Talk:NSA warrantless surveillance (2001–2007)

Dates	Previous Talk
December 20 - December 31	Talk:NSA warrantless surveillance controversy/archive 1
January 1 - January 27	Talk:NSA warrantless surveillance controversy/archive 2
January 27 - February 4	Talk:NSA warrantless surveillance controversy/Neutral Point Of View is not The Truth
February 5 - March 11	Talk:NSA warrantless surveillance controversy/archive 4
March 12 - April 29	Talk:NSA warrantless surveillance controversy/archive 5

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NPOV

This is Sanger's seminal "how-to-do" NPOV:

http://nupedia.8media.org/policy.shtml#nonbias

"On every issue about which there might be even minor dispute among experts on this subject, is it very difficult or impossible for the reader to determine what the view is to which the author adheres?"

Seems like an objective way of looking at how one's edits ought to read. Metarhyme 20:36, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

The "fact sheet" section does not reflect a neutral point of view. 209.6.189.247 08:35, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

questions of warrantless surveillance

14:28 2 May 2006 - User:141.224.64.41 replaced Legal issues with this:

The debate surrounding President Bush's authorization of warrant-less surveillance is principally about the extent of authority the president received from the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). The executive branch asserts that the AUMF supersedes the FISA courts, giving him the power to “use all necessary and appropriate force.” Many members of congress however disagree with this interpretation, some even considering it an impeachable felony offence. The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) defines the Justice Department's authority to conduct physical and electronic surveillance for "foreign intelligence information". FISA provides two mechanisms to perform searches. First, FISA authorizes the Justice Department to obtain warrants from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) up to 72 hours after the beginning of the eavesdropping. FISA authorizes a FISC judge to grant an application for the electronic surveillance only if "there is probable cause to believe that… the target of the electronic surveillance is a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power." 50 U.S.C. §1805(a)(3). Second, FISA permits the President to authorize the Justice Department to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance for up to one year without a court order. 50 U.S.C. §1802(a)(1). In this situation, the surveillance must be directed solely at communications used exclusively by foreign powers; United States citizens can be considered agents of a foreign power, but not solely upon the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States. 50 U.S.C. §1805(a)(3). FISA provides for both criminal and civil liability for intentional electronic surveillance under law but this has never been authorized by statute. FISA defines a "foreign power" as a foreign government, any faction(s) or foreign governments not substantially composed of US persons, and any entity directed or controlled by a foreign government. FISA limits its use against US citizens. Finally, FISA applies to surveillance whose significant purpose must be for gathering foreign intelligence information, which is information necessary to protect against actual or potential grave attack, sabotage or international terrorism. Executive orders by previous administrations including Clinton's and Carter's authorized the attorneys general to exercise authority with respect to both options under FISA. These legal and constitutional orders were exercises of executive power under Article II consistent with FISA. In Clinton's executive order, he authorizes his attorney general "[pursuant] to section 302(a)(1)" to conduct physical searches without court order "if the Attorney General makes the certifications required by that section". However, the authorization granted by President Bush to the NSA apparently uses neither FISC approval nor the one-year foreign surveillance authority granted by FISA. Instead, the administration argues that the power is granted by the Constitution and by a statutory exemption, as advocated by John Yoo’s Unitary Executive theory. Which argues that the President has the "inherent authority to conduct warrant-less searches to obtain foreign intelligence information." One court has said that the President's Commander-in-Chief authority extends to the "independent authority to repel aggressive acts... without specific congressional authorization" and without court review of the "level of force selected." Campbell v. Clinton, 203 F.3d 19 (D.C. Cir. 2000). Whether such declarations apply to foreign intelligence has been examined by few courts. It is also uncertain whether the allegation that surveillance involves foreign parties suffices to extend law governing the president's military and foreign affairs powers to cover domestic activities. The Supreme Court voiced this concern in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, ruling that "a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the Nation’s citizens." Even assuming the President has no authority under Article II of the Constitution, the administration has argued that the President's decision may nevertheless be protected under FISA. Following the 9/11 attacks, Congress passed the AUMF. Section 2(a) of the AUMF authorized the President to "use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed or aided the [9/11] terrorist attacks." However, critics have pointed out that if a statute that governs a specific question in great detail is apparently contradicted by a statute that may apply only generally, the detailed statute applies. In this case, FISA provides a very detailed set of instructions for domestic wiretapping, while the AUMF makes no mention of wiretapping and can only be argued to apply to the NSA warrant-less surveillance program by a vague and generalized interpretation. This indicates that the AUMF does not affect the applicability of FISA. This is further supported by reports from many members of Congress who have said they had no idea of overturning FISA by passing the AUMF. The conservative Republican senator Lindsay Graham went further, during the testimony of Alberto Gonzales to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and made the point that Congress will be far more hesitant to pass general authorizations to use military force in the future, and will have to take the time to work out narrowly detailed statutory authorizations in the future, out of wariness of the precedent of the AUMF having been interpreted to authorize far greater powers than Congress had in mind, CNN reports. The administration argues instead that the authority to perform warrant-less domestic wiretapping was implicit in the authorization to use force in the AUMF. FISA provides that intentional surveillance without authority is a felony "except as authorized by statute." The argument, in this case, is that "all necessary force" includes "foreign surveillance", and that the AUMF is therefore a statute that otherwise authorizes the surveillance, satisfying FISA's conditions for not constituting a felony. In Hamdi, the Supreme Court found that the detention of both American and Foreign citizens were "clearly and unmistakably" a "fundamental incident of waging war". The administration argues that this suggests intelligence gathering would fall under this same rubric of incidents of war. If the AUMF was meant to be understood as a "statutory" authority outweighing FISA, neither the criminal nor civil penalties would apply, at the very least, to those individuals targeted by the AUMF. However, former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, who negotiated the language of the AUMF, explained to the Washington post that the president has exercised authority that I do not believe is granted to him in the Constitution, and that I know is not granted to him in the law that I helped negotiate."

