Most intelligence leads under "President's Surveillance Program" had no connection to terrorism.

[seafan]

The report, compiled by five inspectors general, refers to "unprecedented collection activities" by U.S. intelligence agencies under an executive order signed by Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Most of the intelligence leads generated under what was known as the "President's Surveillance Program" did not have any connection to terrorism, the report said. But FBI agents told the authors that the "mere possibility of the leads producing useful information made investigating the leads worthwhile."

The inspectors general interviewed more than 200 people inside and outside the government, but five former Bush administration officials refused to be questioned. They were Ashcroft, Yoo, former CIA Director George Tenet, former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and David Addington, an aide to former Vice President Dick Cheney.

According to the report, Addington could personally decide who in the administration was "read into" — allowed access to — the classified program

The only piece of the intelligence-gathering operation acknowledged by the Bush White House was the wiretapping-without-warrants effort. The administration acknowledged in 2005 that it had allowed the National Security Agency to intercept international communications that passed through U.S. cables without seeking court orders.

Information gathered by the secret program played a limited role in the FBI's overall counterterrorism efforts, according to the report. Very few CIA analysts even knew about the program and therefore were unable to fully exploit it in their counterterrorism work, the report said.

Link

A report released on Friday by the inspectors general of five agencies about the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program makes clear that Mr. Cheney’s legal adviser, David S. Addington, had to personally approve every government official who was told about the program. The report said “the exceptionally compartmented nature of the program” frustrated F.B.I. agents who were assigned to follow up on tips it turned up.

High-level N.S.A. officials who were responsible for ensuring that the surveillance program was legal, including the agency’s inspector general and general counsel, were not permitted by Mr. Cheney’s office to read the Justice Department opinion that found the eavesdropping legal, several officials said.

Link

AG Gonzales declines to answer first-class mail breach question, February 6, 2006




Refusing to be questioned as of July 11, 2009:




John Ashcroft


Andy Card


John Yoo


George Tenet


David Addington



Richard B. Cheney

Mr. Addington could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

Efforts to reach Mr. Cheney through relatives and associates were unsuccessful.

Link

"We're going to push and push and push until some larger force makes us stop." ----David Addington, in The Terror Presidency: Law and Judgment Inside the Bush Administration, by Jack Goldsmith

[NightWatcher]

1. It feels so good to finally be made righteous. I had to quit the Intel field in early 02

I saw this happening (even in some cases starting the summer of '01 (pre 9/11)

I had to get out, for my sanity and scruples. I waited and waited and waited to hear that I was right and not just a paranoid.

I couldnt get a security clearance to work at a Taco Bell on a military base now, but I can rest easy and my soul is not in jeopardy.

Expect to hear other mind blowing shit in the future if revelations like this continue. Alice is about to go through the looking glass.

[havocmom]

2. Can I take off my tin foil hat YET?

Too many here disparaged many who said it was about info to control others rather than real terrorism police work.

Got tired of people telling me to put the tin hat on. I KNEW they were not after terrorists. J.Edgar set the theme. Cheney just applied new technology. Result the same: you have files on people, you can control people.

[Mist]

3. Yes, it was always about snooping on us, not the enemy du jour. As NightWatcher says,

there may be future revelations. Should be educational to many who thought intelligence gathering was just souped-up foreign policy BS.

[troubledamerican]

13. To create a POLITBURO by blackmailing Congress. Citizens are small fish.

[wroberts189]

5. Most of us have upgraded to the newer lead based helmets. nt

[havocmom]

12. Can't do the lead. Bad neck

probably from too much :banghead:

[wroberts189]

4. Damn it.. I want to know who they spied on.

Democrats?

Journalists? Seymour Hersh?

"Left" leaning organizations?

Vegans?

Acorn????

People they just did not like?


All of the above?

Really sounds like we are all about to find out.

knr

[Chemisse]

6. What a candid, revealing picture of Cheney!

[wroberts189]

9. Add corporate espionage and insider trading, I forgot to put it in. nt

[Ikonoklast]

7. Friend and foe alike.

Paranoia runs deep.

We were all being listened to, monitored, eavesdropped on. It's what power-hungry megalomaniacs do when in government.

[jimshoes]

8. Now there's one guy that deserves to swing

for his treasonous actions against the US of A, its citizens and our constitution. They actively worked to overthrow our representative government and replace it with a dictatorship answerable to no one. Time for indictments and trials.
On edit, while this could apply to all of the above, I was specifically referencing the most despicable david addington.

[seafan]

11. Addington is key to this. An unelected bag man for Cheney's delusions of power.

I've been wishing for a very long time that someone will nail this creep.

[ColbertWatcher]

10. Pics of Addington & Yoo testifying before Congress in June, 2008.

I wonder if they lied during their testimony and they were told to do so?