Josh Marshall >> Sen. Rockefeller knew in '03, couldn't tell anyone

[sabra]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/

(December 19, 2005 -- 05:18 PM EST // link)
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.

-- Josh Marshall

Following up on the post below, we've just posted the newly-released letter Sen. Rockefeller wrote to Vice President Cheney back in July 2003 questioning the NSA domestic wiretapping.

-- Josh Marshall

[Ezlivin]

1. By publishing that letter, you aid the enemy

Now all of al qaeda will see the Senator's handwriting and know how we send notes to each other.

Another massive security breach! I feel unsafe!

[tsuki]

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

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

Scary. Was he afraid of being Wellstoned?

:scared:

[BuyingThyme]

14. He's not allowed to file this stuff where his staff can get at it.

There too is why it is not typed.

[tsuki]

20. I understand that, but why did he specifically mention it. It

spooks me. Too many conspiracy movies, perhaps.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

22. no, when you deal with scum like Cheney

you want them to know you have proof you sent a letter like this.

[entanglement]

65. Chilling isn't it?

It's as if he's dealing with the mafia or some other type of organized criminals!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

70. as if?

[wakemewhenitsover]

33. What does "wellstoned" mean?

[missouri dem 2]

40. Some people have speculated that Paul Wellstone's death

was not an accident, hence Wellstoned.

[rosesaylavee]

41. Senator Wellstone, an out-spoken critic

of this admin and the neocons - died in a plane crash a few years back. There never was any satisfying evidence as to why the plane crashed. Also around that time, Mel Carnahan of Missouri - who was running for the Senate seat against Ashcroft - had a similar plane accident and again - no satisfactory reason why that plane crashed. Given the thugs we are dealing with here, the imagination doesn't need to wander too far to draw a connection between criticizing the admin and the danger of flying in small aircraft.

Side note: Andrew Card who has been very critical of Rove, had a near miss small plane accident just last month after leaving a meeting with him and the Pres in Dallas.

Hmmmm...

[KnaveRupe]

63. It's sad, but when I heard about the Miami Seaplane crash

while driving home yesterday, my first thought was, "I hope this wasn't someone being Wellstoned!"

[rosesaylavee]

66. Yeah, that crossed my mind too. (sigh) n/t

[Junkdrawer]

42. Odd line, eh?

It does get one to thinking... :think:

[femrap]

56. Last week on Charlie Rose, the director/screenwriter of

'Syriana,' Mr.Ganghan (sp?) was interviewed. He said some amazing stuff (how Big Oil goes into countries and starts unrest with resulting gov't coup d'etats)....at the end of the interview he said he would ABSOLUTELY NEVER EVER fly in a small plane again...and Charlie kinda laughed and asked why. Ganghan said that it is way too easy to make the crash look like an accident!

[bullimiami]

3. explain to me why rockefeller couldnt say anything?

if its unconstitutional, its a criminal enterprise, how can it be secret and a national security matter?

i have a problem with rockfeller not coming out with the info immediately.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

5. I do too. I consider it aiding and abetting with an ongoing criminal

activity.

[Gregorian]

6. There was some kind of gag order.

Darn. I can't remember now. Yesterday there was a discussion on this. I think it was in passing during a speech on cspan.
I could be wrong.

see post two below.

[sabra]

7. Bushco prolly threatened him with something...

plus it appears he was give a brief description, prolly something very vague and incomplete.

[stillcool]

12. Because there are laws for members...

serving on any committee regarding 'classified' information. They can choose to know what's going on and say nothing or go to prison perhaps for treason(?), or they can be left in the dark, in which case they wouldn't be serving on the intelligence committee in the first place.

[dsc]

51. It is illegal for a member of Congress to reveal classified

information just like it is illegal for people like Rove to do so. If Rockefeller had done so anywhere but on the floor of the Senate he could go to jail. On the floor he could have been thrown out of the Senate.

[mmonk]

67. Exactly, there is no requirement of silence

to any unconstitutional act.

[Supersedeas]

71. thus the emphasis on the leaker and not the substance of the leak

[Halliburton]

4. interesting

I'm sure rover's got the smear machine aimed at Rockefeller. COME ON FITZ!!!!

[LiviaOlivia]

15. Exactly. And wouldn't Buschco

just orgasm over accusing him or any Dem of treason? I think so.

