Wiretapping Scandal May Be Deeper & Bigger

Whistleblower Says NSA Violations Bigger

"WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- A former NSA employee said Tuesday there is another ongoing top-secret surveillance program that might have violated millions of Americans' Constitutional rights. Russell D. Tice told the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations he has concerns about a "special access" electronic surveillance program that he characterized as far more wide-ranging than the warrentless wiretapping recently exposed by the New York Times but he is forbidden from discussing the program with Congress."

Does this mean that the Bush administraion has lied to us again? Does the wiretapping approach go DEEPER than the trumped up program that the NY Times uncovered?

"Tice said he believes it violates the Constitution's protection against unlawful search and seizures but has no way of sharing the information without breaking classification laws. He is not even allowed to tell the congressional intelligence committees - members or their staff - because they lack high enough clearance. Neither could he brief the inspector general of the NSA because that office is not cleared to hear the information, he said."

It would appear that the Bush adminstration is taking advantage of the laws designed to protect actual secrets from discosure to hide illegal actions that the president and crew do not want disclosed. If this report provides additional evidence of wiretapping without authorization, due process and compliance with the US CONSTITUION.

Are we ready to impeach these bastards yet?

"Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, said they believe a few members of the Armed Services Committee are cleared for the information, but they said believe their committee and the intelligence committees have jurisdiction to hear the allegations. 'Congressman Kucinich wants Congressman Shays to hold a hearing (on the program),' said Doug Gordon, Kucinich's spokesman. 'Obviously it would have to take place in some kind of a closed hearing. But Congress has a role to play in oversight. The (Bush) administration does not get to decide what Congress can and can not hear.'"

Will this investigation take forever and get nowhere? Will we once again be stonewalled and obstructed from getting at the truth? Will there be a move for impeachment?

"Tice was testifying because he was a National Security Agency intelligence officer who was stripped of his security clearance after he reported his suspicions that a former colleague at the Defense Intelligence Agency was a spy. The matter was dismissed by the DIA, but Tice pressed it later and was subsequently ordered to take a psychological examination, during which he was declared paranoid. He is now unemployed."

If your job is being a spy, isn't paranoia an asset? Didn't the Soviets lock up their dissidents by claiming they were psychiatrically impaired? Is Tice psychiatrically impaired or is he the victim of the Bush administration's tactics of blaming the victim and obfuscating the truth? Hopefully the hearings will take place and we will get to the truth.

"Tice was one of the New York Times sources for its wiretapping story, but he told the committee the information he provided was not secret and could have been provided by an private sector electronic communications professional."

Well, Tice was right about the original wiretapping reports, perhaps he isn't a candidate for the "quiet room", doses of neuroleptics and four-point restraints just yet.