Bush Authorized Domestic Spying Before 9/11
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Friday 13 January 2006
The National Security Agency advised President Bush in early 2001 that it had been eavesdropping
on Americans during the course of its work monitoring suspected terrorists and foreigners believed to
have ties to terrorist groups, according to a declassified document.
The NSA's vast data-mining activities began shortly after Bush was sworn in as president
and the document contradicts his assertion that the 9/11 attacks prompted him to take the
unprecedented step of signing a secret executive order authorizing the NSA to monitor a select number
of American citizens thought to have ties to terrorist groups.
In its "Transition 2001" report, the NSA said that the ever-changing world of global communication
means that "American communication and targeted adversary communication will coexist."
"Make no mistake, NSA can and will perform its missions consistent with the Fourth Amendment and
all applicable laws," the document says.
snip...
http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/48/16920