POV vandalism, but a lot of work went into the content, so I brought it here. Metarhyme 16:44, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

That is not vandalism. Please review Wikipedia:Vandalism. Any good faith efforts to improve the encyclopedia are not vandalism, even if you disagree with them. Blanking the section is a little more questionable, but just replace the text and engage in conversation about how to improve the article. Refer to WP:V and WP:NOR. - Taxman ^Talk 23:28, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

If I were not willing to converse, I would not have brought the content here. User:141.224.64.41 doesn't seem to want to talk. Here's the stuff the anon didn't like:

The debate surrounding President Bush's authorization of warrantless surveillance is principally about the extent of the authority the executive branch derives from its constitutional and statutory authority to protect the nation from attack and its relation to restrictions imposed by FISA. The legal community is split; some lawyers believe the ultimate issue of legality is largely unknowable until the full details of the NSA surveillance operation are known; others, like Harold Koh, dean of Yale Law School, Suzanne Spaulding, former general counsel for the Intelligence Committees of the House and Senate, and former Counsel to the President John Dean, argue that FISA clearly makes the wiretapping illegal[108], and that the president's own admissions already constitute sufficient evidence of a violation of the Constitution and the criminal penalties of FISA, without requiring further factual evidence; and still others, like John Schmidt, former Associate Attorney General, [109] Douglas Kmiec, chair of Pepperdine Law School, and John Eastman, Chapman Law Professor and Director of the Claremont Institute Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, argue either that Congress implicitly authorized an exemption to FISA or that FISA cannot bind the president in a time of war; see "Other legal analysis" below.

The In re sealed case decision in section III says, "The Truong court, as did all the other courts to have decided the issue, held that the President did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information. It was incumbent upon the court, therefore, to determine the boundaries of that constitutional authority in the case before it. We take for granted that the President does have that authority and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach on the President’s constitutional power. The question before us is the reverse, does FISA amplify the President’s power by providing a mechanism that at least approaches a classic warrant and which therefore supports the government’s contention that FISA searches are constitutionally reasonable."

K.A. Taipale of the World Policy Institute and James Jay Carafano of the Heritage Foundation [110], Philip Bobbitt of the University of Texas at Austin Law School [111], Judge Richard A. Posner [112], and others (See, e.g., The Eavesdropping Debate We Should be Having [113]) have suggested that, regardless of how one feels about this important Constitutional power issue, FISA itself is no longer adequate to deal with certain foreign intelligence surveillance requirements and related technology developments and thus needs to be amended. In particular, FISA may no longer be adequate to address the transition from circuit-based communications to packet-based communications, the globalization of communications infrastructure, and the development of automated monitoring techniques, including data mining and traffic analysis (see Whispering Wires and Warrantless Wiretaps [114]).

The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act defines the Justice Department's authority to conduct physical and electronic surveillance for "foreign intelligence information". FISA provides two mechanisms to perform searches. First, FISA authorizes the Justice Department to obtain warrants from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) up to 72 hours after the beginning of the eavesdropping. In this case, FISA authorizes a FISC judge to grant an application for the electronic surveillance if "there is probable cause to believe that… the target of the electronic surveillance is a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power." 50 U.S.C. §1805(a)(3). Second, FISA permits the President to authorize the Justice Department to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance for up to one year without a court order. 50 U.S.C. §1802(a)(1). [115] In this situation, the surveillance must be directed solely at communications used exclusively by foreign powers; United States citizens can be considered agents of a foreign power, but not solely upon the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States. 50 U.S.C. §1805(a)(3). FISA provides for both criminal and civil liability for intentional electronic surveillance under color of law but not authorized by statute. FISA defines a "foreign power" as a foreign government, any faction(s) or foreign governments not substantially composed of US persons, and any entity directed or controlled by a foreign government. FISA limits its use against US persons who are citizens, foreign resident aliens of US corporations. Finally, FISA applies to surveillance whose significant purpose must be for gathering foreign intelligence information, which is information necessary to protect against actual or potential grave attack, sabotage or international terrorism.

