NSA to ABC-Reporter's Calls Reveal Patterns: "We Know Who You're Calling"

Chilling.

Maybe ABC might do well to reconsider running so many Bush-weighted push polls.

Its in support of the war on terrrrrrrr. Isnt it? I mean thats what they hype in that debunked poll on their site. Americans are OK with it...So ABC should be. They dont want to not seem behind their commander-in-thief do they? Right ABC?

...but it's all for the war on Terra, right? ABC has been one of the most reliable supporters of BushCo and their minions. ABC shouldn't worry if they don't have anything to hide... right?

Bastards.

Investigate FirstFruits and the policy shift Bush instituted at NSA away from Saudi jihadist funding (see Greg Palast's article 'Khan Job').

Gotta run.

How do you like it now, ABC?

And you KNOW the NSA is doing more than just keeping track of phone numbers!

datamined info provided by ChoicePoint. The Global Information Group Ltd. story was investigated by Robert O'Harrow at Washpost but never seems to have made the connection to TIA.

But they aren't worth a shit and they will never challenge the freedom of the press that is being thwarted by this renegade administration so I hope they throw a few of them in jail like Judy, they deserve it.

And then said, "Damnit, let's use this to find those goddamn CIA leakers!!" ?

Because this is only coming out just now as if they weren't using this tool on American reporters previously.

Wish I could say I'm surprised, but still -

The implications are just chilling. The Bush Ad. could use their secret phone records database to find out who told USA Today about the secret phone record database! All they'd have to do is track the phone calls of the reporter who wrote the story, cross-reference the numbers w/a reverse phone book database & have the names, addresses & locations of all her sources. It would be easy to check which sources worked for the NSA/CIA. What's the point of having confidential sources if the federal gov. can automatically know who that source is? How can anyone feel safe disclosing such info to the press if the gov. can instantly know who they are? This is bad, very bad.

it takes to drive out to some isolated public phone booth out there, before they call to do their patriotic duty for helping to protect the Constitution and the public. I doubt Bu$hCor-up-p have flying drones "1984"-style to follow them all whenever and wherever they go out (yet).

Repeat to them: Phone Booths - Phone Booths - Phone Booths

and say hello to Nazi Germany - oh fucking shit, this is bad - the press is suppose to the 4th arm of the Gov. for checks and balances this is bad, bad bad .

or Fifth column, take your pick.

now they're reaping the rewards... they get their share of our brave new world.

when the lid started coming off. Confidential sources, political connections, and since we're at it...people calling specialists or mental health professionals so they can later be outted as being Nuts.

and none of this requires you listen to the actual conversation, at least not at first...just see which two phones connection and you are in the game.

Now perhaps it'll get personal enough for some reporters to begin doing their damn jobs again.

and blackmail them into submission. Hoover did it. Hayden just does it with more high tech toys.

Works with office holders, judges, political appointees, employees at regulatory agencies media, journalists and anyone who may become one of the above in the future.

Punch in the number of a trouble maker and come up with files to use against them.

Ya think Hayden worries about confirmation? He has files = he has leverage.

the REAL point of the NSA wiretapping program. It's all about political gain, and always has been.

Gawd, I hope no one here was so naive as to believe that the NSA & Pentagon inteligence (I know... oxymoron) were doing what they were supposed to during the Shrub administration (hey, they proved to me that they weren't in September of 2001).

And I was SO sure they were telling the truth

When are the American people going to wake up and rise up? I'm really worried that those of us who can see are going to continue the fight, lose and then in 5-10 years the rest of the country will wake up from their stupor to realize ALL our rights are gone.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/2001092...

and I was told a few months back that two reporters were specifically tapped... I told those reporters and left it up to them if they wished to write it as I did not want to chill their source pool. one has since confirmed that he/she is tapped. The other won't discuss it anymore.

matters, anymore? The old-fashioned cutout and message drop is going to be popular again.

