Heck of a Job, Hayden!

[AnnieBW]

Heck of a Job, Hayden!
By Ray McGovern
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010506A.shtml

Thursday 05 January 2006

The eavesdropping-on-Americans scandal came as shock and betrayal to most employees of the National Security Agency - and to other intelligence officers, active and retired.

The idea that the once highly respected former director of NSA, Gen. Mike Hayden, had allowed himself to be seduced into sinning against NSA's first commandment, "Thou Shalt Not Spy on Americans," was initially met with incredulity. Sadly, no other conclusion became possible as we watched Hayden and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales spin and squirm before the press on December 19 in their transparent attempt to square a circle.

For many of us veteran intelligence officers, the press conference put a damper on the Christmas spirit. The Gonzales-Hayden pas de deux should trouble other Americans as well, because the malleable Gen. Hayden, now bedecked with a fourth star, is Deputy Director of National Intelligence - the second highest official in the US intelligence community. Only time will tell what other extralegal activities he will condone.

The framers of the US Constitution must have been turning in their graves on December 19 as they watched Gonzales and Hayden defend the eavesdropping - especially as the two grappled with the $64 million question: Instead of simply flouting the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), why didn't the administration ask Congress to change it, if the law really needed to be made less restrictive? (And that remains a big "if.")

Well-briefed by executive branch lawyers, Gonzales recited "our legal analysis - our position" that Congress's authorization of force in the wake of 9/11 gave the president the right to disregard FISA's prohibition, absent a court order, against using NSA to eavesdrop on Americans. This "position," of course, is quite a stretch; even the regime-friendly Washington Post has termed it "impossible to believe" the government's contention. While reading from his script, the Attorney General presented his case as well as it could be argued, but twice he slipped while answering a question as to why the administration decided to disregard the FISA law rather than try to amend it.