Executive orders by previous administrations including Clinton's and Carter's authorized the attorneys general to exercise authority with respect to both options under FISA. [116] [117] These legal and constitutional orders were exercises of executive power under Article II consistent with FISA. In Clinton's executive order, he authorizes his attorney general "[pursuant] to section 302(a)(1)" to conduct physical searches without court order "if the Attorney General makes the certifications required by that section".

However, the authorization granted by President Bush to the NSA apparently uses neither FISC approval nor the one-year foreign surveillance authority granted by FISA. Instead, the administration argues that the power is granted by the Constitution and by a statutory exemption, as is advocated by the Unitary Executive theory using the interpretation of John Yoo et al. It is argued that the President has the "inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information." Article II of the Constitution of the United States of America makes the President "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States," and also mandates that he "shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed", where "the Laws" refer to federal statutes passed by Congress. Article I vests Congress with the sole authority "To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces" and "To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof." The president is an officer of the government of the United States, so is subject to Congress's sole authority to make all laws for carrying the powers of the president into execution, while the president is specifically charged with the duty to take care that those laws be faithfully executed.

One court has said that the President's Commander-in-Chief authority extends to the "independent authority to repel aggressive acts... without specific congressional authorization" and without court review of the "level of force selected." Campbell v. Clinton, 203 F.3d 19 (D.C. Cir. 2000). Whether such declarations apply to foreign intelligence has been examined by few courts. It is also uncertain whether the allegation that surveillance involves foreign parties suffices to extend law governing the president's military and foreign affairs powers to cover domestic activities. The Supreme Court voiced this concern in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, ruling that "a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the Nation’s citizens."

In 2002, the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (Court of Review) met for the first time and issued an important foreign intelligence opinion, In Re Sealed Case No. 02-001. The Court of Review examined all the significant appellate decisions. They noted all the Federal courts of appeal having looked at the issue had concluded that there was such constitutional power. Furthermore, if there was such power, "FISA could not encroach on the president's constitutional power." However, In Re Sealed Case "[took] for granted" that these cases are correct. Furthermore, professor Orin Kerr argues that the part of In Re Sealed Case that dealt with FISA (rather than the Fourth Amendment) was nonbinding dicta and that the argument does not restrict Congress's power to regulate the executive in general.[118]

In In Re Sealed Case No. 02-001 the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review [7] ruled, "Even without taking into account the President’s inherent constitutional authority to conduct warrantless foreign intelligence surveillance, we think the procedures and government showings required under FISA, if they do not meet the minimum Fourth Amendment warrant standards, certainly come close. We, therefore, believe firmly, applying the balancing test drawn from Keith, that FISA as amended is constitutional because the surveillances it authorizes are reasonable."

The balancing test from Keith referred to above is a legal test that asks, was the primary use of the warrantless search or tap to collect foreign intelligence as per presidential authority or was the primary use of the warrantless search or tap to gather evidence to use in a criminal trial.

Even assuming the President has no authority under Article II of the Constitution, the administration has argued that the President's decision may nevertheless be protectible under FISA. Following the 9/11 attacks, Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists (AUMF). Section 2(a) of the AUMF authorized the President to "use all necessary... force against those nations, organizations or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed or aided the [9/11] terrorist attacks." However, critics have pointed out that according to the canons of statutory construction, if a statute that governs a specific question in great detail is apparently contradicted by a statute that may apply only generally or vaguely, the detailed statute is the one that applies. In this case, FISA provides a very detailed legal regime for domestic wiretapping, while the AUMF makes no mention of wiretapping and can only be argued to apply to the NSA warrantless surveillance program by a vague and generalized interpretation. This indicates that the AUMF does not affect the applicability of FISA. This is further supported by reports from many members of Congress who have said they had no idea of overturning FISA by passing the AUMF, while no member of Congress has volunteered the opposite, that they conceived of overturning FISA by passing the AUMF. The conservative Republican senator Lindsay Graham went further, during the testimony of Alberto Gonzales to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and made the point that Congress will be far more hesitant to pass general authorizations to use military force in the future, and will have to take the time to work out narrowly detailed statutory authorizations in the future, out of wariness of the precedent of the AUMF having been interpreted to authorize far greater powers than Congress had in mind.

