A reader "BurbankErnie" alerted me to the presence of this Memorandum dtd January 10th, 2003, from Senator "Leaky" Leahy to AG Ashcroft. The document is a request for confirmation of datamining currently being deployed by the JD, while disussing possible "problems" with earlier implementations.
However.. on page 2 there is this little tidbit of reference:
"A recently declassified FBI memorandum, dated April 14, 2000, makes this point with startling details about incidents of mistaken surveillance activity, including a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) order being improperly implemented with unauthorized videotaping of a meeting; wiretapping a cellular telephone that had been dropped by the target and assigned to an innocent user, who “was therefore the target of unauthorized electronic surveillance for a substantial period of time;” unauthorized monitoring of an e-mail account; and “unauthorized searches, incorrect addresses, incorrect interpretation of a FISA order and overruns of ELSUR [electronic surveillance].”
Was this the video that killed the Able Danger star? Was this an isolated case or were there more.
If this memo is for real, then the story of Able Danger is one of Government surveillance gone wild. No doubt they had crossed the line into embarrassing disclosure and compromise of individual privacy. Subsequently, even when they did begin to "drift" a bit from the intended purpose and possibly identify legit terrorist targets, they couldn't go forward with the information without devulging the entirity of the program and it's "experimentation".
So here is the scary question.
Patrick Henry said, "Give me liberty, or give me death".
In the protection of individual liberty, did we simply choose death?
More questions with Tom Mcguire
Cpt. Ed weighs in.
Subscribe by Email
Follow Updates Articles from This Blog via Email
No Comments