Comments on: The Joint Inquiry and Mukasey’s Call

By: acerigger

acerigger — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 02:18:14 +0000

well said,mary!ever thought of running for”common sense” office?(is there such a thing?)NAH!

By: MadDog

MadDog — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 00:20:51 +0000

Us techies like to play with our toys, so perhaps the TIA folks who were transferred en masse to the NSA had some “playtime”.

By: masaccio

masaccio — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:00:46 +0000

Do I hear a metaphor stretched, stretched, snapped?

By: sailmaker

sailmaker — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:50:22 +0000

Any idea what NSA WAS doing with ‘teh program’, if it could not legally do anything in response to gathering up terror info?

By: Minnesotachuck

Minnesotachuck — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:50:07 +0000

Couldn’t agree more, as per last thread.

By: maryo2

maryo2 — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:14:11 +0000

July 5, 2001 – Ascroft meets with acting FBI Director Tom Pickard
July 10, 2001 – email warning about planes sent to FBI HQ in New York
July 12, 2001 – acting FBI Director Tom Pickard gets the brush-off from Ashcroft
July 26, 2001 – Ashcroft takes chartered plane, and no longer flies commercially

By: brendanx

brendanx — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:58:54 +0000

You forgot Ashcroft no longer flying commercial flights.

By: maryo2

maryo2 — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:56:10 +0000

January 20, 2001 – Bush was inaugurated as President.
February 27, 2001 – Qwest was asked to participate in NSA call database.
June 2001 – Louis Freeh resigned amid criticism that the FBI needed stronger leadership (uh-huh, or a Bush yes-man)
July 5, 2001 – Mueller was nominated for the position of FBI Director
July x, 2001 – The last FBI Intelligence Research Specialist (IRS) assigned to the FBI’s UBL (Usama Bin Laden) matters transferred to another unit, so there were 0 IRSs working on UBL. In mid-2000 there were 10 IRSs devoted to counter terrorism, but by mid-2001 there were 0.
July 10, 2001 – FBI agent Ken Williams sends his email warning about potential terrorists training in Arizona flight schools. The email was sent to several people in FBI Headquarters (where 0 people were working on UBL) and in the FBI’s New York Division (the New York Field Office was the primary field office that handled the FBI’s Bin Laden-related investigations). “Frank” (Intelligence Operations Specialist in the Radical Fundamentalist Unit) said “the Investigative Services Division was “on its last legs” at the time.
August 4, 2001 – Mohammed Atta used a payphone at the Miami Airport to phone a number linked to al Quaeda.
August 6, 2001 – GW Bush says ““All right. You’ve covered your ass, now.” to a CIA briefer who delivered the memo titled “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US”

By: MadDog

MadDog — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:55:56 +0000

OT, and roundabout via TPMMuckraker, the WaPo article it references has this “interesting” tidbit:

The Justice Department concluded in October 2001 that military operations combating terrorism inside the United States are not limited by Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, in one of several secret memos containing new and controversial assertions of presidential power.

The memo, sent on Oct. 23, 2001, to the Defense Department and the White House by the Office of Legal Counsel, focused on the rules governing any deployment of U.S. forces inside the country “in the event of further large-scale terrorist activities” by al-Qaeda, a Justice Department official said yesterday.

Administration officials declined to detail what domestic military operations were being contemplated at the time, and the legal status of the secret memo is now unclear. Although the memo has not been formally withdrawn, the Justice Department yesterday repudiated the idea that there are no constitutional limits to military searches and seizures in a time of war, saying it depends on “the particular context and circumstances of the search,” according to a statement…

Junya and crew were ready to go to war…with US!

By: MadDog

MadDog — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:52:15 +0000

This is all “assuming” that the NSA was illegally collecting stuff prior to 9/11.

Given the Qwest/Naccio “State Secrets” invocation wrt to NSA contacts by none other than DNI Mikey McConnell, that “assumption” is no longer “tin-foil hat” territory.