NSA at Brave New Films

Finance, Favors and FISA

2008-09-07T04:43:31Z

http://newsproject.org

Congress considered final passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) this week. ANP follows the money trail to find out how telecom dollars influence Congressmen to say what they say and vote the way they do.

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Ashcroft Pressured by DOJ to Alter Info on NSA Spy Program

2008-09-07T04:22:33Z

News Hounds Archived Video
On the Record with Greta van Susteren
May 16, 2007

Greta and guest Elana Schor of "The Hill" discuss how the Department of Justice attempted to pressure then-Attorney General John Ashcroft into changing his mind on the illegal NSA spy program.

Ashcroft was in the hospital in ICU at the time!

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Policemen, firefighters being trained as terrorism officers

2008-07-18T20:34:51Z

Police, Firefighters, Utility Workers Among Hundreds Trained as "Terrorism Liaison Officers"

Colorado is one among of handful of states where hundreds of firefighters, paramedics, police, and even corporate employees are being trained to hunt down and report a broadly defined range of "suspicious activities." They're called Terrorism Liaison Officers. The federally supported initiative trains them to look out for "observed behavior that may be indicative of intelligence-gathering or pre-operational planning related to terrorism."

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Policemen, firefighters being trained as terrorism officers2

2008-07-18T20:34:51Z

ACLU Sues Denver for Security Equipment Details Ahead of DNC

As Denver gears up for the Democratic National Convention later this summer, the federal government has allocated $50 million for security-related expenses connected to the convention. Denver has revealed that $18 million is budgeted for equipment purchases, but most of the details remain secret, prompting the ACLU to file a civil lawsuit. We speak with the legal director of the Colorado ACLU, Mark Silverstein.

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Democracy Now Headlines- Thurs. June 26 2008

2008-07-18T16:37:48Z

Today's Headlines

* U.S. Attacks Kill 8 Iraqis, Including Family
* Supreme Court Cuts Exxon Damages for Alaska Oil Spill
* Justices End Executions for Child Rape
* Internal Probe Faults Security Gaps at U.S. Nuclear Sites
* Amnesty International Erects Gitmo Cell on National Mall
* Canadian Judge: U.S. Treatment of Khadr Amounts to Torture
* Judge: NSA Not Compelled to Disclose Spying on Gitmo Attorneys
* Senate Begins Debate on FISA Bill
* Obama, Clinton to Hold Joint Rally
* South Koreans Protest as U.S. Beef Imports Set to Resume
* Mandela Criticizes Mugabe on Political Crisis
* Cuba Approves Lung Cancer Vaccine
* U.S. Mayors Call for Shunning Bottled Water
* Countrywide Shareholders Approve Bank of America Deal
* Intelligence Estimate Warns on Global Warming

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Sen. Feingold Blasts Telecom Spy Bill-1/2

2008-07-04T12:43:46Z

"One of the Greatest Intrusions, Potentially, on the Rights of Americans Protected Under the 4th Amendment" - Sen. Feingold Blasts Telecom Spy Bill

It's being described as the most significant revision of the nation's surveillance law in three decades. The Senate is preparing to vote on rewriting the nation's Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and giving immunity to phone companies involved in President Bush's secret domestic spy program. We speak with Senator Russ Feingold (D--WI), who has been the leading congressional voice against the Bush administration's warrantless spy program since it was exposed nearly three years ago. [includes rush transcript]

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Sen. Feingold Blasts Telecom Spy Bill-2/2

2008-07-10T16:37:44Z

"One of the Greatest Intrusions, Potentially, on the Rights of Americans Protected Under the 4th Amendment" - Sen. Feingold Blasts Telecom Spy Bill

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FBI Director Robert Mueller - Intelligence and Antiterrorism

2008-06-24T10:46:21Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

FBI Director Robert Mueller discusses the the U.S. government's approach to intelligence-gathering in the name of terrorism prevention.

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From 9/11 to 7/7: Global Terrorism Today and the Challenges of Tomorrow with FBI Director Robert Mueller.

Since 11 September 2001 when Al-Qaeda launched a massive attack on US targets from its base in Afghanistan, terrorists have executed attacks around the world, including the bombing of the London Underground and bus system in July 2005.

Terrorist tactics continue to evolve and expand in Al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups, as well as homegrown terrorist cells, through foreign training camps and internet recruitment.

With the United States and United Kingdom remaining prime targets, the speaker will discuss the future implications of the terrorist threat, and how the global community must work together to combat it - Chatham House

Robert Mueller is the current Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. He was nominated by President George W. Bush and became the sixth Director of the FBI on September 4, 2001.

