Letter from Rockefeller to Cheney re NSA domestic wiretapping - 7/17/2003

[Pirate Smile]

From Talking Points Memo:

"Sen. Rockefeller (D-WV) just released a letter he sent the vice president on July 17th, 2003 after he received his first briefing about the NSA intercepts program. We'll be posting the letter momentarily. The long and the short of it, though, is that Rockefeller, as Ranking Member of the senate intelligence committee, was given a brief descrption of what was happening, but wasn't allowed to discuss it either with his staff or with his colleagues, even other senators on the intel committee"


Letter from Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) to Vice President Cheney regarding NSA domestic wiretapping, July 17th 2003.





http://talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/rock-cheney1.html

CNN is now reporting this also - Ed Henry but he didn't go into what was in the letter. It was just released.

[radio4progressives]

1. Was Memo contained in the files that Raw Story issued in their report?

i wonder if there are any other memos contemoraneous to this one?

[marylanddem]

2. Is this for real???? n/t

[Pirate Smile]

6. It is up on TPM so I sure believe it is real. He nailed them and knew

it was trouble but what could he do?

I like how he mentioned that he was going to keep a copy of the letter in a sealed envelope.

He knew this was trouble.

Good to see.

[C_U_L8R]

3. Is that for real ???

wow.

[SoFlaJet]

4. we need this transcribed

I can't read it

[Cerridwen]

20. See below - posts show page 1 and page 2

[leftstreet]

5. Is it unusual that it's written by hand, not typed by staff?

Do Senators routinely communicate with the WH by hand written letters?
:shrug:

[Pirate Smile]

7. Staff couldn't help him.

[Cerridwen]

8. Perhaps it's handwritten due to top-secret nature of the content

which his staff are not privileged to see?

A guess.

[leftstreet]

9. Makes sense. Also makes me wonder what other private letters

the WH has received from our reps.

[Pirate Smile]

10. He says in it that he can't consult with staff or counsel. He couldn't

tell anyone or get any legal opinions, etc. on the legality of it. He obviously thought it was trouble. He mentions "oversight" issues.

Am I the only one who can decipher the language? I didn't think it was that hard to read.

[Cerridwen]

18. 'Bout made me cross-eyed.

:rofl:

[leftstreet]

24. The images look crappy on my pc. Hard to read

[Pirate Smile]

36. Oh, sure. I understand. Sorry my comments were so terse. Crazy

time in my house. I probably shouldn't even be trying to post during the rushed after-school, dinner time, pre-Brownies and Cub scout night chaos.

I just thought this was quite important.

Nobody in Congress protested according to the WH? If they are talking, they must be lying.

[electropop]

42. They were forbidden to protest

at least publicly. Clearly, at least one protested to the WH.

[Pirate Smile]

43. Exactly. So the WH was lying when they made that statement.

[beaconess]

30. He said in the letter he couldn't discuss this with any of his staff

because of the top secret nature - so it would make sense that he had to write the letter by hand - even if he is a good typist, he probably couldn't even risk leaving a computer trail.

If this is authentic, he did the right thing.

[understandinglife]

32. He could show this to no one. He is a wise person, however, to have ...

... done exactly what he did, and today proves how very wise he is....


Peace.

[Cerridwen]

11. Transcription of first page - for those who can't quite read it

Dear Mr. Vice President,

I am writing to reiterate my concern regarding the secretive intelligence issues we discussed today with the DCI, DIRNSA, Chairman Roberts and our House Intelligence Committee counterparts.

Clearly, the activities we discussed raise profound oversight issues. As you know, I am neither a technician nor an attorney. Given the security restrictions associated with this information, and my inability to consult staff or counsel on my own, I feel unable to fully evaluate, much less endorse these activities.

As I reflected on the meeting today, and the future we face, John Poindexter's TIA project sprung to mind, exacerbating my concern regarding the direction the Administration is moving with regard to security, technology, and surveillance.




Please let me know if you interpreted anything differently.

edit: first page not first memo, doh!

[Pirate Smile]

13. John Poindexter's TIA project ?

"The head of the government's Total Information Awareness project, which aims to root out potential terrorists by aggregating credit-card, travel, medical, school and other records of everyone in the United States, has himself become a target of personal data profiling. "

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,56860,00.html

[Cerridwen]

15. Yep, I bet that's it. Oh hell - thanks for translating my translation...

I think.

[Pirate Smile]

17. Oh, I wasn't translating you. I just did a quick search on "Poindexter

TIA" because I wasn't sure what Rockefeller was referring to - now it makes complete sense.

[Cerridwen]

19. I was busy trying to figure out what he was writing...I didn't have time

to flesh out the acronyms he used. Thanks for googling TIA. Have any idea what the other are? Maybe I should post the whole memo with the "fleshed out" acronyms?

[Pirate Smile]

23. DCI - Director Of Central Intelligence

DIRNSA - Director, National Security Agency. DISA Defense Information Systems Agency ...

[Cerridwen]

28. Thanks - I updated the transcription below. n/t

[Marie26]

46. Interesting comparison

Thanks for the info about the TIA project - and it seems like this could give us a clue about what NSA's program does. Wouldn't Rockefeller's comparison suggest that this project is some sort of massive data-mining program rather than individual wiretaps?

