NSA Knows Where You’re Calling

Áine on May 11th, 2006 filed in Politics

USA Today reported today that the “National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans.” If you use AT&T, Verizon or BellSouth, your personal and business phone records may have been turned over to the NSA.

This isn’t eavesdropping on suspected terrorists. This is a massive search and seizure of your personal information. Every phone call you make — across town or across the country — is being tracked by the NSA. And guess what? President Bush defends this with his usual double-speak. At a hastily arranged White House event this morning, Bush stated, “We are not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of Americans.” However, that is exactly what the Bush administration is doing. As USA Today reports, “The [NSA] today is considered expert in the practice of data mining.”

Congress needs to investigate this government intrusion — immediately. Please join me and call on the House and Senate today to issue subpoenas and expose the extent of this intrusion:

Thank you.

Quotes about the NSA collecting data
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Reaction to reports that the National Security Agency has been secretly collecting ordinary Americans’ telephone records:

“Are you telling me that tens of millions of Americans are involved with al-Qaida? These are tens of millions of Americans who are not suspected of anything. … Where does it stop?” - Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“I remain convinced that the program authorized by the president is lawful and absolutely necessary to protect this nation from future attacks.” - Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., on the NSA surveillance program in general.

It’s “fair to say that what was in the newspaper this morning is not content collection. … Nonetheless, I happen to believe we’re on our way to a major constitutional confrontation on Fourth Amendment guarantees of unreasonable search and seizure.” - Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a member of the Judiciary Committee.

“Every time sensitive intelligence is leaked, it hurts our ability to defeat this enemy.” - President Bush.

“That the government may be secretly collecting, and using data mining to analyze, the phone records of millions of law-abiding Americans, as reported in the press today, is a frightening prospect. … It is time for the administration to come clean with Congress and the American people.” - Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., a member of the Judiciary Committee.

“I’m not sure what they’re gathering there, but the privacy thing to me is absolutely important to our democratic society.” - Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.

“I am concerned about what I read with regard to NSA databases of phone calls.” - House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

“I have long been concerned about the NSA’s domestic spying program and today’s media reports only reinforce that concern. I also laud Denver-based Qwest Communications for its decision not to share private information with the NSA.” - Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo.

“Enough is enough. It is long overdue for this Congress to end the days of roll-over and rubber stamp and finally assert its power on behalf of the American people to advise and consent before General Hayden becomes (CIA) Director Hayden.” - Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., in a speech at American University.

“Our customers expect, deserve and receive nothing less than our fullest commitment to their privacy. We also have an obligation to assist law enforcement and other government agencies responsible for protecting the public welfare, whether it be an individual or the security interests of the entire nation.” - statement from AT&T Corp.

“We have not provided any information we would need a subpoena for.” - BellSouth Corp. spokesman Jeff Battcher.

“We have been in full compliance with the law and we are committed to our customers’ privacy.” - Verizon Communications Inc. spokesman Bob Varettoni.

“What has happened in the last 24 hours raises questions in my mind about (Hayden’s) credibility for the job. He is the architect of the program. He comes to the intelligence committee, says how concerned he is about privacy. …. This is not what the public thought this program was all about.” - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

“While I support aggressively tracking al-Qaida, the administration needs to answer some tough questions about the protection of our civil liberties.” - said Ohio Rep. Deborah Pryce, chairwoman of the House Republican Caucus.

“If these allegations are true and the activities were being conducted under General Hayden while he was in charge of NSA then the administration should withdraw his nomination to be director of the CIA until Congress has full answers about the nature, reach, and legal basis of this program.” - said Rep. David Obey, D-Wis.

Technorati Tags: Activism, george w bush, Politics, surveillance

3 Responses to “NSA Knows Where You’re Calling”

American Citizen Says:
May 12th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
I do not blame you for being concerned, we all should be alert and aware. What they are doing has been going on for the last 60 years! They look for patterns.
They ARE NOT listening to us.
We may not like it but someone has to try to protect us. The Terrorists, Bin Laden, Iran, etc, etc HATE us. The recent letter from Iran to Bush is an invitation for the American people to join Islam. It is their law and rules that dictate that before they mass attack an infidel they must first inviter the enemy to join them.
If you do not believe that Iraq had WMD then just answer this simple question. Where did they go?! They used them on Iran, they used them on the Kurds. Before we entered there were hundreds of trucks and planes leaving Iraq and entering Syria. Not only were they carrying many billions of American Dollars and other currencies but they most likely wre carrying WMDs.
Just put some thought before your words and you might determine that just maybe someone knows something that you do not. Even the Ultra Liberal Democrats agreed that we must do something about Saddam. Look at the records. Kerry and his gang spoke of this many times before he lost the election. Once the Democrats lost then EVERY Democrat put all of their energies against The President. When in History have we ever seen this…never. What happened to United We Stand, Divided We Fall. Well we are on our way!!! Thank You Liberal Americans!!!
Aine Says:
May 12th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
I realize that many Americans are ignorant about what their government is, and particularly it’s intelligence agencies are, doing… but did you completely miss the report in the NYTimes last December about the NSA conducting telephone wiretaps? Yes, we’ve been “told” that these warrantless wiretaps were restricted to overseas calls (and keep in mind that due to outsourcing a simple call to tech support for hardware or software may, in fact, result in an overseas call), but how many times has this administration lied to the American people about what it was doing and why? I’m sorry you still believe the line of bullshit coming out of the mouths of those you elected, but we’re not all as blindly obedient to the neocon party line as you seem to be.

As for Iraq’s WMDs… this has what to do with this blog post? Nothing.

But since you insist on bringing up neocon talking points, perhaps you might examine the reports of Iraq’s weapons destruction under the auspices and watchful eyes of the UN weapons inspection teams over the past decade or so.

Failing that, I know it’s a devastating blow to the rightwing talking points, but David Kay, the man hand-picked by the Bush administration to lead the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, confirmed to a Senate committee in late January 2004 that the intelligence supporting Washington’s case for war against Saddam Hussein was baseless. All weapons — biological, chemical, missile, nuclear were destroyed. The destruction took place in the summer of 1991, and the U.S. had been told of it in 1995. By early 1995, work had been completed on what The New York Times called “the most sophisticated and comprehensive technological and human monitoring system ever imposed on a country.” Its purpose was to ensure that even after inspectors had destroyed Iraq’s weapons, it could not rebuild them using dual-use equipment.

The Bush neocon team had an obvious motive for misrepresenting Iraq’s WMD: They were pushing for an invasion of Iraq… even before Bush was elected.

Prove the existence of WMDs being moved out of Iraq and into Syria or any other place on earth. You can’t. If you or team Bush could, it would be all over the Bush-friendly media — Fox News, CNN, and other corporate media — day after day after day, just as the run-up to this baseless war was.

So quit pushing this kind of “conspiracy theory” if you don’t want people to think you are a rightwing nutjob. Do the research. Avoid any blatantly partisan web sites when you do it. Educate yourself as to the history of American foreign policy (the National Security Archives are a boon to such research — the link is in my sidebar).
Aine Says:
May 12th, 2006 at 4:15 pm
BTW, I love the anonymous nature of your postings, choosing not to stand behind your real name, email address, or url. It’s a shining example of your lack of credibility or fear of being thought a fool for the baseless comments you make on people’s web logs. Quite common among the rightwing fearmongers, too.