Report: Bush surveillance program was massive

[laststeamtrain]

Report: Bush surveillance program was massive
By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer 4 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration built an unprecedented surveillance operation to pull in mountains of information far beyond the warrantless wiretapping previously acknowledged, a team of federal inspectors general reported Friday, questioning the legal basis for the effort but shielding almost all details on grounds they're still too secret to reveal.

The report, compiled by five inspectors general, refers to "unprecedented collection activities" by U.S. intelligence agencies under an executive order signed by President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Just what those activities involved remains classified, but the IGs pointedly say that any continued use of the secret programs must be "carefully monitored."

The report says too few relevant officials knew of the size and depth of the program, let alone signed off on it. They particularly criticize John Yoo, a deputy assistant attorney general who wrote legal memos undergirding the policy. His boss, Attorney General John Ashcroft, was not aware until March 2004 of the exact nature of the intelligence operations beyond wiretapping that he had been approving for the previous two and a half years, the report says.

Most of the intelligence leads generated under what was known as the "President's Surveillance Program" did not have any connection to terrorism, the report said. But FBI agents told the authors that the "mere possibility of the leads producing useful information made investigating the leads worthwhile."

The inspectors general interviewed more than 200 people inside and outside the government, but five former Bush administration officials refused to be questioned. They were Ashcroft, Yoo, former CIA Director George Tenet, former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and David Addington, an aide to former Vice President Dick Cheney.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090711/ap_on_go_co/us_domestic_surveillance

[lordsummerisle]

1. Shouldn't this read IS massive...? n/t

[Patchuli]

2. Bust these lousy chickenshit bastards!!!!!!!!

Let is ALL hang out!!

[laststeamtrain]

4. The Hombres - Let it All Hang Out Lyrics

The Hombres - Let it All Hang Out Lyrics

(Spoken)
A preachment, dear friend
You are about to receive on John Barleycorn
Nicotine and the temptations of Eve

No parkin' by the sewer sign
Hot dog, my razors broke
Water drippin' up the spout
But I dont care, let it all hang out

Hangin' from a pine tree by my knees
Sun is shinin' through the shade
Nobody knows what its all about
It's too much, man, let it all hang out

Saw a man walkin' upside down
My T.V.s on the blink
Made Galileo look like a Boy Scout
Sorry 'bout that, let it all hang out

Sleep all day, drive all night
Brain my numb, can't stop now
For sure ain't no doubt
Keep an open mind, let it all hang out

It's rainin' inside a big brown moon
How does that mess you baby up, leg
Eatin' a Reuben sandwich with sauerkraut
Don't stop now, baby, let it all hang out

Let it all hang out
Let it all hang out
Let it all hang out

[IDemo]

3. Disconnect at paragraph 3

If the activities *involved* (past tense), wouldn't that imply they no longer exist? Why is continued use of the programs, much less "careful monitoring" of them, still an issue?

[chill_wind]

5. "Refused to be questioned."

"..but five former Bush administration officials refused to be questioned."

And apparently it remains just that easy.

[aquart]

6. Effective for WHAT? Getting rid of Spitzer?