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{{Short description|NSA program}}
{{NPOV}}
{{merge|NSA warrantless surveillance controversy}} {{NSA surveillance|1}}
The '''Terrorist Surveillance Program''' was an ] program implemented by the ] (NSA) of the United States in the wake of the ].<ref>{{cite web|title=Same Surveillance state, Different War|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/04/same-surveillance-state-different-war/389988/|website=The Atlantic|date=8 April 2015 |publisher=Adrienne Lafrance|access-date=18 April 2015}}</ref> It was part of the ], which was in turn conducted under the overall umbrella of the ].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Yoo|first=John|title=The Terrorist Surveillance Program and the Constitution|journal=Geo. Mason L.}}</ref> The NSA, a ] agency, implemented the program to intercept ] communications overseas where at least one party is not a ]. In 2005, ''The New York Times'' disclosed that technical glitches resulted in some of the intercepts including communications which were "purely domestic" in nature, igniting the ].<ref name=nytimes051221>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/politics/21nsa.html?ex=1292821200&en=91d434311b0a7ddc&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss|title=Spying Program Snared U.S. Calls|work=New York Times|author=James Risen and Eric Lichtblau|date=2005-12-21|access-date=2006-05-28}}</ref> Later works, such as ]'s '']'', described how the nature of the domestic surveillance was much, much more widespread than initially disclosed. In a 2011 ''New Yorker'' article, former NSA employee ] said that his colleagues told him that the NSA had begun storing billing and phone records from "everyone in the country."<ref name=muckracker_jane/>


The program was named the Terrorist Surveillance Program by the ] administration<ref>''Washington Post'': February 5, 2006.</ref> in response to the ] following disclosure of the program. It is claimed that this program operated without the ] mandated by ] (FISA), and legal challenges to the program are currently undergoing judicial review. Because the technical specifics of the program have not been disclosed, it is unclear if the program is subject to FISA. It is unknown if this is the original name of the program; the term was first used publicly by President Bush in a speech on January 23, 2006.<ref>White House: {{cite web |url=http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/01/20060123-4.html |title=President Discusses Global War on Terror at Kansas State University |newspaper=The White House |access-date=2009-12-10 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313203545/http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/01/20060123-4.html |archive-date=March 13, 2007 }}. January 23, 2006.</ref>
The '''Terrorist Surveillance Program''' is the name given by the ] administration to a program implemented by the ] government in the wake of the events of ], allegedly targeted at ] communications coming into or going out of the ] as part of the broader ]. These calls invovled at least one ].

On August 17, 2006, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled the program unconstitutional and illegal. On appeal, the decision was overturned on procedural grounds and the lawsuit was dismissed without addressing the merits of the claims,<ref name=reuters070606>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0642400020070706 |title=Court dismisses lawsuit on spying |publisher=Reuters |date=July 6, 2007}}</ref> although one further challenge is still pending in the courts. On January 17, 2007, Attorney General ] informed U.S. Senate leaders by letter<ref>{{cite news|url=http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/20060117gonzales_Letter.pdf|title=Letter from Alberto Gonzalez, Attorney General, to Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter|work=The New York Times}}</ref> that the program would not be reauthorized by the president, but would be subjected to judicial oversight. "Any electronic surveillance that was occurring as part of the Terrorist Surveillance Program will now be conducted subject to the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court", according to his letter.<ref>{{dead link|date=June 2013}}</ref>

On June 6, 2013, it was revealed that the Terrorist Surveillance Program was replaced by a new NSA program, referred to by its codeword, ].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-mining-data-from-nine-us-internet-companies-in-broad-secret-program/2013/06/06/3a0c0da8-cebf-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html?hpid=z1 |title=U.S. intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies in broad secret program |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=June 7, 2013|access-date=2013-06-06 |first1=Barton |last1=Gellman |first2=Laura |last2=Poitras}}</ref>


==Description== ==Description==
While no specific information has been offered, the Bush Administration has indicated that the wiretapping program targets communications where at least one party is outside the United States, and where it asserts that there are reasonable grounds to believe that one or more parties involved in the communication have ties to ]. However, anonymous sources have come forward stating a small number of instances where purely domestic calls were intercepted. These sources said the NSA accidentally intercepted these calls, apparently caused by technical glitches in determining whether a communication was in fact "international", probably due to the use of international cell phones.<ref name="nytimes051221"/>
The complete details of the program are not known, as the Bush administration contends that security concerns do not allow it to release details. Implemented by the President sometime after the ] attack on the ] and the ], the program was not made public until revealed in a 2005 ] article. Additional details came to light in a May 2006 ] article.


The complete details of the program are not known, as the Bush Administration contended that security concerns did not allow it to release details, and limit judicial authorization and review.{{Citation needed|date=May 2007}} Implemented sometime after the ], the existence of the program was not made public until a 2005 ''New York Times'' article. Additional details came to light in a May 2006 '']'' article.<ref name="usatoday1">{{cite news | title=NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls | publisher=USA Today | date=May 10, 2006 | url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm | first=Leslie | last=Cauley | access-date=May 20, 2010}}</ref>
On May 22, 2006, it was revealed by investigative reporter ] and ] that the program involved the NSA setting up splitters to the routing cores of many telecoms companies and to major Internet traffic hubs, that provided a direct connection to the NSA headquarters for most U.S. telecoms communications and all Internet traffic, and that the NSA had used this to eavesdrop and order police investigations of tens of thousands of ordinary Americans without judicial warrants. <ref>{{cite news |last=Hersh |first=Seymour |title=Listening In |date=May 22, 2006 |publisher=The New Yorker |url=http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/060529ta_talk_hersh}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |unsigned |title=Whistle-Blower's Evidence, Uncut |date=May 22, 2006 |publisher=Wired |url=http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70944-0.html?tw=wn_index_18}}</ref>


