Former NSA intelligence analyst Russel Tice has blown the whistle on Bush’s complete, mass surveillance of US citizens. Tice’s involvement in the NSA program was to identify specific groups of interest, such as journalists, based on an analysis of their communications. When Tice realized that he had access to complete, 24/7 intercepts of every communication involving these groups, he determined that such access amounted to total surveillance of large groups of US citizens. Contrary to official claims, these groups certainly had no established terrorist connections, and were in fact “plain citizens.”

From the Interview (transcription is my own):

Tice: An organization that was collected on were US news organizations and reporters and journalists.

Olbermann: To what purpose, I mean is there a file somewhere full of every email sent by all the reporters at the New York Times? Is there a recording somewhere of every conversation I had with my little nephew in upstate New York? Is it like that?

Tice: If it was involved in the specific avenue of collection, it would be everything. Yes. It would be everything.

Tice makes it clear US journalists are one such group “in the specific avenue of collection,” and that their records have been stored in a database at the NSA. It is chilling to know that this information is now on record, to be analyzed in any manner at any time, possibly decades down the road.

RTFA: http://billboardliberation.com/HQ.html

The Billboard Liberation Front today announced a major new advertising improvement campaign executed on behalf of clients AT&T and the National Security Agency. Focusing on billboards in the San Francisco area, this improvement action is designed to promote and celebrate the innovative collaboration of these two global communications giants.

“This campaign is an extraordinary rendition of a public-private partnership,” observed BLF spokesperson Blank DeCoverly. “These two titans of telecom have a long and intimate relationship, dating back to the age of the telegraph. In these dark days of Terrorism, that should be a comfort to every law-abiding citizen with nothing to hide.”

AT&T initially downplayed its heroic efforts in the War on Terror, preferring to serve in silence behind the scenes. “But then we realized we had a PR win on our hands,” noted AT&T V.P. of Homeland Security James Croppy. “Not only were we helping NSA cut through the cumbersome red tape of the FISA system, we were also helping our customers by handing over their e-mails and phone records to the government. Modern life is so hectic – who has time to cc the feds on every message? It’s a great example of how we anticipate our customers’ needs and act on them. And, it should be pointed out, we offered this service free of charge.”

You gotta check out this link, the pictures are priceless

RTFA: http://feingold.senate.gov/issues_immunityfacts.ht…

S. 2248 would require the courts to throw out lawsuits alleging that telephone companies broke the law by participating in warrantless surveillance. If the immunity provision became law, even if it could be proven that telephone companies clearly and knowingly broke the law, they would not be held accountable, and Americans’ privacy rights would be nullified.

The Dodd-Feingold amendment would strike this automatic, retroactive immunity provision and leave it to the courts to determine whether the telephone companies acted properly and therefore deserve immunity.

Great set of points to memorize for those holiday dinner-time discussions.

Yep – straight from the internet tube: the Senate will pick this one up in January.

To quote Harry Reid, “in Nevada we don’t like wiretaps… we’re very private people, and I think that’s where America is.” He continued, “Because we believe this retroactive immunity needs to be studied very closely, it doesn’t mean we’re any less patriotic than anyone else.”

Dodd wrapped it up by quoting Frank Church, who chaired the initial FISA discussions: “Domestic surveillance activities threaten to undermine our democratic society… Personal privacy is protected because it is essential to our liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Current as of 1638PST. They’re working late in DC, tonight!

RTFA: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/washington/16nsa…

WASHINGTON – For months, the Bush administration has waged a high-profile campaign, including personal lobbying by President Bush and closed-door briefings by top officials, to persuade Congress to pass legislation protecting companies from lawsuits for aiding the National Security Agency’s warrantless eavesdropping program.

But the battle is really about something much bigger. At stake is the federal government’s extensive but uneasy partnership with industry to conduct a wide range of secret surveillance operations in fighting terrorism and crime. The N.S.A.’s reliance on telecommunications companies is broader and deeper than ever before, according to government and industry officials, yet that alliance is strained by legal worries and the fear of public exposure.

To detect narcotics trafficking, for example, the government has been collecting the phone records of thousands of Americans and others inside the United States who call people in Latin America, according to several government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the program remains classified. But in 2004, one major phone carrier balked at turning over its customers’ records. Worried about possible privacy violations or public relations problems, company executives declined to help the operation, which has not been previously disclosed.

Some mainstream coverage of the Telecom Industry. It’s important to note that these programs were publicly justified as being a necessary tool for fighting terrorism. As more is revealed, it is becoming clear that this surveillance power is being used in other areas of enforcement.

This article also points out that domestic surveillance started long before September 11, 2001. This means it’s impossible to say that 9/11 justified the surveillance, because in fact the system already existed during the attacks, and it failed to prevent the attacks.

The question is not about whether or not the telecom industry should be punished for participating, and if amnesty is appropriate.

The relevant questions are of this form:

1. who authorized these programs?
2. what power was granted to the authorizing person, and where is that power defined?
3. what is the nature of the surveillance?
4. what is the scope of this surveillance?
5. what is the duration of this program, or is it indefinite?
6. what checks exist on the program, what oversight bodies exist?
7. what are the consequences for the US Constitution, in terms of executive power?
8. what are the consequences for the 4th amendment to the US Constitution?
9. can someone imagine a power that the executive branch cannot claim to have?

The current attitude of the Executive Branch appears to be that these questions should not even be asked.