Former NSA Analyst: NSA ‘Monitored All Communications’ Of Americans, Targeted Journalists
Former NSA Analyst: NSA ‘Monitored All Communications’ Of Americans, Targeted Journalists
Last night on MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” former analyst for the National Security Agency Russell Tice revealed that the NSA had “monitored all communications” of Americans and specifically targeted journalists:
TICE: The National Security Agency had access to all Americans’ communications — faxes, phone calls, and their computer communications. And it didn’t matter whether you were in Kansas, in the middle of the country, and you never made any foreign communications at all. They monitored all communications. [...] But an organization that was collected on were U.S. news organizations and reporters and journalists.
OLBERMANN: To what purpose? I mean, is there a file somewhere full of every e-mail 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 this specific avenue of collection, it would be everything. Yes. It would be everything.
Tice, a major whistleblower who helped reveal President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program to the New York Times in 2005, also told Olbermann that the agency sought specifically “to be deceptive” to prevent congressional committees from learning more about the program, calling it “a shell game”:
TICE: The agency would tailor some of their briefings to try to be deceptive for — whether it be, you know, a congressional committee or someone they really didn’t want to know exactly what was going on. So there would be a lot of bells and whistles in a briefing, and quite often, you know, the meat of the briefing was deceptive.
Watch portions of the interview (full interview here):
In October, two other whistleblowers told ABC News that the NSA “routinely” listened in on Americans’ phone calls and agents would often share “salacious or tantalizing” intercepted calls with each other. All this despite Bush’s frequent protestations that his illegal wiretaping program was “limited,” that it targeted only “a phone call of an al Qaeda, known al Qaeda suspect,” and that he ensured “that our civil liberties of our citizens are treated with respect.”
To the end, Bush and Cheney defended the program. In his final days in office, Cheney declared that “it always aggravated” him that the Times won a Pulitzer for exposing his administration’s illegal spying program.
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see the comments in this thread:
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/01/21/russell-tice-confirms-everything-weve-surmised-about-bushs-illegal-wiretap-program/#comments
connect ALL the dots.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:07 amWe knew it was bad, and it’s BAD — and it’s probably much worse.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:14 amWhat a sad criminal conspiracy the Bush Administration was from start to finish and how much terrible damage it did will take generations to fathom!
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:16 amI am shocked…SHOCKED, I tell you…Nobody would EVER have anticipated ANYTHING like this could EVAR happen here…
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:17 amOkay, we pretty much knew they were listening in on everyone. Who specifically received the collected information and was anyone in the WH informed of what was being collected?
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:17 amoh, big deal, people, If y’all did nuthin’ wrong, ya gots nuthin’ ta fear. Am I right?
… as long as that also goes for the president and any potential investigations into his administration’s activities…
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:21 amBut an organization that was collected on were U.S. news organizations and reporters and journalists.
I always figgurd Soledad O’Brien was a terrist. I think she’s half Aarab.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:24 amalso targeted; Bush’s enemies list meaninig, antiwar protesters, civil rights advocates, anyone criticizing the Bushies &/or their policies, Democrats(No wonder Nancy took impeachment ‘off the table’), the ACLU, veterans, everyone.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:24 amKind of makes Nixon look like a rank amateur, doesn’t it?
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:24 amI would want to know if anyone from the House or Senate has contacted Tice and other whistle blowers for sworn testimony and if protection has been afforded them for their evidence and testimony?
And I also would want to know if not, why not?
The truth will out. America deserves answers, now.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:25 ameven me?
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:25 amNevar; yes, even you. Especially me.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:26 amThey sure were something else, weren’t they? They shredded the Constitution, (to keep us safe, of course), to spy on virtually everyone! I am sure that they were paying attention to what was said on this blog, and many others. Think about that! W. really was the worst president ever.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:27 amTICE: The National Security Agency had access to all Americans’ communications — faxes, phone calls, and their computer communications.
All Americans, eh. John Kerry is an American, and so were his campaign staff.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:27 amKongo says; who cares!
Just remember that when the Gestapo is kicking your door in.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:28 amThinkProgress is interested to know whether Tice ever experienced political interference while working for the agency. What questions do you have?
I want to know EXACTLY when they started spying on any Americans.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:28 amHere’s the man behind it all…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Poindexter
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:29 amZooey says
I’ll give you VERY good odds that the spying began within days of taking office in 2001.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:30 amI want to know exactly why they trampled our Fourth Amendment rights? Why?
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:31 amKongo Kong Says:
There’s a war in the Congo, why isn’t this discussed.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:26 am
_________
Good question. Why AREN’T you discussing it?
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:32 amThe agency would tailor some of their briefings to try to be deceptive for — whether it be, you know, a congressional committee or someone they really didn’t want to know exactly what was going on. So there would be a lot of bells and whistles in a briefing, and quite often, you know, the meat of the briefing was deceptive.
Okay, not a Constitutional scholar, not even an attorney, but isn’t that illegal?
And I think the words that need to be said are LIE, LIED, LIES.
Sadly, I am not suprised by anything that was suspected and is now confirmed.
PEACE
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:32 amAnother Republican Talking Point blown to smithereens.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:34 amI saw this last night and wondered…..
How is “Fixed news” going to take this? What about all the Murdoch companies ? Conservative news organizations who were also violated?
How does it feel to be FORCEFULLY SCREWED by your own dick?Can you imagine listening to Billo-the-clown’s conversation? eeeeuuuu…..gross!
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:36 amFeb. 27, 2001
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:37 amBeware
The corporate media is trotting out their shills to derail the direction these disclosures are taking us…..we’re now regarded as “liberal score settlers:”
(vis Glenn Greenwald:)
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:38 am
Unka Ho, I think that’s a very safe bet.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:38 amI have a feeling this is just the tip of the iceberg. Mark my words there are going to be several careerists that didn’t want to commit professional suicide over the past 8 years that will start coming out of the woodwork.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:40 amCross posted at Think Fast. Some of my questions:
We really need to ask some serious questions. O.K. what was done with the information? How long did this continue? Were programs currently being done by the NSA reviewed when the FISA rework was passed or just new programs? Which other groups were targeted? I would put money on Congress (if I had any) political types. This is just so much bigger than Nixon breaking into the DNC offices. How about spying on the ACLU? I know, I am possibly getting carried away but suspecting it was happening and now HEARING by someone involved are very different. I would like to hear from someone in the House or Senate calling for an immediate investigation. Too bad we don’t have an AG yet. So, are any other whistleblowers going to step up? Will someone finally seriously investigate Sibel Edmunds? Wait and see…
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:40 amThanks for that link, shoeless.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:40 amLet’s not forget the other whistleblower who worked for AT&T, Mark Klein. His, along with Russel Tice’s testimony, should go a long way in proving that not only did the Bush Administration begin spying on US citizens as of February of 2001, but also avoided the FISA courts and warrants specifically so it could spy on it’s adversaries and use that info for political purposes.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/homefront/interviews/klein.html
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:41 amThinking of the outting of Valerie Plame and consequences of REVENGE by the Bush Crime Family . .
I think Mr. Tice has every right to be fearful that he might fall victim to some ‘unforeseen’ accident!!
Q. Mr. Tice, do you believe there will be retaliation against you by conservative warmongers who only cried ‘what about the rule of law’ when applied to President Clinton??
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:42 amNone of this is a surprise. It is all part of the fascist regime we have been witness to for the past eight years. The rethuglicans in the Senate and House of Representatives will spend a great portion of their time, fighting to protect the thugs who carried this out. That is why I believe anyone with (R) after their name is a thug.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:43 amKongo Kong,
The place for bringing up atrocities in the Congo is the ThinkFast thread, where you did that. If you are going to bring this up on every single thread, you will find yourself banned for a time. We get it. Israel bad, Congo worse.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:45 amSo, any information they have on anyone who does not want that information made public — well, they still have it (and thus still have leverage over those people). Worth remembering (and that such information is not of necessity about illegal activities: there are myriad alternatives that are still ‘leverage’).
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:50 amThe present danger is from the diverse and powerful interest groups with a vested interest in keeping all of this quiet. The Republicans obviously don’t want confirmation of such flagrantly unconstitutional behavior. Some Democrats, especially in the Senate (I’m looking at you Rockefeller) could be somewhere between negligent and complicit). The mainstream media has no desire to have its sloth/complicity in the administration’s illegal activities exposed. Even Obama’s team has to contemplate whether it is better for them to do the right thing or to keep and use the incredible expansion of power the Bush criminals stole from the people. My guess is that a few intrepid committee chairs in the House could be all that prevents a whitewash.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:50 amtg that tp is
finally going after
trolls who go off topic
and try to hi-jack threads.
