The Supreme Court offered no explanation Tuesday for refusing to hear an appeal regarding the Bush administration's covert domestic surveillance program.
A temporary surveillance law is likely to expire Saturday after House Democrats failed to draw enough votes Wednesday to pass a 21-day extension of the law.
The Senate voted Tuesday to give immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the federal government eavesdrop on suspected terrorists after the September 11 attacks.
This is the smartphone the well-dressed soldier, spy, and homeland-security agent will be wearing on his or her utility belt starting next year. Built by General Dynamics to specs set by the hyperparanoid National Security Agency, the Sectera Edge is designed to give field agents a gateway to the classified world - plus everything they've come to expect on a PDA, including MP3 music files.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday passed on a strict party-line vote an update to the nation's electronic surveillance laws despite a veto threat from the attorney general.
The Bush administration has apparently changed policy and cleared the way for the Justice Department to restart an investigation into the government's no-warrant electronic surveillance program, a department official told Congress on Tuesday.
A bill that would grant immunity to telecommunications companies helping out in a no-warrant eavesdropping program authorized by President Bush and reinstate some court oversight to surveillance was OK'd by a Senate panel Thursday.
Verizon Communications says it has provided federal, state and local law enforcement agencies tens of thousands of communication and business records relating to customers based on emergency requests without a court order or administrative subpoena.
Verizon Communications says it has provided -- tens of thousands of times -- communication and business records relating to customers to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies that made emergency requests without a court order or administrative subpoena.
The CIA's declassified report, says Robert Baer, shows that the attack could have been prevented if the various intel agencies were able to talk to each other
The Supreme Court offered no explanation Tuesday for refusing to hear an appeal regarding the Bush administration's covert domestic surveillance program.
A temporary surveillance law is likely to expire Saturday after House Democrats failed to draw enough votes Wednesday to pass a 21-day extension of the law.
The Senate voted Tuesday to give immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the federal government eavesdrop on suspected terrorists after the September 11 attacks.
This is the smartphone the well-dressed soldier, spy, and homeland-security agent will be wearing on his or her utility belt starting next year. Built by General Dynamics to specs set by the hyperparanoid National Security Agency, the Sectera Edge is designed to give field agents a gateway to the classified world - plus everything they've come to expect on a PDA, including MP3 music files.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday passed on a strict party-line vote an update to the nation's electronic surveillance laws despite a veto threat from the attorney general.
The Bush administration has apparently changed policy and cleared the way for the Justice Department to restart an investigation into the government's no-warrant electronic surveillance program, a department official told Congress on Tuesday.
A bill that would grant immunity to telecommunications companies helping out in a no-warrant eavesdropping program authorized by President Bush and reinstate some court oversight to surveillance was OK'd by a Senate panel Thursday.
Verizon Communications says it has provided federal, state and local law enforcement agencies tens of thousands of communication and business records relating to customers based on emergency requests without a court order or administrative subpoena.
Verizon Communications says it has provided -- tens of thousands of times -- communication and business records relating to customers to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies that made emergency requests without a court order or administrative subpoena.
The CIA's declassified report, says Robert Baer, shows that the attack could have been prevented if the various intel agencies were able to talk to each other
Though Congress is on vacation, majority Democrats are keeping alive various fights with the White House with one common thread: Congress' access to administration documents and testimony to which President Bush has claimed executive privilege.
With potential perjury accusations hanging over him, embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales sent a letter to Senate leaders Wednesday acknowledging he "may have created confusion" in his previous testimony.
The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said he's not satisfied with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' attempt to clarify his testimony about no-warrant surveillance.
The Bush administration's anti-terrorist surveillance efforts are more extensive than top officials have acknowledged, going beyond the controversial no-warrant eavesdropping program, the U.S. intelligence chief said Tuesday.
A dispute within the Bush administration in 2004 over a secret surveillance program centered on data mining, not eavesdropping, a former government official told CNN Sunday.
FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress Thursday that the confrontation between then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and then-Attorney General John Ashcroft in Ashcroft's hospital room in 2004 concerned a controversial surveillance program -- an apparent contradiction of Senate testimony given Tuesday by Gonzales.
The White House and Justice Department say what looks like a contradiction between testimony of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller is nothing more than a confusion of terms.
A federal appeals court Friday ordered the dismissal of an ACLU lawsuit challenging President Bush's domestic surveillance program.
