With this week's revelation of Representative Pete Hoekstra's (R-Michigan)
sharply worded letter (pdf) sent to George W. Bush on May 18, 2006, blasting the administration for secretly implementing an entire intelligence operation and keeping its existence hidden from Congress, we are left wondering what further egregious violations of our privacy have already occurred.
Marla Brose/The Albuquerque Journal, via Associated Press
Representative Heather A. Wilson, whom President Bush praised in June, has said she has "deep concerns" about intelligence reforms.
Linda Spillers/ABC News, via Associated Press
Representative Peter Hoekstra and Representative Jane Harman appearing on a news program in January.
Rep. Hoekstra is hopping mad, charging in his letter that:
....the administration "might have violated the law by failing to inform Congress of some secret intelligence programs." It also warned that he risked losing his party's support on national security matters.
While Hoekstra does not identify the specific secret intelligence program he is referring to, his letter goes on to state:
"I have learned of some alleged intelligence community activities about which our committee has not been briefed. If these allegations are true, they may represent a breach of responsibility by the administration, a violation of the law, and, just as importantly, a direct affront to me and the members of this committee who have so ardently supported efforts to collect information on our enemies."
Hoekstra had been briefed about both the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program and the Treasury Department's tracking of international banking transactions, both of which were leaked to the media.
He said he did not expect to be briefed about everything intelligence agencies were doing but
at least one of the secret activities was a major program which Congress definitely should have been informed about. So, what are we to make of this newest revelation? We've already had our phones tapped, our e-mail surveilled, our internet searches pawed through, our bank records sifted, private information repeatedly *stolen* by unknown entities, and Attorney General Alberto Gonazles won't rule out
opening our first class mail....
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY: Under your interpretation of this, can you go in and do mail searches? Can you go into e-mails? Can you open -- can you open mail? Can you do black bag jobs?
ALBERTO GONZALES: Sir --
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY: And under the idea that you don't have much time to go through what you described as a cumbersome procedure, what most people think is a pretty easy procedure, to get a FISA warrant, can you go and do that of Americans?
ALBERTO GONZALES: Sir, I have tried to outline for you and the committee what the president has authorized, and that is all that he has authorized.
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY: Did it authorize the opening of first class mail of U.S. Citizens? Just -- that you can answer yes or no.
ALBERTO GONZALES: There is all kinds of wild speculation about what the --
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY: Did it authorize it?
SEN. ARLEN SPECTER: Let him finish.
ALBERTO GONZALES: There is all kinds of wild speculation out there about what the president has authorized and what we're actually doing. And I'm not going to get into a discussion, Senator, about hypotheticals.
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY: Mr. Attorney General, you're not answering my question. I'm not asking you what the president authorized. Does this law --you're the chief law enforcement officer of the country. Does this law authorize the opening of first-class mail of U.S. citizens-- yes or no-- under your interpretation?
ALBERTO GONZALES: Senator, I think -- I think that, again, that is not what is going on here. We're only focused on communications -- international communications where one part of the communication is al-Qaida. That's what this program is all about.
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY: You haven't answered my question.
Remember Russell Tice, the NSA whistleblower, who testified about his activities in Special Access Programs at NSA and DoD in a closed session
May 17, 2006 in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee?
This meeting was, of course, held out of public view. I always thought it curious that Mr. Tice's hearing was held before the Armed Services Committee rather than the Intelligence Committee.
Here's a clue as to Mr. Tice's testimony, from an article dated May 12, 2006:
Tice was fired from the NSA last May. He said he plans to tell the committee staffers the NSA conducted illegal and unconstitutional surveillance of U.S. citizens while he was there with the knowledge of Hayden, who has been nominated to become director of the CIA. Tice said one of his co-workers personally informed Hayden that illegal and unconstitutional activity was occurring.
The Senate Intelligence Committee plans to hold Hayden's confirmation hearing next week. "I think the people I talk to next week are going to be shocked when I tell them what I have to tell them. It's pretty hard to believe," Tice said. "I hope that they'll clean up the abuses and have some oversight into these programs, which doesn't exist right now."
Tice originally asked to meet with the Senate and House Intelligence committees, but they did not respond to his request.
Tice said his information is different from the Terrorist Surveillance Program that Bush acknowledged in December and from news accounts this week that the NSA has been secretly collecting phone call records of millions of Americans.
"It's an angle that you haven't heard about yet," he said.
According to an unclassified resume, Tice was a specialist in space operations systems, command and control warfare, advanced technology and all-source collection analysis. During an 18-year career, he worked on some of the most secretive programs in the government.
And Rep. Hoekstra's scathing letter to the White House was dated
May 18, 2006, just ONE DAY after Russell Tice met with the Senate Armed Services Committee, informing them of alleged illegal activities by the NSA/DoD.
It may emerge soon that Russell Tice's classified testimony has exposed the next egregious violation of our human rights by the rogue Bush Administration . Satellite surveillance of private citizens.
What will we, citizens of the world, do about this?