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Spies for Hire, US pays Carlyle Group to spy-2/3

2008-06-12T03:32:26Z

Spies for Hire: Carlyle Group to Become Owner of "One of America's Largest Private Intelligence Armies"

The secretive investment fund the Carlyle Group is in the process of buying part of Booz Allen Hamiliton, the major military and intelligence contractor. We speak with investigative journalist Tim Shorrock, author of the new book Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing. [includes rush transcript]

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Spies for Hire, US pays Carlyle Group to spy-1/3

2008-06-12T03:32:27Z

Spies for Hire: Carlyle Group to Become Owner of "One of America's Largest Private Intelligence Armies"

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Spies for Hire, US pays Carlyle Group to spy-3/3

2008-06-13T03:31:14Z

Spies for Hire: Carlyle Group to Become Owner of "One of America's Largest Private Intelligence Armies"

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Summer Vacation

2008-09-07T04:37:50Z

Orwell Was An Optimist

Episode I: Summer Vacation

Everbody's going on vacation. Bush, Congress, the Constitution...

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Condoleeza Rice: A Tough Negotiator

2008-06-13T09:38:08Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Author Glenn Kessler discusses the hard-nosed diplomatic style favored by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

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The Confidante: Condoleezza Rice and the Creation of the Bush Legacy with Glenn Kessler.

Glenn Kessler, drawing on personal interviews with Condoleezza Rice, an intimacy afforded to him as one of the few reporters granted the opportunity to travel with her, takes readers inside secret meetings Rice has held with foreign leaders and even her private conversations with President Bush - World Affairs Council of Washington D.C.

Glenn Kessler joined the foreign affairs beat at the Washington Post in May 2002 after serving at the Washington Post as national business editor. Before joining the Post, Glen spent nearly 11 years with Newsday, based in both New York and Washington. He served as a White House correspondent, national political correspondent, and also covered Congress.

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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man - Part II

2008-06-10T21:29:42Z

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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man - Part I

2008-06-10T21:29:42Z

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Pizza Order

2008-09-07T04:33:28Z

Dramatic Invasion of Privacy
Revealed by ACLU in this legendary clip.

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AT&T: Within 2 WEEKS of taking office, Bush planned domestic spying

2008-01-12T20:43:35Z

What does it take to impeach this guy?!

Nearly 1,300 words into Sunday's New York Times article revealing new details of the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program, the lawyer for an AT&T engineer alleges that "within two weeks of taking office, the Bush administration was planning a comprehensive effort of spying on Americans’ phone usage.”

Let's see...That was in January of 2001, maybe February. September 11 was...plus 8, carry the... yes, yes I'm sure of it. That was 8 months BEFORE 9/11. Before. In 2005 Bush said that...

...the authorizations have made it "more likely that killers like these 9/11 hijackers will be identified and located in time, and the activities conducted under this authorization have helped detect and prevent possible terrorist attacks in the United States and abroad."

So Bush is clairvoyant?

The whistleblower:

"There was no discussion of limiting the monitoring to international communications, he said."
“At some point,” he told the paper, “I started feeling something isn’t right.”

We're all more than a little queasy at this point.

Others at AT&T discounted it as merely an effort to improve the N.S.A.’s internal communications systems. Uh-uh.

“What he saw,” Bruce Afran, a New Jersey lawyer representing the plaintiffs, told the Times, “was decisive evidence that within two weeks of taking office, the Bush administration was planning a comprehensive effort of spying on Americans’ phone usage.”

More here.

Interview: AT&T Whistleblower on Retroactive Immunity

2008-06-14T21:30:47Z

Dodd campaign blogger Matt Browner Hamlin interviews AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein on domestic surveillance and retroactive immunity.
http://chrisdodd.com/blog

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Government Spying 101

2008-01-12T20:28:01Z

Thom Hartmann taught me many lessons today. Here they are:

It's time learn about spy stuff, okay boys and girls? Today's Topic: How our government spies on us.

Lesson One:

President Nixon spied on Democrats. FISA was passed to stop the president from spying on its political opponents, to prevent political abuse. Say it with me, political abuse. Good!

The executive branch has police powers given to it by the Legislative Branch, not by the Constitution, the Legislative Branch. Congress passes a law making something a crime, and gives the Executive Branch the power to prosecute it. The Judiciary oversees the entire thing. See? There are three equal branches of government! Yayyy! At least, that's the way it should be.

Now, back to FISA being set up when Nixon spied on Democrats. The Executive Branch has to go to the Judicial Branch to establish enough evidence for probable cause. All together, now: Probable Cause! That's what FISA was for.

Lesson Two:

Fast forward. Ready? Go! Weeeee! Qwest Communications' Joseph Nacchio was convicted of insider trading. In 2001 he sold a bunch of stock right after his auditors came to the executives, including him, and said, "Next month we're gonna have a bad earnings report."

Uh-ohhh! This was before that information was made public. Nacchio then sold a bunch of stock and the stock price dropped. That is illegal, boys and girls. They nailed him for that crime.

But wait! Now he says it wasn't insider trading because he says he sold stock that he was entitled to sell. He said that when he learned about the earnings report, Qwest was negotiating with the NSA to make more money than they'd lose, so their stock would NOT fall. This was 6 months before September 11, 2001.

Fun fact! The big and powerful ATand T was buildng a wiretapping center long before 9/11, within 2 months of Bush and Cheney coming into office. I wonder why? It couldn't have been to protect us from the 9/11 attack, so why would the President and Vice President want to spy on us?