8 8 8
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:52 amTricky thing with blackmail — the victim cannot come forward unless he or she is willing for the information that is being used to blackmail to become public.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:53 amOscar nominee: Frost/Nixon
Idea for sequel: Maddow/Bush
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:54 amjoe cantwell Says:
tg that tp is
finally going after
trolls who go off topic
and try to hi-jack threads.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:52 am
I’ve been trying to encourage TP admin to replace the comments they delete so that comments referenced by number do not get screwed up. If you agree that they should do that, then please click “recommend” to let TP know you agree. I wrote to them yesterday about this, but I do not anticipate a response.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:55 amDumb Fox the Average Golfer Says:
Oscar nominee: Frost/Nixon
Idea for sequel: Maddow/Bush
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:54 am
Georgie would never allow himself to be interviewed by someone with intelligence.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:57 amFingerprint File
The Rolling Stones
(M. Jagger/K. Richards)
You better watch out
On your telephone
Wrong number
They know you ain’t home
And there’s some little jerk in the FBI
A keepin’ papers on me six feet high
It gets me down, it gets me down, it gets me down
Who’s the man on the corner; that corner over there
I don’t know. Well, you better lay low. Watch out
Keep on the look out
Electric eyes
Rats on the sell out
Who gonna testify
You know my habits
Way a head of time
Listening to me
On your satellite
And there’s some little jerk in the FBI
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:01 amA keepin’ papers on me six feet high
It gets me down, it gets me down, it gets me down
It gets me down
Zooey Says:
Dumb Fox the Average Golfer Says:
Oscar nominee: Frost/Nixon
Idea for sequel: Maddow/Bush
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:54 am
Georgie would never allow himself to be interviewed by someone with intelligence.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:57 am
Maybe that’s why everything he believed about Iraq was wrong. He wasn’t talking to people with “intelligence” about Iraq.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:03 amHow does it feel to live in the 4th Reich America?
How does if feel to know your Government thinks everyone in the nation is a suspect????
How does it feel to be steped on America????
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:09 amWe all knew this was true but . . . damn. I hope Obama gets us out of this Police State. And just make sure we scream louder than the Nazi Right Wing who will scream about how dismantling a police state makes us unsafe.
We must NEVER EVER let these people in charge of anything again.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:16 amAs we began to learn about this, I simply assumed that every comment on every liberal blog got swept up, along with all phone calls, emails, etc. on all Americans. I also assumed that politicians on both the Right and the Left were being monitored, and information would be used to put pressure on them. Because I was active in anti-war groups, particularly during Vietnam, I also assumed the FBI had a file on me from that time. I actually found a bug in my phone one time!! And I was associated with a completely peaceful group. About a year ago, I had a conversation with a local pharmacist who wound up being questioned by the Dept. of Homeland Security. His son was engaged to an American Muslim girl, who had family members in the Middle East. They obviously began monitoring the girl and her fiancee…then the entire extended family of the pharmacist here in the U.S. He had been talking to his brother, as they co-own a hunting lodge and were talking about an upcoming hunting trip. They used the word, “kill.” A few days later is when DHS visited with the pharmacist. He asked about warrants, and was told they weren’t necessary under the Patriot Act.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:33 amI think a lot of people actually fell for the “he’d only use those powers for good” argument. The contrary is like political gravity. To the degree any leader has powers to violate any basic rights, they will do so. And as always, the bastards go after the media first.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:36 amKongo Kong,
Also, there’s a doozy of a thread about the Civil War just after you click on “Older posts”. Something tells me that you and J. Davis would make a good match.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:56 amwinddancer Says:
He asked about warrants, and was told they weren’t necessary under the Patriot Act.
Except that the Patriot Act is unconstitutional, as Congress did not have the authority to strip us of our Fourth Amendment rights. No argument they make will make that law constitutional. But it can’t get struck down until someone can go into court and prove that an NSL letter was used to conduct the search. And since the NSLs are classified, and mentioning they exist is a crime, it is very difficult to prove you were illegally spied upon. Which was the intention of the Bush Administration all along. A legal Catch-22.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:58 amI think a lot of people actually fell for the “he’d only use those powers for good” argument.
I think a LOT of folks would believe Prez.O. if he made similar protestations.
I do NOT expect that Prez.O will ‘de-imperialize’ the Presidency.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:59 amI do NOT expect that Prez.O will ‘de-imperialize’ the Presidency.
Why not? An “Imperial Presidency” is unconstitutional.
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 pmWe all knew this was true but . . . damn. I hope Obama gets us out of this Police State.
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:01 pmI do not know why you’d think he’d want to.
He’s no less a creature of the authoritarian/corporatist/globalist/militarist hegemonic formation than anyone else with the power to wield…
Because his ‘advisors’ will guide him away from ceding power back to the congress or the people.
No president has EVER ceded power back to those from whom they arrogated it to themselves.
Never…
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:02 pmI would like to know if Carl Rove was ever brought into any part of the collected intercepts?
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:12 pmIf the NSA kept files on all of us, we should demand copies of those files.
President Obama said yesterday the government was going to be more open to FOIA applications.
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:19 pmIn another life, I tried to tell people in here and in your blog Zooey, that it was “all” communications being monitored.
Not some. ALL. Yours. Mine. All.
Remember the old question I used to ask?
