ABC News: The Government Is Monitoring Our Phone Records ‘To Root Out Confidential Sources’
ABC News: The Government Is Monitoring Our Phone Records ‘To Root Out Confidential Sources’
Brain Ross and Richard Esposito of ABC News’ investigative unit report that, according to a senior federal law enforcement official, the government is monitoring their phone calls to discover the identity of confidential sources:
A senior federal law enforcement official tells us the government is tracking the phone numbers we call in an effort to root out confidential sources.
“It’s time for you to get some new cell phones, quick,” the source told us in an in-person conversation.
This, of course, is the real problem with the extra-legal collection of phone records by the government, revealed by USA Today last Thursday. No one really has objections to doing whatever is necessary to defeat al-Qaeda. But when you do so outside the law and without meaningful Congressional oversight, it leaves the door wide open to abuse.
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All I can say about Bush and is coterie is motherf***ers!
May 15th, 2006 at 11:27 amNixon got impeached for a minor version of this. What is Congress waiting for?
May 15th, 2006 at 11:29 amI’m shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, to learn there’s abuse of the law by this establishment!”
May 15th, 2006 at 11:30 amWell well well. Is anyone particularly surprised?
May 15th, 2006 at 11:31 amIf they didn’t do anything wrong, they have nothing to worry about.
The undersigned:
-Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini
May 15th, 2006 at 11:31 amYes..that was my initial reaction to the story last week. “How is this any different to what Nixon did?”.
I’m sorry, but I’m tired of them hiding behind big sign that says “terrorism, terrorism, terrorism”.
May 15th, 2006 at 11:32 amJournalists targeted? 34 journalists killed in Iraq (many by coalition forces), Christine Amanapour bugged. WH out to get leakers who leak lies and corrupt activity.
No big surprise.
May 15th, 2006 at 11:34 amOh, and in response to the “it’d be awfully boring to be an agent listening in on all these calls, and therefore there’s probably not a lot of listening in”, I would have three words:
Voice Recognition Software.
It can get pretty good these days, given enough resources and top-notch algorithms. Give it some parameters, from words to accents or any combination of parameters. And if some of the parameters result in some confidential sources, critics or political opponents getting listened to… well, gee, how terrible.
May 15th, 2006 at 11:36 amCarolyn’s right – how long ago was Amanpour? Many have suspected or known this was part of the scheme for quite a while.
Question is will the MSM go mad-as-hell-not-going-to-take-it-anymore like the rest of us or will they cower in fear of Guvmint wrath for the leaks?
May 15th, 2006 at 11:38 amNow they’re literally shooting the messenger.
May 15th, 2006 at 11:38 am[...] Related: ABC News: The Government Is Monitoring Our Phone Records ‘To Root Out Confidential Sources’ « TruthOut: Karl Rove Indicted on Charges of Perjury, Lying to Investigators [...]
May 15th, 2006 at 11:40 am#3 Here are your secret phone records, sir.
I’ll round up the usual suspects.
May 15th, 2006 at 11:40 amCan the author of this post be serious? With reflection would he like to amend any of his statemens?
I have the strongest objections to doing whatever it takes to defeat al-Qaida if it is unconstitutional. The ends do not justify the means.
Al-Qaida cannot take our freedoms and civil rights. Only the U.S. government can do that and only if we let them.
May 15th, 2006 at 11:40 amNext FoxNews is going to tell us they KNOW their calls aren’t being identified for this, because all of their confidential sources work in the WH!
May 15th, 2006 at 11:40 amWhen the Bush misAdministration leaks, they go straight to Fox/Saudi News.
May 15th, 2006 at 11:42 amI guess this is legal somehow.
By the time they secure the sites for the camps, order the box cars, and start digging the mass graves, it will be too late. I’m guessing it’s on their “to do” list for August or September.
May 15th, 2006 at 11:42 amFox’s take will be interesting … maybe: “They Don’t Tap Us Because We’re So Fair und Balanced!”
May 15th, 2006 at 11:44 amYou can never, ever expect your actions to be kept secret.
The only thing you can – and should – keep hidden are your intentions.
Sun Wu knew this 2500 years ago.
May 15th, 2006 at 11:47 amWill this finally awaken the press from their peaceful slumber?
May 15th, 2006 at 11:48 amIsn’t it funny (sic) how now it’s Americans who are the ENEMY and need to be tracked and recorded AT ALL TIMES!
Dr Strangelove wasn’t even this fascist, even though he was supposed to be one of Hitlers goons. Not only that, that was a movie, THIS is REAL LIFE!
Guess I should just go on thinking of Paris Hilton, what I should buy at the mall or other brain dead exercises.
May 15th, 2006 at 11:48 amBut when you do so outside the law and without meaningful Congressional oversight, it leaves the door wide open to abuse.
Judd, quit beating around the bush (pun intended). They need FISA warrants. Period. “Congressional oversight”?? WHY? There’s already a LAW in place. That’s all the “oversight” necessary.
Shorter: if they’re gunna ingore a FEDERAL LAW, what will a few congressmen in a meeting accomplish??
May 15th, 2006 at 11:49 amssssssssssssss… (sound of Bush pissing in your face)
May 15th, 2006 at 11:56 amBetter arm yourself while it’s still legal.
May 15th, 2006 at 11:56 amBring Bush to trail for Treason. Now!
May 15th, 2006 at 11:56 am#18 is he related to Sun Tzu? :-)
May 15th, 2006 at 12:00 pmAs stated in the report of the Church committee:
May 15th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
Yes America EVERYONE is being tapped, even corperate America….
May 15th, 2006 at 12:02 pmDoes cheney tap rove,rove tap bush,bush tap rummy?…shhhhhhhhhhhhh
The Bush Regime is very vengefull against those who oppose them! They want to dig up dirt on all their political enemies in the Congress and in the population at large, such as Cindy Sheehan and Michael Moore! Getting juicy information from phone calls is their objective! People talking about sex, or cheating on their spouses, or meeting pals at Gay bars > those are the things that excite Bush butt!
May 15th, 2006 at 12:11 pmUnBelieveable ~Congress is dead and was buried under the trash heap in 2000.
We have now sunk to the lowest level of Facism….. and the both Houses are do damn greedy for power and money that they could give a shit less!
May 15th, 2006 at 12:16 pmDr. Wu.
May 15th, 2006 at 12:16 pmWe spy on people at home to root out communists, jews, traitors, spies, and 5th columnists in order to protect the country—Adolf Hitler
May 15th, 2006 at 12:16 pm“Of course the people don’t want war. But after all, it’s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.” — Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials
May 15th, 2006 at 12:36 pm# 30. Dr.Wu.
”Are you crazy are you high
May 15th, 2006 at 12:41 pmOr just an ordinary guy.”
….
Have you done all you can do?
The media deserves attacks. Maybe now it’s time.
May 15th, 2006 at 12:54 pmHave you seen the kind of comments on the ABC blog? It’s scary to think this is not sarcasm.
May 15th, 2006 at 12:56 pmWell, gee…I wonder if the preznit has ordered them to query on who leaked to Novak et al as I do recall those were “confidential sources”.
May 15th, 2006 at 1:02 pmSo, if I have the bush/cheney plan figured out, it’s to spy on all Americans to find out who is telling us about all the illegal crap they are doing or attempting to pull off and this will in turn defeat terrorism! So simple, why didn’t we all think of it?
May 15th, 2006 at 1:05 pm#25 Yes. They’re more or less the same person ;)
May 15th, 2006 at 1:14 pm[...] ABC News: The Government Is Monitoring Our Phone Records To …Think Progress, DC - 1 hour ago… This, of course, is the real problem with the extra-legal collection of phone records by the government, revealed by USA Today last Thursday. … [...]
May 15th, 2006 at 1:15 pmBetter arm yourself while it’s still legal.
Comment by Keith H. #23
Keith,
You’re absolutely right!
…the Bushite conservatives are going to look for someone to blame…
…for their masters’ looting of the treasury and bankrupting the country…
…one HUGE reason this immigration thing is dominating the public debate…
…is that the criminal Bushite junta is seeking- once again- to introduce a new boogeyman to the American public…
…to divert your attention away from their thievery…
…the rich are hording money because they know the demographics in this country…
…are changing in favor of people of color…
…they (bushite conservative thieves) want to ensure that they (and their heirs have all the money)….
…thus, they’re devastating the middle class, destroying the social safety net, and building up their own private security forces (the U.S. military) to use against the future poor/working class slaves…
there will ONLY be two classes when they’re done…the poor and the rich…
…and it’s happening right before your very eyes…
…like Keith says, get you some guns ’cause you’re gonna need them…
May 15th, 2006 at 1:15 pmThis is a HUGE story, isn’t it?
We’re talking using the apparatus of national security for political purposes, or for the ability to use private, domestic information for political reasons.
Spying on reporters?
What’s next?
If this is true and begins a chain reaction of similar revelations, then this is indeed BIGGER than Watergate.
Impeachment is looking more likely all the time.
See: http://www.davechandler.info/2006/05/chandler_offica.html
May 15th, 2006 at 1:15 pmAll of this crap was “allowed” to happen.
Dear God, when will this war on terrans be over?
May 15th, 2006 at 1:19 pmWhat I wonder is… wouldn’t the person who told him he was being monitored be worried about being recorded letting him know to watch his back?
May 15th, 2006 at 1:25 pmI wonder if the MSM will now see how “only data mining phone numbers calling each other” could be usefull? I guess not. ABC News web page is the only one with the story. I guess everyone else knows they have nothing to hide.
May 15th, 2006 at 1:29 pmJudd notes, “No one really has objections to doing whatever is necessary to defeat al-Qaeda.” Really???? I apologize to all the moonbats who said they would rather the US suffered another attack than “give up their civil liberties”.
I do have one question: some progs have been screechingin the last couple of days about “domestic number patterns being monitored”. Do you think any of the 19 barbarian hijackers routed their call through Pakistan or Osama – or did they just call directly from the East Coast to San Diego?
May 15th, 2006 at 1:30 pmAll you need to know:
Transcript from exchange between CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Stephen Hadley (from Crooksandliars.com)
BLITZER: Can you say that over the past nearly five years, this program of collecting all these phone calls, the records, has resulted in thwarting one terrorist attack against the United States?
HADLEY: Again, I cannot confirm or deny the claims in the “USA Today” story. But what I can say is that the intelligence activities we have conducted against al Qaeda lawfully briefed to the Congress, narrowly focused on the war on terror, has prevented attacks and saved lives.
BLITZER: There have been specific attacks that were in the working stages that, as a result of this data mining, whatever it’s called, you managed to stop that attack? Is that what you’re saying?
HADLEY: I said as a result of intelligence activities undertaken by the United States.
BLITZER: I know, but I’m talking about the collection of the phone numbers. Does that specific program resulted in thwarting a terrorist act?
HADLEY: And as I said to you, I cannot confirm or deny the claims of that story. What I can tell you is the intelligence activities protected and saved lives and protected America, and the president has cited in some of his speeches incidents when that has occurred.
Nothing on how successful the collecting of tens of millions of our phone records has been in fighting terrorism and undermining our civil liberties. Don’t you find that peculiar?
May 15th, 2006 at 1:33 pm’Are you crazy are you high
Or just an ordinary guy.Չ۪
….
Comment by GURU^ — May 15, 2006 @ 12:41 pm
“So, what kind of guru ARE you? Don’t you know you could make more money as a butcher?”
May 15th, 2006 at 1:34 pmA better question would be, how many used a variety of cell phones, with different numbers, or prepaid cell phones under assumed names, or used pay phones or email? I sincerely doubt, they used land lines registered in their names to contact each other.
