NSA Spying Evolved Pre-9/11 (NEW-Jason Leopold)

[kpete]

NSA Spying Evolved Pre-9/11
Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2006-01-17 15:05. Media
By Jason Leopold, t r u t h o u t | www.truthout.org

In the months before 9/11, thousands of American citizens were inadvertently swept up in wiretaps, had their emails monitored, and were being watched as they surfed the Internet by spies at the super-secret National Security Agency, former NSA and counterterrorism officials said.

The NSA, with full knowledge of the White House, crossed the line from routine surveillance of foreigners and suspected terrorists into illegal activity by continuing to monitor the international telephone calls and emails of Americans without a court order. The NSA unintentionally intercepts Americans' phone calls and emails if the agency's computers zero in on a specific keyword used in the communication. But once the NSA figures out that they are listening in on an American, the eavesdropping is supposed to immediately end, and the identity of the individual is supposed to be deleted. While the agency did follow protocol, there were instances when the NSA was instructed to keep tabs on certain individuals that became of interest to some officials in the White House.

What sets this type of operation apart from the unprecedented covert domestic spying activities the NSA had been conducting after 9/11 is a top secret executive order signed by President Bush in 2002 authorizing the NSA to target specific American citizens. Prior to 9/11, American citizens were the subject of non-specific surveillance by the NSA that was condoned and approved by President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, according to former NSA and counterterrorism officials.

The sources, who requested anonymity because they were instructed not to talk about NSA activities but who hope they can testify before Congress about the domestic spying, said that in December 2000, the NSA completed a report for the incoming administration titled "Transition 2001," which explained, among other things, how the NSA would improve its intelligence gathering capabilities by hiring additional personnel.

more at:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/6872

[JuniperLea]

1. Gee, that makes what Cheney said, erm, a lie!

He said had they used wiretaps pre-9/11, then maybe they would have been able to stop the attack.

Bovine excrement! They were wiretapping and they already had info on the attacks. Plus, no warrant or other court approval is necessary to spy on non-Americans.

They have been spying on us for a long while, I'd bet my bottom dollar.

[Strawman]

2. Yep. Guess they were fully unencumbered yet still incompetent failures

[KoKo]

3. Is this an "Update" to Leopold's first piece about this which wasn't

nailed down according to an analysis on a Kos Diary? The snip does seem a little different.

:shrug: