IP: 2 on NSA counsel says agency does not do illegal spying

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
> ********
>
> http://wired.lycos.com/news/reuters/0,1349,32941,00.html
>
>                      Reuters
>                      7:05 a.m. 7.Dec.1999 PST
>                      WASHINGTON -- The National Security
>                      Agency, which uses spy satellites and
>                      foreign listening posts to monitor threats
>                      to US security, denied on Monday that it
>                      intended to begin spying on Americans at
>                      home.
>
>                      Newsweek magazine in its Dec. 13 issue
>                      said the NSA was drafting a memorandum
>                      of understanding to clarify ways in which
>                      it could help the FBI track terrorists and
>                      criminals in the United States.
>                      [...]
>
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/07/005l-120799-idx.html
>
> NSA Obeying the Law
> Tuesday, December 7, 1999; Page A30
>
>   In his Nov. 14 Outlook article, "Loud and Clear," James Bamford wrote
>   that he is "certain that NSA is not overstepping its [legal] mandate," then
>   spent the bulk of his article speculating that the agency might do so 
> in the
>   future.
>
>   As the general counsel of the National Security Agency, I wish to make
>   clear that the agency does not violate the Constitution or the laws of the
>   United States. NSA operates under the eyes of Congress, the executive
>   branch and the judiciary, and an extensive oversight system regulates and
>   limits its activities.
>
>   Mr. Bamford wrote that the laws regulating NSA's activities need to be
>   updated in light of the communications revolution, but the laws are based
>   on the Fourth Amendment and do not need to be changed every time
>   technology changes.
>
>   Mr. Bamford said that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act's
>   provisions regarding the interception of "wire or radio communications" are
>   inapplicable because the communications involved have changed from
>   telephone to e-mail, fax or cell phone. This is false. The privacy
> protections
>   remain applicable.
>
>   Mr. Bamford also suggested that NSA uses foreign countries to conduct
>   surveillance that NSA is prohibited from conducting. That activity has been
>   prohibited since 1978. NSA does not ask other countries to do what it is
>   prohibited from doing.
>
>   Mr. Bamford also incorrectly said that NSA "stonewalled" a request for
>   documents by the House Intelligence Committee. Discussions between the
>   committee and my office focused on the proper balance between the
>   committee's need to conduct oversight and the need to give sound legal
>   advice to NSA employees. But there was no intent to withhold the
>   substantive information requested by the committee, and, as Chairman
>   Porter Goss has publicly noted, NSA is currently providing documents
>   responsive to the committee's requests.
>
>   NSA obeys the law; Mr. Bamford's speculations serve only to fuel the fires
>   of uninformed debate.
>
>   ROBERT L. DEITZ
>   Fort George G. Meade, Md.
>   The writer is general counsel of the National Security Agency.
>
>
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/03/032l-120399-idx.html
>
> Checking Up on the NSA
> Friday, December 3, 1999; Page A40
>
>   James Bamford [Outlook, Nov. 14], in his expose of the National Security
>   Agency's worldwide eavesdropping network, points out that he really
>   doesn't believe the NSA is a bad guy. From his privileged demi-insider
>   position, he can be "certain that the NSA is not overstepping its bounds."
>   He just wants to protect us from what might happen if the NSA decides to
>   break or evade laws. After all, back in the old days the agency had acted
>   "as though the laws which applied to the rest of government did not apply
>   to it."
>
>   As one who was involved during the Church-Pike episode in the '70s, I
>   would point out that the NSA appeared both publicly and in closed session
>   before Congress and demonstrated that it had every respect for the laws of
>   this country. It took extraordinary internal measures to meet the
>   requirements of Congress then and adopt a course of cooperation with the
>   select committees on intelligence, which were created thereafter. Even as
>   an outsider now, I cannot believe that the NSA would even tell Congress
>   to "take a hike" or any like denial.
>
>   Mr. Bamford is correct in observing that our rights to privacy are at risk,
>   but he is crying out at the wrong wolf.