May 15th, 2006 at 1:34 pmTime to switch to chappattis for communication… it worked for Ghandi…
May 15th, 2006 at 1:36 pmWhere the hell am I? Nazi/Germany?
Call logs are not the issue, “traitors” are not the issue, a police-state IS THE ISSUE!
Months before the USA TODAY article, a class-action lawsuit was filed against AT&T –
and our US government has intervened to have the case dismissed, WHY?
In January 2003, Klein observed a new room being built adjacent to the room housing AT&T’s #4ESS switching equipment, which is responsible for routing long distance and international calls.
“I learned that the person whom the NSA interviewed for the secret job was the person working to install equipment in this room,” Klein wrote. “The regular technician work force was not allowed in the room.”
Klein’s job eventually included connecting internet circuits to a splitting cabinet that led to the secret room. During the course of that work, he learned from a co-worker that similar cabinets were being installed in other cities, including Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego.
May 15th, 2006 at 1:38 pmI’ll bet you this is why Mary McCarthy was fired at the CIA. The Bushinista Regime illegally tracked her phone calls and found out some went to the Washington Post.
May 15th, 2006 at 1:53 pm[...] The response Ensor received from the NSA related specifically to eavesdropping — i.e., the monitoring of the contents of a phone call. According to a report today from ABC’s Brian Ross the NSA is tracking reporters phone records — but not the contents of their phone calls — in an effort to root out confidential sources. If the ABC story is true, it raises the question of whether Amanpour’s — or any other journalist’s — phone records were monitored by the NSA. [...]
May 15th, 2006 at 1:55 pmFor the latest NSA scandal news, legal documents, statutes and other essential materials, see:
May 15th, 2006 at 2:25 pm“The NSA Domestic Spying Scandal Resource Center.”
They called directly to their leader in Saudi Arabia. That is an International call and could be wiretapped legally. You are a moron.
May 15th, 2006 at 2:50 pmOr Spudge callimg Germany one of the sites of the terrorists before 9-11, you know the one wherAtta lived and the Germans actually caught another co-conspirator and actually brought him to trial ….
MA is simply living in backwash land and does not think outside the borders.
May 15th, 2006 at 3:55 pmMaybe this will wake the MSM up to the fact that their fat cat owners have sold them out. Maybe now we will see some interest on what the cabal does and says. Maybe now there will be some balanced reporting. Now that you are getting screwed worse than the rest of us, get mad and lets see some journalism shit. There is not checks and balances in government right now, that means that you (MSM) have to pick up the slack and keep everyone honest. Now is the time to investigate and report, end this scar on the ass of lady Liberty. Shut this cabal down and get these Nazis in jail where they belong.
May 15th, 2006 at 4:22 pmI’ll bet you this is why Mary McCarthy was fired at the CIA. The Bushinista Regime illegally tracked her phone calls and found out some went to the Washington Post.
Uhmmm, when you work for a “secret spy agency” and they suspect that you’re leaking classified information to the press … you do so at your own peril. But … if you want to be more concerned about her phone privacy, be my guest. There must be a balance between level of security and appropriate disclosure of illegalities … there are proper channels … she ignored them. The whole idea that “my opinion” is the proper level of substantiation for bringing an agency secret to the outside world is beyond ridiculous …
And this whole business of comparing Bush to Hitler or calling our government a regime … grow up, people. It is beyond belittling to make such comparisons, for people are still alive who actually suffered/suffer under a dictatorial regime … I understand that people like to belong to a group, but let’s try and make such a group grounded in reality … Yes, you don’t like Bush or what he stands for. No, he’s not Hitler (or even remotely close). No, the country isn’tt falling to pieces (we’ve been through far, far worse). Maybe “your guy” will win next tiime … if he/she does, crises averted … if he/she doesn’t, you’re in the minority (again) so suck it up.
