There's major buzz today on a story from USA Today about a program at the National Security Agency that collects data about domestic phone calls and uses data mining techniques to try to find patterns in the data. It's important to note that they are not alleging the NSA is eavesdropping on the actual content of the calls. According to the USA Today story:
This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity...
Trying to imply some sort of sinister intent, USA Today adds:
The NSA's domestic program, as described by sources, is far more expansive than what the White House has acknowledged.
Uh, it's a classified program. It's supposed to be a secret. They're not supposed to acknowledge that sort of thing. USA Today only knows about it because of yet another leak of classified information from an anonymous source to the press.
There also seems to be a lot of conflating in the article of what look to be two different programs at the NSA - the eavesdropping on international calls to suspected members of terrorist organizations, and this data mining of information about domestic calls, which does not include information about the content of the communications.
The two important paragraphs in the story appear to be this:
The government is collecting "external" data on domestic phone calls but is not intercepting "internals," a term for the actual content of the communication, according to a U.S. intelligence official familiar with the program. This kind of data collection from phone companies is not uncommon; it's been done before, though never on this large a scale, the official said. The data are used for "social network analysis," the official said, meaning to study how terrorist networks contact each other and how they are tied together.
and this:
Paul Butler, a former U.S. prosecutor who specialized in terrorism crimes, said FISA approval generally isn't necessary for government data-mining operations. "FISA does not prohibit the government from doing data mining," said Butler, now a partner with the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in Washington, D.C.
The caveat, he said, is that "personal identifiers"-- such as names, Social Security numbers and street addresses -- can't be included as part of the search. "That requires an additional level of probable cause," he said.
We don't believe the mere fact of the government having this sort of data is in and of itself a problem. What matters is what they do with it. Certainly any data collected by the government can be abused, but the collection itself is not an abuse. There is certainly an important role for diligent oversight by the intelligence committees in Congress. But there's no basis in this story from USA Today for the hysterical cries of "Bush Lied! My cell phone died!", "we're losing our civil liberties!", "we're becoming a police state!", "we're already a police state!", "Bush = Hitler!" etc., that we're sure to hear from Democrats in the coming days.
Others:
Blogger Rick Moran has a convenient roundup of the typical hysterical reaction from the BDS sufferers of the left-blogosphere. Few surprises there.
Memorandum has lots of links to blogger reaction.
Media Blog at NRO
Outside the Beltway
Michelle Malkin
The Washington Post
The Volokh Conspiracy
Wizbang
RCP Blog
Update: Good point --
Given that another government agency — the IRS — maintains information on American citizens’ employment, banking, investments, mortgages, charitable contributions and even any declared medical expenses, this hardly seems like a major assault on personal liberty.
NSA Data Mining
This ones worth a careful read. Note the exposure of several details that most certainly are classified, the disclosure of which surely present a significant threat to National Security, as these details help our enemies adapt to avoid our Intelligen...
Trackback by Dadmanly — May 11, 2006 @ 11:41 am May 11, 2006
Hmm, Orrin Kerr at Volokh seems to raise definite statutory concerns about the
newly-disclosed program under FISA and the Pen Register provisions, but if you
subscribe to the Yoo Doctrine, I'm sure that Dear Leader's national security
concerns will clearly trump, once again, the need to follow laws that the the Congress
has passed. And since you can expect no oversight from the current Congress,
there's really nothing here to get worked up over. So, move along moonbats!
Comment by b — May 11, 2006 @ 12:25 pm May 11, 2006
I wonder if this blog is being monitored?
Comment by Ghost Dansing — May 11, 2006 @ 4:20 pm May 11, 2006
At least the IRS data is collected in the open and with Congressional and Judicial oversite. The NSA is collecting this information without any oversight. If nothing else, it sure looks bad. Why not go to Congress and get approval? Why all the secrecy if it is only data collection?
Comment by r — May 11, 2006 @ 5:02 pm May 11, 2006
Real Americans are going to be really upset about this, regardless what the Imperial Right has to say. The government should be going after Al Qaida, not after every phone call made in America. Surely infiltrating goups of actual suspects would do more to protect us, and less to invade our privacy than this!