Anyone got some hollow, electronic rocks?

but don't make the assumption that most do or don't, this is why such things should be even more alarming... you follow?

And that other tool they taught us to use at The Farm.

Keep your lemon juice fountain pen handy also, just in case.

And as was just said, up-thread...establish dead drops...you're going to need those too.

Personally, the politics and history of the trade are more interesting than the tradecraft. More of a DOI than a DOO type, if we have to stick to these silly spy metaphors!!

from Wikipedia

Read it. Learn it. Know it. Properly used, the one-time pad is one of the few encryption methods which is theoretically unbreakable. So the very idea of a one-time pad is likely something that our big brothers won't want us to know. At this point, if it's likely to confound and annoy my keepers' attempts to monitor everything I do, then I'm all for it.

Or, are they not really random?

Not to gripe. Both are serious. But the story talks about tracking, not content monitoring.
the two you refer to were actually tapped?

Sincere thanks in advance and thanks for your work.

This was months ago and I told both reporters and spoke with one reporter's editor even. I left it to them how they wished to deal with it. One reporter has since confirmed and said basically fuck them, we all take risks. The other will no longer discuss this with me at all. In fact, the other won't discuss much with me anymore. So I don't know what that means frankly. The scary thing is when I asked source about what this could mean for anyone working on "similar" stories... the source said "bet on it." Since then I have filed a FOIA and attempted to find out if I am being tapped. Of course I am small taters, so maybe not. But who knows. The fact that a whole organization or in this case, three of them, are being tracked is mind-blowing. I had only thought it a few journos here and there.

I don't know what else to say

And I'm glad to see you feel the same way. There is part of me that thinks: "Well this whouldn't surprise you if you were paying more attention and just a little more cynical about what these folks are capable of." But still, seeing this in black and white has, I don't know, just a quatum jump feel about it. Not the frog/pot incrementalism I've, sadly, been enduring but something more...unendurable.

Anyhow, to know how plugged in you are and that it really sets you back as well kind of legitimizes my present feelings, somehow.

I really appreciate you taking the time to respond to my post, brain-cleaving as your answer was.

Thanks fer everything,

ds

Get the goods on these bastids!

So when is Pulitzer going to have a blog reporting award?

but John Byrne just won project censored (one of the top awards, don't know which one as I was too upset to fully care, lol).

All you need to know is the reporter's calls and cross-reference with their stories.

Bingo...source uncovered.

So, remind me: What did Judith Miller go to jail for?

How soon do reporters start dissapearing?

It's the logical next step.

a few fence-sitters into the arena.

Boy, if this doesn't convince the smarter major media people that there's a real problem. nothing will.

I'm pissed, but glad that this is all coming out. Not in the least bit surprised about the spying against journalists, except that the powers that be would be stupid enough to let this get this far into the public eye. Now, it can't just be dismissed as fringe "conspiracy theory."

The Wall Street and Washington grey eminences, I suspect, really wish now that they had weighed in the other way in 2000 and 2004, and Al Gore was still in the White House. The element of plausible deniability about domestic political espionage is now gone, and that makes politics and governance in general a lot less manageable than it used to be.

don't give a rat's ass about real journos... something I have sadly learned in my visiting time here at du, which I have cut down as a result. it is sad and it is true

and appreciate your skills and hard work.

Don't let the bullying of a few jealous SOBs put you off. In the end, time wounds all heels. And, we know who they are.

If so...

This is the "tipping point" story for the administration because it confronts the lapdog corporate-owned lapdog media head-on.

It has been requisite to break the stranglehold BushCo. had on the media.

This just may be it.

Brava, LaLa...Brava!

and cannot see images on my stupid machine

If so:

as an extraction signal. Dunvegan, are you in danger?

If not, we're sending you back to The Farm for re-training.

I believe I researched if this was on DU rather well before posting.

There were subsequent threads by others after my post.