[Pirate Smile]

8. Nominated. I posted a thread on it. I think it is important to show

the Dems did have a problem with it but couldn't do anything about it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2322795&mesg_id=2322795

edit to add - if you can't read it, it has been transcribed in the comments of the link above.

[Stephanie]

9. Holy Smokes!

Handwritten letter, locked away in a sealed envelope in the Senate safe deposit box! That is one SMOKING smoking gun!

[marylanddem]

11. It really seems like Rockefeller knew this could come back

to haunt him & he was covering his ass - but good for him!

[liberalnurse]

17. I could not tell

if it was "time/date stamped and/or had a seal mark/date to validate the originality.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

45. Ass-covering in the greatest extreme.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

46. Edit to add:

"I'm involved in something illegal. I better cover my ass."


:thumbsdown:

[journalist3072]

49. CYA Baby!! eom

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

52. Woo-hoo!

:woohoo:

[Stephanie]

50. to me it's like Nicole hiding the truth about OJ in the safe deposit box

"if anything happens to me..."

[blm]

10. Couldn't let the American people hear REAL FACTS about BushInc before

Nov 2004.

BushInc would have thrown Rockefeller in jail if he had spoken openly about this.

[BuyingThyme]

13. This is not true at all.

All of the top-notch Republicans just said yesterday that nobody raised any objections to Bush's domestic espionage activities. This evidence doesn't exist. Go back to sleep.

Case closed.

[Justice Is Comin]

16. Another enema for the president.

Yahoo. This is important to show the concern the day it was handed to them in blackmail say-nothing-or-go-to-prison form.

[BuyingThyme]

18. kcik

[merbex]

19. When was the last time do you think he had to HAND WRITE

a letter?

And if he hadn't,thereby implying that he had divulged classified material,they would have thrown his ass in Gitmo

If this isn't fascism I don't know what is

[tavalon]

24. You know exactly what it is

In this instance it looks like mafia but overall what is going on in this country is thinly veiled fascism. If they feel like their system is rock solid enough to maintain control despite us, the veil will part completely.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

21. "neither a technician nor an attorney"

we need more people like this in the Senate.

[kentuck]

23. Interesting who attended the meeting...

DCI -Tenet , Director of the NSA, Senator Roberts, Rockefeller, and their "counterparts" in the House.
Who were the counterparts in the House?

[Sydnie]

25. Also interesting that Rockefeller is from WV

I can imagine the discussion going on right now with Byrd. I hope Jay has a great lawyer to discuss it with now.

[KoKo]

48. Jay Rockefeller is descendent of one of most powerful American Families

He has a whole Global rolodex of any lawyer he would want!

[Sydnie]

58. I fully understand that as

I lived in WV and worked on his first governor's campaign committee there in the '70's. He could have picked ANY state to enter politics from ... he chose WV. He has been a fair elected official for that area, even though he was not born and raised there. Outsiders don't fair well there, but he has all the same.

[elfin]

26. Does this mean Rockefeller released the letter -

or a copy of it? If not him - then who? If he did release it, is he now in trouble for doing so against the "rules" for such information?

I suspect it was him - bet all who were "informed" are POed that Dumbya now implies their consent. Cheney has set them up one time too many - this is just starting.

[Lindsay]

28. I think that once the NYT blew the whistle on the story,

it was no longer secret, so no problem for Rockefeller to release a copy of his letter.

Kudos to him for recognizing what he was dealing with, and making sure they knew he had a copy of the letter.

[Pirate Smile]

30. Rockefeller released it according to CNN and MSNBC.

[AuntiBush]

27. Super Kicked & Nominated!

As I stated on another post about this: WOW!!!!

I see a storm brewing. This is serious stuff. More to add to all the scandals, reaching skyward by now.

[seafan]

29. July 17, 2003 is the very day Dr. David Kelly died.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kelly

...and during the time of Joe Wilson's oped in the NYT, Novak/Rove/Libby/etc talking to reporters about Valerie Plame.

Could be why Rockefeller wrote this cryptic last sentence.

Wonder if Rockefeller was threatened about keeping this surveillance plan secret.... chilling.

[katinmn]

32. July 17 - It's not just a coincidence. They suicided him!

The wiki entry is most interesting and should be read in its entirety....

