NSA

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Google Teams With NSA to Fight Cyberattacks

Deal shows challenge of balancing user privacy with security

(Newser) - Shaken by recent large-scale hacking of its systems, Google is enlisting the National Security Agency in a deal that highlights the growing dilemma of balancing privacy concerns with national security interests. The agreement, the first of its kind between a government agency and an Internet search company, will see the...

Harman: Release Wiretap Transcripts

Calif. rep decries 'outrageous' 'abuse of power'

(Newser) - California Rep. Jane Harman demanded today that Justice Department release “unredacted” transcripts of telephone conversations recorded without her knowledge, Politico reports. Harman demanded the wiretapped conversations be released in response to media reports that she was recorded agreeing to try to help two pro-Israel lobbyists accused of spying in...

Wiretap Catches Rep Making Deal for Pro-Israel Lobby Group

Bushies helped kill probe of Dem Harman

(Newser) - A wiretap by the National Security Agency caught California Rep. Jane Harman promising a suspected Israeli agent she’d intervene on behalf of two pro-Israeli lobbyists facing espionage charges, sources tell CQ Politics. In exchange, the agent promised to pressure then-minority leader Nancy Pelosi into making Harman chair of the...

NSA Spying Branches Out
NSA Spying Branches Out

NSA Spying Branches Out

Domestic calls, email, financial transactions under scrutiny—all without a warrant

(Newser) - Traditionally charged with foreign surveillance, the NSA has increasingly been analyzing data collected domestically, reports the Wall Street Journal—on a scale comparable to that of a Pentagon proposal Congress killed 5 years ago. "When it got taken apart, it didn't get thrown away," says a former government...

NSA Deepens Tense Alliance with Telecoms

Both sides await word on possible immunity for carriers

(Newser) - The telecom industry will be all ears to proceedings beginning tomorrow on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers will decide if companies helping the government’s warrantless surveillance program should receive immunity. President Bush personally lobbied Congress to further the NSA’s tenuous alliance with the industry, whose members are increasingly resistant...

US Agencies Aided German Terror Probe

Capture of suspects in bomb plot a joint effort with the CIA

(Newser) - The CIA and NSA played a marquee role in last week’s capture of three men suspected of planning major terror attacks in Germany. For several months, Angela Merkel’s chief of staff held a weekly meeting about the plotters, Der Spiegel reports, and the cooperation was so significant that...

FBI Chief Refutes Gonzales
FBI Chief Refutes Gonzales

FBI Chief Refutes Gonzales

Mueller's notes call hospitalized Ashcroft 'barely articulate'

(Newser) - Newly released notes taken by the FBI director in 2004 contradict Alberto Gonzales' Senate testimony about the internal conflict over the warrantless wiretapping program. Robert Mueller's heavily redacted notes refer to hospitalized AG John Ashcroft as "feeble" and "barely articulate," the Washington Post reports—a far cry...

Senate OKs Spying Program
Senate OKs Spying Program

Senate OKs Spying Program

Dems bow to White House on warrantless wiretapping bill, will revisit in 6 months

(Newser) - The Senate voted last night to temporarily extend the government's controversial surveillance program, the Washington Post reports. The contentious 60-28 vote, a  concession to the White House by Democrats, will allow for the continued interception of electronic communication between Americans and overseas parties without  a court order. The measures will...

Secret Ruling: Fed Wiretap Plan Illegal

Judge halted key overseas eavesdropping months ago

(Newser) - In a secret decision earlier this year a federal intelligence court judge ruled that a key element of the White House's massive wiretapping program was illegal, the Washington Post reports. The decision blocked NSA information collection from a large number of phone calls and emails that pass through two locations...

DNI Exposes Broader Spying
DNI Exposes Broader Spying

DNI Exposes Broader Spying

Gonzales still under fire for perjury

(Newser) - The executive branch has had more authority to spy on citizens than yet reported, the Washington Post revealed today. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell explained yesterday that the controversial NSA warrantless wiretapping and data mining program was only one element in a broader series of secret surveillance activities issued...

AG Refutes Account of Hospital Visit

Senators assail Gonzales in acrimonious oversight hearing

(Newser) - Alberto Gonzales today refuted an ex-colleague's dramatic testimony about a 2004 visit to John Ashcroft's hospital bed, but the Senate Judiciary Committee wasn't buying it. Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter were openly skeptical of the AG's account of the scene in John Ashcroft's room, and Specter raised the possibility of...

Appeals Court Won't Rule on Domestic Spying

Panel KOs warrantless wiretapping case on procedural grounds

(Newser) - Although it raises a "cascade of serious questions," a federal appeals court will not hear a case about the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program because the plaintiffs can't prove they've suffered direct harm. In a 2-1 decision, the Sixth Circuit court dismissed the case, brought by the ACLU and...

Ex-Justice No. 2 Tells of Attempt to Strong-Arm Ashcroft

Gonzales, Card visited AG in hospital

(Newser) - The Senate investigation of Alberto Gonzales took a turn toward high drama today as a former deputy AG described his hospital-room standoff with White House officials attempting to secure the signature of his critically ill boss. James Comey, then No. 2 at Justice—and, with John Ashcroft incapacitated, the...

Calling All Spies
Calling All Spies

Calling All Spies

Culture clash, generation gap force intelligence agencies to play catch-up

(Newser) - The CIA, NSA, and other intelligence agencies face a crisis of human capital as they struggle to close the chasm between recently recruited agents and supervisors quickly approaching retirement, Government Executive magazine reports. The spy world is scrambling to keep up with the 21st century's touchy-feely corporate culture, creating more...

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