Otherwise...if I'm missing your drift...just go ahead and send me back to the farm (as long as it's NOT Crawford Ranch!)

I'm just pulling your leg.

...no office...they only give the lowly infosec consultant a cube, if that.

Or, like working a gig at Cheyenne Mt. where I stood the entire consult

But you do get a very polite young soldier escort...who carries an M-16.

And walked in front of me down the cubicle corridor shouting "Unclear!"

(I took it he was telling the cube-rats, "Here comes someone who just doesn't get it!")

He DID allow me to go to the women's restroom alone. See, mondo polite!

(Obviously, I wasn't in any danger of going out the bathroom window on him...and then climbing to the surface.)

One of my favorite encapsulations of the intelligence world is the following book review in the NYT of a study of the dysfunctionalpersonality types among spies:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DE3DC...

Real-life espionage, Hitz writes, is often ''more bizarre, more deserving of a place in Ripley's than the fictional accounts.'' Le Carré's best-known character, George Smiley, that pudgy, drab, middle-aged man in his ill-fitting suit, has been admired for his workaday authenticity, but the real spies Hitz describes are another beast altogether. The Russians Pyotr Popov and Oleg Penkovsky relished taking unnecessary risks, and Penkovsky even came to see his mission as ''divinely blessed.'' The C.I.A. mole Aldrich Ames courted exposure by living way beyond his visible means of support. Hanssen was more careful in matters of tradecraft, but indulged in peculiar sexual activities and spent his money on trying to ''rescue'' a stripper.

If anything, the ability to cast oneself as the hero in a romantic yarn seems essential to the spy's life. Something all the double agents Hitz examines have in common is disgruntlement with the system they ostensibly serve. He quotes a C.I.A. psychiatrist who, in studying defectors, ''determined that a common characteristic is self-identification as a 'wronged person who elevates his private dissatisfaction into a political principle.' '' In short, like most people who do bad things, they convince themselves they've got good reasons. Like disguises and cover stories, this, too, is an exercise in storytelling. But unlike their fictional counterparts, real-life double-dealers rarely lose sleep over their betrayals. ''Most real spies appear to have been largely untroubled by the consequences'' of their lies, Hitz writes.

No, I don't envy them. I pity them. As the old saying goes, 'there goeth but for the grace of God, thee." I'm glad I turned down the recruiter in my Sophomore year.

I was approached by a former Colonel in the Polish Army who by some inexplicable turn had been hired to teach an introduction to journalism seminar at a large university in the Northeast I attended. Odd, the Colonel didn't seem to have any background to teach the subject, other than his recent employment by the Voice of America. His Polish was, no doubt, excellent.

The course consisted of a bi-weekly lecture by the Colonel, the contents of which was the most flagrant disinformation about the world, followed by written tests designed to guage whether we had been paying attention to his presentation, reading the newspaper regularly, and had knowledge of world events, geography and history.

This was early Reagan Administration, and listening to him was like being lectured to by Jeanne Kirkpatrick, an experience I also endured once on the other side of the Charles River. I was one of the few in the packed auditorium to rise and challenge the Colonel's skewed version of world affairs. A few weeks after the course started, he invited me to meet him in his office after class.

He asked me what I wanted to do after college, and several leading questions about working for the government. When he suggested that he thought I would make a good prospect for "referral", I thanked him and remarked I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do, but I had some misgivings about intelligence work. It wasn't clear which spy agency he was recruiting for, and I didn't ask directly - it seemed more likely he was scouting for the CIA rather than the Polish Army-- but, that wasn't really the issue. It was that spy agencies were hard to tell apart, judging by what they do, as one of my other professors pointed out.

That other professor (not the recruiter) was Howard Zinn, and I had Howard every semester for three years. That sort of innoculated me, and nothing has really happened since to persuade me that I made the wrong career choice.

Or perhaps your decision to decline was presented with more civility than mine.