Lesson Three coming up on the very next page!

If this were a sane country

2008-01-12T20:27:27Z

we'd all be down at the White House with pitchforks and torches while Congress drew up the impeachment papers.

Ex-Commander In Iraq Faults War Strategy
'No End in Sight,' Says Retired General Sanchez

Former CEO Says U.S. Punished Phone Firm
Qwest Feared NSA Plan Was Illegal, Filing Says

METRO ATLANTA'S NEED FOR WATER: THREE MONTHS FROM A MUDHOLE

White House Embraces Right-Wing Blog That Called For ‘Destroying' Graeme Frost

And for good measure-

Building Blackwater

NSA targets Qwest for not "going along" with phone spying program

2008-01-12T20:27:11Z

I didn't follow this trial, but here's something to chew on:

The National Security Agency and other government agencies retaliated against Qwest because the Denver telco refused to go along with a phone spying program, documents released Wednesday suggest.
The documents indicate that likely would have been at the heart of former CEO Joe Nacchio's so-called "classified information" defense at his insider trading trial, had he been allowed to present it.

So that's what happens when you don't follow orders. I see.

Those NSA and government retaliations perk my widdle ears right up.

::Perk!:: See? There they go.

Have America's Anti-Terror Policies Made Us Safer?

2008-07-09T19:16:56Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Jules Lobel, University of Pittsburgh law professor and Vice President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, argues that the Bush Administration's detention and deportation of terror suspects has not made the U.S. safer from terrorism as a whole.

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Jules Lobel discusses "Less Safe, Less Free: The Failure of Preemption in the War on Terror."

Professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh, vice president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, and author of "Success without Victory", Jules Lobel has written and litigated extensively in the area of war and emergency power. With co-author David Cole, he argues that the irony is that the sacrifices - sacrificed fundamental commitments to the rule of law ("disappearing" suspects into secret CIA prison and "waterboarding" them to compel them to talk; asserting unchecked executive power to violate criminal laws and spy of Americans without warrants; holding suspects indefinitely in Guantanamo's law-free zone; attacking Iraq against the will of the United Nations Security Council and most of the world) - in the rule of law have not made us safer, but have in fact made us more vulnerable to future terrorist attacks. - Cody's Books

Jules Lobel is a professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh, vice president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, and author of "Success without Victory" and co-author of "Less Safe, Less Free: The Failure of Preemption in the War on Terror." Lobel has written and litigated extensively in the area of war and emergency power.

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Fox News Helps Bush Hide Scope of His New Power to Spy on US

2008-07-21T13:28:12Z

Both before and after the Democratic Congress handed the Bush Administration sweeping new spying powers on August 4, Fox News ran stories that misleadingly minimized the scope of those new powers as well as misrepresented the protections lost from the old law. To prove my point, I use Fox News "Special Report with Brit Hume" clips from August 3, 6, and 19, 2007.

I also used a short clip from an August 7 segment of "The Colbert Report" that is available in full on the Comedy Central website at: www.comedycentral.com

The old version of the FISA law to which I refer in my video is available online at: www4.law.cornell.edu

And, the new version of the FISA law to which I refer in my video is available online at: frwebgate.access.gpo.gov

Also, you can see the ACLU ad campaign to which I refer that criticized the deal between the Democratic Congress and the Bush Administration at: action.aclu.org

And, finally, this video qualifies as one of DOZENS of examples on my FOX NEWS BIAS playlist at: www.youtube.com

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Anthony Romero - The ACLU's Record on Terrorism

2008-06-17T15:32:56Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Anthony Romero, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, discusses the position of the ACLU in regards to terrorism and other wartime legislation.

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"In Defense of America: Fighting A Different Kind of War, Without Becoming A Different Kind of Country" with Anthony Romero, Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

President Bush says the U.S. is fighting a "different kind of war," but does that mean it must become a different kind of country? Rather than justifying the usurpation of constitutional powers, this war demands that we stick to our core values more strongly than ever, says the ACLU. Romero shares examples from the legal war that he has been fighting at home.

Anthony D. Romero is the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, the nation's premier defender of liberty and individual freedom. He took the helm of the 87-year-old organization just four days before the September 11, 2001 attacks. Shortly afterward, the ACLU launched its national Safe and Free campaign to protect basic freedoms during a time of crisis. Under Romero's leadership, the ACLU gained court victories on the Patriot Act filed landmark litigation on the torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. custody, and filed the first successful legal challenge to the Bush administration's illegal NSA spying program.

Romero, an attorney with a history of public-interest activism, has presided over the most successful membership growth in the ACLU's history and more than doubled national staff and tripled the budget of the organization since he began his tenure. This unprecedented growth has allowed the ACLU to expand its nationwide litigation, lobbying and public education efforts, including new initiatives focused on racial justice, religious freedom, privacy, reproductive freedom and lesbian and gay rights.

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DemNOW: Warrantless Surrender - Spying on Americans Pt2

2008-06-18T03:36:36Z

Glenn Greenwald:
Marjorie Cohn:

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