“What’s going on here? Is this legal?” F.B.I. official asked after learning of the N.S.A. operation

[kpete]

NYT's Eric Lichtblau:

...................

In one previously undisclosed episode, Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson refused to sign off on any of the secret wiretapping requests that grew out of the program because of the secrecy and legal uncertainties surrounding it, the officials said. With the veil of secrecy around the program, Mr. Thompson was not given access to details of the N.S.A. operation, and he was so uncomfortable with the idea of approving this new breed of wiretap applications that he had a top adviser write a memorandum assessing the legal ramifications. The adviser warned him not to sign the warrant applications because it was unclear where the wiretaps were coming from.

Inside the Federal Bureau of Investigation, meanwhile, technicians stumbled onto the N.S.A.’s program accidentally within 12 hours of its inception, setting off what officials described as a brief firestorm of anxiety among senior officials. Some who had not been told about the program were concerned that the agency was violating laws that required a court order for the singling out of Americans in wiretaps, and they immediately alerted higher-ups to what they had discovered. “What’s going on here? Is this legal?” one F.B.I. official asked after learning of the N.S.A. operation on American soil.

more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/washington/30nsa.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=lichtblau&st=nyt&oref=slogin

[Demeter]

1. Short Answer: NO

Longer answer--don't sign anything from BushCo.

[rateyes]

2. kr

[formercia]

3. The question is:

Who was under surveillance? My bet is that it had nothing to do with terrorism investigations and everything to do with keeping Bush Gang in power.

[Kolesar]

4. Paul Craig Roberts theorized that the Dems in Congres were ineffectual because they were blackmailed

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Blackmailed, or because there are powerful businessmen who donate

to both parties that told them to stay quiet or they won't get campaign money. And I might add, that some of these businessmen may be getting away with a great many indiscretions because they or their family members provide crucial assistance to our military or NSA type organizations.

[kestrel91316]

7. I agree. They have probably been illegally spied upon and then

THEIR FAMILIES threatened with anthrax or a bullet if the Congressperson doesn't roll over and play dead. Sometimes I think it's the only rational explanation......

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Did it ever occur to anyone that if our media was being denied the opportunity

of acting in a manner responsible to the public, so would our FBI?

If you ever see what is happening on a local level in some places, you know the FBI is aware of what is happening, but they do nothing. Why is that? Maybe it's because they have been leashed in the same way the media has been?