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Hissyspit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-25-08 01:17 PM
Original message
AfterDowningStreet.org: Questions On FISA - "Something Doesn't Add Up"
Edited on Wed Jun-25-08 02:09 PM by Hissyspit
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/34348

Questions on FISA

Submitted by davidswanson on Wed, 2008-06-25 17:35. Congress Spying
Received by Email from a comment on a site on another site ...

* Can you help us non-techie geeks understand the following:

* 1. Why did AbuG and Andy Card go to the hospital bed to try and pressure Ashcroft to sign off on something that he refused? What could that something be?

* 2. Why did Comey refuse to certify the spying program? What do you think troubled him?

* 3. Why did Joe Nacchio and Qwest believe what the NSA requested of them was illegal? What could that have been? Why did the government then retaliate against Nacchio and Qwest?

* 4. Why is the government using "state secrets" as the only defense against all the lawsuits?

* 5. The EFF lawsuit, with a sworn affidavit by an AT&T technician, charges that NSA had a "backbone tap." What could such a tap be and what are the implications?

* 6. In Congressional testimony there have been references to data mining large volumes of data and concern that innocent Americans maybe unfairly caught up in the dragnet. What data are they mining?

* 7. Another issue is around "minimization" - meaning if the NSA determines that they picked up information on an innocent American they will destroy any data collected. That's what's in the current FISA law. Why are the intelligence agencies and this Administration fighting this so hard? Why do they want to retain data collected on innocent Americans?

* 8. It seems that the telecom companies in complying with the Administration's request have broken the law since they and the Administration are fighting tooth and nail to retroactively change the law to make what was once illegal suddenly legal. Why?

* 9. The FISA law that was passed in 1978 is the outcome of the Church commission investigation on illegal spying on Americans by our intelligence agencies. We fought the Cold War against a serious adversary who was very astute technologically and who had a solid and competent intelligence apparatus with no difficulty with that same FISA law. What is materially different with some cave dwelling non-state actors in the middle of the Hindu Kush that threatens the "existence" of the USA that this Administration felt the need to break this FISA law in secrecy and is now fighting to make all their illegal actions retroactively legal?

* Something doesn't add up. And when it comes to this Administration and politicians of both parties and the intelligence agencies considering what transpired in the 50s, 60s and 70s I think it pays to be skeptical. Fundamental constitutional liberties once lost can never be regained, IMHO.



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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-25-08 01:19 PM
Response to Original message
1. And why did they start spying on us BEFORE 9/11?
Thanks, Hissyspit!
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libnnc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-25-08 02:41 PM
Response to Reply #1
5. echo what you said...why did they start spying on us BEFORE 9/11?
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indepat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-25-08 05:53 PM
Response to Reply #1
6. They started spying on us before 9/11 'cause they wanted to know who the enemy was ((either with us
or agin' us (to wit: the enemy)) before commencing implementation of their PNAC agenda for which 9-11 conveniently gave the perfect and convenient excuse to implement (how lucky can one get). :D
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Echo In Light Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 08:58 AM
Response to Reply #6
9. "Conveniently." Exactly, cause we know these aren't people who would make Big Plans and then...
...leave it all up to blind chance. :eyes:

This aspect, this obvious motive, although circumstantial, is one of the biggest smoking guns re 9/11 being an inside job.
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helderheid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 09:20 AM
Response to Reply #9
12. Indeed.
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defendandprotect Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 02:03 PM
Response to Reply #9
17. Also agree with you . . .
they had to make sure what info was circulating re info on 9/11 as inside job ---
and make sure it didn't get to Congress --- i.e., ANTHRAX ---

This has to be as much or more political spying as it was in Nixon administration ---

I'd love to see the list ---

Must be acres and acres long!!!


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TBF Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 02:57 PM
Response to Reply #9
27. Agreed. Even if you believe OBL was completely independent, it sure
came at a convenient time for BushCo.
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The Call Up Donating Member (116 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 08:48 AM
Response to Reply #1
8. This is what I want to know as well.
And I believe this is why Congress is trying to grant immunity. They know something that they believe would lose the American public's trust in this government to a degree never before experienced.
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fascisthunter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 01:14 PM
Response to Reply #1
13. And Why Didn't That Spying Prevent 9-11?
And why do those who support this unconstitutional crap keep suggesting that wiretapping could have prevented 9-11?
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defendandprotect Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 02:04 PM
Response to Reply #13
18. Another GREAT question --- !!!
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frog92969 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 02:28 PM
Response to Reply #13
23. They've been obstructing the 9/11 investigation
since before 9/11 even happened.
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rucognizant Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 02:41 PM
Response to Reply #1
24. I was stunned to find out.......
WHen I went to the Social Security office, to see about collecting my WIdow's Pension when I turned 60, they had an alias for me.