I unwisely chose to treat the offer with a degree of carelessness which I regret to this day. I still remember almost precisely what I said: "hell no, you guys chew people up and spit them out."

And that's just what they did. I've never been the same since.

Your assessment would have been quite accurate for some Operational roles. Sounds like you had seen the results first-hand, or close enough.

Actually, someone I know well is a retired agent handler who worked for both CIA and DIA in Central Europe. The job took a big toll on him.

He hasn't been the same since, either. So, maybe you did the right thing for yourself.

I believe I was identified by a talent spotter in a bar in Tysons Corner where I liked to rip up that silly trivia game that bars used to have. One day I had an unusual group of admirers descend upon me, praising me for my trivia skills and dropping leaden hints, with the lead asshole eventually saying, "you're on my team now," like I'd just been bought and sold, without my ever saying yes or no. That really pissed me off.

I wish I hadn't been reading that John LeCarre book at the time--in fact, I lost it that night, sometime before I crapped my pants, I conclude, otherwise I would have wiped my ass with the pages from the book. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I cynically told my new owners what I said above, the conversation abruptly ended, and ten minutes later I started having auditory and visual hallucinations and extreme paranoia, similar to the effects described by users of DMT (except I've never heard of pants-crapping being associated with hallucinogens). Five minutes after that a very SEALish looking fellow sitting on the other side of me at the bar very insistently offered me a ride home, which I declined by tearing out the bar and eventually trying to sneak out the back door of a nearby shop. When I did, I very improbably ran into a person I know to be a member of the intelligence community, father of a former coworker of mine, working on a car in the loading dock. Three cars, including a guy with a guard dog, followed me as I wandered through quiet neighborhoods, mad as a loon and screaming for someone to call the cops so I could go to the hospital (as crazy as I was, I distinctly recall having the thought that if I didn't get a blood test, nobody would ever believe me). I don't think I saw a cop all night--in Fairfax County. People who live there will disbelieve me for mentioning that alone. Eventually, I got home, scarred, bloody, and covered in my own feces.

It just got stranger, and stranger, and stranger after that, for weeks and months. No point in describing it in detail--the whole thing is so fucked up nobody would possibly believe me--as I discovered to my dismay when I tried to tell everyone I knew. Not even my shrink would buy it. But for those of you doubting, ask yourself why I would bother to tell such a strange story. I can tell any story I want to tell, true or not, yet I choose to tell you this highly embarassing tale.

Some of the psychological effects from that incident have never gone away--in fact, I'm sure it's going to kill me, sooner rather than later, either from the crushing depression or by talking too much about it. I don't care anymore. The sad part is that had I been invited rather than acquired, in a more professional setting, I would have jumped at the chance to serve my country by using my mind. Now? Fuck 'em. They'd have to start with an apology and work their way up to a six-figure salary and daily blow jobs in my free penthouse apartment--and yes Uncle NSA, that's a request. Please pass it on to whomever fucked me up.

Tysons? That must have been Cofer B. and the UBL Unit at CTC -- I guess you caught them one afternoon when they knocked off work early and went out and tied one on. Would that have been January 15, 2000, by any chance?

Roughly April or May of 1997.

When he interviewed for the NSA slot?

======

INT. SEAN'S OFFICE -- NIGHT

Will sits across from Sean.

SEAN
So you might be working for Uncle Sam.

A beat. Will has obviously been stewing on this.

