Did Clinton use the NSA to spy on calls? Warning, Newsmax article.

They just mentioned this article by Newsmax on the News at the top of the hour on Air America.

http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/12/18/221452.shtml

Does anyone know the facts on this? We all know Newsmax is full of shit 95% of the time.

Prominent right-wing bloggers – including Michelle Malkin, the Corner, Wizbang and Free Republic — are pushing the argument that President Bush’s warrantless domestic spying program isn’t news because the Clinton administration did the same thing.

The right-wing outlet NewsMax sums up the basic argument:

During the 1990’s under President Clinton, the National Security Agency monitored millions of private phone calls placed by U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries under a super secret program code-named Echelon…all of it done without a court order, let alone a catalyst like the 9/11 attacks.

That’s flatly false. The Clinton administration program, code-named Echelon, complied with FISA. Before any conversations of U.S. persons were targeted, a FISA warrant was obtained. CIA director George Tenet testified to this before Congress on 4/12/00:

I’m here today to discuss specific issues about and allegations regarding Signals Intelligence activities and the so-called Echelon Program of the National Security Agency…

There is a rigorous regime of checks and balances which we, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the FBI scrupulously adhere to whenever conversations of U.S. persons are involved, whether directly or indirectly. We do not collect against U.S. persons unless they are agents of a foreign power as that term is defined in the law. We do not target their conversations for collection in the United States unless a FISA warrant has been obtained from the FISA court by the Justice Department.

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/12/20/the-echelon-myth/

it's okay if he did it.....I thought they thought he was totally immoral, now everything gets referred back to him.

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Louis Freeh has much better investigators then any of Michelle Malkin, the Corner, Wizbang or Free Republic have and if there had something indictable, BullDog Louie would have found that something indictable, and Judge Kenneth Winston Starr, Jr., would have presecuted him for it.

Now the RWers are turning on Louie and Ken. Sheesh.

They're so hysterical. Anyways, I've heard about this before and that Clinton started doing so after the OKC bombing. Still though, it isn't like he went about it the way that Bush did by circumventing the law (although the GOP SOP smear machine will insist otherwise for no other motivation than hatred of the man).

Blame Clinton! Don't they ever let that go??

on Washington Journal this morning. God I hate her and her awful hair.

As soon as she said it, I knew it was a lie...just beccause Old Vicki T said it.

What a toady!

were too dumb to find it and prosecute it.

it's top secret stuff! These people who say that Clinton, Bush 41, and Reagan all did it. How the HELL would they know that! It's a secret program, so they are just making guesses. George Tenet testified to Congress in 2000 that Clinton's people only used warranted wiretaps.

Newslies??? Really.. I wouldn't trust them to tell me that the sun came up in the east..

And supposing they are right for a moment.

That doesn't make it ok for Bush to do it. If it were so, then they BOTH would need to be sent to jail in my book. It's the law so don't let them get you into these relativistic legal arguments, it's illegal.

www.brainshrub.com/president-wiretap

"Listening in without a warrant isn't just impolite, it's a felony."

Doug De Clue
Orlando, FL