NSA's methods spur controversy (Baltimore Sun)

[struggle4progress]

By Douglas Birch, THE BALTIMORE SUN

Several years ago, officials at the National Security Agency sought to reassure taxpayers that the agency had long since repudiated its Vietnam-era spying on U.S. citizens.
They insisted that the movie "Enemy of the State," which portrayed NSA as using its formidable technology to track and eavesdrop on Americans, was the stuff of Hollywood fantasy ...

"I've stuck up for NSA innumerable times, saying I didn't believe they were engaged in illegal activity," said James Bamford, author of two acclaimed books on the NSA, "The Puzzle Palace" and "Body of Secrets." But now, he said, there is no question that after the Sept. 11 attacks the agency broke the law ...

Bamford, who holds a law degree, said the statute was written "to prevent exactly what just happened." Some critics are calling the president's authorization of the program an impeachable offense.

"The eventual outcome will be a special prosecutor," predicted Bamford. "Of course it's an impeachable offense" ...

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