NSA Whistleblower Warns...U.S. is Decaying Into a “Police State”

[sweetm2475]

From Democracy Now:

Former NSA intelligence agent Russell Tice condemns reports that the Agency has been engaged in eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without court warrants. Tice has volunteered to testify before Congress about illegal black ops programs at the NSA. Tice said, “The freedom of the American people cannot be protected when our constitutional liberties are ignored and our nation has decayed into a police state." We turn now to the growing controversy over President Bush’s decision to order the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens inside the country without the legally required court warrants. Bush’s decision was first revealed in the New York Times in mid-December. The Times published the expose after holding the story for more than a year under pressure from the White House. The paper reportedly first uncovered the illegal order prior to the 2004 election. When the editors at the Times decided last month to go ahead with the article, President Bush personally summoned the paper’s publisher, Arthur Sulzberger, and executive editor, Bill Keller, to the Oval Office in an attempt to talk them out of running the story. Since the story broke, calls for Congressional hearings and the possible impeachment of the president have intensified. Conservative legal experts have even admitted Bush may have committed an impeachable offense by ordering the NSA to break the law.

On Sunday, the New York Times revealed there was dissent within the upper echelon of the Bush administration over the legality of the president’s order. According to the Times, Attorney General John Ashcroft's top deputy, James Comey, refused to sign on to the continuation of the secret program in 2004 amid concerns about its legality and oversight. At the time, Comey was serving in place of then Attorney General John Ashcroft while Ashcroft was hospitalized for a medical condition. Comey’s refusal prompted senior Presidential aides Andrew Card and Alberto Gonzales to visit Ashcroft in his hospital room to grant the approval. The Times reports Ashcroft expressed reluctance to sign on to the program. It is unclear if he eventually relented. Both Ashcroft and Comey’s concerns appear to have led to a temporary suspension of parts of the program for several months. But the administration has repeatedly defended its actions.

* President Bush, speaking on Sunday:
“If somebody from al Qaeda is calling you, we'd like to know why. In the meantime, this program is conscious of people's civil liberties as am I. This is is a limited program designed to prevent attacks on the United States of America - and I repeat limited. It is limited to calls from outside the United States to calls within the United States. But, they are of known numbers of known al Qaeda members or affiliates. I think most Americans understand the need to find out what the enemy is thinking. And that's what we are doing. We're at war with a bunch of cold blooded killers who will kill in a moment's notice. I have a responsibility to act within the law which I am doing. The program has been reviewed constantly by Justice Department officials. A program to which the Congress has been briefed. A program that is in my judgment necessary to win this war and to protect the American people."

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/03/1435201

[kentuck]

1. the quote by Bush:

I think he was lying his ass off.

[Mabus]

2. Tice is part of the "National Security Whistleblowers Coalition"

led by Sibel Edmonds.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 4, 2005
11:39 AM
CONTACT: Project On Government Oversight
Beth Daley, [e-mail] or [phone]


Intelligence Whistleblower Fired After Speaking At Event

WASHINGTON -- May 4 -- After speaking on Capitol Hill at an event for national security whistleblowers last week, Intelligence Analyst Russ Tice has been notified by the National Security Agency (NSA) that his security clearance is permanently being taken away and that he will be fired as of May 16, 2005. Tice is a member of the newly formed National Security Whistleblowers Coalition being led by Sibel Edmonds (see http://www.justacitizen.com for more about the Coalition).

In the past two years, Tice has endured unusually abusive retaliation from his agency. In April, after being put on administrative leave for 14 months, Tice was assigned to unload furniture from trucks at a warehouse, an obvious attempt to force him to resign. That assignment led to a back injury. Tice has since been on administrative leave. Tice also did a tour of eight months duty in the motor pool, where he was assigned to maintain agency vehicles (for example, filling them with gas, checking fluids, vacuuming and cleaning) and to chauffeur NSA officials, along with five other employees who were also being punished.

Tice's treatment led the Pentagon Inspector General's Civil Reprisal Investigations unit to take up an investigation into his case. Depending on the result, the Inspector General can recommend to Secretary Rumsfeld that Tice's security clearance and position be reinstated.

Tice has an almost 20-year career in intelligence in the Air Force, Navy, Defense Intelligence Agency, and (more recently) National Security Agency. He has conducted intelligence missions related to the Kosovo War, Afghanistan, the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, and the Iraq War. He was recognized numerous times for the quality of his work. Most recently, he had been nominated to receive an award for his outstanding intelligence work during the Iraq War. In another retaliatory move against Tice, the award was withdrawn after his security clearance was revoked.

source: http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0504-14.htm

[Norquist Nemesis]

3. Damn! Don't tell my husband!!

He's convinced I'm all in a tizzy over nothing. :tinfoilhat: I'm convinced 9/11 sent Bush and Cheney over the edge and straight to insanity.