Executive Order Permits Verizon, Et Al to Lie About Phone Records

[Robbien]

Diary at Kos
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/5/17/125724/239
based on
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/17/new-executive-order/

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby assign to you the function of the President under section 13(b)(3)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (15 U.S.C. 78m(b)(3)(A)). In performing such function, you should consult the heads of departments and agencies, as appropriate.

And what is this regarding? Who is the department head? Negroponte. And so what is Bush giving this authority in regards to?

(A)With respect to matters concerning the national security of the United States, no duty or liability under paragraph (2) of this subsection shall be imposed upon any person acting in cooperation with the head of any Federal department or agency responsible for such matters if such act in cooperation with such head of a department or agency was done upon the specific, written directive of the head of such department or agency pursuant to Presidential authority to issue such directives. Each directive issued under this paragraph shall set forth the specific facts and circumstances with respect to which the provisions of this paragraph are to be invoked. Each such directive shall, unless renewed in writing, expire one year after the date of issuance.

Boom. Negroponte was given the power to excuse the Telcoms from lying about this very act, so long as he gives them the order. So the Telcoms can lie about this (notice it took them a few days) and you, as a shareholder, can't do a damn thing about it. They are immune from lawsuits, and exempt from prosecution.

So the fact that Verizon, Et Al are now denying this means nothing, especially considering that this order was issued on May 5th, just days before this scandal broke, which suggests they had some advance knowledge that the story was about to get out.

Combine this with the revelation that news organizations are being tapped, and it's not hard to imagine that the White House knew that this story was on the horizon, and quickly issued this EO to get the Telcoms on board to deny everything so they could avoid culpability.

ThinkProgress goes on to say:

There is no evidence that this executive order has been used by John Negroponte with respect to the telcos. Of course, if it was used, we wouldn’t know about it.
ThinkProgress is also updating: An earlier version of this post incorrectly referred to the May 5 document as an “executive order.” It is a presidential memorandum.

[bullimiami]

1. seriously. fuck that. no executive order can give permission for anyone

to break the law. bush does NOT make the laws, the congress does.

[cliss]

2. Did they think it was going to be so easy?

Just lie, wait 2 days, then say you didn't do it. (wipes hands of the mess).

Did you (Verizon) think it would be that easy?

[JPZenger]

3. More

There is much discussion about this topic over at:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/17/125724/239

Mike Malloy also covered it last night on Air America.

Under the post-Enron laws, company officials can be criminally prosecuted for making false statements that could impact their stock prices. The administration wanted the phone companies to lie about the NSA programs. So on May 5th, when the Administration knew the story was about to break, Bush signed a presidential memo to say that Negroponte could authorize an exemption to the security laws to give the telephone companies permission to lie to the public. It was hidden in legalize, with cross-references and they didn't expect anyone to understand it. It was published in the Federal Register on May 12th.

Here is the Presidential Memorandum:

http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/06-4538.htm

Here is the relevant section of the Federal security laws that the telephone companies are apparently being exempted from:

http://www.washingtonwatchdog.org/documents/usc/ttl11/ch11/subchIII/sec1145.html
(warning - lots of legaleeze).