The President has stated that he has reviewed and reauthorized the program approximately every 45 days since it was implemented. The leadership of the ] of both the ] and ] were briefed a number of times since initiation of the program. <ref>http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/speeches/2006/ag_speech_060206.html Statement of Hon. Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General, February 6, 2006</ref> They were not, however, allowed to make notes or confer with others to determine the legal ramifications, or even to mention the existence of the program to the full membership of the Intelligence Committees. Further, the administration has even refused to identify which members of the committees were briefed. <ref>http://www.davidcorn.com/archives/2006/05/who_in_congress.php</ref> President Bush stated that he had reviewed and reauthorized the program approximately every 45 days since it was implemented. The leadership of the ] of the ] and ] were briefed a number of times since initiation of the program.<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060214185621/http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/speeches/2006/ag_speech_060206.html |date=February 14, 2006 }}</ref> They were not, however, allowed to make notes or confer with others to determine the legal ramifications, or even to mention the existence of the program to the full membership of the intelligence committees. Further, the administration even refused to identify to the public which members of the committees were briefed; it has, however, provided a complete list of these members to the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.davidcorn.com/archives/2006/05/who_in_congress.php |title=David Corn |publisher=David Corn |access-date=2013-06-06}}</ref>


===Wiretapping=== ===Pen register tap===
{{Main|Pen register}}
While no specific information has been offered, the administration has indicated that the wiretapping program targets communications where at least one party is outside the United States, and where it asserts that there are reasonable grounds to believe that one or more parties involved in the communication have ties to ]. However, a small number of instances where domestic calls (entirely inside the United States) were intercepted have come to light.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/politics/21nsa.html?ex=1292821200&en=91d434311b0a7ddc&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss</ref> These cases were apparently errors, and are outside the alleged parameters of the program.

Prominent legal scholar and blogger Orin Kerr has argued that the program is probably not a wiretap or call database, but more likely to be a pen register (or tap-and-trace) tap.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2006_01_01-2006_01_07.shtml#1136400573 |title=The Volokh Conspiracy |publisher=Volokh.com |access-date=2013-06-06}}</ref> Unlike wiretaps, where the actual content of the call is monitored, or listened to, a pen register is a limited form of wiretap where only basic call data (]) such as originating and receiving telephone numbers, time of call and duration are logged. Because of the limited nature of the data, frequently characterized as "outside the envelope", pen register taps have much lower legal standards than conventional wiretaps, and are not subject to ] protection.

The only physical evidence of the NSA program are documents accidentally leaked to lawyers for an ] front group the ]. These documents contain only logs of phone calls being placed, but not actual transcripts, suggesting the wiretapping program is merely a pen-register tap.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.mobile-track.com/monitor/top-secret-were-wire-tapping-you/ |magazine=Wired |title=Top Secret: We're Wiretapping You |date=March 5, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226155939/http://www.mobile-track.com/monitor/top-secret-were-wire-tapping-you/ |archive-date=February 26, 2015 }}</ref>


===Call database=== ===Call database===
{{Main|NSA call database}} {{Main|NSA call database}}
On May 10, 2006, USA Today reported that the NSA has had a separate, prieviously undisclosed program in place since 9/11 to build a database of information about calls placed within the United States, including phone numbers, date, and duration of the calls. According to the article, phone companies AT&T, Verizon, and Bell South disclosed the records to the NSA, while Qwest did not. The article quotes an unnamed source that "it's the largest database ever assembled in the world."


On May 10, 2006, '']'' reported that the NSA has had a separate, previously undisclosed program in place since 9/11 to build a database of ] placed within the United States, including both phone numbers and the date and duration of the calls.<ref name="usatoday1" /> According to the article, phone companies ], ], and ] disclosed the records to the NSA, while ] did not. The article quotes an unnamed source that "it's the largest database ever assembled in the world". Most reports indicate that this program is different from the Terrorist Surveillance Program. The administration has not confirmed the existence of this aspect of the program.<ref>{{cite news | title=A Change of Subject | newspaper=Washington Post | date=May 19, 2006 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/05/19/BL2006051900812.html | first=Dan | last=Froomkin | access-date=May 20, 2010}}</ref>
The administration has not confirmed the existence of this aspect of the program. On ], George Bush "refused to even confirm that he was refusing to confirm or deny reports that the government is maintaining a secret domestic telephone database." <ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html</ref>

===Undersea cable tapping===

Both the U.S. government and also spy organizations in the U.K. have tapped "the spine of the internet", a transatlantic Ethernet cable, using submarines to access it and put on equipment to commandeer as much information as they wish to apply special searches in order to narrow down potential terrorist activity. With current laws in the U.S. (as of 2013), a warrant is not necessary if the government's surveillance is 'reasonably believed' to be overseas.<ref></ref> "A new set of documents purportedly lifted from the U.S. National Security Agency suggests that American spies have burrowed deep into the Middle East's financial network, apparently compromising the Dubai office of the anti-money laundering and financial services firm EastNets."<ref>{{cite web|title=New leak suggest NSA penetrated banking networks in Middle East|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-leak-suggests-nsa-penetrated-banking-networks-in-the-middle-east/|website=CBS News|date=14 April 2017 |access-date=18 April 2017}}</ref>

==News reporting==

===December 16, 2005===
On December 16, 2005, ''The New York Times'' printed a story asserting that following 9/11, "President ] secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying" as part of the War on Terror.<ref>{{cite news |last=James Risen |first=Eric Lichtblau |title=Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts |date=December 16, 2005 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/16program.html}}</ref>

<blockquote class="toccolours" style="float:none;">
Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible "dirty numbers" linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said. The agency, they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic communications.</blockquote>

According to the ''Times'':