We're finally getting around to rewriting the rules on what our intelligence agencies can and can't do. Better late than never, says Robert Baer
Vice President Dick Cheney opposed a promotion for a deputy involved in a heated dispute with the White House over the legality of a controversial domestic surveillance program, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey told senators.
Lockheed Martin wasn't my favorite defense stock the last time I wrote about the sector back in January. But based on the recent news reports out of Washington, I've got a sudden soft spot for the company - one unrelated to Lockheed's business or its earnings prospects.
The incoming chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee says he will have a "cleanup agenda" ready when Democrats take power in January.
Another bee-you-ti-ful example of the right-wing media getting it all wrong. Here they are having the nerve to mutter in public about "activist judges" because Judge Anna Diggs Taylor has pointed out that spying without a warrant is illegal in this country -- so warrantless telephone tapping is illegal in this country.
President Bush said Friday he expects his administration will win its appeal of a judicial ruling finding the National Security Agency's warrantless domestic surveillance program unconstitutional.
The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Thursday that he had struck a deal with the White House to resolve a dispute over the constitutionality of conducting electronic surveillance with court approval.
USA Today reported Friday that lawmakers confirmed the existence of the National Security Agency's program of collecting phone records, but the paper said it could not verify whether telecom firms Verizon and BellSouth provided phone records to the government agency.
Phone service provider AT&T announced Thursday a privacy policy overhaul that removes a key reference from its previous policy, which had said the company "does not access, read, upload or store data contained in or derived from private files without the members' authorization..."
The Republican chairman of a Senate committee said Sunday he is prepared to call telephone company officials to testify about a domestic wiretapping program if he doesn't get cooperation in talks with the Bush administration.
A Senate committee chairman warned of a "constitutional confrontation" with the Bush administration Wednesday over its domestic surveillance program, threatening to subpoena administration officials or phone company executives in a congressional review.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter reversed course Tuesday, announcing he will not call on phone company executives to testify on their cooperation with the government in a secret eavesdropping program run by the National Security Agency.
The attorney general and the FBI director have asked the nation's leading Internet service companies to keep a variety of customer information and other data for two years, much longer than the companies do now, the Justice Department confirmed Tuesday.
The FBI wants to interview top members of Congress from both parties about the leak to The New York Times concerning the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program, sources told CNN.
The Senate Intelligence Committee voted 12-3 Tuesday in favor of Gen. Michael Hayden to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, sending his nomination to the floor for a vote by the full Senate.
Telecommunications giant BellSouth has sent a letter to USA Today asking for a retraction of a story the paper ran last week alleging the company and two others were cooperating with a National Security Agency program to compile a massive database of domestic phone calls.
BellSouth is demanding that the newspaper that said it provided private phone records to the National Security Agency retract its article.
One in four Americans think it is likely that the government has listened to their phone calls, according to a CNN poll conducted by Opinion Research Corporation.
Gen. Michael Hayden told senators Thursday that he would determine what the American public needs to know and what will remain secret if he is confirmed to take the reins of the embattled Central Intelligence Agency.
The judge hearing a case challenging the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program said Wednesday that the plaintiffs may keep documents AT&T says contain proprietary information for use in preparing their case, but the documents must remain under seal.
Details of a classified government wiretap program will be given to full congressional committees for the first time on Wednesday, senior politicians said.
BellSouth and AT&T were added to a class-action lawsuit against Verizon Communications that alleges the companies illegally participated in a National Security Agency domestic surveillance program.
Verizon Communications Inc. denied Tuesday reports that it provided the National Security Agency with customer phone records. The company's full statement follows:
Verizon Communications Inc. denied earlier media reports that it entered into a contract with the National Security Agency, providing the government office with info about its customer phone calls.
Despite media reports to the contrary, BellSouth said late Monday it had not participated in any effort by the National Security Agency to collect customer phone records.
A lawsuit is asking a federal court to order President Bush, the National Security Agency and Verizon to end a secret snooping program, and Verizon's stock took a hit on the news Monday.
Around the White House, an abrupt change in the president's public schedule is known as an "audible," and generally, it's the last thing anyone wants to suggest to a boss so allergic to disruption that he makes everyone turn off their cell phones when he's in the room.
Verizon Communications on Friday would neither confirm nor deny whether it has provided domestic telephone records to the National Security Agency, but the company insisted it protects customer privacy and would never participate in a government "fishing expedition."
The National Security Agency has been collecting information on millions of domestic phone calls, according to a report this week in USA Today. CNN.com asked readers whether they think it is appropriate for the government to monitor telephone records. Here is a selection of the responses, some of which have been edited:
CNN.com asked users for their reaction to Thursday's USA Today report that the National Security Agency, with the cooperation of three telecommunication companies, has compiled a database of millions of domestic phone calls. Here is a sampling from the responses, some of which have been edited:
President Bush on Thursday told Americans that their privacy "is fiercely protected" after a newspaper report that the National Security Agency compiled a database of domestic phone records.
President Bush said Thursday the government is "not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans" with a reported program to create a massive database of U.S. phone calls.
USA Today reported Thursday that the National Security Agency has been secretly collecting records of the phone calls of ordinary Americans.
President Bush on Monday nominated Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden as director of the CIA.
President Bush on Monday nominated Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden to be the new CIA chief, setting up a possible battle with members of Congress who question whether his military status is right for the spy agency.
Lawmakers from both parties expressed concern Sunday that President Bush reportedly will nominate a longtime military officer to head the CIA.
The House Intelligence Committee has set up a special group to conduct oversight of the National Security Agency's eavesdropping program, a spokesman for the panel's chairman said Wednesday.
Sen. Russ Feingold introduced a resolution Monday to censure President Bush for authorizing a no-warrant domestic surveillance program, accusing Bush of breaking the law and misleading Congress about it.
Four Senate Republicans have proposed a bill to provide what one called "very rigorous oversight" of President Bush's controversial no-warrant domestic surveillance program while also giving it the force of law.
An Ohio truck driver and al Qaeda operative who pleaded guilty in 2003 to participating in a plot to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge wants to rescind that plea if the National Security Agency ever eavesdropped on him without a warrant.
For now, the Senate Intelligence Committee won't investigate the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program, its chairman said.
About a fifth of Americans think federal agents have listened in on their phone calls, a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll released Tuesday suggests.
Despite President Bush's lagging approval ratings and a spate of negative publicity, House Majority Leader John Boehner appears sure that the GOP can fend off Democrats in this year's congressional elections.
The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to hold a hearing Monday on the National Security Agency's controversial secret domestic spying program -- and already the Justice Department is balking at turning over its legal opinions justifying the electronic surveillance of Americans without a court warrant. But there's a bigger problem committee chairman Arlen Specter and the panel's other members face than simply getting Justice to cough up documents. Exactly how should the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires the Justice Department to obtain a warrant from a special FISA court before wiretapping anyone in the U.S., be updated to give the NSA more flexibility in spying on suspected terrorists?
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales sipped water, read from bread-box sized law books and generally kept his cool through a barrage of questions Monday as Senators from both parties tried to corner him on the limits of presidential wartime powers. It was the first real public debate in Congress since 9/11 about presidential authority in times of war, and so while the hearing was ostensibly about the President's secret warrantless wiretapping program, the most exercised debate was about how far the Commander in Chief's powers could be taken without judicial oversight.
U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is poised to defend President Bush's controversial domestic spying program Monday when he testifies at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the program.
U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller on Thursday complained about a "wall the White House has constructed" around its domestic surveillance program and said Democrats will press their attacks on the president's authorization of the program.
President Bush touched on many different areas in his State of the Union address Tuesday. Here is a CNN Fact Check of some of the statements he made:
The White House has begun a new push to justify a controversial domestic spying program that allows the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on conversations to or from the United States without obtaining a court warrant.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had trouble tapping into a group of hooded protesters at Georgetown Law School in Washington on Tuesday.
President Bush and other officials Monday intensified their defense of a domestic surveillance program that supporters say protects against terrorism and critics say threatens civil liberties.
The Justice Department has issued a detailed legal justification for President Bush's decision to order the National Security Agency's controversial domestic surveillance program.
Two lawsuits were filed Tuesday against the National Security Agency over its no-warrant wiretapping program, claiming the domestic eavesdropping is unconstitutional and that President Bush exceeded his authority by authorizing it.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales once again Monday defended the legality of a controversial surveillance program by the National Security Agency, calling it a "very targeted and limited" operation that has helped thwart terrorist attacks in the United States.
Former Vice President Al Gore called on Congress and the public to resist what he called "a gross and excessive power grab" by the Bush administration amid the war on terrorism, declaring that "our Constitution is at risk."
