Total Information Awareness Redux
After digesting the statements of HRH George W. today, and following the postings of Josh Marshall, I think I finally understand why the administration didn't just go to the FISA court. HRH's anger about the story coming out, how damaging it was, and how the existing framework wasn't nimble enough led many to think that he must be hiding surveillance of political opponents, or maybe journalists. But I suspect the reason is that the type of surveillance being done won't nicely fit into the world of FISA.
I suspect it's some sort of swoopy high-tech, sort-the-whole-haystack technology that the NSA doesn't want anyone to know about, and asking for permission would tip their hands. Which wouldn't make it legal, it just makes their rantings about it more comprehensible. And it would help explain why they didn't go to Congress for amendments to FISA that would allow it; Congress might have said no.
This is, remember, the gang that brought us the Total Information Awareness project, headed by felonious Reaganaut John Poindexter. Just because Congress had a fit about that project and defunded it is no reason to believe it went away.
Revealing that the President was authorizing typical wiretaps he could have gotten a court to authorize couldn't really give away any secrets to the "enemy". But letting them know that they are sorting through every piece of email, each credit card transaction, and every international phone call on the planet (or whatever they're doing) sure would.
HRH made a fuss about how the bad guys keep changing phone numbers. Imagine a system that could quickly identify the voice on a new phone number, so changing phones wouldn't help. Or, perhaps they've been accumulating huge databases, then going back through them once they've found a match to do retroactive searching. I have no idea if it's possible, but it could be that something like this is going on. Gonzales also made a comment about how much technology has changed since FISA was enacted.
A letter released today by Senator Rockefeller suggests something along this line. It was handwritten to VP Cheney on July 17, 2003.
Every time I think they've gone as low or as far as they could possibly go, it turns out that they've already gone lower and farther. I guess we'll just have to stay tuned to find out what they've really been doing.
I suspect it's some sort of swoopy high-tech, sort-the-whole-haystack technology that the NSA doesn't want anyone to know about, and asking for permission would tip their hands. Which wouldn't make it legal, it just makes their rantings about it more comprehensible. And it would help explain why they didn't go to Congress for amendments to FISA that would allow it; Congress might have said no.
This is, remember, the gang that brought us the Total Information Awareness project, headed by felonious Reaganaut John Poindexter. Just because Congress had a fit about that project and defunded it is no reason to believe it went away.
Revealing that the President was authorizing typical wiretaps he could have gotten a court to authorize couldn't really give away any secrets to the "enemy". But letting them know that they are sorting through every piece of email, each credit card transaction, and every international phone call on the planet (or whatever they're doing) sure would.
HRH made a fuss about how the bad guys keep changing phone numbers. Imagine a system that could quickly identify the voice on a new phone number, so changing phones wouldn't help. Or, perhaps they've been accumulating huge databases, then going back through them once they've found a match to do retroactive searching. I have no idea if it's possible, but it could be that something like this is going on. Gonzales also made a comment about how much technology has changed since FISA was enacted.
A letter released today by Senator Rockefeller suggests something along this line. It was handwritten to VP Cheney on July 17, 2003.
As I reflect on the meeting today, and the future we face, John Poindexter's TIA project sprung to mind, exacerbating my concern regarding the direction the Administration is taking with regard to security, technology and surveillance.
Every time I think they've gone as low or as far as they could possibly go, it turns out that they've already gone lower and farther. I guess we'll just have to stay tuned to find out what they've really been doing.
posted by Paul at 5:34 PM |
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