Bush-era memos justify NSA wiretaps
Sep 07, 2014 |
Secret programme allowed NSA to obtain data within US
The US justice department has released two memos detailing the Bush administration’s legal justification for monitoring the phone calls and emails of Americans without a warrant. The documents, released late on Friday, relate to a secret programme, dubbed Stellar Wind, which began after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
It allowed the National Security Agency to obtain communications data within the United States when at least one party was a suspected Al Qaeda or Al-Qaeda affiliate member, and at least one party in the communication was located overseas.
“Even in peacetime, absent congressional action, the president has inherent constitutional authority ... To order warrantless foreign intelligence surveillance,” then-assistant attorney general Jack Goldsmith said in a heavily-redacted 108-page memo dated May 6, 2004.
“We believe that Stellar Wind comes squarely within the commander in chief’s authority to conduct the campaign against Al Qaeda as part of the current armed conflict and that congressional efforts to prohibit the President’s efforts to intercept enemy communications through Stellar Wind would be an unconstitutional encroachment on the commander in chief’s power.”
The document was obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union rights group through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
Mr Goldsmith at the time also headed the justice department’s office of legal counsel under then-attorney-general John Ashcroft and then-deputy attorney-general James Comey, who now heads the FBI. According to Mr Goldsmith, Congress’ authorisation for the use of force passed shortly after 9/11 provided “express authority” for Stellar Wind.
He suggested that the congressional approval granted the President authority that “overrides the limitations” of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a law requiring a court order to monitor the communications of any American or person on US soil. The second memo, dated July 16, 2004, pointed to a Supreme Court decision handed down just over two weeks earlier as providing additional justification for Stellar Wind.
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Flipping through the news stories (and other articles regarding this release), I first took it to be an 'illegal' wiretap.
Turns out memos released justify the tapping. Doh!
Anyway, thought I'd transfer this over because it's rather interesting.
It would seem that no matter what, governments have the final trump card: National Security.
I'm not that focused on the finer ins and outs of this right now, so I don't fully understand it.
Might have to come back. I'm on a roll digging stuff up and I want to keep up the pace.
