President Bush in 2002 secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans inside the U.S. in apparent contravention of law, government sources told theNew York Times. When theTimes found out about it, the White House urged the paper to sit on the story, and it did — for a whole year.

The mission of the NSA is, in part, to monitor foreign communications. The executive order, however, authorized the agency to monitor communications originating or terminating in the U.S., without obtaining the required warrants, if the communications might even be remotely related to terrorism, according to nearly a dozen government sources.

Normally the agency must get a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court or another court in order to monitor communications in the U.S. The court granted 1,758 such warrants in 2004, not denying a single request.

Sources said that it simply took too long to get a warrant and that vital information could be lost during that time.

According to those officials and others, reservations about aspects of the program have also been expressed by Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, the West Virginia Democrat who is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and a judge presiding over a secret court that oversees intelligence matters. Some of the questions about the agency’s new powers led the administration to temporarily suspend the operation last year and impose more restrictions, the officials said.

The Bush administration views the operation as necessary so that the agency can move quickly to monitor communications that may disclose threats to the United States, the officials said. Defenders of the program say it has been a critical tool in helping disrupt terrorist plots and prevent attacks inside the United States.

Administration officials are confident that existing safeguards are sufficient to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans, the officials say. In some cases, they said, the Justice Department eventually seeks warrants if it wants to expand the eavesdropping to include communications confined within the United States. The officials said the administration had briefed Congressional leaders about the program and notified the judge in charge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the secret Washington court that deals with national security issues.

The White House asked The New York Times not to publish this article, arguing that it could jeopardize continuing investigations and alert would-be terrorists that they might be under scrutiny. After meeting with senior administration officials to hear their concerns, the newspaper delayed publication for a year to conduct additional reporting. Some information that administration officials argued could be useful to terrorists has been omitted. — New York Times

Is it legal? It sure doesn’t look like it. Virtually everyone in Congress who was told about the program raised concerns about whether the program was lawful or even constitutional. One even wrote a letter to Vice President Cheney detailing his concerns, but doesn’t seem to have gotten a response.

A Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge even complained about the program, questioning whether information obtained by the NSA was being unlawfully used as the basis for FISA warrants. These are the warrants the government usually gets to collect this sort of intelligence on people in the U.S., and they have their own set of problems. (That’s a story for another day.)

Congressional sources familiar with limited aspects of the program would not discuss any classified details but made it clear there were serious questions regarding the legality of the NSA actions. The sources, who demanded anonymity, said there were conditions under which it would be possible to gather and retain information on Americans if part of an investigation into foreign intelligence.

But those cases are supposed to be minimized. The sources said the actual work of the NSA is so closely held that it is difficult to determine under which circumstances the information is being used for within the intelligence community and whether it comports with current law. — Washington Post

I’ve heard rumors about an NSA “special collection program” within the U.S. before, and I certainly watched Enemy of the State, but this is just mind blowing. You never think anything like that could really happen . . . until it does.

“Does anyone in D.C. read the Constitution any more?” asks Mike Horn.

Yes, Mike, they do. And then they go read other things which contradict it.

Mr. Bush’s executive order allowing some warrantless eavesdropping on those inside the United States – including American citizens, permanent legal residents, tourists and other foreigners – is based on classified legal opinions that assert that the president has broad powers to order such searches, derived in part from the September 2001 Congressional resolution authorizing him to wage war on Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, according to the officials familiar with the N.S.A. operation. —New York Times

The liberals aren’t being so nice about it.

George W. Bush, the Republican opponent of Big Government, empowered Big Brother. Thanks to Bush’s secret move, Big Brother can listen in on your life you whenever Big Brother wants to. Big Brother doesn’t need a reason. Big Brother doesn’t have to justify its behavior to anybody. You will have no notice. You will have no recourse. . . .

George W. Bush subverted the Constitution and violated your rights, and he didn’t have the courage to make the change in public. — Irregular Times

The United States of America is supposed to be a nation of laws. In such a nation, no one, not even the President, is supposed to have the power to simply declare that the law no longer applies. A President who decides that he no longer needs to follow the requirements of the law is no longer a president, but a dictator. — Irregular Times

In mid-2004, theTimes reports, parts of the program were suspended and others revamped, but still it isn’t much better. Take a few minutes and read the entireTimes article and post your thoughts.