<blockquote class="toccolours" style="float:none;">
The White House asked ''The New York Times'' not to publish this article, arguing that it could jeopardize continuing investigations and alert terrorists that they might be under scrutiny. After meeting with senior administration officials to hear their concerns, the newspaper delayed publication for a year to conduct additional reporting. Some information that administration officials argued could be useful to terrorists has been omitted.</blockquote>

White House press secretary ] refused to comment on the story on December 16, exclaiming "there's a reason why we don't get into discussing ongoing intelligence activities, because it could compromise our efforts to prevent attacks from happening."<ref>{{cite press release|date=December 16, 2005 |title=Press Briefing by Scott McClellan |url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051216-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728181840/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051216-1.html |via=] |work=] |archive-date=July 28, 2011}}</ref> The next morning, the president gave a live eight-minute television address instead of his normal weekly radio address, during which he addressed the wiretap story directly:<ref>{{cite press release |date=December 17, 2005 |work=] |title=President's Radio Address |via=] |url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051217.html}}</ref>

<blockquote class="toccolours" style="float:none;">
I authorized the National Security Agency, consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution, to intercept the international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations. Before we intercept these communications, the government must have information that establishes a clear link to these terrorist networks.</blockquote>

In a radio address on December 18, President Bush implied he had approved the tracing of domestic calls originating or terminating overseas, stating the program would "make it more likely that killers like these 9/11 hijackers will be identified and located in time."

He forcefully defended his actions as "crucial to our national security" and claimed that the American people expected him to "do everything in my power, under our laws and Constitution, to protect them and their civil liberties" as long as there was a "continuing threat" from al Qaeda. The president also had harsh words for those who broke the story, saying that they acted illegally. "The unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk", he said.<ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=US eavesdropping program 'saves lives': Bush |date=December 18, 2005 |work=Sydney Morning Herald |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/us-eavesdropping-program-saves-lives-bush/2005/12/18/1134840729456.html}}</ref>

The following day in a press conference with the media, Bush reiterated his support for domestic spying.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/19/politics/bush-says-us-spy-program-is-legal-and-essential.html|title=Bush Says U.S. Spy Program Is Legal and Essential|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 19, 2005|access-date=May 8, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10536141|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019004412/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10536141|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 19, 2021|title=Bush, administration defend domestic spying|website=NBC|date=December 19, 2005|access-date=May 8, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bush-defends-domestic-spying-19-12-2005|title=Bush Defends Domestic Spying|website=CBS|date=December 19, 2005|access-date=May 8, 2024}}</ref>

The FBI began an investigation into the leaks surrounding this program in 2005, with 25 agents and 5 prosecutors on the case.<ref name=shane2010/>

===January 1, 2006===
On January 1, 2006, ''The New York Times'' printed a story revealing that aspects of the program were suspended for weeks in 2004. The ''Times'' story said the ] office, then headed by ], balked in 2004 when asked to give approval of the program, and that then ] ] "played a part in overseeing the reforms that were put in place in 2004." According to the ''Times'', however, the oversight by the NSA shift supervisor continued to be unfettered by any pre-approval requirement. The story also pointed out that even some NSA employees thought that the warrantless surveillance program was illegal.<ref>{{cite news |first=Eric Lichtblau |last=James Risen |title=Justice Deputy Resisted Parts of Spy Program |date=January 1, 2006 |work=New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/01/politics/01spy.html}}</ref>

The ''New York Times'' had withheld the article from publication for over a year. Both editor-in-chief ] and publisher ] were summoned by the president and White House officials to persuade the paper not to publish the story. The ''Times'' ran the story shortly before it would have been scooped by publication of its own reporter's book. The ''Times'' ombudsman speculates that the reason the backstory isn't being revealed is to protect sources.<ref>{{cite news |first=Byron |last=Calame |title=Behind the Eavesdropping Story, a Loud Silence |date=January 1, 2006 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/01/opinion/01publiceditor.html}}</ref> ] claims he was a source for the story.<ref>{{cite web |work=Slate |title=Why NSA whistle-blower Russ Tice may be right |date=17 January 2006 |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2134398/ |access-date=January 17, 2006}}</ref>

===January 3, 2006===
On January 3, the news program '']'' ran a story that, according to NSA whistleblower ], the number of Americans affected by the range of NSA surveillance programs could be in the millions if the full extent of secret NSA programs is considered. The story was picked up by ] on January 10:<ref>{{cite news | title=NSA Whistleblower Alleges Illegal Spying | publisher=ABCNews | date=January 10, 2006 | url=https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1491889}}</ref>

<blockquote class="toccolours" style="float:none;">
Tice says the technology exists to track and sort through every domestic and international phone call as they are switched through centers, such as one in New York, and to search for key words or phrases that a terrorist might use.

"If you picked the word 'jihad' out of a conversation," Tice said, "the technology exists that you focus in on that conversation, and you pull it out of the system for processing."

According to Tice, intelligence analysts use the information to develop graphs that resemble spiderwebs linking one suspect's phone number to hundreds or even thousands more.

"That would mean for most Americans that if they conducted, or you know, placed an overseas communication, more than likely they were sucked into that vacuum," Tice said.</blockquote>

===January 17, 2006===
On January 17, the ''New York Times'' reported that "more than a dozen current and former law-enforcement and counterterrorism officials", some of whom knew of the domestic spying program, "said the torrent of tips led them to few potential terrorists inside the country they did not know of from other sources and diverted agents from counterterrorism work they viewed as more productive".<ref>{{cite news |first=ERIC LICHTBLAU, SCOTT SHANE and DON VAN NATTA Jr. |last=LOWELL BERGMAN |title=Spy Agency Data After Sept. 11 Led F.B.I. to Dead Ends |date=January 17, 2006 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/17/politics/17spy.html?ex=1295154000&en=f3247cd88fa84898&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print}}</ref>

