Bush Said to Be Spying on Tens of Millions

That's tens of millions of Americans. That radical newspaper, USA Today, has the story on the NSA spying scandal:

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.

If normally bland USA Today is putting out this story, there is indeed a shift in the wind. There were reports months ago that the NSA spying program was generating thousands of tips per day that were given to the FBI for further investigation; but the FBI found the tips almost entirely useless and the legality of the tips of course is in question. If these abuses are allowed to continue, the NSA programs will only become more ambitious and more overreaching and our democracy will suffer for it. Somebody like Karl Rove would love to have detailed information and it would have nothing to do with national security. There are already reports that Cheney and John Bolton have abused the system for political purposes.

Kudos to Qwest for resisting the NSA operation; the resistance by Qwest may be interpreted as further evidence that the NSA does not have legal grounds for its domestic spying operations. In other words, the Bush Administration knows it can't get court authorization to force a company like Qwest to comply.

By the way, one of the stories out on Wednesday was that the Justice Dept. can't pursue the NSA scandal because their people don't have security clearances. There are a few ex-presidents, generals and ex-CIA officials who have clearances and who can be deputized. Failure to investigate is not an option.

Note: hat tip goes to The Left Coaster.