The administration argues instead that the authority to perform warrantless domestic wiretapping was implicit in the authorization to use force in the AUMF. FISA provides that intentional surveillance without authority is a felony "except as authorized by statute." The argument, in this case, is that "all necessary force" includes "foreign surveillance", and that the AUMF is therefore a statute that otherwise authorizes the surveillance, satisfying FISA's conditions for not constituting a felony. In Hamdi, the Supreme Court found that the detention of both American and Foreign citizens were "clearly and unmistakably" a "fundamental incident of waging war". The administration argues that this suggests intelligence gathering would fall under this same rubric of incidents of war. As such, if the AUMF would be understood as a "statutory" authority under FISA, neither the criminal nor civil penalities would apply, at the very least, to those individuals targeted by the AUMF. However, former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, who negotiated the language of the AUMF, explained that "the president has exercised authority that I do not believe is granted to him in the Constitution, and that I know is not granted to him in the law that I helped negotiate." [119]

Finally, there may be significant legal problems should information gathered under President Bush's authorization be used in criminal trials. Ordinarily, the Fourth Amendment protects the "right of the people to be secure... against unreasonable searches and seizures". It continues that "no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause". A number of cases have found that authorization for surveillance under FISA did not violate the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment is couched in reasonableness. Courts have long recognized exceptions from the warrant requirement for "special needs" outside "the normal need for law enforcement."

In In Re Sealed Case, the court recognized foreign intelligence surveillance is different from surveillance used for criminal prosecution. In addition, courts have rejected arguments under the Due process or the Equal protection clauses. This is not clearly the case for authorization given to the NSA by the President. Other cases have allowed the use at criminal trial of evidence obtained incident to authorized FISA.

Courts have only addressed this issue with respect to authorized surveillance of foreign powers, their agents and those communications incident to such surveillance. The courts have never specifically addressed whether it is reasonable to use evidence gained from broad warrantless surveillance, which may more broadly cover the communications of US persons. The National Security Act of 1947[120] requires Presidential findings for covert acts. SEC. 503. [50 U.S.C. 413b] (a) (5) of that act states: "A finding may not authorize any action that would violate the Constitution or any statute of the United States."

If you, User:Taxman or anyone else, would like to work to get a good mesh between the two versions of the section here, maybe a better NPOV legal analysis section would emerge. Metarhyme 13:56, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

I'll have to plead ignorance on this issue, I'm not qualified to assess the given sources. But as far as procedure goes, you have clearly established your position, and if the anon or anyone else can't come with reliable sources to refute your points then you have the stronger case and you are justified in reverting. Better sources "win". Sorry if I stuck in here, my point was it wasn't vandalism, but that doesn't mean it was an improvement either. But a black and white look at who "wins" the argument doesn't help so if no one else picks up the torch see what you can do to assess if the anon's positions have any merit and modify the article by yourself for the greater good to incorporate the anon's information. I'll bow out now and let the more qualified people do the work. - Taxman ^Talk 17:26, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

Ya, Metarhyme did the right thing by taking the material to talk. Though I can't say it was vandalism either. I have to say, I came back to this article and it's fantastic! Lots of information. - Ta bu shi da yu 08:30, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

SCOTUS has in the past been inclined to retain whispy scraps of the 4th ammendment. If they don't dodge the issue down the road, they get to figure out the legality eventually. I contributed little to the article's legal analysis. The authors of it may not wish to tackle the task you have set out. Metarhyme 18:44, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

Move?

Does anybody think this page should be moved to National Security Agency warrantless surveillance controversy? --MZMcBride 04:22, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

Not me. A prior move attempt eventually yielded Terrorist surveillance program. A prior Legality of warrantless surveillance fork was AfD'd. Your proposal is more difficult to type than NSA. I do not think this page should be moved. Metarhyme 07:25, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

I would tend to agree. - Ta bu shi da yu 08:27, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

The Controversy v. The Program

An effort to describe the program itself, as opposed to the controversy about the program has been made here: Terrorist surveillance program. I am of the opinion that there are too many "known unknowns" and not enough "known knowns" about the program for there to be an encyclopedia article written about it. I also feel that the title of the article is not NPOV. However, I invite everyone who has worked on this page to look at that article and comment/revise, etc. Kgwo1972 19:39, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

I'd prefer to avoid hearing and responding to Thweatt. Check the archive. Metarhyme 04:56, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Wow! I'm confused by the hostility there. I'm not sure if I should be thankful or offended.--WilliamThweatt 15:02, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Mixed emotions are confusing. Here's yesterday's Times NSA program controversy graphic. It was peaceful when it was quiescent, but Demoncrats and their ilk keep returning to it like attorneys to the Plame. Metarhyme 16:30, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

NOTE I have added a link to the Terrorist surveillance program, which was created as the place to describe the program itself as opposed to the controversy over it. Kgwo1972 15:56, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Length

Isn't this article a little big long? Not even articles like American Civil War or American Revolution are so long. I think this article exceeds the optimum in length. - TopAce 11:44, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

Well, thanks to User:Harmil, the NSA call database was created yesterday, so that's not being piled into this one. A way for wingnuts and bushbots to agree that the article does not require an NPOV disputed tag is for gobs of both points of view to be present in this article, which has impacted coherence as well as greatly lengthened it. The analysis of the legality above in Talk could be spun off if a judge rewrote it with regard to all opinions. That would shorten it. Would you like to do that? Metarhyme 13:53, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