>
>   JACK HARNEY
>   New Carrollton
>   The writer was an NSA official from 1951 to 1980.
> Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 12:52:18 -0400
> To: declan () well com
> From: David Sobel <sobel () epic org>
> Subject: Re: FC: NSA counsel says agency does not do illegal spying
>
>
> > NSA obeys the law; [. . .]
> >
> > ROBERT L. DEITZ
> > Fort George G. Meade, Md.
> > The writer is general counsel of the National Security Agency.
>
> But how do they INTERPRET the law? That's precisely the issue
> that NSA dodged earlier this year when the House Intelligence
> Committee sought internal NSA legal memoranda addressing the
> Agency's authority to conduct surveillance in new communications
> media. NSA stonewalled the committee.
>
> EPIC filed suit last week seeking the public disclosure of
> those memoranda (see press release below). This is clearly an
> issue of great public interest that can't be left to the off-hand
> assurances of NSA officials.
>
> - David
>
> ===================
>
> FOR RELEASE: CONTACT:
> Friday, December 3, 1999 David Sobel
> 10:00 a.m. ET EPIC General Counsel
> 202-544-9240
>
>
> LAWSUIT SEEKS MEMOS ON SURVEILLANCE OF AMERICANS;
> EPIC LAUNCHES STUDY OF NSA INTERCEPTION ACTIVITIES
>
> WASHINGTON, DC - The Electronic Privacy Information Center
> (EPIC) today asked a federal court to order the release of
> controversial documents concerning potential government
> surveillance of American citizens. EPIC's lawsuit seeks the
> public disclosure of internal National Security Agency (NSA)
> documents discussing the legality of the agency's intelligence
> activities.
>
> NSA refused to provide the documents to the House Intelligence
> Committee earlier this year, resulting in an unusual public
> reprimand of the secretive spy agency. Rep. Porter J. Goss,
> chairman of the oversight panel, wrote in a committee report in
> May that NSA's rationale for withholding the legal memoranda was
> "unpersuasive and dubious." He noted that if NSA lawyers
> "construed the Agency's authorities too permissively, then the
> privacy interests of the citizens of the United States could be
> at risk." Soon after the release of the Intelligence Committee
> report, EPIC submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
> request to NSA for the documents. Despite the FOIA's time limit
> of 20 working days, the agency has not responded to EPIC's
> request.
>
> EPIC Director Marc Rotenberg said "the charter of the National
> Security Agency does not authorize domestic intelligence
> gathering. Yet we have reason to believe that the NSA is engaged
> in the indiscriminate acquisition and interception of domestic
> communications taking place over the Internet."
>
> The surveillance activities of the NSA have recently come under
> increased scrutiny, with published reports indicating that the
> agency is coordinating a massive global interception initiative
> known as ECHELON. The current issue of the New Yorker magazine
> reports that it took NSA only 11 months to fill three years'
> worth of planned storage capacity for intercepted Internet
> traffic.
>
> The legal basis for NSA's interception activities is a critical
> issue that EPIC plans to evaluate in a comprehensive study to be
> released early next year. That study will be conducted by
> Duncan Campbell, a Scottish investigative journalist and TV
> producer. Earlier this year, Campbell was appointed a
> consultant to the European Parliament and prepared a technology
> assessment report on ECHELON and communications intelligence
> which contained the first public documentary evidence of the
> global surveillance system. Campbell will be working with EPIC
> as a Senior Research Fellow for several months to produce
> a report for presentation at anticipated congressional hearings
> on the topic of signals intelligence agencies, the Fourth
> Amendment and human rights.
>
> More information on ECHELON is available at the EchelonWatch
> website, which is administered by the American Civil Liberties
> Union:
>
> http://www.echelonwatch.org
>
> - 30 -
>
>
>
> .......................................................................
> David L. Sobel, General Counsel * +1 202 544 9240 (tel)
> Electronic Privacy Information Center * +1 202 547 5482 (fax)
> 666 Pennsylvania Ave., SE Suite 301 * sobel () epic org
> Washington, DC 20003 USA * http://www.epic.org
> .