WIth the drama of a teenager who intended to go to acting school, I changed my middle name, from boring plain Jane to Josephine, and signed all my homework papers that way for Jr & Senior years in high school. Of course I used my real legal given name on my first drivers liscense, SS card for my first job. ( Back then they didn't assign numbers to babies at birth as they do now.)
I married & changed my name divorced; and retrieved my maiden name. At no time in my life did I revert to the high falluten Patrcia Josephine I had fancied as a teen!
Yet this 60 year old woman sat there and looked at that name as an alias. They had to have data mined my high school essays!
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rucognizant Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 02:42 PM
Response to Reply #24
25. Forgot!
I turned 60 in 1999, last year of the CLinton Admin.!
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RedLetterRev Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-27-08 11:35 AM
Response to Reply #25
31. And for ten years
they couldn't get my name right, even with a birth certificate. Makes ya wonder whose whim gets whipped in the wind behind the scenes on what day. OTOH, this Irish-surnamed whiteguy from NC gets taken apart EVERY single time I set foot on a plane for a "random" security "exercise". When I mention that this "random" occurrence is 100% of the time, they get rather upset and evasive.

I admit to being guilty of FWD -- Flying While Democrat. There is no other reason, and of that, I am guilty as homemade sin.

Welcome to Orwellville.
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peacetalksforall Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-25-08 01:40 PM
Response to Original message
2. And why are our leaders prostrating themselves at the feet of Cheney and George?
It's got to be more than just picking up some extradonations and favors from these companies. They are not betraying the nation for money on this one.

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groovedaddy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-25-08 01:46 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. Makes you wonder if they listened in on some of our "leaders" calls
and have something on them.
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defendandprotect Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 02:06 PM
Response to Reply #2
19. Corporate-ideology - DLC ---
Same as we've just seen with SC/ExxonMobil ---

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Psyop Samurai Donating Member (873 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-25-08 02:39 PM
Response to Original message
4. Something hasn't added up for a very long time.
Concise, excellent questions.

Good luck getting any answers.

The "people", IMO, needed to go on the offensive a long ways back. I'm reminded of the Family Steering Committee's questions regarding 9/11, but it could be this or any other list of vital questions.

Until we get answers to legitimate questions, we do not recognized the government's legitimacy!

Period.


There must be ways to impress that upon them, assuming that we aren't just playing.
_

"Oh, but there are proper channels to go through..., who died and made you boss?".

The motherfucker that was supposedly driving the bus -- that's who!
________

thanks for all your posts, Hissyspit.
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L. Coyote Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-25-08 05:58 PM
Response to Original message
7. Here is the BIG SECRET! Everyone is being spied on all the time.
Edited on Wed Jun-25-08 06:06 PM by L. Coyote
Once the data is transfered outside US jurisdiction, no US law applies. Then, they can spy
on everyone anytime, including going back many years whenever you are a target of inquiry.

This is an old intelligence trick to evade US law. Just do the operation overseas.
We even know where the mirrored data stream goes, albeit this is not public info.

What I wonder is, "How little or how much of this Congress knows?"
And if any of them know, "Are they restrained from telling other Congress members or the world?"

Well, I do not have a security clearance, I'm not sworn to secrecy, and I'm telling you only some of what I know.
The following should be enough info to make people realize what is going on and has been for many years.

===========
Deja DU: Are ALL COMMUNICATIONS routed overseas to circumvent US law and the Constitution?
Nov-09-07 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2245762

I was told years ago that ALL fiber optic communication traffic was routed overseas so that "everything" was moved outside the protections of the law and Constitution and ANYTHING could be monitored. I thought the idea quite fantastic even though it came from a very reliable source that would know exactly such things. Then, the story of the fiber optic splitters hit my radar. I now see now how easily exactly that, routing ALL COMMUNICATIONS overseas, was accomplished.

Is that Bush's and the Telecom's HUGE crime hidden and covered-up behind this story?

If the telecoms get immunity, will it aid in covering up Bush's crime.
ABSOLUTELY! That is why it is so important to the Rs! Support = obstruction of justice.

Have we arrived at the point in the history of the Bushco junta where
laws passed and people nominated are part of crimes of obstructing justice?

===================
AT&T Whistleblower: Telecom Immunity Is A Cover-Up
By Spencer Ackerman - Nov 7, 2007
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004662.php


Earlier today we flagged that Mark Klein, who uncovered a secret surveillance room run by the NSA while employed as a San Francisco-based technician for AT&T, is in Washington to lobby against granting retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies. In an interview this afternoon, Klein explained why he traveled all the way from San Francisco to lobby Senators about the issue: if the immunity provision passes, Americans may never know how extensive the surveillance program was -- or how deeply their privacy may have been invaded.

"The president has not presented this truthfully," said Klein, a 62-year old retiree. "He said it was about a few people making calls to the Mideast. But I know this physical equipment. It copies everything. There's no selection of anything, at all -- the splitter copies entire data streams from the internet, phone conversations, e-mail, web-browsing. Everything."

What Klein unearthed -- you can read it here -- points to a nearly unbounded surveillance program. Its very location in San Francisco suggests that the program was "massively domestic" in its focus, he said. "If they really meant what they say about only wanting international stuff, you wouldn't want it in San Francisco or Atlanta. You'd want to be closer to the border where the lines come in from the ocean so you pick up international calls. You only do it in San Francisco if you want domestic stuff. The location of this stuff contradicts their story .....

=======================
NSA Monitors All Web Traffic, Says Ex-AT&T Employee

NSA Monitors All Web Traffic, Says Ex-AT&T Employee
Tom Corelis (Blog) - Nov 10, 2007
http://www.dailytech.com/NSA+Monitors+All+Web+Traffic+Says+ExATT+Employee/article9620.htm


Felt "forced to the connect the Big Brother Machine" if he wanted to keep his job

Mark Klein, the former AT&T technician and whistleblower who helped kick off the AT&T/NSA eavesdropping scandal, clarified further details regarding what he witnessed while connecting a secret NSA eavesdropping facility: secure room 641A in AT&T’s San Francisco switching center, presumably commissioned by the NSA, received copies of all the traffic its splitters were connected to, including both international and domestic e-mails, web traffic, and phone calls, both from AT&T’s customers as well as other providers.

Previous statements by the government, AT&T and President Bush indicated that the only affected communications are communications relevant to national security, like those of suspected terrorists and suspicious foreign nationals. According to Klein, however, the technology used to connect the secure room was far more democratic, consisting of simple, dumb splitters incapable of any kind of contextual filtering: essentially, room 641A received “a duplicate of every fiber-optic signal routed through facilities.”

Klein, appearing on MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann show, told viewers about his personal association with secure room 641A. “When I was a technician, I had the engineering/wiring documents, which told me how the splitter was wired to the secret room … I had to know in order to do my job,” he said, “so I know that whatever went across those cables was copied; the entire datastream was copied into the secret room.”

Referring to the equipment itself, Klein states, “the splitter device has no selective capability, it just copies everything. .............

=======================
Interview: AT&T Whistleblower Mark Klein on Bush's Illegal Surveillance and Retroactive Immunity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0dJJhLueEg

=======================
NSA Pressured LA Times To Kill Domestic Spying Story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOI1VGKcgGY

=======================
November 5th, 2007
AT&T Whistleblower to Urge Senate to Reject Blanket Immunity for Telecoms
Press Conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, November 7
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2007/11/05

Washington, D.C. - On Wednesday, November 7, at 10:30am, telecommunications technician and AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein will speak out at a press conference on Capitol Hill, explaining why he is asking lawmakers to reject immunity for telecoms who assisted the Bush administration's spying on millions of Americans.

Klein witnessed first-hand the technology AT&T built to assist the government's domestic warrantless wiretapping program at AT&T's main switching facility in San Francisco. As part of his job at AT&T, Klein connected high-speed fiber optic cables to sophisticated equipment that intercepted communications from AT&T customers and then copied and routed every single one to a room controlled by the National Security Agency (NSA). Klein has provided evidence for the Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF's) class-action lawsuit against AT&T for its role in the illegal spying.

"My job required me to enable the physical connections between AT&T customers' Internet communications and the NSA's illegal, wholesale copying machine for domestic emails, Internet phone conversations, web surfing and all other Internet traffic. I have first-hand knowledge of the clandestine collaboration between one giant telecommunications company, AT&T, and the National Security Agency to facilitate the most comprehensive illegal domestic spying program in history," said Klein.

Also speaking at the event Wednesday ...........

=======================
Judge Orders Telecommunications Companies to Preserve Evidence in Government Surveillance Cases
Ruling Advances EFF's Class-action Lawsuit Against AT&T
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2007/11/06


San Francisco - A federal judge today ruled on a preservation motion filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), ordering that telecommunications companies must preserve any evidence of collaborating with the government in illegal spying on ordinary Americans.

In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker ordered the telecommunications companies to halt any routine destruction of documents or to arrange for the preservation of accurate copies. On December 14, each party must provide the court with confirmation that the court's order has been carried out. The court order did not require the government or the carriers to reveal whether or not they had any relevant evidence.