WILL (cont'd)
Say I'm working at N.S.A. Somebody
puts a code on my desk, something nobody
else can break. So I take a shot at
it and maybe I break it. And I'm real
happy with myself, 'cause I did my job
well. But maybe that code was the
location of some rebel army in North
Africa or the Middle East. Once they
have that location, they bomb the
village where the rebels were hiding
and fifteen hundred people I never had
a problem with get killed.
(rapid fire)
Now the politicians are sayin' "send
in the Marines to secure the area"
'cause they don't give a shit. It
won't be their kid over there, gettin'
shot. Just like it wasn't them when
their number got called, 'cause they
were pullin' a tour in the National
Guard. It'll be some guy from Southie
takin' shrapnel in the ass. And he
comes home to find that the plant he
used to work at got exported to the
country he just got back from.
And the guy who put the shrapnel in
his ass got his old job, 'cause he'll
work for fifteen cents a day and no
bathroom breaks.
Meanwhile my buddy from Southie realizes
the only reason he was over there was
so we could install a government that
would sell us oil at a good price.
And of course the oil companies used
the skirmish to scare up oil prices so
they could turn a quick buck. A cute,
little ancillary benefit for them but
it ain't helping my buddy at two-fifty
a gallon. And naturally they're takin'
their sweet time bringin' the oil back
and maybe even took the liberty of
hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes
to drink seven and sevens and play
slalom with the icebergs and it ain't
too long 'til he hits one, spills the
oil, and kills all the sea-life in the
North Atlantic. So my buddy's out of
work and he can't afford to drive so
he's got to walk to the job interviews
which sucks 'cause the shrapnel in his
ass is givin' him chronic hemorrhoids.
And meanwhile he's starvin' 'cause every
time he tries to get a bite to eat the
only blue-plate special they're servin'
is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State.

hunting down his control officer in St. Petersburg. Or, was that supposed to be Moscow?

Conklin: This is not a drill, soldier. We clear on that? This is a live project. You're a go. Training is over. Training is over.

Or, did he just end up breaking PGP solutions, with weekends off to eradicate crabgrass in Crofton, MD?

are you saying she is at the Naval base?

CIA's most storied training facility. It's like bootcamp for spooks, where they learn basic spookcraft, and how to use spookgear, and how how to double-back on tails, and spook stuff like that.

I was just kidding. If an Officer screws up on technical matters -- like sending the wrong alert code -- he/she might get sent back for retraining.

Joke. Sorry for the confusion.

so i have no clue what people are talking about... but i am not a whistleblower am I? very confused

Just an illustration to go along with my ha-ha to Dunvegan, above.

position to be a whistleblower. Leveymg posted maps of where a CIA training facility is, kidding (sorta) about spycraft. Nothing serious to be confused about, especially on this serious subject.

Actually, it really pisses me off to have everything that I've been speculating about confirmed.

It's as bad as I had thought. I think Russell Tice, ex-NSA whistleblower, will be giving us some more details, soon.

This article seems to be a preemptive leak to soften the impact of his expected testimony to the Senate Intel Committee.

when it comes out that they used this program to spy on the Kerry campaign, and steal the 2004 election.

There's be a governmental legitimacy crisis. Seventy percent of the American people would question all the laws passed, all the judges appointed, all the administrative actions in the last six years.

Who knows where that could end? No. They'll do everything to keep that one under wraps.

blower you are an enlightener (did I just make that word up?) and so you get applause.

along with anyone critical of Il Dunce during 'wartime'

BTW, these programs all were instituted at NSA PRIOR to 9-11, read the links at

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

ABC News Exec: "Tell you what, we'll save you the trouble of bugging our phones if you cut us some slack on those criminal investigations of our parent corporate management."

Bush-Cheney Official: "We'll get back to you on that."

WaPost Editor: "Here, just take our files."

Bush-Cheney Official: "No thanks - there's nothing here we didn't want you to have to begin with."

Very "The Onion-like." Kudos, leveymg.

NYT reporter: "You're not really sharing this stuff with the CIA, are you?"

Bush-Cheney Official: "We want them to think so. Let's do breakfast about that. Next Wednesday good for you? What are you doing Tuesday night?"

Constitutional. I hear NSA is in turmoil since their Y2K three day computer shut down when the Brits had to cover for us. Sheeese.

For your eyes only
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/sigmoidos...

