This is a familiar tactic in the
intelligence community; I have heard of an example going back to
the early 60s.) Then he was demoted to the most humiliating jobs in
the NSA heirarchy. In essence, he was "axed" to leave.
As soon as the public learned that the the NYT had used Tice as a
source, the attack dogs -- Rush, O'Reilly and other feral stalkers
of the night -- howled and growled and bared their fangs. I cite
this example only because it was written by a hack with the
delicious name of Moran.
In an earlier post, I cited this article:
Tice is a 20-year veteran of the United States intelligence
network, having worked for Naval Intelligence, the Department of
Defense and, most recently, the National Security Agency, where he
held the position of intelligence analyst and capabilities officer.
He has intimate knowledge of the innermost workings of the
intelligence community, and wants to tell Congress about an NSA
program that, he says, is unconstitutional and possibly criminal.
“What [the American people] know about is Hiroshima,” he says.
“What I’m going to tell you about is Nagasaki. I’m going to tell
you about three Nagasakis.” He is gagged, however, by the non-
disclosure agreement he signed before becoming privy to top-secret
government activities.
(Emphasis added.)What might this refer to? Data mining.
(To read the rest, click "Permalink" below)
Tice describes the NSA's activities in vague and "hypothetical"
terms here. To put matters simply: The NSA scoops up everything --
all telephone communications, all email, everything -- without a
warrant. Data mining programs are used to winnow the information
down to manageable size. If you want more technical details, start
here.
(Incidentally, this program is at the heart of Dan Brown's Digital
Fortress. Brown is, of course, notorious for making up what he is
pleased to call his "facts." However, he does claim to have had the
assistance of NSA insiders in the writing of that work, which seems
rather more convincing than do his other fictions.)
But who does the winnowing? Who chooses the targets? According to
Tice,
...when a problem arose and I raised concerns, the total lack of
concern that anyone could be held accountable for any illegality
involved. And then these things are so deep black, the extremely
sensitive programs that I was a specialist in, these things are so
deep black that only a minute few people are cleared for these
things. So even if you have a concern, it's things in many cases
your own supervisor isn't cleared for.
And:
Fear rules the day right now. For the most part, people know, NSA
employees know, that this is wrong, that this is illegal. In many
cases they feel betrayed by their own leadership, by [former NSA
Director Gen. Michael] Hayden, [NSA Director Lt. Gen. Keith]
Alexander, and by [Deputy Director] Bill Black.
Here's what Tice told Amy Goodman about data mining:
But it's basically a way of searching all of the data that exists,
and that’s things like credit card records and driver's license,
anything that you can get your hands on and try to associate it
with some activity. I think if we were doing that overseas with
known information, it would be a good thing if we’re pinning them
down. But ultimately, when we're using that on -- if we’re using
that with U.S. databases, then ultimately, once again, the American
people are -- their civil rights are being violated.
Just last year, the Republican attack machine attempted to make
people believe that these were the ravings of a "certified kook."
Now we have this story, planted (some say) by the administration
itself:
A 2004 dispute over the National Security Agency’s secret
surveillance program that led top Justice Department officials to
threaten resignation involved computer searches through massive
electronic databases, according to current and former officials
briefed on the program.
It is not known precisely why searching the databases, or data
mining, raised such a furious legal debate. But such databases
contain records of the phone calls and e-mail messages of millions
of Americans, and their examination by the government would raise
privacy issues.
Confirmation! The administration was using the NSA's data mining
capabilities to compile information about certain Americans, and it
did so without a warrant. The lack of a warrant tells us that these
Americans were not suspected of involvement with criminal activity.
This illegal spying led to threats of resignation at the DOJ -- and
it led to that bizarre race-to-the-hospital involving acting AG
James Comey. (Michael Collins does the best job of describing the
outrageous nature of that incident.)
Two important points:
1. As Josh Marshall has noted, an NYT editorial offhandedly
revealed that Cheney himself set the "hospital race" into motion.
Data mining was of top concern to the Bush White House.
2. The incident occurred in an election year.
At no point does Tice claim that Bush and Cheney were gathering
information on political opponents. But what else could have made
this matter so dire in 2004? If the Bushies had foiled a terror
plot, they would have bragged about it.
Remember: At this same time, Bush's ultra-politicized Department of
Justice was pressuring U.S. Attorneys to prosecute ginned-up "voter
registration fraud" cases designed to suppress the Democratic vote.
he political use of NSA data mining falls under the heading of
"What We Believe but Cannot Prove." The evidence may not yet be
conclusive, but it all points in one direction. I further believe
that the Democratic leadership knows that data mining has been used
for political purposes.
Such a charge, if proven, could bring about not just impeachment
but removal from office. Even the staunchest conservatives in the
Senate would not have the belly for such activities.
Thus, I believe that John Conyers should call Russell Tice as a
witness.
Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL.com.
www.ctrl.org
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