===February 5, 2006===
On February 5, ''The Washington Post'' noted that "fewer than 10 U.S. citizens or residents a year, according to an authoritative account, have aroused enough suspicion during warrantless eavesdropping to justify interception of their (purely) domestic calls, as well. That step still requires a warrant from a federal judge, for which the government must supply evidence of probable cause." Also in the article: "The minimum legal definition of probable cause, said a government official who has studied the program closely, is that evidence used to support eavesdropping ought to turn out to be 'right for one out of every two guys at least.' Those who devised the surveillance plan, the official said, 'knew they could never meet that standard—that's why they didn't go through'" the ].<ref>{{cite news |first=Dafna Linzer and Carol D. Leonnig |last=Barton Gellman |pages=A01 |title=Surveillance Net Yields Few Suspects - NSA's Hunt for Terrorists Scrutinizes Thousands of Americans, but Most Are Later Cleared |date=February 5, 2006 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/04/AR2006020401373.html}}</ref>

Also on February 5, ''USA Today'' ran a story reporting that according to seven telecommunications executives, the NSA had secured the cooperation of the main telecommunications companies in charge of international phone calls, including ], ], and ], in its efforts to eavesdrop without warrants on international calls.<ref>{{cite news | title=Telecoms let NSA spy on calls | publisher=USA Today |date=February 2, 2006 | url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-02-05-nsa-telecoms_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA | first1=Leslie | last1=Cauley | first2=John | last2=Diamond | access-date=May 20, 2010}}</ref>

===May 22, 2006===
In its issue dated May 22, 2006, '']'' put the controversy on the cover of its magazine and ran several stories inside summarizing what is known and speculations about it.<ref>{{cite news |title=NSA Spying: Hold the Phone |publisher=Newsweek |date=May 22, 2006 |url=http://spyapps.net/nsa-spying-hold-the-phone/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235836/http://spyapps.net/nsa-spying-hold-the-phone/|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 3, 2016}}</ref>

On May 22, 2006, '']'' released the text of AT&T documents, currently under court seal in the EFF case, that allegedly describe NSA wiretap arrangements.<ref>{{cite news |title=Why We Published the AT&T Docs| publisher = Wired News |date=May 22, 2006 |url=https://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70947-0.html?tw=wn_technology_1 |access-date=2006-05-27}}</ref>


==Legality of the program== ==Legality of the program==
{{Main|NSA warrantless surveillance controversy}} {{Main|NSA warrantless surveillance controversy}}
The NSA's electronic surveillance operations are governed primarily by four legal sources: the ]; the ] (FISA); ]; and ].<ref>David Alan Jordan. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030095250/http://iilj.org/documents/Jordan-47_BC_L_Rev_000.pdf |date=October 30, 2007 }}. Boston College Law Review. May, 2006. Last access date January 23, 2007</ref> The primary legal challenge to the program currently in US courts is the suit brought by the ].<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030102585.html?nav=most_emailed | title = Saudi Group Alleges Wiretapping by U.S.: Defunct Charity's Suit Details Eavesdropping| newspaper = Washington Post| date = March 2, 2006| first1 = Carol D.| last1 = Leonnig| access-date = May 20, 2010}}</ref> All other challenges to the program have been dismissed by U.S. courts.
The Bush administration has regularly compared the current NSA domestic surveillance program to historical domestic surveillance programs - from ]-era monitoring of telegrams and ]'s ] activities to Presidents ] and ] during the ](i.e. ], and ]).


However, these programs all occurred prior to the 1978 ] (FISA), which was passed into law after widespread concern over abuse of those prior domestic surveillance activities. Those who believe the current program is illegal have emphasized that this distinction makes the historical examples of questionable relevance to the current program. Critics of the Bush administration have regularly compared the current NSA surveillance program to those of ] during the ] (i.e., ], ], ]).<ref name="Dean1"/> However, these programs occurred prior to the 1978 ] (FISA), which was passed into law in response to widespread concern over these abuses of domestic surveillance activities. According to opponents of this program that is exactly what the current program is doing and why FISA was enacted.

The ] filed an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit against the program in 2006 on behalf of journalists, scholars, and lawyers. In the initial trial, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor on August 17, 2006, ruled the program was unconstitutional and imposed an ] against it.<ref>Sarah Karush. . Associated Press. August 18, 2006. Last access date August 18, 2006</ref> The Justice Department filed an appeal within hours of the ruling and requested a stay of the injunction pending appeal. While opposing the stay, the ACLU agreed to delay implementation of the injunction until September 7 to allow time for the judge to hear the appeal.<ref>Sarah Karush. . Associated Press. August 18, 2006. Last access date August 18, 2006.</ref> On appeal, the ] dismissed the case without addressing the merits of the claims, holding 2–1 that the plaintiffs lacked ] to bring the suit.<ref name=reuters070606/>


==Controversy== ==Controversy==
{{Main|NSA warrantless surveillance controversy}} {{Main|NSA warrantless surveillance controversy}}
When classified details were leaked to the press at some point in 2005, many commentators, including ] (R-PA), began to ]. The crux of the debate is twofold, the main issues being: When classified details were leaked to the press at some point in 2005, critics began to ]. The crux of the debate over legality is twofold, the main issues being
#Are the parameters of this program subject to FISA and #Are the parameters of this program subject to FISA and
#if so, did the president have authority, inherent or otherwise, to bypass FISA. #If so, did the president have authority, inherent or otherwise, to bypass FISA.


FISA explicitly covers "electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence information" performed within the United States, and there is no court decision supporting the theory that the president's constitutional authority allows him to override statutory law. This was emphasized by fourteen constitutional law scholars, including the dean of ] and the former deans of ] and the ]:
Although debate continues, mainly sponsored by members of the ], every federal appellate court to rule on the question in other cases has affirmed the President’s inherent constitutional authority (based on the Fourth Amendment and Congressional authorization for the use of Military Force) to conduct such signals intelligence programs<ref name="ClintonAAG"></ref>.


