Gonzales to Testify on Domestic Spying

[Eugene]

Gonzales to Testify on Domestic Spying


Friday January 13, 2006 6:32 PM

By MARK SHERMAN

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has agreed to testify at a Senate hearing
on the Bush administration's domestic spying program, a Justice Department official said Friday.

Gonzales will discuss the legal authority for the National Security Agency's warrantless
eavesdropping on telephone conversations between suspected terrorists and people in the
United States, the official said.

The attorney general will not talk about operational aspects of the program at the hearing,
which is expected to take place early next month, the official said.

<snip>

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because Gonzales was expected to discuss the matter
with reporters later Friday.

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5544198,00.html

[wicket]

1. kick

:kick:

[UpInArms]

2. will Biden's love-cookie be under oath? ........ eom

[dutchdemocrat]

3. Gonzales to testify on US domestic spying program

Gonzales to testify on US domestic spying program

By Deborah Charles 58 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said on Friday he will testify in a Senate hearing to give the administration's legal justification for a secret domestic eavesdropping operation approved by
President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks.

News last month of the covert domestic spying program sparked an outcry by Democrats and Republicans, with many lawmakers and rights groups questioning whether it violates the U.S. Constitution.

"One of my responsibilities as attorney general is to explain some of what the administration is doing and the reasons for, the rationale for, what the administration is doing," Gonzales told reporters.

"The president has confirmed the existence of a highly classified program," he said, referring to the domestic eavesdropping program conducted by the National Security Agency. "Many parts of the program still remain classified."

Gonzales said he had agreed with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Republican from Pennsylvania, to testify in hearings on the domestic spying program.

SNIP

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060113/us_nm/security_eavesdropping_dc_4

Related DU thread on Wiretapping here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x129973#132331

[rodeodance]

4. The judes from NSA met with Bucho?--or was it was the Justice dept?

But they were mum about this.


....A 1978 law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, makes it illegal to spy on U.S. citizens in the United States without the approval of a special, secret court. Bush secretly gave the NSA authority to intercept communications without such approval.

Bush and senior administration officials have argued that the policy of authorizing without court orders eavesdropping on international phone calls and e-mails by Americans suspected of links to terrorism is legal and necessary to help defend the country after September 11.

"We believe the legal authorities are there and that the president acted consistent with his legal authorities and in a manner that he felt was necessary and appropriate to protect this country against this new kind of threat," Gonzales said.

Gonzales has said the authorization of military force by the U.S. Congress after the September 11 attacks also gave the president the right to conduct the domestic surveillance.......

[cascadiance]

5. Village Voice article on this notes Tice warned to "keep quiet"...

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0602,ridgeway,71760,6.html


Mondo Washington

Gonzales to Tell Senate About Domestic Spying

But that Tice guy still can't say a word
by James Ridgeway
January 13th, 2006 6:24 PM

WASHINGTON, D.C.—News that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about President Bush’s domestic wiretap spying comes even as a would-be whistleblower on the issue has been silenced.

The National Security Agency, which carried out Bush’s spying program, has warned Russell Tice, its former employee who wants to tell the House and Senate Intelligence committees about the agency’s secret eavesdropping on American phone calls, not to reveal classified information to Congress. Tice told on Tuesday that he was a source for recent New York Times reporting on eavesdropping, although he never discussed classified information.

The NSA says he has to keep quiet not because it is opposed to the employee testifying per se—but because committee members and their staffs do not have security clearances.

In fact, the members and staffs of these committees conducted the most detailed, classified investigation of national security matters during their Joint Inquiry into intelligence operations leading up to 9-11.

...