If they can “START” recording your calls when you say certain words, like President, Airplane, etc, then how did they KNOW you said those words in the first place?
I tried to get people to ask themselves that question but everyone just thought I was nuts.
:|
Which I am of course, but that’s beside the point.
It’s ALL communications, as Tice said last night. ALL communications are “monitored”. And some are focused on for special monitoring and storage. But ALL of them are being monitored. Which is of course eavesdropping on a national level. Illegally.
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:27 pmQuestions for Tice:
1) Is there any evidence that from these warrantless taps between domestic callers on both sides, that a single terrorist activity was thwarted?
2) Was Howard Dean, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi or any presidential candidate (or campaign manager) wiretapped? (This is important because the elected Democrats are more likely to fight back if they think it’s their own ox being gored).
3) Besides telephone taps, were other long-range listening devices used to mine conversations without court oversight?
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:11 pmKevin, not to be redundant but your questions show that people still aren’t getting it. You ask if Howard Dean or Nancy Pelosi was wiretapped, demonstrating you still don’t get the magnitude of what Mr Tice is trying to say.
Mr Tice was clear last night when he said “ALL COMMUNICATIONS WERE MONITORED”, but so many people still don’t get it. Even Keith Olbermann seemed transfixed on the concept of them targeting journalists, instead of recognizing the magnitude of what Mr Tice is trying to tell him.
It was ALL calls. All emails. All communications.
Not some.
ALL.
He pointed out the difficulty in “listening” to all communications, both voice and data (answering your third question) which I think confused some people including Olberman, but he made it clear that ALL communications were “monitored”.
Monitoring in this instance means mirroring the data, (voice, email, web traffic, etc) into special rooms provided to the Bush administration by AT&T and other telecommunications companies where the data is “filtered” for certain keywords.
Bush spoke of this himself back in 2003 and 2004 when he spoke publicly about “Digital Switching Hubs”. Most people didn’t get it, but being as I work with data communications I picked up on it immediately. Over the late 90’s and early 00’s the countries telecommunications infrastructure underwent a huge overhaul, moving everything that passes through whats known as a calling “LATA” to digital switching technologies. (as opposed to analog). This is what SPRINT used to call “Digitized Voice”. Once communications are “digital”, (ones and zeros) then it can easily be stored, filtered, analyzed, etc, on and by computers. This is what Bush referred to in 2004 when he spoke of “Data Mining” techniques. The data they were “mining” was the voluminous warehoused data they had and were daily collecting on all US communications.
Of course like Mr Tice points out, not “all” of it can be “listened to”. It would be impossible. But “all” of it was “monitored” as he so clearly stated at the beginning of the interview last night, meaning all of it passing through digital telecommunications switched was “mirrored” to the infamous “secret rooms” where it passed through filters searching for whatever keywords were hot that particular day.
I’m not trying to be redundant here, but I can see people are still having a hard time coming to grips with the magnitude of what Mr Tice, and others have been trying to say now for years.
Its not “some” communications that were monitored.
It was ALL communications. And if that seems difficult to comprehend then I encourage you to ask yourself that one simple question I’ve been asking in here and elsewhere, for years.
If they can “START” recording when you say certain keywords, (ie. b0mb, president, airplane, etc), then how did they KNOW you said those words, in the first place?
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:51 pmWas there an “enemies list” that received special attention such as Quaker Anti-War grops, ACLU, Sierra Club etc.
Were matters spied on that could be used to blackmail ?
Were matter spied on that could be used to unduly influence legislators ? Juries ? etc.
Was there a Bush mole sitting there to directly relay really juicy bits of information ?
Were any of the intercepted calls instrumental in identifying or outing Valerie Plame ?
In short, I’d like to see a thorough deposition – which in this case would take weeks.
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:42 pmWAYNEBRO Says:
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:27 pm
We knew you were right, Bart. But we didn’t quite know well enough for you, so you had to go on endless rants, smears and attacks — because our agreement didn’t quite suit you.
Sheesh…
January 22nd, 2009 at 4:34 pmZooey, please. There’s two sides to that story and neither of them matter anymore. You don’t see me saying anything that merits your comments there and I certainly don’t want to go down another path of arguments with you. I took a long time off blogging. Over a year. And I’m not back so I can start arguing with you.
I didn’t say anything mean spirited or combative nor do I plan to, so hopefully you can do likewise.
January 22nd, 2009 at 4:40 pmMeanwhile, it is a monumental effort to get the administration to cough up e-mails that belong in the National Archive.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/14/AR2009011401957.html?referrer=digg
January 22nd, 2009 at 8:50 pmSilly fascists and thier silly penchant for spying.
911=Inside Job
Anthrax = Inside Job
Hague 2009!
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