U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Friday that he will testify in a Senate hearing on the National Security Agency's recently revealed domestic eavesdropping program.
President Bush on Wednesday defended the National Security Agency's controversial warrantless eavesdropping program and the nearly three-year mission to plant democracy in Iraq -- his second speech in as many days revolving around national security.
A senior U.S. intelligence official told CNN on Thursday that the National Security Agency did not target CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour or any other CNN journalist for surveillance.
In a robust defense of the nation's post-9/11 domestic eavesdropping program, Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday said the tool is "critical" for U.S. national security.
In the abstruse world of espionage, it's not always easy to know when you are in on a secret. So when intelligence sources approached New York Times reporter James Risen in late 2004 with evidence that the Bush Administration was running a covert domestic-spying program, Risen says he "wasn't sure what to believe." As Risen and Times colleague Eric Lichtblau looked into the story, more whistle-blowers came forward, convincing the reporters that the eavesdropping claims were credible. At that point Risen asked a few "very senior" government officials what they knew about the spying program. "They would look at me with these blank expressions, and say, 'No--that can't be going on,'" Risen told TIME. That's when Risen knew he was sitting on a major scoop.
Up until a couple of weeks ago, George W. Bush's script to put the misery of 2005 behind him had seemed destined for a smooth rollout. Buoyed by the apparent success of the Iraqi elections, the President would score a quick confirmation victory with Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, follow it up with a soaring State of the Union address and then return to full campaign mode with a sweep around the country, talking about big issues like immigration and Medicare and throwing the spotlight on a resurgent economy. But the revelation that his Administration has been spying in this country without warrants -- illegally, critics say --may have put a crimp in Bush's plan to climb back on top of the agenda as the new legislative session begins. "When Congress comes back," warns a top GOP congressional aide, "domestic surveillance and privacy issues will be all over the front pages."
In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, White House officials were haunted by two questions. Were there other terrorists lying in wait within the U.S.? And, given how freely the 19 hijackers had been able to operate before they acted, how would we know where to find them? It didn't take long before an aggressive idea emerged from the circle of Administration hawks. Liberalize the rules for domestic spying, they urged. Free the National Security Agency (NSA) to use its powerful listening technology to eavesdrop on terrorist suspects on U.S. soil without having to seek a warrant for every phone number it tracked. But because of a 1978 law that forbids the NSA to conduct no-warrant surveillance inside the U.S., the new policy would require one of two steps. The first was to revise the law. The other was to ignore it.
President Bush on Sunday defended his administration's use of wiretaps on U.S. citizens without a court order, saying comments he made in 2004 that "nothing has changed" in the use of wiretaps were not misleading.
The Justice Department has opened an investigation into leaks to the media about the National Security Agency's classified domestic surveillance program.
Defense attorneys for several terror suspects prosecuted by the Justice Department said Wednesday they plan to file court motions questioning the legality of a National Security Agency surveillance project.
Telecommunications companies are helping the National Security Agency collect information as part of a program President Bush secretly approved in 2002, a source familiar with the program said.
Justice Department lawyers have sent a letter to key congressional leaders providing legal arguments they say justify President Bush's decision to authorize the National Security Agency to intercept communications between people in the United States and potential terrorist contacts abroad.
A court that oversees government surveillance will receive a secret briefing about President Bush's controversial domestic spying program, a judge on the court told CNN.
Since 2001, the National Security Agency has been given the power to conduct wiretaps within the United States without first getting a court-issued warrant. President Bush has been criticized for ordering the practice, which he says is necessary for the war on terror.
Democratic House leaders called Sunday for an independent panel to investigate the legality of a program President Bush authorized that allows warrantless wiretaps on U.S. citizens, according to a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
In acknowledging the message was true, President Bush took aim at the messenger Saturday, saying that a newspaper jeopardized national security by revealing that he authorized wiretaps on U.S. citizens after September 11.
The following is a statement from New York Times executive editor Bill Keller on the paper's decision to print a story Friday that said President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens and others in the United States who were communicating with individuals overseas.
Without confirming a report that he OK'd eavesdropping on U.S. citizens in 2002, President Bush defended his actions since September 11, 2001, saying he has done everything "within the law" to protect the American people.
Republicans failed for the second time Monday to move the Senate toward a vote on President Bush's nomination of John R. Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations.
A Senate vote on John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations won't come until at least next month after Democrats forced a delay Thursday, demanding the Bush administration turn over documents.
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