| The presiding judge of a secret court that oversees government surveillance in espionage and terrorism cases is arranging a classified briefing for her fellow judges to address their concerns about the legality of President Bush's domestic spying program, according to several intelligence and government sources.
Several members of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court said in interviews that they want to know why the administration believed secretly listening in on telephone calls and reading e-mails of U.S. citizens without court authorization was legal. Some of the judges said they are particularly concerned that information gleaned from the president's eavesdropping program may have been improperly used to gain authorized wiretaps from their court. "The questions are obvious," said U.S. District Judge Dee Benson of Utah. "What have you been doing, and how might it affect the reliability and credibility of the information we're getting in our court?" |
The nation's most secret court is publicly expressing outrage. Why? Surprise! Its worse than we thought!
| Bush administration officials believe it is not possible, in a large-scale eavesdropping effort, to provide the kind of evidence the court requires to approve a warrant. Sources knowledgeable about the program said there is no way to secure a FISA warrant when the goal is to listen in on a vast array of communications in the hopes of finding something that sounds suspicious. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said the White House had tried but failed to find a way.
One government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the administration complained bitterly that the FISA process demanded too much: to name a target and give a reason to spy on it. "For FISA, they had to put down a written justification for the wiretap," said the official. "They couldn't dream one up." |
Good god man! They needed to provide a name and a reason! How dare the court ask questions!
This really is just unbelievable. They want unfettered ability to wiretap at will "in the hopes of finding something that sounds suspicious," and they want to do so without any oversight whatsoever. This is the program that Bush has both defended and promised to continue? Can these people really be this clueless about federal laws and constitutional guarantees? Do they really believe their own hype this much?
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