"The Clinton administration program, code-named Echelon, complied with
FISA. Before any conversations of U.S. persons were targeted, a FISA
warrant was obtained. CIA director George Tenet testified to this
before Congress on 4/12/00"
As in previous instances where Bush43 or his folks have been caught
doing something bad, or criminal, it is again the tactic to point at
Clinton as having done it too. Not valid at all this time.
Yes, the foreign government members of Echelon provided transcripts of
U.S. conversations NSA could not easily target without intercepting
too many innocent calls.
No, it was not done illegally, but legally with targeting approved by
FISA.
David Bier
The Echelon Myth
Prominent right-wing bloggers â" including Michelle Malkin, the Corner,
Wizbang and Free Republic â" are pushing the argument that President
Bushâs warrantless domestic spying program isnât news because the
Clinton administration did the same thing.
The right-wing outlet NewsMax sums up the basic argument:
During the 1990âs under President Clinton, the National Security
Agency monitored millions of private phone calls placed by U.S.
citizens and citizens of other countries under a super secret program
code-named Echelonâ¦all of it done without a court order, let alone a
catalyst like the 9/11 attacks.
Thatâs flatly false. The Clinton administration program, code-named
Echelon, complied with FISA. Before any conversations of U.S. persons
were targeted, a FISA warrant was obtained. CIA director George Tenet
testified to this before Congress on 4/12/00:
Iâm here today to discuss specific issues about and allegations
regarding Signals Intelligence activities and the so-called Echelon
Program of the National Security Agencyâ¦
There is a rigorous regime of checks and balances which we, the
Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the FBI
scrupulously adhere to whenever conversations of U.S. persons are
involved, whether directly or indirectly. We do not collect against
U.S. persons unless they are agents of a foreign power as that term is
defined in the law. We do not target their conversations for
collection in the United States unless a FISA warrant has been
obtained from the FISA court by the Justice Department.
Meanwhile, the position of the Bush administration is that they can
bypass the FISA court and every other court, even when they are
monitoring the communications of U.S. persons. It is the difference
between following the law and breaking it.
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