His talk with a journalist about the British government's dossier on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq inadvertently caused a major political scandal, and he was found dead days after appearing before a Parliamentary committee investigating it.

[seafan]

39. Dr Kelly: If Iraq is invaded, I will probably be found dead in the woods

Eerily, during the Hutton inquiry, David Broucher, a British ambassador, reported a conversation he recalled having with Dr Kelly at a Geneva meeting in February 2003. Broucher had asked Kelly what would happen if Iraq were invaded, and Kelly had replied, 'I will probably be found dead in the woods.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kelly

[Fovea]

31. Chilling.

Absolutely terrifying.

I predict they will kill the Senator for revealing this.
I predict it, and I will be sick to death the day I am proved right.

[Lex]

44. Chilling the word that sprang to my mind too.

Jesus.

Terrifying too.

[progressoid]

34. Interesting that this is addressed to CHENEY

According to the letter, B* wasn't even at the meeting. But he must have been given one of his Cliff Note briefs since today he took responsibility for OKing the spying.

[rosesaylavee]

43. Or, maybe on vacation from all the hard work

he must have been up to. You know, making those hard decisions is hard work. :sarcasm:

[goodhue]

35. wow

I'm glad he wrote and kept this letter. Do we know which other dems may have been similarly briefed, if any?

[katinmn]

36. Pelosi was briefed.

http://www.house.gov/pelosi/press/releases/Dec05/NSA.html
Pelosi Statement on President Bush's Authorization of National Security Agency's Activities
Saturday, December 17, 2005

Contact: Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. - House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on President Bush's December 17, 2005 radio address during which he disclosed that he had provided authority to the National Security Agency to conduct unspecified activities. The President also disclosed that leaders of Congress had been briefed on his action.

"We all agree that the President must have the best possible intelligence to protect the American people, but that intelligence must be produced in a manner consistent with the United States Constitution and our laws. The President's statement today raises serious questions as to what the activities were and whether the activities were lawful."

"I was advised of President Bush's decision to provide authority to the National Security Agency to conduct unspecified activities shortly after he made it and have been provided with updates on several occasions.

"The Bush Administration considered these briefings to be notification, not a request for approval. As is my practice whenever I am notified about such intelligence activities, I expressed my strong concerns during these briefings."

[goodhue]

37. Pelosi expressed strong concerns

I'm glad she did. I wonder if she put her concerns in writing.

[katinmn]

38. I expect she did in some form or other.

[KoKo]

47. Jaysus Christ! When a descendent of Rockefeller Standard Oil Dynasty

has to keep a "sealed copy" of a letter to Cheney...we all need to be "afeered of our lives!" Sheesh.. What the hell is this?

It's hard for me to believe that Jay Rockefeller with his Huge GLOBAL CONNECTIONS would need to do this.

I think there's more to this than meets the eye. I can't see rational, logical reason for Rockefeller to not be able to have made a few phone calls to deal with Cheney. It's very odd...:shrug:

Those of you who are older DU'ers might understand more what I mean than the younger DU'ers. We here, who've been around a little bit, remember the Rockefellers only too well....

[katinmn]

55. I know what you're saying

but it seems they are outsiders now. This cabal's pure arrogance and lack of restraint will be its own undoing.

[NEOBuckeye]

60. Who is Dick Cheney, anyway?

I mean, he's just ONE MAN. He's not a Rockefeller. He's not a Bush. He's not a Kennedy. He's not associated with any political and/or crime family. And yet that prick seems to have THEM ALL by the balls.

Who or what is he? And why would even a Rockefeller be wary of getting all up in his face?

Is he an alien?

[LunaC]

61. He's PNAC

The new political Mafia on the world stage.

[sproutster]

53. This scares the bejesus out of me - he referred to TIA (info included)

As a comparison or scope:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/profiling/tia/default.html
<snip>
Introduction
In November 2002, the New York Times reported that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was developing a tracking system called "Total Information Awareness" (TIA), which was intended to detect terrorists through analyzing troves of information. The system, developed under the direction of John Poindexter, then-director of DARPA's Information Awareness Office, was envisioned to give law enforcement access to private data without suspicion of wrongdoing or a warrant.

