[Clips] Bush: We're not trolling your personal life

[R.A. Hettinga]

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  Delivered-To: rah at shipwright.com
  Delivered-To: clips at philodox.com
  Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 12:58:23 -0400
  To: Philodox Clips List <clips at philodox.com>
  From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
  Subject: [Clips] Bush: We're not trolling your personal life
  Reply-To: rah at philodox.com
  Sender: clips-bounces at philodox.com

  <http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/11/nsa.phonerecords.ap/index.html>

  CNN



  Bush: We're not trolling your personal life

  Lawmakers demand answers on phone records report

  Thursday, May 11, 2006; Posted: 12:54 p.m. EDT (16:54 GMT)


  President Bush: "We are not mining or trolling through the personal lives
  of innocent Americans."


  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional Republicans and Democrats demanded answers
  from the Bush administration Thursday about a government spy agency
  secretly collecting records of ordinary Americans' phone calls to build a
  database of every call made within the country.

  Facing intense criticism from Congress, President Bush did not confirm the
  work of the National Security Agency but sought to assure Americans that
  their privacy is being "fiercely protected."

  "We are not mining or trolling through the personal lives of innocent
  Americans," Bush said before leaving for a commencement address at
  Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Biloxi. (Transcript)

  The disclosure could complicate Bush's bid to win confirmation of former
  NSA director Gen. Michael Hayden as CIA director.

  The top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee said he was
  shocked by the revelation about the NSA.

  "It is our government, it's not one party's government. It's America's
  government. Those entrusted with great power have a duty to answer to
  Americans what they are doing," Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont.

  AT&T Corp., Verizon Communications Inc., and BellSouth Corp. telephone
  companies began turning over records of tens of millions of their
  customers' phone calls to the National Security Agency program shortly
  after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, said USA Today, citing
  anonymous sources it said had direct knowledge of the arrangement.

  The Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Arlen
  Specter of Pennsylvania, said he would call the phone companies to appear
  before the panel "to find out exactly what is going on."

  The companies said Thursday that they are protecting customers' privacy but
  have an obligation to assist law enforcement and government agencies in
  ensuring the nation's security. "We prize the trust our customers place in
  us. If and when AT&T is asked to help, we do so strictly within the law and
  under the most stringent conditions," the company said in a statement,
  echoed by the others.

  Bush: U.S. intelligence targets terrorists

  Bush did not confirm or deny the USA Today report. But he did say that U.S.
  intelligence targets terrorists and that the government does not listen to
  domestic telephone calls without court approval and that Congress has been
  briefed on intelligence programs.

  He vowed to do everything in his power to fight terror and "we will do so
  within the laws of our country."

  On Capitol Hill, several lawmakers expressed incredulity about the program,
  with some Republicans questioning its rationale and legal underpinning and
  several Democrats railing about the lack of congressional oversight.

  "I don't know enough about the details except that I am willing to find out
  because I'm not sure why it would be necessary to keep and have that kind
  of information," said House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

  Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, told Fox News Channel:
  "The idea of collecting millions or thousands of phone numbers, how does
  that fit into following the enemy?"

  Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, said bringing the telephone companies before
  the Judiciary Committee is an important step.

  "We need more. We need to take this seriously, more seriously than some
  other matters that might come before the committee because our privacy as
  American citizens is at stake," Durbin said.

  Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, argued that the program "is not a
  warrantless wiretapping of the American people. I don't think this action
  is nearly as troublesome as being made out here, because they are not
  tapping our phones."

  The program does not involve listening to or taping the calls. Instead it
  documents who talks to whom in personal and business calls, whether local
  or long distance, by tracking which numbers are called, the newspaper said.

  No immediate response from NSA

  The NSA and the Office of National Intelligence Director did not
  immediately respond to requests for comment.

  NSA is the same spy agency that conducts the controversial domestic
  eavesdropping program that had been acknowledged earlier by Bush. The
  president said last year that he authorized the NSA to listen, without
  warrants, to international phone calls involving Americans suspected of
  terrorist links.

  The report came as Hayden -- Bush's choice to take over leadership of the
  CIA -- had been scheduled to visit lawmakers on Capitol Hill Thursday.
  However, the meetings with Republican Sens. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania
  and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were postponed at the request of the White
  House, said congressional aides in the two Senate offices.

  The White House offered no reason for the postponement to the lawmakers.
  Other meetings with lawmakers were still planned.

  Hayden already faced criticism because of the NSA's secret domestic
  eavesdropping program. As head of the NSA from March 1999 to April 2005,
  Hayden also would have overseen the call-tracking program.

  Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, who has spoken favorably of the
  nomination, said the latest revelation "is also going to present a growing
  impediment to the confirmation of Gen. Hayden."

  The NSA wants the database of domestic call records to look for any
  patterns that might suggest terrorist activity, USA Today said.

  Don Weber, a senior spokesman for the NSA, told the paper that the agency
  operates within the law, but would not comment further on its operations.

  One big telecommunications company, Qwest, has refused to turn over records
  to the program, the newspaper said, because of privacy and legal concerns.

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  R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
  The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
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  "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
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  experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'