Government Eyes are Watching You (or at least your phone calls)

Government Eyes are Watching You (or at least your phone calls)

May 12, 2006

Just five months after the New York Times revealed that the Bush administration was conducting a domestic wiretapping program without court approval, USA Today reported an equally explosive story yesterday stating that the administration's reach into the private lives of Americans is more expansive than previously believed. Not only has Bush's National Security Agency (NSA) been eavesdropping on domestic telephone conversations and e-mail messages, but it has "also induced telephone companies to turn over the records of billions — that's with a 'b' — of domestic calls." Hiding behind the mantle of national security, President Bush tried to defend the program yesterday. And this is yet another example of the Bush administration operating without proper consultations with Congress. But Bush's response indicated he has a greater allegiance to Karl Rove's political playbook (which calls for politicizing the administration's domestic spying efforts) than to crafting and refining effective counterterrorism policies.

• This new program targets tens of millions of Americans — not just suspected terrorists. USA Today reported yesterday that the “National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth." This blows the original notion that the NSA program was a targeted program out of the water. Eugene Robinson responds to Bush's claim that the NSA is only targeting Al Qaeda: "Not remotely true, it turns out, unless tens of millions of Americans are members of al-Qaeda sleeper cells — evildoers who cleverly disguise their relentless plotting as sales calls, gossip sessions and votes for Elliott on 'American Idol.'"
  
  
• Telecom companies should be investigated for willingly giving up this information. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) said he planned to call executives from Verizon Communications, BellSouth Corp., and AT&T Corp. before his panel "to find out exactly what is going on." Only Qwest declined to provide phone records because of legitimate questions of legality. Because the program is being conducted domestically without a court order, the telcos may be liable for tens of billions of dollars for carrying out illegal actions. The telcos may have also violated the Communications Act, possibly subjecting them to fines levied by the Federal Communications Commission.
  
  
• The administration is playing politics with national security policy. Karl Rove's political playbook calls for politicizing the administration's domestic spying efforts, so it was no surprise that President Bush took to the microphone yesterday to defend this latest surveillance program. The administration already admitted that they were hoping that Gen. Michael Hayden’s nomination to be CIA director turns into a fight over domestic spying. Try as they might to turn this into a political win for them, there are legitimate questions about Hayden’s accountability and independence. No one questions that the government should do everything necessary to protect the United States, but it must be within the law. If laws need to be changed to allow the government greater authority — we are talking about permanent, not temporary measures — let’s debate the issues honestly and openly and non-politically.