Dodd Asks Bolton to Explain His Security Requests (what's this about?)

[DeepModem Mom]

New York Times:
Senator Asks U.N. Nominee to Explain His Security Requests
By DOUGLAS JEHL

Published: April 14, 2005


WASHINGTON, April 13 - John R. Bolton, nominated to be the next ambassador to the United Nations, used his position as a senior State Department official to obtain details about intercepted communications involving other American officials that were monitored by the National Security Agency, according to Mr. Bolton's own account.

The identities of American officials whose communications are intercepted are usually closely protected by law, and not included even in classified intelligence reports. Access to the names may be authorized by the N.S.A. only in response to special requests, and these are not common, particularly from policy makers.

Testifying Monday to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Bolton acknowledged that he had made such requests "on a couple of occasions, maybe a few more." Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, has requested that Mr. Bolton explain each request, Democratic Congressional officials said.

Mr. Bolton told the committee that his only motivation had been "to better understand" a summary of an intercepted conversation, saying that on some occasions, "it's important to find out who is saying what to whom."

A former senior intelligence official said it was uncommon but not unheard of for a senior government official to request such information. "Access is not granted lightly and circulation of such data is very restricted," this former official said. The official said such requests were approved only when learning the name was crucial to understanding the intelligence gathered....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/14/politics/14bolton.html

[TahitiNut]

1. I guess it'd only be paranoia to suspect that Mr. Bolton made such ...

... requests mostly regarding "American officials" who opposed the policies and practices of the Bushoilini (m)Administration? Yeah. That'd be paranoia. Yep. :eyes:

[Norquist Nemesis]

2. What types of intercepted "communications" were these?

Written? Cell phone? Dinner at Spagos?

It sad when the first thing that comes to my mind under this administration is spying on our elected officials who are the political opposition.

[Straight Shooter]

3. "on a couple of occasions, maybe a few more."

In other words, many times. Bolton is duplicitous. It's either the half-truth or no truth at all that slides out from between his lizard lips.

[redqueen]

4. I think I'll thank Senator Dodd.

Yes indeed.

[Demeter]

5. Blackmail and Sabotage

nothing to see here, folks, move along...

[Pirate Smile]

6. Here is more

Mr. Dodd asked Mr. Lugar on Wednesday to hold a third public hearing on Mr. Bolton's nomination, to allow testimony from a top Central Intelligence Agency official and three State Department officials. In closed-door interviews conducted with the panel's staff, all four officials have provided accounts of two episodes in which, they said, Mr. Bolton sought to remove intelligence analysts from their posts.

A former assistant secretary of state, Carl W. Ford Jr., testified in public on Tuesday about one of those episodes, saying it had a chilling effect on intelligence analysis within the State Department.

In another criticism, a former United States ambassador to South Korea, Thomas C. Hubbard, disputed Mr. Bolton's assertion on Monday that a speech Mr. Bolton delivered in Seoul in 2003 on North Korea had been fully approved by Mr. Hubbard. "At the very least, he greatly, greatly exaggerated my comments," Mr. Hubbard said in an interview.On Wednesday the Senate panel's Democrats opposed any swift vote on the appointment, forcing the Republican chairman, Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, to agree to postpone any vote until next week. But a spokesman for Senator Lugar said he did not support Mr. Dodd's request for additional information. "We are prepared to vote," the spokesman, Andy Fisher, said.

Mr. Dodd asked Mr. Lugar on Wednesday to hold a third public hearing on Mr. Bolton's nomination, to allow testimony from a top Central Intelligence Agency official and three State Department officials. In closed-door interviews conducted with the panel's staff, all four officials have provided accounts of two episodes in which, they said, Mr. Bolton sought to remove intelligence analysts from their posts.

[eek]

7. Spying on Joe Wilson, perhaps?

(snip)

The issue of the eavesdropping by the National Security Agency, particularly when it involves Americans whose conversations with foreign surveillance targets are intercepted, is a sensitive one and its details are highly classified.

(snip) But its global eavesdropping net regularly picks up communications involving Americans, including phone calls, faxes, e-mail messages and other communications.

Under the rules, the names of ordinary citizens generally must be removed from any report of the intercept, with the phrase "U.S. person" substituted.But there is an exception for "senior executive branch officials," including ambassadors and dozens of senior State Department officials, who may be identified in reports by their titles.

[htuttle]

8. Think back to before the Iraq invasion

As I recall, the Bush admin got busted bugging a bunch of places -- some UN offices, a few allied embassies, etc...

Here's a link to one account of that:
Revealed: US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war
Sunday March 2, 2003
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,905899,00.html

Using the NSA to help accomplish this would be something I'd expect from them.

[DemBeans]

9. what a total scumbag this guy is

Just the fact of the nomination itself is an outrage.

"A couple of occasions, maybe a few more"....he must have remembered midway through the sentence that he was under oath.

[msanthrope]

10. This explains the Senate Republicans agreeing to a delay

'til next week on the voting.

Why do I think that the Dems have something big up their sleeves, and the Senate Repubs are quietly backing off?


Am I an optimist?

[DeepModem Mom]

11. I'm always grateful for any expression of optimism! nt

[jefferson_dem]

12. The bombshell to push Chafee off the fence once and for all?

It *should* be...!

:nuke:

[DeepModem Mom]

13. Oh, wow -- if this could sway Chafee --

I hadn't thought of that!

[Az_lefty]

14. Good God, these guys are spying on each other...

this sounds like the kind of crap that has been going on inside this paranoid administration all along. Hope they bust him on this!
:hide:

[DeepModem Mom]

15. Sorry -- self-kick because I'm so curious about this....

Any more thoughts, anybody?

[gademocrat7]

16. I truly hope this is what will move

Chaffee to vote with the Dems.