News release, December 21, 2013: “Yesterday, the Director of National Intelligence (“DNI”) announced the declassification of the existence of collection activities authorized by President George W. Bush shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Starting on October 4, 2001, President Bush authorized the Secretary of Defense to employ the capabilities of the Department of Defense,… Continue Reading
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CRS: Preventing the Disclosure of Sensitive National Security Information During Civil Litigation
The State Secrets Privilege: Preventing the Disclosure of Sensitive National Security Information During Civil Litigation, Todd Garvey Legislative Attorney, Edward C. Liu, Legislative Attorney, March 28, 2011 “The state secrets privilege arises in a wide array of cases, generally where the government is a defendant or where the government has intervened in a case between… Continue Reading
Transcript of Q&A With National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell
Transcript: Debate on the foreign intelligence surveillance act, by Chris Roberts, El Paso Times: The following is the transcript of a question and answer session with National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell, published August 22, 2007. On participation by telecommunications companies in the domestic surveillance program: “…Now the second part of the issue was under the… Continue Reading
Congressional Oversight of Intelligence: Background and Selected Options for Further Reform
EveryCRSReport.com – Congressional Oversight of Intelligence: Background and Selected Options for Further Reform, December 4, 2018: “Prior to the establishment of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) in 1976 and 1977, respectively, Congress did not take much interest in conducting oversight of the Intelligence Community… Continue Reading
The Intercept reports – The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities
The Wiretap Rooms: “The secrets are hidden behind fortified walls in cities across the United States, inside towering, windowless skyscrapers and fortress-like concrete structures that were built to withstand earthquakes and even nuclear attack. Thousands of people pass by the buildings each day and rarely give them a second glance, because their function is not… Continue Reading
Report – Metadata collection of Americans’ international calls began in 1992
Brad Health – USAToday: “The U.S. government started keeping secret records of Americans’ international telephone calls nearly a decade before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, harvesting billions of calls in a program that provided a blueprint for the far broader National Security Agency surveillance that followed. For more than two decades, the Justice Department and… Continue Reading
FOIA request reveals extensive government monitoring of US mail
New York Times: “In a rare public accounting of its mass surveillance program, the United States Postal Service reported that it approved nearly 50,000 requests last year from law enforcement agencies and its own internal inspection unit to secretly monitor the mail of Americans for use in criminal and national security investigations. The number of requests, contained… Continue Reading
Newly Declassified Documents Regarding Now-Discontinued NSA Bulk Electronic Communications Metadata
ODNI: “Following a declassification review by the Executive Branch, the Department of Justice released on August 6, 2014, in redacted form, 38 documents relating to the now-discontinued NSA program [scroll down the page to locate the links] to collect bulk electronic communications metadata pursuant to Section 402 of the FISA (“PRTT provision”). These documents are also responsive… Continue Reading
NYT – N.S.A. Collecting Millions of Faces From Web Images
By JAMES RISEN and LAURA POITRAS “The National Security Agency is harvesting huge numbers of images of people from communications that it intercepts through its global surveillance operations for use in sophisticated facial recognition programs, according to top-secret documents. The spy agency’s reliance on facial recognition technology has grown significantly over the last four years as the agency has turned to new… Continue Reading
Joint Statement by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Attorney General Eric Holder on the Declassification of Additional Documents Section 501 of FISA
DNI News Release – February 12, 2014: ” On Jan. 3, 2014, the Director of National Intelligence declassified and disclosed publicly that the U.S. government had filed an application with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court seeking renewal of the authority to collect telephony metadata in bulk, and that, on Jan. 3, 2014, the court renewed that… Continue Reading
U.S. District Court Judge Opens Door on Fourth Amendment and NSA Metadata Collection
Politico: A federal judge ruled Monday, December 16, 2013 that the National Security Agency program which collects information on nearly all telephone calls made to, from or within the United States is likely unconstitutional. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to violate the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures.… Continue Reading
Declassified FISA Court Opinion Released – Addresses Legality of Phone Metadata Collection
Ellen Nakashima – Washington Post: “A federal surveillance court on Tuesday released a declassified opinion upholding the constitutionality of the National Security Agency’s sweeping collection of billions of Americans’ phone records for counterterrorism purposes. The gathering of “all call detail records” from phone companies is justified as long as the government can show that it… Continue Reading
