FC: NSA counsel says agency does not do illegal spying

[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. 




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