Taps found clues, not Al Qaeda, FBI chief says (Mueller)

[sabra]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/388032p-329252c.html

Taps found clues, not Al Qaeda, FBI chief says

WASHINGTON - The National Security Agency's secret domestic spying hasn't nabbed any Al Qaeda agents in the U.S. since the Sept. 11 attacks, FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress yesterday.

Mueller told the Senate Intelligence Committee that his agents get "a number of leads from the NSA," but he made it clear Osama Bin Laden's henchmen weren't at the end of the trail.

"I can say leads from that program have been valuable in identifying would-be terrorists in the United States, individuals who were providing material support to terrorists," Mueller testified.

His assessment of the controversial NSA snooping appeared to undercut a key claim by President Bush. As recently as Wednesday, Bush defended bypassing courts in domestic spying by insisting that "one of the people making the call has to be Al Qaeda, suspected Al Qaeda and/or affiliate."

[RamboLiberal]

1. Taps found clues, not Al Qaeda, FBI chief says

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/388032p-329252c.html

The National Security Agency's secret domestic spying hasn't nabbed any Al Qaeda agents in the U.S. since the Sept. 11 attacks, FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress yesterday.

Mueller told the Senate Intelligence Committee that his agents get "a number of leads from the NSA," but he made it clear Osama Bin Laden's henchmen weren't at the end of the trail.

"I can say leads from that program have been valuable in identifying would-be terrorists in the United States, individuals who were providing material support to terrorists," Mueller testified.

His assessment of the controversial NSA snooping appeared to undercut a key claim by President Bush. As recently as Wednesday, Bush defended bypassing courts in domestic spying by insisting that "one of the people making the call has to be Al Qaeda, suspected Al Qaeda and/or affiliate."

[Moderator]

2. Dupe

but just barely
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2084399

[stop the bleeding]

3. kicking for awareness n/t

[BR_Parkway]

4. So, the follow up to that is "When does a person go from providing

material support to terrorist to actually being a terrorist?

If there is anyone on US soil providing material support to terrorists, they need to be arrested.

Well, Director Mueller - we're calling it bullshit.

[MakeItSo]

5. Hot on the trail of Emmanuel Goldstein, however

Another trillion bucks on DoD spending and they are definitely going to nab him.

[satya]

11. LOL! nt

[The_Casual_Observer]

6. This is messed up. Don't you already have to have "leads"

in order to know who you are wire tapping? Bush claimed that they were already suspected Al Qaeda.

The whole deal is bogus & is unraveling.

[0007]

7. cough, hack cough cough, grrrr Argh! What is it gonna take

to wake the fucking sheep up? OMFG!! It is laid open for questioning now and stinks.

[Amonester]

8. Duh... Yeah, all members of any AQ cell R 'probably'

well aware of *'s illegal, criminal, and law breaking eavesdropping...

Why, oh, why would they call each other over the phone lines anyway?

Maybe they're not as much idiot$ as the war criminal$ in Bu$hCo think they R...

Duh.

[satya]

9. When Osama calls me, he always speaks English.

But I'm betting that when he calls others, he doesn't. I was under the impression that there was a shortage of translators; this program misuses a lot of valuable resources.

But maybe the neocons want to redirect the NSA agents' attention elsewhere by wasting time sifting through domestic communications...

[alarcojon]

10. Ah yes, that "terrorist surveillance program"

Not long after the Bush administration adopted new rhetoric to describe its warrantless domestic surveillance program, Fox News reporters and anchors began using the White House's terminology, referring to it as a "terrorist surveillance program." Beginning on January 25 -- during a week that saw the administration go on the offensive to promote its practice of spying on U.S. residents without obtaining warrants -- Fox News began slipping the term, without qualification, into its news reports and commentary.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200601310002