FAS | Intelligence | News | 2006 ||

January 2006 Intelligence News

• Official: Army Has Authority to Spy on Americans by Jeff Stein, CQ Homeland Security, January 31. "Contrary to popular belief, there is no absolute ban on [military] intelligence components collecting U.S. person information,"" the U.S.Army's top intelligence officer said in a 2001 memo that surfaced Tuesday.
• Experts challenge need for warrantless spying by Jim Puzzanghera, San Jose Mercury News, January 28. "It's one of the most vexing questions about the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program: If in a hurry, why didn't officials simply use special emergency provisions allowing 72 hours of eavesdropping before getting court approval?"
• NSA, FISA, and the "Missing 3 Paragraphs" by Chris Anderson, NYC Indymedia, January 27. "The three most controversial paragraphs of DOJ Lawyer James A. Baker's 2002 testimony to congress have disappeared."
• Varied Rationales Muddle Issue of NSA Eavesdropping by Dan Eggen and Walter Pincus, Washington Post, January 27. "Confusion over the issue deepened further yesterday after officials discovered two versions of a Justice statement on the legislation. One, which was posted on the Federation of American Scientists Web site and quoted in media reports, noted possible constitutional concerns. The other, held by the Senate intelligence committee, did not include that issue. Officials could not explain the disparity."
• White House Dismissed '02 Surveillance Proposal by Dan Eggen, Washington Post, January 26. "The Bush administration rejected a 2002 Senate proposal that would have made it easier for FBI agents to obtain surveillance warrants in terrorism cases, concluding that the system was working well and that it would likely be unconstitutional to lower the legal standard."
• Distrust of NSA has roots in '70s by Peter Grier, Christian Science Monitor, January 25. "Now the NSA is being roiled by political controversy over charges that it is illegally eavesdropping on Americans."
• President Visits National Security Agency, news release, January 25. "Most of the accomplishments, of course, that happen out here have got to be secret. But I know the good work they're doing. And so I want to assure the American people that we are lucky to have such professional, smart people working day and night to protect us."
• Attorney General Gonzales Speech on NSA Surveillance Activity at Georgetown University, January 24. "The terrorist surveillance program is firmly grounded in the President�s constitutional authorities."
• A Tangled Web Woven by David E. Kaplan, U.S. News and World Report, January 30. "Since 2003, at least three unclassified CSI reports--all critical of the agency--have been withheld from the CIA's website, U.S. News has learned."
• Remarks of Gen. Michael V. Hayden, at the National Press Club, January 23. "I'm happy to be here to talk a bit about what American intelligence has been doing and especially what NSA has been doing to defend the nation."
• NSA issues guidance on redacting Word, PDF by Shaun Waterman, UPI, January 23. "The National Security Agency has issued technical guidance for U.S. officials on redacting or editing sensitive documents for release following a series of embarrassing incidents in which so-called metadata stored in electronic formats like Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF files has been accidentally exposed."
• White House Defends NSA Surveillance Activity, news release, January 22. "Senate Democrats continue to engage in misleading and outlandish charges about this vital tool that helps us do exactly what the 9/11 Commission said we needed to do - connect the dots."
• NSA spy program hinges on state-of-the-art technology by Shane Harris, National Journal, January 21. "The NSA may be on the cusp of employing state-of-the-art technologies to uncover more information about potential terrorists, and about Americans here at home."
• Air Forces Announces Reconsideration of Status of former Air America Employees, Federal Register, January 19.
• Changing Faces in Bush's Cadre of Intelligence Advisers by David Greene, NPR Morning Edition, January 18. "President Bush met Tuesday with his advisory board on foreign intelligence, at a time when criticism of his domestic eavesdropping program intensifies. When it comes to intelligence matters, the president is being advised by different people than he was a few years ago."
• Bureaucracy hinders 9/11 commission recommendations by Shane Harris and Greta Wodele, National Journal, January 13. "The causes behind the failing and near-failing grades fall into six categories: a Congress resistant to institutional change; a bureaucracy that bucks new ideas; lack of money; lack of leadership; special interests that have the ear of Congress or the White House; and, finally, an inability to accurately see how the United States is perceived abroad."
• Appointment of Benjamin A. Powell to be General Counsel of the ODNI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence news release, January 5. "The Director of National Intelligence welcomes the arrival of Mr. Powell as the General Counsel given the extensive legal issues concerning the implementation of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004."
• White House Defends NSA Surveillance Activity, White House news release, January 4. "The American people expect their leaders to stay a step ahead of the enemy, and the National Security Agency authorization is a critical tool in the War on Terror that saves lives and protects civil liberties at the same time."
• Intelligence panel had clue about spying by Katherine Shrader, Associated Press, January 3. "Congressional intelligence committees had at least a hint in October 2001 that the National Security Agency was expanding its surveillance activities after the 9/11 attacks, according to a letter released Tuesday by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi."
• Pelosi's Declassified Letter on NSA Activities, released January 3. "House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi today released the following letter, which she wrote four years ago when she was Ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, and was recently declassified at her request."