Comment by David in NY — May 11, 2006 @ 6:19 pm May 11, 2006
David,
"Real Americans"? It sounds like you're questioning the patriotism of those who disagree with you. Democrats/liberals seem to do that a lot.
How are you going to find "groups of actual suspects" without doing any surveillance? Perhaps you can convince all the terrorists to wear "I Love Osama" t-shirts or buttons to easily identify them in advance.
We hope the American people will not buy into the left's deceit, confusion and hysteria over a data mining operation that does not involve eavesdropping on the content of phone calls.
Comment by The Editors — May 11, 2006 @ 6:44 pm May 11, 2006
More "Good" Leaks
Though I'm sure this latest leak of NSA programs will again be a good leak that the media loves, I'd like to make something clear: The government, in keeping us safe, has done and will continue to do many things
Trackback by The Sandbox — May 11, 2006 @ 7:24 pm May 11, 2006
And I certainly believe that they do not monitor the content of calls, I trust the Fearless Leader will not lie to us, just like the WMD and the link between Al-Quida and Saddam and on and on ad infinitum.
I thought the righties were for civil liberties and privacy and upholding the Constitution...have you all gotten drunk on the Kool-Aid?
Comment by Rob in VT — May 11, 2006 @ 7:28 pm May 11, 2006
Rob,
President Bush did not lie about WMD, or about the links between al Qaeda and Iraq.
The NSA data mining program, as described in USA Today, does not appear to violate the Constitution or to be any unreasonable privacy violation.
At least you didn't try to claim lefties are for civil liberties, privacy, or upholding the Constitution. That would have been a laugh.
Comment by The Editors — May 11, 2006 @ 8:13 pm May 11, 2006
Glad you got a laugh. Could I borrow your phone to call the ACLU or the DNC; you shouldn't mind if those calls are on your NSA record.
Comment by Rob — May 11, 2006 @ 8:58 pm May 11, 2006
All I can say is im proud of Qwest, and it is my opinion that the scales of justice will be recalibrated in November.
Comment by Scott — May 11, 2006 @ 9:24 pm May 11, 2006
The government failed to connect the dots prior to 911, but all this program can do is provide more dots. Lack of information did not allow the 911 plots to go undetected; it was lack of co-ordination and follow up. Once again the increasingly un-American Bush administration has been caught secretly doing something that is at best semi-legal, and then offers no good defense of the reasons for the program. Given the lies (sorry – exaggerations) this administration has portrayed as the undisputed truth in the past, why should anyone trust their statement that the surveillance has been limited. Since Bush claims his white house is above investigation or even review by the other branches of government, and apparently believes in closed government with even the lunch menus classified double-secret, how can any information about their imperial actions get out without leaks? It’s difficult to believe that this program, if left intact, will be used for anything BUT domestic political purposes. We all know how extensive domestic spying did wonders to secure and stabilize the former Soviet Union, and there were never any abuses for political reasons…
Comment by former republican — May 11, 2006 @ 11:49 pm May 11, 2006
Today's Bogus/Manufactured NSA Anti-Civil Rights Story
***UPDATE*** Hot Air says that this is old news, and has video of the President's comments. Expose the Left has video of the President's comments as well. ***UPDATE - SURPRISE, SURPRIS MEDIA LYING... SAYS NSA "MONITORING" CALLS*** No one sould...
Trackback by RightWinged.com — May 12, 2006 @ 7:13 am May 12, 2006
USA Today NSA Story A Rehash Of December 2005 NY Times Story
***SCROLL FOR UPDATES*** (h/t Drudge) The media is still buzzing, and will continue to buzz, over the recently leaked NSA phone call data collection program, until they're able to create a new bogus scandal to attack the president with. What...
Trackback by RightWinged.com — May 12, 2006 @ 7:22 am May 12, 2006
Keep up the great work on your blog. Best wishes WaltDe
Comment by WaltDe — September 1, 2006 @ 1:43 pm September 1, 2006