URLhttp://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/mp/5718313/bush-allowed-unprecedented-spying/ (11th July 2009)
Bush allowed 'unprecedented' spying
AAP July 11, 2009, 7:01 am
Bush allowed 'unprecedented' spying
AAP July 11, 2009, 7:01 am
The Bush administration authorised secret surveillance activities that have still not been made public, according to a new US government report that questions the legal basis for the unprecedented anti-terrorism program. It is unclear how much valuable intelligence was yielded by the surveillance program started after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, according to the unclassified summary of reports by five inspectors-general. The reports mandated by Congress last year were delivered to lawmakers on Friday.
President George W Bush authorised other secret intelligence activities - which have yet to become public - even as he was launching the massive warrantless wiretapping program, the summary said. It describes the entire program as the President's Surveillance Program. The report describes the program as unprecedented and raises questions about the legal grounding used for its creation. It also says the intelligence agencies' continued retention and use of the information collected under the program should be carefully monitored.
Many senior intelligence officials believe the program filled a gap in intelligence. Others, including FBI, CIA and National Counterterrorism Centre analysts, said intelligence gathered by traditional means was often more specific and timely, according to the report. The Bush White House acknowledged in 2005 it allowed the National Security Agency to intercept international communications that passed through US cables without court orders.
The inspectors-general interviewed more than 200 government officials and private sector personnel, including former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden, former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former attorney-general Alberto Gonzales. Five former Bush administration officials refused to be interviewed, including former CIA director George Tenet and former attorney-general John Ashcroft. The others were former White House chief-of-staff Andrew Card; former top Cheney aide David Addington; and John Yoo, who served as a deputy assistant attorney-general.
The IG report said an unnamed White House official inserted a paragraph into the first threat assessment prepared by the CIA after the September 11 attacks, which was used to justify the extraordinary intelligence measures. The paragraph said the "individuals and organisations involved in global terrorism possessed the capability and intention to undertake further terrorist attacks within the United States", according to the report. It also said the president should authorise the NSA to conduct the surveillance activities.
Congress required the review of the so-called warrantless wire-tapping program last year when it revised the FISA, a 30 year-old law that created a secret court to oversee government electronic surveillance. The inspectors general of the CIA, Justice Department, Defence Department, National Security Agency and Office of the National Intelligence Director also reviewed the Bush-era surveillance program.
Comments:
What is certain is that, Bush may not even know what he is signing, just that he need to sign the ‘Intelligence Activities’ of the CIA, FBI, and others. And most of the Directors of these agencies are Jews.
Also see, Official Documents of the United States of America:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Official_documents_of_the_United_States