[Pirate Smile]

14. Thank you. Yep, that is the way I read it. I'm damn glad he wrote

this and kept it.

Hmmm. Any response from Cheney?

Will the press start delving into the TIA project?

[Cerridwen]

12. Page 2 transcribed

-2-

Without more information and the ability to draw on any independent legal or technical expertise, I simply cannot satisfy lingering concerns raised by the briefing we received.

I am retaining a copy of this letter in a sealed envelope in the secure spaces of the Senate Intelligence Committee to ensure that I have a record of this communication.

I appreciate your consideration of my views.

Most respectfully,

Jay Rockefeller



As with 1st page, please let me know if you translated something differently.

P.S. His spelling is better than my transcribing. :D

[leftstreet]

21. Thanks for doing these n/t

[Cerridwen]

26. You're welcome. n/t

[Cerridwen]

25. replied to wrong post...sorry - see post further down

[xchrom]

16. be still my heart --

i could kiss jay rockefeller.

[emulatorloo]

22. kick n/t

[Cerridwen]

27. Transcription with acronyms spelled out.

Dear Mr. Vice President,

I am writing to reiterate my concern regarding the secretive intelligence issues we discussed today with the DCI <Director of the Central Intelligence Agency?>, DIRNSA <Director of the National Security Administration?>, Chairman Roberts and our House Intelligence Committee counterparts.

Clearly, the activities we discussed raise profound oversight issues. As you know, I am neither a technician nor an attorney. Given the security restrictions associated with this information, and my inability to consult staff or counsel on my own, I feel unable to fully evaluate, much less endorse these activities.

As I reflected on the meeting today, and the future we face, John Poindexter's TIA <Total Information Act?> project sprung to mind, exacerbating my concern regarding the direction the Administration is moving with regard to security, technology, and surveillance.

-2-

Without more information and the ability to draw on any independent legal or technical expertise, I simply cannot satisfy lingering concerns raised by the briefing we received.

I am retaining a copy of this letter in a sealed envelope in the secure spaces of the Senate Intelligence Committee to ensure that I have a record of this communication.

I appreciate your consideration of my views.

Most respectfully,

Jay Rockefeller


words in < > my best guess as to meaning of acronym with much appreciated help from Pirate Smile.

[beaconess]

29. Wow!

So the Administration claim that no one in Congress raised an objection is another baldfaced lie on their part.

They thought they had these guys by the balls - knew that they couldn't discuss this matter with anyone - even their own staff. So they figured they'd be safe.

Thank God for the NY Times.

[understandinglife]

31. WHACK, SMACK, and are the Federal Marshall's arresting Bush & ...

... Cheney, yet ....


Peace.

[Synnical]

33. Thank you Senator Rockefeller

For preserving this piece of evidence.

:kick:

[Strawman]

47. Thank you Senator Rockefeller?

For what? Letting Bush and Cheney break the law until he came forth with this cover your ass memo after the New York Times did his job of upholding the Constitution?

His goddamn job is to represent us and protect our rights. He should have demanded answers and when he didn't get them, he should have went public.

There's certainly a bigger fish to fry here, but I'm not at all impressed with Senator Rockefeller. I can't imagine Dems like Feingold, Kucinich, and Conyers keeping silent on this like he did.

[AuntiBush]

34. Wow...

Shew. Wow. Wow. Wow!

Imagine, having to sit on this and not being able to talk with you're own counsel or anyone. And Rockefeller notes he was not a technician, nor an attorney.

Un-believable. Thank goodness, Sen. Rockefeller had the courage and intellect to write this, and hang on to it.

Commend him for coming-out with this. Shew and a big WOW!

[Vickers]

35. "I am retaining a copy of this letter in a sealed envelope in the..."

"...secure spaces of the Senate Intelligence Committee to ensure that I have a record of this communication."

Amazing that he would even have to mention something like that.

I weep for our country, and curse the scumbag motherfuckers currently at the helm.

[Pirate Smile]

37. I want to know if he got any response at all from Cheney (ha, yeah right)

or anyone else in the WH.

[mikelgb]

38. Beautiful hard evidence....

a matter of time

[Pirate Smile]

39. Hardball is now discussing it. Mitchell described it to Feinstein.

It needs to get a lot of press.

Feinstein said Rockefeller won't talk about it - he CAN'T talk about it even with the other Senators.

Thank God for the letter otherwise he couldn't defend himself. They would say he was OK with it.

[progressoid]

40. Holy Shit!!!

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[ismnotwasm]

41. I've got it printed out

Just in case I need to shove down the er, in the face of any of the unenlightened.

[EVDebs]

44. "Commander In Chief" doesn't mean Martial Law is Declared

There better be probable cause and an accounting of every instance of this abuse of authority. Bush is NOT King George and you don't preserve protect and defend the Constitution by suspending it with the poor excuse of "national security" and "trust me, I'm your Commander - In - Chief".

Not even Lincoln during the Civil War has a president gone off like this. What gives ?

[lumpy]

45. Everyone read this.

Important

[Tsiyu]

48. Here's a kick for this one

:kick: