Monday, May 15, 2006

Leak investigation uses NSA to see who reporters call

The Bush administration has excused the MSA's non-legal tracking of people who call or are called by persons of interest as being a way of locating terrorists. But the exact same technique can be used against persons who speak to reporters to provide leaks. ABC News has the story.

John Bolton (now Ambassador the the UN based on an interim appointment) is known to have had NSA reports on who then Secretary of State Colin Powell was talking to. We don't know the contents of the reports, so we don't know what was in them. But the NSA was already keeping track of everyone who called or was called by any given phone number. It is known that Bolton had NSA reports given to him. What were they about?

This is less an anti-terrorism or anti-espionage tool than it is a tool to determine what the administration's political opponents are up to.

What do you want to bet that every phone call John Kerry made is listed and has been reported by the NSA?

This is criminal and impeachable behavior by the administration of George W. Bush. If the Democrats get control of one house of Congress with the power to investigate and use the subpoena power, is there any doubt that impeachment will be a consideration? The issue isn't whether the Democrats get control of the House and move towards impeachment. The issue is whether Bush has performed impeachable actions.

This will be important in the midterm elections.

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