Someone help me out here. We are upset that the name of a covert CIA officer was leaked to the media. We arent' upset when classified information about bad Bush "policy" (ie, schemes) is leaked to the media, because that's the only way we can know about it.

Aside from this being a "big brother" issue, aside from privacy rights, are we for or against the leaking of classified government information?


I think this is a very important question.

Bush is applying the Nixon standard for ethics.

White House leaks? GOOD.
Anyone else leaks? BAD.

-MR

The press is SUPPOSED to question authority and keep us people informed. This will apply to a Dem administration as well. So, government sources that leak information that illuminates things the government is doing- and may be doing wrong- are helpful, even if it is sometimes illegal. And leakers of that type of information (should) know the risk they are taking, and are all the more courageous for doing so. I don't think many would say that leakers of classified information should not stand before a judge and/or jury to face the consequences of their action. We would just hope that in certain cicumstances, justice would be merciful.

On the other hand, you have administration sources leaking information to confuse and obscure the truth and to exact revenge on an opponent. This is not the way we expect our government to act, and I would hope that the justice served on those who do this would be, shall we say, a little less than merciful.

...as the final check and balance...the Fourth Estate is the free press.

Okay. Bush has broken his sworn oath to uphold the Constitution.

Enough yet?

Sometimes it's whistle-blowing (i.e., we'd never know how badly we're being screwed without it.)

In the case of the NSA using call records and phone taps to check who's just plain talking to which journalist...that flies in the face of the First Amendment, and source privilege...there is a journalism "shield law" to protect sources.

Or there WAS a shield law...nullified by the NSA.

and with that endangering all other covert agent who worked with her. I wouldn't call it a "leak" ... I would call it abuse of power and serious misconduct, which should result in impeachment.

If nobody knows what the Government is doing, we might as well call it a dictatorship. Without a free press and whistleblowers who expose unconstitutional acts or crimes committed by our government, you can't call it a Democracy.

It was to damage the CIA's capabilities in Iran and cover up Cheney's involvement.

the law ~ Intelligence Identities Protection Act! It borders on treason, therefore it's a serious crime, which is why there is an 'on-going investigation' to find out who the criminal is.

Whistle-blowing is protected under the law because it allows ordinary citizens to warn the public when there is illegal activity going on, in this case by the government itself.

In the case of the Whistle-blower who revealed the information that the US government was breaking the law regarding 'rendering' of prisoners to foreign countries to be tortured, that is not leaking but a good citizen reporting about illegal activities being conducted by the government.

The same thing goes for the Whistle-blowers who have revealed the illegal Domestic Spying program being conducted by this administration. Even Ashcroft knew this to be illegal and refused to go along with it.

If the government is violating the Constitution and a government employee (who is sworn to defend the Constitution) reports this violation, that is a good citizen doing his/her duty.

The Bush administration is simply trying to conflate the two by calling Whistle-blowers 'leakers' to try to connect their own already defined illegal outing of Valerie Plame to the perfectily legal reporting of their own illegal activities.

that makes much more sense to me now. They are making it look like a double standard to be outraged at some "leaks" but not others. I'm afraid I fell for the Rovian terminology there.

ABC News: Federal official says US tracking calls made by ABC News, New York Times, Washington Post

RAW STORY
Published: Monday May 15, 2006

ABC News' press office just sent out this release to news organizations, RAW STORY has learned. The story has been posted at the ABC NEWS blog (Read here).

#
ABC's Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report:

A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we call in an effort to root out confidential sources.

"It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick," the source told us in an in-person conversation.

We do not know how the government determined who we are calling, or whether our phone records were provided to the government as part of the recently-disclosed NSA collection of domestic phone calls.

Other sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/ABC_News_Top_federal_... AT:

Full Breaking Story Here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Federal Source to ABC News: We Know Who You're Calling
May 15, 2006 9:33 AM
Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report:

A senior federal law enforcement official tells us the government is tracking the phone numbers we call in an effort to root out confidential sources. "It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick," the source told us in an in-person conversation....

