Feds Spying on Millions of Americans

Democracy Now!. Posted May 12, 2006.

[Editor's Note: This is a complete transcript from Amy Goodman's syndicated radio program Democracy Now!.]

Amy Goodman: On Thursday, President Bush discussed the NSA spy operations, but did not directly address the report in USA Today that the NSA is creating a database of tens of millions of phone call records:

President George W. Bush: I want to make some important points about what the government is doing and what the government is not doing. First, our intelligence activities strictly target al-Qaeda and their known affiliates. Al-Qaeda is our enemy. And we want to know their plans. Second, the government does not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval. Third, the intelligence activities I authorized are lawful and have been briefed to appropriate members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat. Fourth, the privacy of ordinary Americans is fiercely protected in all our activities. We're not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans. Our efforts are focused on links to al-Qaeda and their known affiliates.

Amy Goodman: That was President Bush speaking on Thursday. On Capitol Hill, Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced he would call officials from AT&T, Verizon and Bell South to appear before the panel for questioning.

Meanwhile, there have been a number of other developments about the NSA's spy program. On Wednesday, the Justice Department announced it had to close an investigation into the NSA's spy program, because the NSA had refused to grant investigators security clearances. On Monday, President Bush nominated General Michael Hayden to become the next director of the CIA. Hayden was the head of the NSA in 2001, when President Bush ordered the agency to begin warrantless spying of Americans. General Hayden spoke with reporters yesterday about the NSA spying program:

Gen. Michael Hayden: Everything that NSA does is lawful and very carefully done, and that the appropriate members of the Congress, House and Senate, are briefed on all NSA activities, and I think I'll just leave it at that.

Amy Goodman: But the NSA spy program is even being criticized by former top NSA officials. On Monday, the agency's former Director Bobby Ray Inman said, "This activity is not authorized." To talk about the latest developments, we're joined on the telephone by New York Congressmember Maurice Hinchey, a Democrat. We welcome you to Democracy Now!

Rep. Maurice Hinchey: Well, thank you, Amy. It's a pleasure to be with you.

Amy Goodman: It's good to have you with us. Now, you have written a letter about the Justice Department shutting down the investigation into the NSA. What do you understand has happened? Why has it been shut down?

Rep. Maurice Hinchey: Well, the investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility began earlier this year after I initiated a letter, which was signed by a number of my other colleagues in the House, asking this office within the Justice Department to look into the question of who it was in the Justice Department that approved this spying program by the NSA. Shortly after we wrote the letter, we received a reply back, saying that the investigation was underway. The Office of Professional Responsibility had engaged in an investigation, and they were moving forward on it. We had some other communication with the office, which indicated that the investigation was moving ahead. We sent a letter to them, asking them if they would look into specific aspects.

Then, the day before yesterday, we received a letter back from the counsel of the Office of Professional Responsibility, saying that they were unable to make any meaningful progress in their investigation, because they had been denied security clearances for access to information about the NSA program. So, the administration just put a road block in front of them, saying that they were not going to be able to investigate any aspect of this, because they were not going to be given the security clearances they need to look into the NSA. That is a shocking revelation, frankly.

It is the responsibility of OPR, the Office of Professional Responsibility, to make sure that people within the Justice Department are behaving in ways that are ethical, that are within the law and are not deviating from the protections within the Constitution. But, as we've seen, this administration is not interested in that kind of activity internally, and so they have stopped that investigation. We have now written a letter back to the counsel's office asking them to inform us who it was that prevented them from continuing the investigation and what were the circumstances surrounding that prevention.

Amy Goodman: And, Congressmember Hinchey, who is "we"? Who wrote this letter?

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