But, too long and growing. So I propose moving the History of warrantless searches section to a Warrantless searches in the United States stub article, with a summary here noting that as the main article. I'd like to do that with the Legal challenges section as well => Legal challenges to NSA warrantless searches in the United States. The Other US domestic surveillance programs section ought to go also, but I'm not sure where. Notification of Congressional leaders way down at the bottom should be merged with the section on Congress. Objections? Comments? Metarhyme 02:37, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Stubbed out history and challenges. Metarhyme 06:19, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Statistical section

User:Penf0ld created a gorgeous new section which I removed to Penf0ld's user page. It was unsourced and I'm fairly certain that it's Original Research - Penf0ld's. If this is not so, it can be put back in article space. I'm hoping that a source can be provided - take a look at it it's beautiful. Metarhyme 02:10, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Legal argument

If as Orin Kerr opined, the program broke the law, as in the FISA statute, but was constitutional, it is possible that Congress could retrospectively correct the error and write a new law to make the program both within the new FISA statute and constitutional. Then it would only be the wise use of executive discretion or misuse of executive resources and a question of wasting time on fishing expeditions versus hunting where we already know there are wild game. :) John wesley 13:01, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

I think one big problem is an ammendment Congress originally presented for ratification as the sixth, penned out like this:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall be isuued but upon
probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized

The two lines on the original parchment can be viewed in high resolution by downloading Bill_of_Rights_Pg1of1_AC.jpg (l.5 MB) from the national archives. The guy working the quill started the second line with "probable." Maybe he meant to write "bit of suspicion," but slipped up. The States ratified it as the 4th Ammendent. Without its OTA, Congress is crippled when considering technology. They could revive OTA, or wait for the Supreme Court. NSA could kill its revived domestic. Metarhyme 19:16, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

I am not making an educated opinion as to its constitutionality, only that if it were constitutional, Congress would still need to draft a statute to allow it. Then we wouldn't be swimming in a murky legal situation here. John wesley 19:19, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

Congress is having trouble concentrating. They need to employ brains able to focus on reconciling data mining with the 4th ammendment. Nixon's gift to Congress - their Office of Technology Assessment - was disbanded by Newtie's wreckers in 1995. OTA actually studied the problem and got out reports before it was terminated. Killing OTA may be a reversible mistake. If, on the other hand, Congress sticks with not looking into things and is content to rubber stamp decrees, then the legal situation definitely won't get less murky. Metarhyme 20:38, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

Big Brother

For those that still believe security trumps all, see the following articles that clearly show how little is known and how dangerous this program is. Those violating the law do not get investigated, but when journalists report on these crimes they are.

A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we (Brian Ross and Richard Esposito) call in an effort to root out confidential sources.[1]

Is this what they mean with "shooting the messenger?" It is official, every non-terrorist is subject of this program, especially opposing politicians, journalists, activists, et cetera.[2] Nomen Nescio^{Gnothi seauton} 08:13, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

The FBI has been ordered to find someone - a government employee or several - who leaked information to the press. As investigating detectives, they have examined call records of some relevant government agencies. They state that they adhere to legal requirements when asking phone companies for anything more than the government's own records. If you can't accept the FBI's statement, look at the number of leakers caught so far in this case - none - an unlikely total if the NSA is fully involved. Metarhyme 15:42, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

Point is, the administration is more interested in targeting critics (those who expose violations of the law, reporters, leakers) than in apprehending terrorists.[3] That is the problem with this major logging of calls. Nomen Nescio^{Gnothi seauton} 07:55, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

And it's handy to classify them with the terrorists as enemies of the party government properly subject to antiterrorist measures. That's the context - you are correct. However, I would prefer that the article stick to the controversy over the NSA doing surveillance inside the USA without having to ask a judge for a warrant. Getting the article away from that is sinful. A smidgen of sin is unexceptional - an unsightly abundance of sin is bad. Metarhyme 18:25, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

It was not meant as part of this article. Merely wanted to show what the scope is of the similar programs started after 9-11. Nomen Nescio^{Gnothi seauton} 07:54, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Article cleanup needed

Reading the article for the first time in a while, I am struck by "article sprawl". Big time. Having seen how the 2004 election controversy article went (which I wrote initially), this is doing similar. It's a good article, but if a couple of the main editors on it would read carefully, it could be greatly improved.

One of my main concerns is that almost every section up to FISA, is basically a diary, section by section. So you get Dec 2005 - May 2006 in this area, then Dec 2005 - May 2006 in that area. Eventually ones eyes glaze over. Mine did. I stopped reading there. This is what we learned in the election controversy article:

1. First, summarise section by section. So people have basic orienting sections, of whats gone on.
2. Then, look at the diaries and news timelines. Have no more than one of these. Perhaps create an article, "Timeline of NSA warrantless wiretap controversy", and put in that a section for each month.
3. If a section's going to sprawl, ask if all the detail is needed, or if it can be summarized and links given for the detail. if it's a key section, farm it out to a linked article. The election controversy ended up with about 6 of those, 1 for each of the main 4 areas, and a timeline, and a main summary article, or something.
4. Finally, look at the article you're writing. can someone read it.

Hope that helps. Its good work. Perhaps the above will help answer the voices of critics. FT2 (Talk) 07:16, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

The thing is, do we really need the cleanup tag? I've removed it, if you disagree, please readd it. - Ta bu shi da yu 08:18, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Myth v Reality

This section is the most bias one sided view. If we write an encyl article and there are two extreme points of view we should put then side by side and not "Myth" v. "Reality" . Myth suggests that that side is untrue. There are good arguments that the warrantless spying is illegal and that it is legal. The better argument is not whether it is legal but wheher it is constitutional. John wesley 13:48, 18 May 2006 (UTC) The person who moved it here uses not an ID but a nameless ID John wesley 13:48, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

---

Hi, I'm the person who is trying to help salvage this article. It is obvious to most people that it needs clean-up because it is full of excess bi-partisan poltical grandstanding and a media frenzy. The job of you Wikipedians is to sort through all of that and just to put up the facts. People interested in reading this section don't want to be steered to think one thing or another. They just want the facts so that we can make up their own minds. We don't need to be told in an Editorial section what others think or a Poll section aimed to bandwagon people to think one way or the other. Just keep the article as short as possible and as summarized and too the point-- without quotes taken out of context. People just want to read the milestones not about every meeting held, letter sent, or press conference held. To quote Dragnet, "Just the facts, Mam". I hope this helps. .— Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.98.154.35 (talk • contribs)

Bias in choosing titles like Myth, Reality

If you just put proper titles, not Myth and balance it, it should be fine. John wesley 14:31, 18 May 2006 (UTC) It should be easy. John wesley 14:31, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Article protected

Editors, please discuss your issues here and come to some sort of compromise. - Ta bu shi da yu 14:47, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

We have an anonymous IP editor who has been doing mischief on the page; just look at his talk apge and the history of the NSA artcile. He uses word like Myth to describe clear violations of both ECPA and FISA while credits the administration's views as Reality. John wesley 14:51, 18 May 2006 (UTC) The anon posts shos bad faith. While there may be excessive POV on other parts, this does not justifying using loaded words like MYTH John wesley 14:51, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

The question of whether Congress' Use of Force declartion gives the prez the authority to spy on Americans is not yet decided. Anon user cannot merely say that that is Reality. John wesley 14:58, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Considering this edit summary by this prolific ano deletionist:

Restored section again, retitling as requested. Mr. Wesley, please refrain from speaking for everyone. If you personally don't trust your own government, that's your problem. The general public does

we can savely conclude this editor has missed the polls, saying Bush's popularity is at an all time low, for several months. Nomen Nescio^{Gnothi seauton} 15:04, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

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Hi again, seeing that the Department of Justice has jurisdiction over this program, they know more then the media and have the upper-hand of what is a fact and what is not. I did not come up with the title "Myth vs Reality" that is from the fact sheet itself. Mr. Wesley, if you don't feel you can believe something you read when your own government releases something, I'm presuming you are a citizen of the United States, then maybe you shouldn't be working on this article since you obviously are working in bad faith. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.98.154.35 (talk • contribs)

Please sign your comment, else it is merely a rant. We need to know if there is continuity. John wesley 15:04, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Excuse me John, but you removed the anon's comment [4] I'm sure you didn't mean to do this, but please be more careful in future. - Ta bu shi da yu 15:07, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

I am concerned that it was him and not someone else breaking into the train as a third, but named ID, editor has come in the NSA stuff. John wesley 15:11, 18 May 2006 (UTC) If we sign and correctly label both sides. The anon poster neither labelled the Bush admin's side or his critics' side nor has the anon poster put the other side next to it. John wesley 15:11, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

That sounds reasonable. However, anon, could you consider summarising the fact sheet? We have a policy of not allowing straight copy and pastes of material like this, that is the job of Wikisource. Also, could you sign your comments with ~~~~ so we know who you are? Better than this, have you considered creating an account? - Ta bu shi da yu 15:07, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

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Just calling it a Fact doesn't make it true. It is just as biases as before; Myth and reality, Jeeze!John wesley 15:04, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

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Ta bu shi da yu, I have no problem with excerpting the fact sheet instead. I can just edit it highlights of it. That actually would probably be better since it would simplify it. .— Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.98.154.35 (talk • contribs)

OK, I'll unprotect the article. - Ta bu shi da yu 15:20, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Cannot call it fact merely because the DoJ sez so. They have a dog in the fight. EPIC and EFF may sue and assert an opposing POV. Should not label a DoJ factsheet as The FactSheet of an encyclopedia beacuse it is misleading to nonlawyers who may read this. John wesley 15:26, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Until anon fixes tha label

