Confusion about Bush's spying program

[noise]

1. Bush got some telecoms (notably AT&T) to comply with some new surveillance programs shortly after he got into office.

2. After the 9/11 attacks Bush told the telecoms they needed to allow access to their data in order to prevent another 9/11. This was possibly an expansion of programs set up a few months prior.

There have been some disturbing leaks that suggest the program isn't being used solely for counterterrorism efforts. For example, one explanation for Bolton's nomination (for UN Ambassador) never getting out of committee was because the White House refused to turn over documents concerning NSA intercepts Bolton had attained. Some had alleged that Bolton had been spying on people, perhaps even Colin Powell.

My confusion with Bush's program is in regard to oversight. At the end of the day is the integrity of the program based on the notion that Bush is acting in good faith? Wasn't the whole point of FISA to impose a check over the process by ensuring oversight power for the Judiciary (the FISA court)? I remember a while back NSA whistleblower Russ Tice wanted to testify in Congress about some concerns he had with the program but was told that Congress (I think it was the Judiciary Committee but could be wrong) didn't have a high enough security clearance to hear his testimony.

A related concern is the fact that current CIA Director Hayden was in charge of the NSA while the pre-9/11 spying programs were being implemented. We have no idea what he knew about a possible attack in the lead up to 9/11 but it seems quite strange that he was promoted after being in charge of one of the key agencies during the 'worst intelligence failure in US history.' Current DNI McConnell was Vice President of Booz Allen at the time. Booz Allen was involved in the pre-9/11 spying programs. According to Wikipedia Booz Allen had some contracts related to Admiral Poindexter's 'Total Information Awareness' program.

Why should the pubic believe that Bush is using the program in a limited, strictly intended for counterterrorism sort of manner?

[shraby]

1. His spying program started shortly after

he was selected, long before 9/11. This part should be examined also.

[Disturbed]

2. Why should the pubic believe Bush about anything?

He is a proven blatant liar. Example: "We don't Torture." GW Bush

[L. Coyote]

3. You Are a Suspect By WILLIAM SAFIRE, Nov 14, 2002

You Are a Suspect By WILLIAM SAFIRE, Nov 14, 2002
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE6D71630F937A25752C1A9649C8B63


If the Homeland Security Act is not amended before passage, here is what will happen to you:

Every purchase you make with a credit card, every magazine subscription you buy and medical prescription you fill, every Web site you visit and e-mail you send or receive, every academic grade you receive, every bank deposit you make, every trip you book and every event you attend -- all these transactions and communications will go into what the Defense Department describes as ''a virtual, centralized grand database.''

To this computerized dossier on your private life from commercial sources, add every piece of information that government has about you -- passport application, driver's license and bridge toll records, judicial and divorce records, complaints from nosy neighbors to the F.B.I., your lifetime paper trail plus the latest hidden camera surveillance -- and you have the supersnoop's dream: a ''Total Information Awareness'' about every U.S. citizen.

This is not some far-out Orwellian scenario. It is what will happen to your personal freedom in the next few weeks if John Poindexter gets the unprecedented power he seeks.

Remember Poindexter? Brilliant man, first in his class at the Naval Academy, later earned a doctorate in physics, rose to national security adviser under President Ronald Reagan. He had this brilliant idea of secretly selling missiles to Iran to pay ransom for hostages, and with the illicit proceeds to illegally support contras in Nicaragua.

A jury convicted Poindexter in 1990 on five felony counts .....

[Hydra]

4. Where's the confusion?

Quest refused access to Bush Pre-9/11. Paid for it dearly.

None of these "programs" are anti-terrorist...unless you consider us to be terrorists. IMO, we OWN the terrorists- why else would Bush sleep like a baby every night?

Bush has spied, is spying, and will continue to spy on us. He just wants Congress to rubber stamp it as perfectly legal so they can do it in the open.

[malaise]

5. I wish the Dems would weigh in on how many of their

calls were intercepted.

[noise]

6. Their silence on this matter is strange isn't it?

Most of the news coverage seems to take Bush at his word, that he cares greatly for civil liberties and thus has done everything in his power to make sure the program is limited to counterterrorism.

The power to spy on citizens all depends on Bush's word? This is beyond absurd!