Illegal NSA Spying? It Isn't the First Time. Remember Frank Church?

Illegal NSA spying? It won't be the first time -- a look at history

Declan McCullagh
Mon, 13 Dec 1999

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,33026,00.html

snips from this article,



"I believe the release of communications
intelligence information can cause harm
to the national security," complained
Senator Barry Goldwater, a Republican
who voted against disclosing information
on illicit NSA surveillance procedures and
refused to sign the final report.

"The public's right to know must be
responsibly weighed against the impact of
release on the public's right to be
secure.... Disclosures could severely
cripple or even destroy the vital
capabilities of this indispensible safeguard
to our nation's security," said another
senator.


James Earl Ray: When the Feds wanted
to find the suspect in the Martin Luther
King Jr. assassination, they turned to the
NSA. Frank Raven, chief of the G Group,
received a direct order in May 1968 to
place Ray's name on the watch list. It
turned up nothing and Ray was eventually
nabbed in London, Raven said when
interviewed for the book The Puzzle
Palace. At another point the FBI
demanded complete NSA surveillance of
all Quakers, in the mistaken belief that
the group was shipping food to Vietnam.

Huston plan: Tom Charles Huston, an
aide to H.R. Haldeman, organized a
meeting in June 1970 between Nixon and
his agency chiefs, including the FBI, CIA,
NSA, and Defense Intelligence Agency.
According to the Nixon papers, the
president wanted to collected intelligence
about "revolutionary activism." The
presidential directive that came out of
that meeting ordered the NSA to expand
its surveillance and evaluate "domestic
intelligence."

Peace activists: At the Pentagon's
request, the NSA monitored the
communications of '60s peace activists.
The order came from the military unit
responsible for quelling "civil
disturbances," which wanted to know if
foreign agents were "controlling or
attempting to control or influence
activities of US 'peace' groups and 'black
power' orgs." An internal NSA memo
creating the Minaret project said it would
focus on people involved in "anti-war
movements/demonstrations."

was why the FISA court was created to begin with.

under the guise of fighting terrorism in the past.

We know these cretins don't read history or they wouldn't be trying to pull off the same muckraking meddling.

the right is already crafting a respose that all of the past presidents have done this very thing in the interest of national security including Clinton.

besides, in this climate, military meddling is going to be seen by many as a poor excuse for rummaging through folk's private communications.

I ran across an old article by a raving conservative that echoed the left's recent concern and outrage at the subversion of the law and NSA spying. They don't like it any more than liberals.