May 15th, 2006 at 4:39 pm# 47 barfly:
Butcher? Whachu talkin’ bout Willis?
May 15th, 2006 at 5:19 pmGo yank someone else’s chain,barfly.
…
”Biscayne Bay
Where the Cuban gentlemen sleep all day.”
…
#57 so you fire anyone suspected of leaking? Not proven leakers, simply suspected? Does that atttitude apply to the white house? Because that place is crawling with suspected leakers you know.
May 15th, 2006 at 6:03 pmSponge – So when Atta wanted to clue in the SD crowd on timetable updates, etc. he called from a cell phone?? Maybe they used a carrier pigeon to circumvent interception….
May 15th, 2006 at 7:48 pm“No one really has objections to doing whatever is necessary to defeat al-Qaeda.”
I love this site, but I disagree with this statement. I do object to “doing whatever it takes to defeat” The Base. We don’t have to break laws, and we don’t have to kill people.
“States are not moral agents.” – Chomsky
May 15th, 2006 at 8:20 pmDo you think any of the 19 barbarian hijackers routed their call through Pakistan or Osama – or did they just call directly from the East Coast to San Diego?
comment by Mighty Hypocrite
They called directly to their leader in Saudi Arabia. That is an International call and could be wiretapped legally. You are a moron.
Comment by Spudge_Boy
Mighty Hypocrite,
May 16th, 2006 at 3:32 amIt has already been noted here before that a call from one of the hijackers mentioning the “day of glory tomorrow” or something along those lines was intercepted on Sept. 10, but not translated into English until after 9/11. Of course, the Bush administration has learned nothing from this experience (or simply doesn’t care), and the various US intelligence agencies are still woefully lacking in competent translators/interpreters of Arabic and other languages spoken in Muslim countries 4 1/2 years after 9/11. In other words, the same thing could very well happen again. So much for the Busheviks protecting the USA!
“But when you do so outside the law and without meaningful Congressional oversight, it leaves the door wide open to abuse.”
Judd
For goodness sakes Judd, you’ve stooped to quoting Arlen Specter. “Meaningful congressional oversight”? I guess that means the congressional oversight that IS happening is “meaningless”, right? Why should that bother you any more than the other meaningless things they do? Hummm?
May 16th, 2006 at 8:36 am” No one really has objections to doing whatever is necessary to defeat al Qaeda. ” This statement is truly a farce. The left has done everything in its power to provide aid, comfort and support for terrorists while making the job of the United States military as difficult and dangerous as possible. This is the sort of contention which typifies the shameless hypocrisy of the left. Of course, Teddy could have claimed that Mary Jo wanted to stay in the car cause her purse was in it. That might be a little more reprehensible, but not much.
May 16th, 2006 at 9:38 pm#64
While ignoring the fact that the Bush administration sent young men and women inadequately armed and without enough armored vehicles and inadequate numbers to a country that didn’t attack the US and was not connected with Al Qaeda or 9/11, you accuse the left of doing everything in its power to provide aid, comfort and support for terrorists while making the job of the United States military as difficult and dangerous as possible.” You give no concrete examples of what the left supposed did to aid terrorists, again ignoring the fact that people in the places actually hit by the 9/11 attacks who are the ones most likely to have lost friends/family in them overwhelmingly did not vote for Bush in both 2000 and 2004 (and that includes Arlington, where the Pentagon is located, though the state of Virginia itself as a whole went for Bush). The only example of the left’s so-called hypocrisy you give is Teddy Kennedy’s car accident of nearly 40 years ago. Since you are into fatal car accidents that took place in the 1960s, maybe you would like to comment on the following (from http://www.nnd.com)?
“On the night of November 6, 1963, 17-year-old Laura Welch (Bush) ran a stop
May 17th, 2006 at 12:33 amsign in the family Chevy at the intersection of State Highway 349 and Farm
Road 868 near Midland, Texas. She plowed into a Corvair sedan, killing its
driver — classmate (and purported boyfriend) Michael Dutton Douglas.”