<blockquote>The argument that conduct undertaken by the commander in chief that has some relevance to 'engaging the enemy' is immune from congressional regulation finds no support in, and is directly contradicted by, both case law and historical precedent. ''Every'' time the Supreme Court has confronted a statute limiting the commander in chief's authority, it has upheld the statute. No precedent holds that the president, when acting as commander in chief, is free to disregard an Act of Congress, much less a ''criminal statute'' enacted by Congress, that was designed specifically to restrain the president as such.(Emphasis in original.)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://balkin.blogspot.com/FISA.AUMF.ReplytoDOJ.pdf |title=Letter to Congress regarding FISA and NSA, fourteen constitutional law scholars, February 2, 2006; p. 5 |access-date=2013-06-06}}</ref></blockquote>
The ], the ], ], ], ], on the other hand, criticize the administration's justification for conducting electronic surveillance within the US without first obtaining warrants as contrary to current U.S. law.

<ref name="Holtzman1"> by ], ], January 11, 2006</ref>
The ], the ], former congressional representative of New York ], former White House Counsel ], and lawyer/author Jennifer van Bergen have also criticized the administration's justification for conducting electronic surveillance within the U.S. without first obtaining warrants as contrary to current U.S. law.<ref name="Dean1">John W. Dean, , FindLaw, December 30, 2005</ref><ref name="Holtzman1"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060318101931/http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060130/holtzman |date=2006-03-18 }} by ], '']'', January 11, 2006</ref><ref name="CRS1">
<ref name="Dean1"> By ], ], March 24, 2006 </ref>
* January 5, 2006
<ref name="Dean1"> By JOHN W. DEAN, FindLaw, December 30, 2005</ref>
* January 18, 2006</ref><ref name="ABA1"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326213933/http://www.abanet.org/op/greco/memos/aba_house302-0206.pdf |date=2009-03-26 }}, February 13, 2006</ref><ref name="Lawyers1">, '']'', February 14, 2006</ref> President Bush's former Assistant Deputy Attorney General for national security issues, ], and five former ] judges, one of whom resigned in protest, have also voiced their doubts as to the legality of a program bypassing FISA <ref name="FISAJudges">Eric Lichtblau,
<ref name="Bergen1"> By JENNIFER VAN BERGEN, ], March 4 / 5, 2006</ref>
, '']'', March 29, 2006</ref> Stanford's ] has usefully distinguished between the core NSA eavesdropping program, the data mining program, and the use of National Security Letters to clarify that each continues to present serious legal problems despite the government's supposedly bringing them within the relevant laws.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Chip Pitts |title=The End of Illegal Domestic Spying? Don't Count on It |url=http://spyapps.net/the-end-of-illegal-domestic-spying-dont-count-on-it/ |journal=] |date=March 15, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226225932/http://spyapps.net/the-end-of-illegal-domestic-spying-dont-count-on-it/ |archive-date=February 26, 2015}}</ref>
<ref name="CRS1">

* January 5, 2006
==See also==
* January 18, 2006</ref>
*'']''
<ref name="ABA1">, February 13, 2006</ref>
*]
<ref name="Lawyers1"> ], February 14, 2006</ref>
*]
] and five former ] judges, one of whom resigned in protest, have also voiced their doubts as to the legality of a program bypassing FISA.<ref name="Kris"> By PETE YOST</ref>
*]
<ref name="FISAJudges">
*]
* By ERIC LICHTBLAU, The ], March 29, 2006
*]
* By Christy Hardin Smith, March 28th, 2006</ref>
*]
*]
*]
*]

;Whistleblowers

* ]
*]
*]
*]
*]


==References== ==References==
{{Reflist|500px|refs =
<references/>

<ref name=shane2010>{{cite news | title = Obama Takes a Hard Line Against Leaks to Press | author = Scott Shane | newspaper = ] | date = 11 June 2010 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/us/politics/12leak.html}}</ref>

<ref name=muckracker_jane>
, ], The New Yorker, May 23 2011, retrieved 2011 May 16</ref>

}}


==External links== ==External links==
*, ], August 22, 2012.
*
*, ], August 22, 2012.
*
* "Setting the Record Straight"
*
* pp.&nbsp;109–125 in The Cambridge Handbook of Social Problems, Volume 2, edited by A. Javier Treviño. New York: Cambridge University Press.
*

*
{{Presidency of George W. Bush}}
{{War on Terrorism|state=collapsed}}
{{Portal bar|United States|Politics}}


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Latest revision as of 20:57, 3 August 2024

NSA program

National Security Agency surveillance
Map of global NSA data collection as of 2007, with countries subject to the most data collection shown in red
Programs
Pre-1978
Since 1978
Since 1990
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Since 2001
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Databases, tools etc.
GCHQ collaboration
Legislation
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The Terrorist Surveillance Program was an electronic surveillance program implemented by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. It was part of the President's Surveillance Program, which was in turn conducted under the overall umbrella of the War on Terrorism. The NSA, a signals intelligence agency, implemented the program to intercept al Qaeda communications overseas where at least one party is not a U.S. person. In 2005, The New York Times disclosed that technical glitches resulted in some of the intercepts including communications which were "purely domestic" in nature, igniting the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy. Later works, such as James Bamford's The Shadow Factory, described how the nature of the domestic surveillance was much, much more widespread than initially disclosed. In a 2011 New Yorker article, former NSA employee Bill Binney said that his colleagues told him that the NSA had begun storing billing and phone records from "everyone in the country."

The program was named the Terrorist Surveillance Program by the George W. Bush administration in response to the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy following disclosure of the program. It is claimed that this program operated without the judicial oversight mandated by Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and legal challenges to the program are currently undergoing judicial review. Because the technical specifics of the program have not been disclosed, it is unclear if the program is subject to FISA. It is unknown if this is the original name of the program; the term was first used publicly by President Bush in a speech on January 23, 2006.