Click on above link for more...but someone in the NSA just went way off the reservation.

I'm sure it's an oversight. Such sloppy reporting - sheesh!

This is EXACTLY what I thought we'd learn about their "innocent" tracking of "just phone numbers".

Bull.

They will use this spying as they've used the Patriot Act -- to jump on political opponents, real and perceived. To hassle anti-war people, or those dangerous vegetarians or college students.

This is the gold-mine for them, and they will not hesitate to use it. Because they believe the definition of legal is "whatever we want to do".

I'll bet the administration plans to have everything in place to insure the elections only go to those they control before November.

Ya know, we may be sunk.

not the Constitution, or the Congress, or the courts. Ok. I get it now. Will be putting out a pocket version, so we know how to act?

Its well known that the government is investigating leaks, its been reported on for months. And phone records have always been fair game in a criminal investigation.

There is no need for any NSA involevement in such an investigation. Again, the phone records are available to the FBI in any case.

...thus blowing away precious cover for whistle-blowers and journalistic sources.

Remember: That's supposedly what Judith Miller went to jail to defend...

It says there are specific investigations going on of specific leaks to specific reporters. It doesn't say whether a warrant was obtained one way or another, but the fact is that obtaining a "pen register," a trace of calls made from a particular number, was held by the Supreme Court as not requiring a warrant over 30 years ago.

I do a fair bit of criminal defense work, there is nothing amazing here. The outrage would have been appropriate months ago back when they announced they were going after these reporters (which they did do, and I was outraged). But this is nothing shocking in the context of a criminal investigation.

but this looks really beyond the pale. We know that NSA is operating without warrants, without judicial oversight and with complete impunity.

So I would think NSA is a good guess.

See 18 USC 2703 c (2):

(2) A provider of electronic communication service or remote computing service shall disclose to a governmental entity the—
(A) name;
(B) address;
(C) local and long distance telephone connection records, or records of session times and durations;
(D) length of service (including start date) and types of service utilized;
(E) telephone or instrument number or other subscriber number or identity, including any temporarily assigned network address; and
(F) means and source of payment for such service (including any credit card or bank account number),
of a subscriber to or customer of such service when the governmental entity uses an administrative subpoena authorized by a Federal or State statute or a Federal or State grand jury or trial subpoena or any means available under paragraph (1).

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_se...

the special prosecutor investigating them?

I ask the question even though I already know the answer.

Scary stuff.

why the hell not-- there's nothing to stop them?

...and what about general "lawyer/client privilege?"

Doesn't this broad and pervasive level of spying fly in the the face of that?

they will certainly ignore all the privilege niceties.

they have nothing to worry about. Maybe enough revelations like this we can put an end to such poppycock.

Seriously, you can buy a cell phone for cash. You can buy the cards for minutes for cash. Keep the purchases strictly on cash basis, no one will know who you are. Wonder how long those will last?

Didn't she come out a few months ago and claim that her phones were being tapped?

Sorry, slight sarcastic moment.

Lost alot of likeability of Hitchens after his backstabbing of Sid Blumenthal.

something to his claims. He has lawyers involved. Hitchens stated that many Journalists have sources that WANT TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS. This is horrible, people should be out in the streets. We have no free press ... our government is spying on OUR PRESS!

or one of their ideological brethren should be SHOT anyways ..... for treason and crimes against Herr Chimperor and his glorious vision of theocratic perfection on earth ..... right ? ....

Hey: IF they killed all media persons who do NOT lick the boots of the Neocon idiots: Wouldnt we be safer from Terrorism ? .....

I mean: WTF? ... Who's side are you on ? ....

CMON: .... Are you a traitor too ? ...

Come to think of it ... IF they killed EVERYONE on the entire planet > Wouldnt we be safer from Terrorism ? ....