TIA purported to capture the "information signature" of people so that the government could track potential terrorists and criminals involved in "low-intensity/low-density" forms of warfare and crime. The goal was to track individuals through collecting as much information about them as possible and using computer algorithms and human analysis to detect potential activity.

The project called for the development of "revolutionary technology for ultra-large all-source information repositories," which would contain information from multiple sources to create a "virtual, centralized, grand database." This database would be populated by transaction data contained in current databases such as financial records, medical records, communication records, and travel records as well as new sources of information. Also fed into the database would be intelligence data.

A key component of the TIA project was to develop data-mining or knowledge discovery tools that would sort through the massive amounts of information to find patterns and associations. TIA would also develop search tools such as Project Genoa, which Admiral Poindexter's former employer Syntek Technologies assisted in developing. TIA aimed to fund the development of more such tools and data-mining technology to help analysts understand and even "preempt" future action.

A further crucial component was the development of biometric technology to enable the identification and tracking of individuals. DARPA had already funded its "Human ID at a Distance" program, which aimed to positively identify people from a distance through technologies such as face recognition or gait recognition. A nationwide identification system would have been of great assistance to such a project by providing an easy means to track individuals across multiple information sources.

DARPA's Broad Agency Announcement 02-08 soliciting proposals from industry stated that the initial plan was for a five year research project into these various technologies. The interim goal was to build "leave-behind prototypes with a limited number of proof-of-concept demonstrations in extremely high risk, high payoff areas."

In September 2003, Congress eliminated funding for the controversial project and closed the Pentagon's Information Awareness Office, which had developed TIA. This does not, however, necessarily signal the end of other government data-mining initiatives that are similar to TIA. Projects such as the Novel Intelligence from Massive Data within the Intelligence Community Advanced Research and Development Activity (ARDA) will apparently move forward. The FBI and the Transportation Security Administration are also working on data-mining projects that will fuse commercial databases, public databases, and intelligence data and had meetings with TIA developers.
</snip>

[Gregorian]

54. Well if Rockefeller didn't leak it, who did?

I guess we will find out...

[Lex]

57. kick

:kick:

[WiseButAngrySara]

59. K & R. What in the H is going on here? Has the M$M reported on this

yet? What happenened to the original? Was it ever sent to Cheney?

[Peace Patriot]

62. July 17, 2003 was the day Kelly died. The official story is that he took

some painkillers (not enough to kill him) and slit one wrist, then bled to death all night out in the rain under a tree not far from his house. His body was found the next day, July 18,2003, so it's unlikely that Jay Rockefeller knew about it when he wrote this (July 17), although he might have known that Kelly was missing. David Kelly was the Brits chief WMD expert, an old hand in Iraq (knew it well, had friends there); was a topnotch scientist (which, to me, makes his manner of death very strange, indeed), and was known for his toughness (he faced down Saddam Hussein over WMDs).

Here's the Plame/Kelly time-line (and it does occur to me that some of this wiretapping could have been of Plame, and intended to find out if Plame and Kelly were in communication on certain things Kelly might have discovered about Bushite WMD activity):

May 22, 2003: Kelly begins whistleblowing anonymously to the BBC about the "sexed up" pre-war WMD intel.

Late June: Kelly is somewhat mysteriously outed to his bosses, who interrogate him at a safe house, and threaten him with the Official Secrets Act, looking for what else he might know and hadn't yet gone public with. (Across the pond, Libby had met with J. Miller about Plame on June 12.)

July 7, 2003: Tony Blair is informed that Kelly "could say some uncomfortable things" (could say, not HAD said). (Hutton report.)

Week of July 6-12: Wilson published his article in the NYT July 6. Bush & Co. were on AF-1 this week on a trip to Africa. The Plame memo (identifying her as CIA covert and Wilson's wife) was circulated on AF-1 at this time. Also, Rove et al were placing at least six calls to reporters in what appears to me to be a rushed and panicky attempt to get her outed).

July 14, 2003: Plame outed (by Novak).

July 18, 2003: Kelly found dead, under highly suspicious circumstances; his office and computers are searched.

July 22, 2003: Plame/CIA's entire counter-proliferation network, with the Brewster-Jennings front company, outed (also by Novak), disabling all projects and putting covert agents and contacts at risk of death.

