We now know the Administration's wiretapping program is not limited to calls made to and from suspected terrorist suspects -- unless you believe that you and I are terrorists.
We now know the Administration's wiretapping program is not limited to calls made to and from suspected terrorist suspects -- unless you believe that you and I are terrorists. Since September 12, 2001The NSA has secretly purchased from the three largest telecommunications companies in the country, telephone records on tens of millions of Americans. On December 17, 2005, President Bush stated he authorized the program, "to intercept the international communication of people with known links to Al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations. Then on January 23, 2006, after concerns were expressed that the NSA tapped into telecommunications arteries, Gen. Michael Hayden, then NSA chief, now CIA nominee, asserted his organization engages in surveillance if there is a "reasonable" basis for eavesdropping.
The Administration asks us to believe it when it says they are not listening to phone conversations, thinking that is comfort to us. Anyone with experience in data management knows, the government now has the information necessary to cross-reference phone numbers, with available data bases that link names and numbers to compile a substantial dossier on every American.
Where is the outcry from Congress? Bush has repeatedly asserted that FISA does not apply to his surveillance program. Congress must pass legislation to remove any doubt that warrantless spying on ordinary Americans is illegal. Evidently, Bush now sees the enemy, and it is us.