The government and the carriers had opposed the preservation motion, claiming that the government's invocation of the state secrets privilege made it impossible to proceed with a preservation order. In litigation, parties are typically required to preserve all relevant evidence.

For the judge's order:
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/att/393%20order.pdf

For more on the class-action lawsuit against AT&T:
http://www.eff.org/cases/att

===== MORE ======
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Echo In Light Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 09:08 AM
Response to Reply #7
10. Thanks for posting
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fascisthunter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 01:16 PM
Response to Reply #7
14. yup... and it makes it much easier for criminals to rule over the people
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defendandprotect Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 02:12 PM
Response to Reply #7
20. Personally, I no more believe that the US wasn't TORTURING people . . .
Edited on Thu Jun-26-08 02:14 PM by defendandprotect
because they handed them over to other countries to do it for them --

that's simply game-playing and once you know about it, it's over --

ANY COURT would find the US guilty on TORTURE --

Same with this info crap -- no matter where it's taken, it is the US government

using it -- the ultimate use is the crime.


There was a LAWSUIT against these carriers . . . wasn't there -- ?

If it had been won, presumably the info would have had to be released, at least

in sufficient fashion to prove/disprove the suit.


National Security is one of the biggest crocks of BS we'll ever have to knock over!!!


Needless to say, this will have little to do with "terrarists" --

It will have a lot to do with the old Nixon "enemies list" mentality --

It will be POLITICAL spying ---





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whatchamacallit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 09:18 AM
Response to Original message
11. WTF, either a whole bunch of dems buy Bush's FISA fairy tales, or
They're willing to subvert the law to keep us from finding out how far into fascism we've traveled.
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redqueen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 01:17 PM
Response to Reply #11
15. I think the smart money is on your second theory. (nt)
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Patchuli Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 01:44 PM
Response to Original message
16. I have a few questions myself...
Why, when warned that Bin Laden wanted to attack us, did they DO NOTHING? Why did John Ashcroft stop flying commercial airline flights two or three months before 9/11? Why did Condi Rice say that "no one thought they'd fly planes into buildings" when that is exactly what SHE and the rest of the cabal were told Bin Laden and Company were planning to do? Nothing adds up and they're all full of shit. Maybe most of all, why were our 'fearless leaders' so damn happy about 9/11 if they were 'acting in the best interests of the country and the oaths they took to protect it?

Too many questions...not any intelligent or innocent answers forthcoming from those that know. These people are truly evil.
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defendandprotect Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 02:16 PM
Response to Reply #16
21. Concerns about Bush "Operation Ignore" caused the United Nations Security Council to visit . . .
White House and our intelligence agencies in August 2001, just before 9/11 ---

repeating the WARNINGS to them ---

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defendandprotect Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 02:16 PM
Response to Reply #16
22. Concerns about Bush "Operation Ignore" caused the United Nations Security Council to visit . . .
White House and our intelligence agencies in August 2001, just before 9/11 ---

repeating the WARNINGS to them ---

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whyzayker Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 02:47 PM
Response to Original message
26. Piece on the CIA - 7/30/2001
From Just before 9/11;
CIA Role May Grow in Preventing Terror Attacks
http://web.archive.org/web/20010801180445/http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010730/pl/crime_spying_dc_1.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. intelligence review is exploring possible new roles for the CIA (news - web sites) and other spy agencies in the domestic arena to protect the United States from terrorist attack, a senior intelligence official said.

U.S. intelligence agencies operate overseas and are generally prohibited from having a hand in domestic affairs to ensure a taboo against spying on Americans is not broken. It is not clear yet what new role they might take on.

``We know that we're going to increasingly be a target in this country and we also know that intelligence is going to have a role to play in trying to protect the homeland, protect the continental U.S.'' a senior intelligence official familiar with the review told Reuters.
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Jakes Progress Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 03:02 PM
Response to Original message
28. Beginning to look more and more
like voting is a waste of time. Anyone the media and the power elite let run successfully for office have been vetted to keep up the game.

It's still a nice country for a while, though. Think I'll invest in some of Saudi Arabia's best and drive around to see it while we still can.
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Phred42 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 03:55 PM
Response to Reply #28
29. Significant point in light of OBama and Clinton folding on the FISA Bill
Edited on Thu Jun-26-08 04:04 PM by Phred42
and especially Obam's BS triangulated excuse the the wuss-out.

Prepare for the 'Left' media spinning how this is all OK.

Johnathon Alter and Randi have already started the cyclonic action on this one.

Let's wait and see what Turley and Dean have to say.

Looks like Lucy did it again.....

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defendandprotect Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-26-08 07:07 PM
Response to Original message
30. Kic & recco -- let's keep thinking about these questions ---
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leftofthedial Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jun-27-08 11:42 AM
Response to Original message
32. 2000 was a coup
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