On August 17, 2006, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled the program unconstitutional and illegal. On appeal, the decision was overturned on procedural grounds and the lawsuit was dismissed without addressing the merits of the claims, although one further challenge is still pending in the courts. On January 17, 2007, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales informed U.S. Senate leaders by letter that the program would not be reauthorized by the president, but would be subjected to judicial oversight. "Any electronic surveillance that was occurring as part of the Terrorist Surveillance Program will now be conducted subject to the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court", according to his letter.

On June 6, 2013, it was revealed that the Terrorist Surveillance Program was replaced by a new NSA program, referred to by its codeword, PRISM.

Description

While no specific information has been offered, the Bush Administration has indicated that the wiretapping program targets communications where at least one party is outside the United States, and where it asserts that there are reasonable grounds to believe that one or more parties involved in the communication have ties to al Qaeda. However, anonymous sources have come forward stating a small number of instances where purely domestic calls were intercepted. These sources said the NSA accidentally intercepted these calls, apparently caused by technical glitches in determining whether a communication was in fact "international", probably due to the use of international cell phones.

The complete details of the program are not known, as the Bush Administration contended that security concerns did not allow it to release details, and limit judicial authorization and review. Implemented sometime after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the existence of the program was not made public until a 2005 New York Times article. Additional details came to light in a May 2006 USA Today article.

President Bush stated that he had reviewed and reauthorized the program approximately every 45 days since it was implemented. The leadership of the intelligence committees of the House of Representatives and Senate were briefed a number of times since initiation of the program. They were not, however, allowed to make notes or confer with others to determine the legal ramifications, or even to mention the existence of the program to the full membership of the intelligence committees. Further, the administration even refused to identify to the public which members of the committees were briefed; it has, however, provided a complete list of these members to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Pen register tap

Main article: Pen register

Prominent legal scholar and blogger Orin Kerr has argued that the program is probably not a wiretap or call database, but more likely to be a pen register (or tap-and-trace) tap. Unlike wiretaps, where the actual content of the call is monitored, or listened to, a pen register is a limited form of wiretap where only basic call data (metadata) such as originating and receiving telephone numbers, time of call and duration are logged. Because of the limited nature of the data, frequently characterized as "outside the envelope", pen register taps have much lower legal standards than conventional wiretaps, and are not subject to Fourth Amendment protection.

The only physical evidence of the NSA program are documents accidentally leaked to lawyers for an al-Qaeda front group the Al-Haramain Foundation. These documents contain only logs of phone calls being placed, but not actual transcripts, suggesting the wiretapping program is merely a pen-register tap.

Call database

Main article: NSA call database

On May 10, 2006, USA Today reported that the NSA has had a separate, previously undisclosed program in place since 9/11 to build a database of information about calls placed within the United States, including both phone numbers and the date and duration of the calls. According to the article, phone companies AT&T, Verizon, and Bell South disclosed the records to the NSA, while Qwest did not. The article quotes an unnamed source that "it's the largest database ever assembled in the world". Most reports indicate that this program is different from the Terrorist Surveillance Program. The administration has not confirmed the existence of this aspect of the program.

Undersea cable tapping

Both the U.S. government and also spy organizations in the U.K. have tapped "the spine of the internet", a transatlantic Ethernet cable, using submarines to access it and put on equipment to commandeer as much information as they wish to apply special searches in order to narrow down potential terrorist activity. With current laws in the U.S. (as of 2013), a warrant is not necessary if the government's surveillance is 'reasonably believed' to be overseas. "A new set of documents purportedly lifted from the U.S. National Security Agency suggests that American spies have burrowed deep into the Middle East's financial network, apparently compromising the Dubai office of the anti-money laundering and financial services firm EastNets."

News reporting

December 16, 2005

On December 16, 2005, The New York Times printed a story asserting that following 9/11, "President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying" as part of the War on Terror.

Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible "dirty numbers" linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said. The agency, they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic communications.

According to the Times:

The White House asked The New York Times not to publish this article, arguing that it could jeopardize continuing investigations and alert terrorists that they might be under scrutiny. After meeting with senior administration officials to hear their concerns, the newspaper delayed publication for a year to conduct additional reporting. Some information that administration officials argued could be useful to terrorists has been omitted.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan refused to comment on the story on December 16, exclaiming "there's a reason why we don't get into discussing ongoing intelligence activities, because it could compromise our efforts to prevent attacks from happening." The next morning, the president gave a live eight-minute television address instead of his normal weekly radio address, during which he addressed the wiretap story directly:

I authorized the National Security Agency, consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution, to intercept the international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations. Before we intercept these communications, the government must have information that establishes a clear link to these terrorist networks.

In a radio address on December 18, President Bush implied he had approved the tracing of domestic calls originating or terminating overseas, stating the program would "make it more likely that killers like these 9/11 hijackers will be identified and located in time."

He forcefully defended his actions as "crucial to our national security" and claimed that the American people expected him to "do everything in my power, under our laws and Constitution, to protect them and their civil liberties" as long as there was a "continuing threat" from al Qaeda. The president also had harsh words for those who broke the story, saying that they acted illegally. "The unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk", he said.

The following day in a press conference with the media, Bush reiterated his support for domestic spying.

The FBI began an investigation into the leaks surrounding this program in 2005, with 25 agents and 5 prosecutors on the case.

January 1, 2006

On January 1, 2006, The New York Times printed a story revealing that aspects of the program were suspended for weeks in 2004. The Times story said the U.S. Attorney General's office, then headed by John Ashcroft, balked in 2004 when asked to give approval of the program, and that then Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey "played a part in overseeing the reforms that were put in place in 2004." According to the Times, however, the oversight by the NSA shift supervisor continued to be unfettered by any pre-approval requirement. The story also pointed out that even some NSA employees thought that the warrantless surveillance program was illegal.

