Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Banner Left
Banner Right

Cheney pushed for unfettered domestic wiretaps, says report

Cheney pushed for unfettered domestic wiretaps, says report

NEW YORK – US Vice President Dick Cheney pushed after the September 11 attacks for practically unlimited intercepts of domestic telephone calls and e-mail messages without court warrants in the hunt for terrorists, The New York Times reported yesterday.

Citing two unnamed senior intelligence officials, the newspaper said lawyers for the National Security Agency, reluctant to approve any eavesdropping without warrants, insisted in late 2001 that it should be limited to communications into and out of the country. The NSA’s position ultimately prevailed.But just how General Michael Hayden, the director of the agency at the time, designed the programme, persuaded wary NSA officers to accept it and sold the White House on its limits is not yet clear, the report said.President George W Bush on Monday named Michael Hayden to lead the CIA.By several accounts, General Hayden, a 61-year-old Air Force officer who left the agency last year to become principal deputy director of national intelligence, was the man in the middle as Bush demanded that intelligence agencies act urgently to stop future attacks, the paper pointed out.On one side was a strong-willed vice president and his longtime legal adviser, David Addington, who believed that the Constitution permitted spy agencies to take sweeping measures to defend the country, The Times said.On the other side were some lawyers and officials at the largest American intelligence agency, which was battered by eavesdropping scandals in the 1970s and has since wielded its powerful technology with extreme care to avoid accusations of spying on Americans, the report noted.As in other areas of intelligence collection, including interrogation methods for terrorism suspects, Cheney and Addington took an aggressive view of what was permissible under the Constitution, according to The Times.If people suspected of links to al Qaeda made calls inside the United States, the vice president and Addington thought eavesdropping without warrants “could be done and should be done,” the paper said.It quotes one of the officials as saying that there was “a very healthy debate” over the issue.The vice president’s staff was “pushing and pushing, and it was up to the NSA lawyers to draw a line and say absolutely not”, the official said.Both officials said they were speaking about the internal discussions because it was important for citizens to understand the interplay between Cheney’s office and the NSA.- Nampa-AFPThe NSA’s position ultimately prevailed.But just how General Michael Hayden, the director of the agency at the time, designed the programme, persuaded wary NSA officers to accept it and sold the White House on its limits is not yet clear, the report said.President George W Bush on Monday named Michael Hayden to lead the CIA.By several accounts, General Hayden, a 61-year-old Air Force officer who left the agency last year to become principal deputy director of national intelligence, was the man in the middle as Bush demanded that intelligence agencies act urgently to stop future attacks, the paper pointed out.On one side was a strong-willed vice president and his longtime legal adviser, David Addington, who believed that the Constitution permitted spy agencies to take sweeping measures to defend the country, The Times said.On the other side were some lawyers and officials at the largest American intelligence agency, which was battered by eavesdropping scandals in the 1970s and has since wielded its powerful technology with extreme care to avoid accusations of spying on Americans, the report noted.As in other areas of intelligence collection, including interrogation methods for terrorism suspects, Cheney and Addington took an aggressive view of what was permissible under the Constitution, according to The Times.If people suspected of links to al Qaeda made calls inside the United States, the vice president and Addington thought eavesdropping without warrants “could be done and should be done,” the paper said.It quotes one of the officials as saying that there was “a very healthy debate” over the issue.The vice president’s staff was “pushing and pushing, and it was up to the NSA lawyers to draw a line and say absolutely not”, the official said.Both officials said they were speaking about the internal discussions because it was important for citizens to understand the interplay between Cheney’s office and the NSA.- Nampa-AFP

Stay informed with The Namibian – your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for only N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy –
Subscribe Now!

Latest News