HOW could anyone be against that ? ....

WTF is wrong with you ? .... HOW could you choose your trivial freedoms over SAFETY ? ....

...

They already have Daryn Kagan's number ... thanks to Pigboy .... They can call her directly to give her marching orders for the day (If she isnt too busy copping for El Rushbo) ...

Hell : over HALF of the media is already on WH speed dial .... Hungrily lapping at their Master's boots; hoping one day THEY too can get a cute lil nickname from the Frat Boy Prince ....

How do you think George Will is taking this news ? .....

in November. We wouldn't want the news to report the truth before an election, would we?

For those who don't understand my snark, I'm still furious that so called journalists held important stories until after the 2004 elections. They are the problem.

Eventhough it is clearly illegal, I couldn't figure out what Bush could be using this for. This is it: Review phone records from the New Yorker et. al. and find out who the leakers are. They could then be transferred to other positions or fired for other reasons. The perfect crime, Bush style.

But can we hope ABC has now learned their lesson? Not so sure.

Considering millions of conversations reportedly tapped, why wouldn't that include reporters, given the proclivities of this administration from hell?

for being secretive. It comes as no surprise that they are aggressively seeking information on anyone who may report on their activities. This "we are at war" business is just another excuse to curtail civil liberties and punish anyone who disagrees.

Ignoring the rank political goal of this illegal activity, they have to be stupid to think that it could work.

Once again, the only real effect give more debt to friends of dick.

...and their staff members several times a day.
Home phones and personal cell phones of White House aids and staff members would be a plus.

Lots of calls to these #s on a regular basis would really confuse the "trackers".

The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

People can post comments about the story. Reading them will send a chill down your spine! All these idiots are thrilled that the media will finally be held accountable for their illegal leaking!

The diction and phrasing are pretty identical after you read five or six. Also, they all occur in one big glob at the beginning then every following comment is about how bad the first comments are. Just something to stir people up I believe.

Isn't that a Predator remote control drone aircraft carrying a Hellfire missle?

Says he will soon try to get Brian Ross on his show.

I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that since the wozzy-ass telcoms simply 'gave' this information to the NSA, what the NSA is doing with it may not be illegal, in the same way letting the police search your house without a warrent makes the search legal. Okay, maybe the NSA isn't the one that should have made the request because they are a purely foreign surveillence agency. Maybe the FBI should have made the request. But, dammit, when the telecoms just roll over and play dead like that... I have Verizon! And I hope and pray that they, along with AT&T and SBC, are sued into bankruptcy and are forced to dissolve. Maybe Qwest can pick up the pieces.

And I big chunk of settlement money would make me smile.

...publically-owned telcos for all!

Just make sure you buy the stock AFTER it's followed the president's poll numbers... lmao

Does the GOP hire people to write that stuff, threatening the press? Can you even believe that there are people out there angry at the media for reporting on the illegalities of this administration? WHy is it those asshats care only about the Second Amendment, and nothing else in the Constitution. Frankly, next time any of those people say that the Constitution is irrelevant, tell them we'll be repealing the Second Amendment.. then watch them freak!

I especially like people who actually write those comments from work, using their work email addies and names... There are few on there, if I wasn't a nice person, that are begging to get busted at work for writing things like that on company time. Oh.. but that would be leaking information about them... and invading their privacy.. and that's protected. right?

...has detected an unpatriotic bias in your comments post, and has determined that it contains a decidedly left-wing and seditious slant.

Therefore your post was spooled to ~spam/dev/null for deletion.

Before deletion, a copy was automatically intercepted by the NSA.

Our database has been updated. All further comments originating from your IP address will also be deleted.

Cordially Yours In Service to the Homeland,
ABC News

Postscript: Our database would like to take this opportunity to commend you for your 23 minute call to your mother yesterday, on the day of worship.

Remember the Homeland Trifecta: Kurche, Kutchen, Kinder!