-------------

My guess as to the import of this remarkable coincidence of Plame/Kelly dates is that Kelly had discovered a deceitful Bushite plan to plant WMDs in Iraq, and that the plan had been foiled. He was in a good position to have discovered it (there were reports about it in the Islamic press in March 2003); it would have outraged him and may have been the reason he turned against the war (which he had initially supported--he wanted Saddam ousted). It is my theory that he was killed because he knew of this Bushite plot, was already whistleblowing (on serious but less explosive information), and couldn't be trusted.

I've often wondered why there were two Plame outings--of Valerie Plame on July 14, and then of the entire CIA B/J enterprise on July 22. (This second outing greatly increased the risk of treason charges to the Bushites who did it, because it put many US agents/contacts in danger of getting killed.) If the Bushites suspected Plame/BJ of foiling their rotten little scheme, that would explain the interest in Plame, her job and her connection to Wilson as early as June 12. If they then found out (from Blair) on July 7 that Kelly knew about it, that might explain the haste and panic to get her outed (punished, silenced, disabled) during the following week (the publication of Wilson's article, which was expected, doesn't really explain this). They may then have found further corroboration about the B/J network in Kelly's computer and office files; thus the outing of B/J four days after his death.

There is still a lot of speculation in this theory, but it holds up well. It explains quite a few mysteries of the Plame affair, as well as of Kelly's death. Body moved; not enough blood at the scene; expert opinions ignored; very unlikely method of suicide; no note, no sign of despair, just the opposite, looking forward to daughter's wedding and returning to Iraq. The only sign of concern in Kelly was an email he wrote on July 17, the day he died, to Judith Miller (yup, the same--an old colleague and correspondent of his), in which he expressed worry about "the many dark actors playing games."

I won't go into what I think the Niger forgeries connection to all this is, except to say that, if this theory holds true, they were cooking up more than forgeries at that Rome meeting. They were arranging to procure and plant the weapons.

It's possible that Rockefeller's final sentence about keeping a copy of his letter secure was merely notification of the existence of the copy, but it does indeed sound more ominous than that. He seems to be saying "and if you think you can deny this communication--and my stated concerns--in the future, be assured that I can document that you are lying."

Impossible to speculate, on such slim information, as to whether or not THIS date--July 17 on Rockefeller's letter--the day Kelly died--is anything more than a coincidence. But there is a haunting resemblance between the tough spot that Rockefeller had been put in, and that of Plame, both of them bound to keep secrets, even of Bushite criminal activity.

Kelly makes a remark at some point (can't recall the context--during the interrogation period) that he "certainly wasn't going to reveal any state secrets."

All in all, you get the impression of experts, professionals, political officials bursting with secrets, chafing under them, squirming under them, and wanting to get the word out, without ending up in jail or dead. Because the Bushites' secrets are like no others that we have seen--except, say, in Pinochet's Chile or Stalin's Russia. Nameless people 'disappeared' on black flights to torture dungeons in middle Europe. Corporate death squads roaming around in Iraq. Congressmen getting anthraxed--and nobody ever finding out by whom. Senators' planes falling out of the air, and no public hearing, and all the evidence spirited away by the FBI. The country attacked, and NORAD standing down. Billions of dollars unaccounted for.

The Blairites outed Kelly's name to the press, and sent him home without protection, but surely he was under surveillance as a potential violator of the Official Secrets Act, and a whistleblower. And they just let him bleed to death all night outdoors in the rain?

Nothing about it adds up.

Coincidence or not, Senator Rockefeller's dilemma about "state secrets"--and the agony evident in this letter--are similar to Kelly's, the difference being that Kelly decided to do something about it (at least to the extent of warning the public that something was very wrong), and paid for it with his life, whether by despair (unlikely) or by assassination (quite likely).

[The Witch]

69. Holy shit, post this as it is. July 2003 is the key month!

We need a huge timeline for July 2003 and everything that happened in that month. Between this, the Plame outing, and the apparent beginning of the wiretaps.... something went on then.

[bostonbabs]

72. great post!!!!Chilling .....

[entanglement]

64. kick

n/t

[brainshrub]

68. So he did nothing except write a secret letter?

And then, when it's politically expedient, and we are all supposed to thank him?

Rockefeller covered his own ass, instead of defending his constituents liberties.

The job of a senator is to represent and protect the interests of his constituents. If he thought that the Administration was acting irresponsibly, his duty was to say something.