Ooops!
"I can assure you, by the physics of the intercept, by how we actually conduct our activities, that one end of these communications are always outside the United States."- General Michael Hayden.
Except when they are not.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 - A surveillance program approved by President Bush to conduct eavesdropping without warrants has captured what are purely domestic communications in some cases, despite a requirement by the White House that one end of the intercepted conversations take place on foreign soil, officials say.
The officials say the National Security Agency's interception of a small number of communications between people within the United States was apparently accidental, and was caused by technical glitches at the National Security Agency in determining whether a communication was in fact "international."
Telecommunications experts say the issue points up troubling logistical questions about the program. At a time when communications networks are increasingly globalized, it is sometimes difficult even for the N.S.A. to determine whether someone is inside or outside the United States when making a cellphone call or sending an e-mail message. As a result, people that the security agency may think are outside the United States are actually on American soil.
Eavesdropping on communications between two people who are both inside the United States is prohibited under Mr. Bush's order allowing some domestic surveillance.
But in at least one instance, someone using an international cellphone was thought to be outside the United States when in fact both people in the conversation were in the country. Officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the program remains classified, would not discuss the number of accidental intercepts, but the total is thought to represent a very small fraction of the total number of wiretaps that Mr. Bush has authorized without getting warrants. In all, officials say the program has been used to eavesdrop on as many as 500 people at any one time, with the total number of people reaching perhaps into the thousands in the last three years.
Yup, just a little accident. Nothing to see here....move along....
In other spy news, a federal FISA judge has quit in protest of the program. Wonder why it took him so long.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of U.S. President George W. Bush's authorization of a domestic spying program, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
Citing two sources, the newspaper reported U.S. District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, known as FISA, sent his resignation to Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday.
The Post said the resignation letter gave no explanation for Robertson stepping down. Robertson declined comment when reached on Tuesday, the newspaper said.
Robertson is considered a liberal judge who has often ruled against the Bush administration's assertions of broad powers in the terrorism fight, the Post said.
Revelation that authorized domestic spying on Americans suspected of terrorists links without court approval spurred considerable debate among federal judges, including some on the FISA Court, The Washington Post said.
The Post said Robertson indicated privately to colleagues in recent conversations that he was concerned that information gained from warrantless National Security Agency surveillance could have then been used to obtain FISA warrants.
And the quote of the day goes to Senator John "Box Turtle" Cornyn, who absolutely blew my mind when he said-
"None of your civil liberties matter much after you’re dead".
Please check your civil liberties at the door, America. Welcome to the Police State.
I am so incredibly creeped out by these people who would forfeit their freedom to Big Brother it's not even funny.