I will edit the intro to plainly state that the fact sheet was issued in reponse to critics. John wesley 15:29, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Now I think the Fact Sheet is less misleading

Because gullible readers will now know its source. John wesley 15:35, 18 May 2006 (UTC) I don't have time now to balance the bald assertions of power, akin to the Bybee memo power grab, but let it be said that the inherent authority argument was rejected by the Supreme Court half a Centrury ago in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer. John wesley 15:35, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

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No need to emphasize that it's a fact sheet. It is the government's rebuttal to misinformation. You just using the words "gullible", "power grab" and more shows your bias. The legal argument part of the article goes into that stuff. I guess it the fact sheet can be called a "pre-buttal" since it comes before the onslaught of negative and mostly ignorant press in the article.

Ummm... I think he just made it clear what was information and what was misinformation when he cited Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer. Kevin Baas^talk 21:27, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

P.S. Poll numbers are a snap shot in time and do not explain anything about the program itself. They are irrelevant to be in the article. Besides, most of the polls are push polls--that is polls that are taken with an agenda to lead to a certain response. Sampling within these polls is not always accurate or even close to it to registered political affliation in the United States, making the polls even more irrelevant.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.98.154.35 (talk • contribs)

You are making extraordinary claims. Can you provide evidence and citations from reliable sources to verify them? Kevin Baas^talk 21:27, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

I just think the article is too long now. There is enough in there to inform readers of the Bush Admin's opponents and also civil libertarians concerns that it may be illegal. It also contains the administration's, via DoJ, position as to its proper conduct. I think it covers it. The article is also about the controversy. This makes the article an inviting place for a play by play but unfortunately this makes it too big for easy use. If we could make the artcile shorter, it would be more useful. We just what to make sure we leave the esssential points of both sides and a sufficient discussion of how the story broke ans the Congress and Admin response. The editorials and Polls are actually outside the scope. It would belong in a different article say on: reaction to the NY Times breaking the story. John wesley 21:36, 18 May 2006 (UTC) If we had space I would not mind leaving it in, but as it's already too big, I would prefer to either remove or rewrite at least the Editorials section to make it much, much shorter. John wesley 21:36, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Editorials & Polls Removal

Since there is great objection to these two sections, not just from me but others before as seen in History, and shortening and slightly revising this article is a goal, could these two sections be permanently removed in their entirety? It would greatly improve the article to do so. Please see my posts above on this.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.98.154.35 (talk • contribs)

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5/19/06 Kevin, you asked about proof about the polls being steered to get a certain response. I excerpted the following article [5] to the relevant parts:

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006 Poll Perspectives

I took a look at two recent polls, once each by the LA Times and Bloomberg, [6] and by CBS News and the New York Times. [7] What I found tells a much different story than the media would have you believe. The headlines in the LA and NY Times do their utmost to sell the lie that Bush is failing, when the facts in their own polling speak to the contrary. I chose to detail these two polls, because no one can reasonably claim that the LA and NY Times or Bloomberg or CBS News has any interest whatsoever in advancing support for President Bush or the Republican Party. Therefore, any statement in their polling which does so must be at least as strong as stated; their pretense in print scurrying to the Left as always.

First, I would like to address the methodology of both polls. The LA Times/Bloomberg poll fails to fully disclose the nature of their respondent poll, stating only that “1,555 adults nationwide” were contacted “by telephone January 22 through 25”. While the LA Times claims that the respondent poll was “weighted slightly to conform with” Census numbers by “sex, race, age, education, and region”, they also admit that “certain subgroups” may have results which skew the error margin “somewhat higher.” Just how badly the poll misses the target, one can only guess. It should be noted from the LA Times’ statements however, that they did not weight their polling to match known party identification, they did not make any effort to ensure that rural adults were properly contacted, or that the unemployed and low-level employed would not be over-represented. Yet the nature of their methodology (all-telephone polling, with three of the four days during the work week) strongly implies a bias against professionals and traditional family structures, and hints at heavy dependency on the urban, the under-employed, the coasts, and the young (this can be done while pretending to follow Census guidelines by allowing for broader age classifications – legitimate polls limit age groups to static ranges, but newspaper-based polling often accepts a variable range, allowing them to manipulate polling by oversampling, say, 20-25 year olds and using them in place of 35-39 year olds, but lumping them all in the same class to pretend objectivity).