The New York Times had withheld the article from publication for over a year. Both editor-in-chief Bill Keller and publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. were summoned by the president and White House officials to persuade the paper not to publish the story. The Times ran the story shortly before it would have been scooped by publication of its own reporter's book. The Times ombudsman speculates that the reason the backstory isn't being revealed is to protect sources. Russ Tice claims he was a source for the story.

January 3, 2006

On January 3, the news program Democracy Now! ran a story that, according to NSA whistleblower Russell Tice, the number of Americans affected by the range of NSA surveillance programs could be in the millions if the full extent of secret NSA programs is considered. The story was picked up by ABC News on January 10:

Tice says the technology exists to track and sort through every domestic and international phone call as they are switched through centers, such as one in New York, and to search for key words or phrases that a terrorist might use.

"If you picked the word 'jihad' out of a conversation," Tice said, "the technology exists that you focus in on that conversation, and you pull it out of the system for processing."

According to Tice, intelligence analysts use the information to develop graphs that resemble spiderwebs linking one suspect's phone number to hundreds or even thousands more.

"That would mean for most Americans that if they conducted, or you know, placed an overseas communication, more than likely they were sucked into that vacuum," Tice said.

January 17, 2006

On January 17, the New York Times reported that "more than a dozen current and former law-enforcement and counterterrorism officials", some of whom knew of the domestic spying program, "said the torrent of tips led them to few potential terrorists inside the country they did not know of from other sources and diverted agents from counterterrorism work they viewed as more productive".

February 5, 2006

On February 5, The Washington Post noted that "fewer than 10 U.S. citizens or residents a year, according to an authoritative account, have aroused enough suspicion during warrantless eavesdropping to justify interception of their (purely) domestic calls, as well. That step still requires a warrant from a federal judge, for which the government must supply evidence of probable cause." Also in the article: "The minimum legal definition of probable cause, said a government official who has studied the program closely, is that evidence used to support eavesdropping ought to turn out to be 'right for one out of every two guys at least.' Those who devised the surveillance plan, the official said, 'knew they could never meet that standard—that's why they didn't go through'" the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Also on February 5, USA Today ran a story reporting that according to seven telecommunications executives, the NSA had secured the cooperation of the main telecommunications companies in charge of international phone calls, including AT&T, MCI, and Sprint, in its efforts to eavesdrop without warrants on international calls.

May 22, 2006

In its issue dated May 22, 2006, Newsweek put the controversy on the cover of its magazine and ran several stories inside summarizing what is known and speculations about it.

On May 22, 2006, Wired Magazine released the text of AT&T documents, currently under court seal in the EFF case, that allegedly describe NSA wiretap arrangements.

Legality of the program

Main article: NSA warrantless surveillance controversy

The NSA's electronic surveillance operations are governed primarily by four legal sources: the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA); Executive Order 12333; and United States Signals Intelligence Directive 18. The primary legal challenge to the program currently in US courts is the suit brought by the Al-Haramain Foundation. All other challenges to the program have been dismissed by U.S. courts.

Critics of the Bush administration have regularly compared the current NSA surveillance program to those of Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War (i.e., Project Shamrock, Project Minaret, Church committee). However, these programs occurred prior to the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which was passed into law in response to widespread concern over these abuses of domestic surveillance activities. According to opponents of this program that is exactly what the current program is doing and why FISA was enacted.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit against the program in 2006 on behalf of journalists, scholars, and lawyers. In the initial trial, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor on August 17, 2006, ruled the program was unconstitutional and imposed an injunction against it. The Justice Department filed an appeal within hours of the ruling and requested a stay of the injunction pending appeal. While opposing the stay, the ACLU agreed to delay implementation of the injunction until September 7 to allow time for the judge to hear the appeal. On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit dismissed the case without addressing the merits of the claims, holding 2–1 that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the suit.

Controversy

Main article: NSA warrantless surveillance controversy

When classified details were leaked to the press at some point in 2005, critics began to question the legality of the program. The crux of the debate over legality is twofold, the main issues being

  1. Are the parameters of this program subject to FISA and
  2. If so, did the president have authority, inherent or otherwise, to bypass FISA.

FISA explicitly covers "electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence information" performed within the United States, and there is no court decision supporting the theory that the president's constitutional authority allows him to override statutory law. This was emphasized by fourteen constitutional law scholars, including the dean of Yale Law School and the former deans of Stanford Law School and the University of Chicago Law School:

The argument that conduct undertaken by the commander in chief that has some relevance to 'engaging the enemy' is immune from congressional regulation finds no support in, and is directly contradicted by, both case law and historical precedent. Every time the Supreme Court has confronted a statute limiting the commander in chief's authority, it has upheld the statute. No precedent holds that the president, when acting as commander in chief, is free to disregard an Act of Congress, much less a criminal statute enacted by Congress, that was designed specifically to restrain the president as such.(Emphasis in original.)

The American Bar Association, the Congressional Research Service, former congressional representative of New York Elizabeth Holtzman, former White House Counsel John Dean, and lawyer/author Jennifer van Bergen have also criticized the administration's justification for conducting electronic surveillance within the U.S. without first obtaining warrants as contrary to current U.S. law. President Bush's former Assistant Deputy Attorney General for national security issues, David Kris, and five former FISC judges, one of whom resigned in protest, have also voiced their doubts as to the legality of a program bypassing FISA Stanford's Chip Pitts has usefully distinguished between the core NSA eavesdropping program, the data mining program, and the use of National Security Letters to clarify that each continues to present serious legal problems despite the government's supposedly bringing them within the relevant laws.

