Reuters: CIA chief says warrants ill-suited for al Qaeda hunt

[Eugene]

CIA chief says warrants ill-suited for al Qaeda hunt

By David Morgan
Reuters
Wednesday, July 26, 2006; 10:34 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - CIA Director Michael Hayden told senators on Wednesday
that the requirement of court orders to carry out electronic surveillance inside
the United States was ill-suited for tracking al Qaeda and other militant groups.

In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the intelligence official
who crafted President George W. Bush's domestic spying program also said
international phone calls targeted by warrantless surveillance are the most valuable
to protecting national security.

<snip>

Congress is debating how to accommodate the legally questionable NSA eavesdropping
program by changing the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA.

<snip>

"The FISA regime from 1978 onward focused on specific court orders, against
individual targets ... that was well suited to stable, foreign entities," Hayden said.

"It is not as well suited to detect and prevent attacks against the homeland," he added.

<snip>

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072600626.html

[havocmom]

1. CIA chief ill suited to make policies in a democracy

I have more fear of the home grown threats to America than of any foreign group.

Hayden hates us for our freedom.

[VWolf]

2. The FISA law is STILL inadequate?

I call bullshit.

Wasn't it modified like 18 times since 9/11 to satisfy the whims of this maladministration???

Ah well, it's just a piece of paper anyway :sarcasm:

[rodeodance]

3. can't people get it--that these warrents can be retrospective! There is NO

excuse not to do it retrospectively--!

[dpbrown]

4. "attacks against the homeland" - what Nazi doublespeak

This is crackpot fear-mongering at its worst. The law is the law. It applies to them like it applies to everyone else. This bogeyman "homeland" garbage is just their codewords for "opting out" of the law.

[kurth]

5. It's HARD WORK to call a judge to rubberstamp a warrant

Fucking fascists.

[w4rma]

6. Bull. They want to be able to spy on Democrats and paperwork would

make that a huge problem.

[teryang]

7. This guy violated the 4th Amendment on a massive scale,

violating his oath to support and defend the Constitution, and then got caught lying about it.

Fuck him.

The first casualty of war is reason. That's why totalitarian extremists love war.

[struggle4progress]

8. U.S. intelligence chiefs urge easing of spy rules

By David Morgan

Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:56 AM IST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities could not track al Qaeda effectively if required to obtain court warrants before eavesdropping on telephone conversations involving U.S. callers, top intelligence officials said on Wednesday.

Three administration officials, including CIA Director Michael Hayden, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to press lawmakers to ease warrant requirements for the surveillance of al Qaeda suspects.

"Why should our laws make it more difficult to target al Qaeda communications that are most important to us -- those entering or leaving this country," Hayden said.

The four-star Air Force general set up President George W. Bush's warrantless surveillance program in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks while he was director of the National Security Agency ...

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-07-27T011041Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-261131-2.xml&archived=False