Trust No One
This government trusts no one, not even itself. George Bush’s NSA won’t give George Bush’s Justice Department security clearances to review possible abuses. And the government is analyzing the records of most every phone call you make.
“We have been unable to make any meaningful progress in our investigation because OPR has been denied security clearances for access to information about the NSA program,” OPR counsel H. Marshall Jarrett wrote to Hinchey. Hinchey’s office shared the letter with The Associated Press.
Jarrett wrote that beginning in January 2006, his office has made a series of requests for the necessary clearances. Those requests were denied Tuesday.
“Without these clearances, we cannot investigate this matter and therefore have closed our investigation,” wrote Jarrett.
How convenient for the NSA. It’s a good thing the Bush adminstration didn’t classify Jarrett’s letter as secret, or this would be a leak that could be prosecuted.
Don’t read this if you think the government should leave you alone if you haven’t committed any crimes. All that talk about the NSA and the carefully worded terrorist surveillance domestic spying program “as the president described it” were described that way for a reason. The reason for the dance steps has now been revealed.
The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren’t suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.
ATT, Verizon, and Bell South are all contracted with the government to provide “external data” on what defenders of the program say is social analysis of terrorists’ calls. You get caught in that same net. Qwest has refused to comply with the government “request” to help, for legal reasons. If you feel a little creeped out right now, you don’t need a reason. What else do we not know and how long will we not know it?
What else? Hall of Hoop Jumping opening soon. Also: a leak and the endless loop of justification. And a reminder of what hasn’t been done to keep you safer.
(Crossposted where The Heretik works at his desk at the mouth of Hell TM)
May 11th, 2006 at 8:16 am
Now that I know the National Security Agency has been collecting records of EVERYBODY’S phone calls for the past five years, I feel much more secure. Don’t you?