See also

Whistleblowers

References

  1. "Same Surveillance state, Different War". The Atlantic. Adrienne Lafrance. 8 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  2. Yoo, John. "The Terrorist Surveillance Program and the Constitution". Geo. Mason L.
  3. ^ James Risen and Eric Lichtblau (2005-12-21). "Spying Program Snared U.S. Calls". New York Times. Retrieved 2006-05-28.
  4. The Secret Sharer, Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, May 23 2011, retrieved 2011 May 16
  5. Washington Post: Surveillance Net Yields Few Suspects. February 5, 2006.
  6. White House: "President Discusses Global War on Terror at Kansas State University". The White House. Archived from the original on March 13, 2007. Retrieved 2009-12-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). January 23, 2006.
  7. ^ "Court dismisses lawsuit on spying". Reuters. July 6, 2007.
  8. "Letter from Alberto Gonzalez, Attorney General, to Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter" (PDF). The New York Times.
  9. bad link as of Aug 19, 2007
  10. Gellman, Barton; Poitras, Laura (June 7, 2013). "U.S. intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies in broad secret program". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2013-06-06.
  11. ^ Cauley, Leslie (May 10, 2006). "NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls". USA Today. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  12. Statement of Hon. Alberto R. Gonzales, attorney general, February 6, 2006 Archived February 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  13. "David Corn". David Corn. Retrieved 2013-06-06.
  14. "The Volokh Conspiracy". Volokh.com. Retrieved 2013-06-06.
  15. "Top Secret: We're Wiretapping You". Wired. March 5, 2007. Archived from the original on February 26, 2015.
  16. Froomkin, Dan (May 19, 2006). "A Change of Subject". Washington Post. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  17. June, Daniel, "How the Government Taps Undersea Internet Cables to Spy on Us"
  18. "New leak suggest NSA penetrated banking networks in Middle East". CBS News. 14 April 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  19. James Risen, Eric Lichtblau (December 16, 2005). "Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts". The New York Times.
  20. "Press Briefing by Scott McClellan". whitehouse.gov (Press release). December 16, 2005. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011 – via National Archives.
  21. "President's Radio Address". whitehouse.gov (Press release). December 17, 2005 – via National Archives.
  22. "US eavesdropping program 'saves lives': Bush". Sydney Morning Herald. Associated Press. December 18, 2005.
  23. "Bush Says U.S. Spy Program Is Legal and Essential". The New York Times. December 19, 2005. Retrieved May 8, 2024.
  24. "Bush, administration defend domestic spying". NBC. December 19, 2005. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2024.
  25. "Bush Defends Domestic Spying". CBS. December 19, 2005. Retrieved May 8, 2024.
  26. Scott Shane (11 June 2010). "Obama Takes a Hard Line Against Leaks to Press". The New York Times.
  27. James Risen, Eric Lichtblau (January 1, 2006). "Justice Deputy Resisted Parts of Spy Program". New York Times.
  28. Calame, Byron (January 1, 2006). "Behind the Eavesdropping Story, a Loud Silence". The New York Times.
  29. "Why NSA whistle-blower Russ Tice may be right". Slate. 17 January 2006. Retrieved January 17, 2006.
  30. "NSA Whistleblower Alleges Illegal Spying". ABCNews. January 10, 2006.
  31. LOWELL BERGMAN, ERIC LICHTBLAU, SCOTT SHANE and DON VAN NATTA Jr. (January 17, 2006). "Spy Agency Data After Sept. 11 Led F.B.I. to Dead Ends". The New York Times.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  32. Barton Gellman, Dafna Linzer and Carol D. Leonnig (February 5, 2006). "Surveillance Net Yields Few Suspects - NSA's Hunt for Terrorists Scrutinizes Thousands of Americans, but Most Are Later Cleared". The Washington Post. pp. A01.
  33. Cauley, Leslie; Diamond, John (February 2, 2006). "Telecoms let NSA spy on calls". USA Today. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  34. "NSA Spying: Hold the Phone". Newsweek. May 22, 2006. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
  35. "Why We Published the AT&T Docs". Wired News. May 22, 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-27.
  36. David Alan Jordan. Decrypting the Fourth Amendment: Warrantless NSA Surveillance and the Enhanced Expectation of Privacy Provided by Encrypted Voice over Internet Protocol Archived October 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Boston College Law Review. May, 2006. Last access date January 23, 2007
  37. Leonnig, Carol D. (March 2, 2006). "Saudi Group Alleges Wiretapping by U.S.: Defunct Charity's Suit Details Eavesdropping". Washington Post. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  38. ^ John W. Dean, "George W. Bush as the New Richard M. Nixon: Both Wiretapped Illegally, and Impeachable; Both Claimed That a President May Violate Congress' Laws to Protect National Security", FindLaw, December 30, 2005
  39. Sarah Karush. Judge Finds NSA Program Unconstitutional. Associated Press. August 18, 2006. Last access date August 18, 2006
  40. Sarah Karush. Feds Appeal Ruling on Surveillance. Associated Press. August 18, 2006. Last access date August 18, 2006.
  41. "Letter to Congress regarding FISA and NSA, fourteen constitutional law scholars, February 2, 2006; p. 5" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-06-06.
  42. The Impeachment of George W. Bush Archived 2006-03-18 at the Wayback Machine by Elizabeth Holtzman, The Nation, January 11, 2006
  43. AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION ADOPTED BY THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES Archived 2009-03-26 at the Wayback Machine, February 13, 2006
  44. "Lawyers Group Criticizes Surveillance Program", Washington Post, February 14, 2006
  45. Eric Lichtblau, "Judges on Secretive Panel Speak Out on Spy Program", New York Times, March 29, 2006
  46. Chip Pitts (March 15, 2007). "The End of Illegal Domestic Spying? Don't Count on It". Wash. Spec. Archived from the original on February 26, 2015.

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