As for the CBS News/NY Times poll, I have mentioned before that while I find their conclusions unreasonable many times, I still respect the poll for relatively transparent reporting of its respondent pool. The CBS/NYT poll also contacted its respondents by telephone, but for over five days instead of four, including the weekend. The CBS/NYT poll did not reveal specifics on the demographics of its respondents, but weights its poll according to the 2000 Census. A key indicator, which CBS/NYT has always supplied, is the hard numbers of party identification. The unweighted tally for the poll showed 1.229 adults, with 469 identifying themselves as “Independent” (yes, that seems a bit high to me), 388 calling themselves “Democrats”, and 372 calling themselves Republicans. After weighting, the poll decreased the Independents’ weight to 456 effective respondents out of 1,228, and decreased the Republican weight to 360, while increasing the Democrat weight to 412. Obviously I find such weighting absurd in the face of known results from the 2004 and 2002 elections, but at least with the CBS/NYT poll, they are up-front about telling you how they played with the numbers. The reader can understand the lean the poll has from the beginning.

With this in mind, we can now examine the meat of the polls. I skipped the summary presented by the papers because the screed and lying was predictable. I say ‘lying’, because the facts in the poll results themselves tell a story worth hearing. In the LA Times/Bloomberg poll, for instance, despite the clear bias of the poll’s sponsors, the actual results bear up rather well for Bush and the GOP. On page 13, for example, Bush rolls in at 46% overall for “honest and trustworthy”, but that’s better than the Republicans’ 38%, which is better than the 36% claimed by Democrats. Note that Independents gave the GOP in Congress a 38 favorable to 34 unfavorable nod, while tagging the Democrats with a 31 favorable/41 unfavorable slap. That alone proves that the LAT heavily weighted the polling to avoid a steep lean against the Democrats. Or to put it this way, let’s see the numbers as the LAT printed them:

Group…..ALL…..DEM…..IND…..REP Dem Fav…..36……54……31……18 Dem Unfav…45……27……41……70

Rep Fav…..38……16……38……71 Rep Unfav…44……67……34……19

If we simply balance the three groups evenly, here’s the new result:

Group…..ALL…..DEM…..IND…..REP Dem Fav…..34……54……31……18 Dem Unfav…46……27……41……70

Rep Fav…..42……16……38……71 Rep Unfav…40……67……34……19

That is, a balanced response moves a 2-point advantage for the GOP up to an 8-point advantage. Well, well.

Even though the poll is clearly biased against Bush and the GOP, on page 14 we see that overall response to the question of whether George W. Bush’s polices “have made the country more secure” is Yes by a 52 to 21 point response. Even Democrats (34% to 33%) have grudgingly agreed to this. If this were weighted to correct the bias, the support would be even more pronounced.

...snip snip...

Well, there’s always the PATRIOT Act. Surely people hate that, right? Overall, 59% “agree with those who want to reauthorize provisions” of the Act. Hmm, well that’s interesting.

Well, what about that NSA domestic spying thing? While the issue is controversial, 52% of the total respondents said that even if “a congressional investigation finds that George W. Bush broke the law”, they would say his action was “not an impeachable offense”.

...snip snip...

And CBS/NYT was forced to admit that 61% of respondents think his NSA authorizations were intended primarily to fight terrorism. His approval numbers on that question have climbed 4 points in 3 weeks.

CBS/NYT was forced to admit that the American public “support the idea of monitoring the communications of those the government is suspicious of”, by a 68% to 28% count.

...snip snip...

Of course, both polls played the “push poll” game, by asking questions with emotional weight while hiding important information from the respondents. For instance, they asked whether people felt there were more terrorist incidents now, without citing the statistics showing the actual conditions. They asked about how people felt the economy was doing, without pointing to low unemployment and inflation, and strong GDP growth over Bush’s time in office. But it is still interesting, for all of that, to notice how these enemies of George W. Bush, however inadvertently, are documenting the measure of his success and the stability of his support.

-- DJ Drummond

I think I've more then adaquetly proved my point. All the italics and bold above are from the author, I just kept them while excerpting these parts for you. Yes this is from a Conservative page, but I've seen the same thing claimed on Liberal pages about polls that they don't like the results of too. This shows that polls are not reliable, truthful, and are often skewed.

P.S. The polls on the public supporting the media are also at an all-time low. Newspapers are down in subscriptions.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.98.154.35 (talk • contribs)

I neither like or dis-like the contents of the Polls and Editorial, I really think they are too big and in an already large article, one sentence saying that: Most polls show some suspicion, but the public are not as concerned (some show majority not-concerned) as the media; and that some editorials have condemned the program while others see it as an effective tool against terrorism then link to them. It should not be so so long and article. BTW, technically I think Polls and Editorials are beyond the scope of this article. Do I see this wrong or not? John wesley 19:57, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

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5/22/06 I agree John. Those two sections are beyond the scope of the article and are the weakest part of the whole article. They make the press the story instead of the Terrorist Surveillance Program. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.98.154.35 (talk • contribs)

At home

5/22/06 This is not related directly to the article, I just wanted to let the Wiki editors here who work on it know that when I am not using this computer, I will put "At home" first in the memo that goes in History before I say what change(s) I made, so that you will know that it's me doing it from another computer, instead of another anomymous person. Also, I noticed in the Historys at Wikipedia that my home computer changes IP numbers by itself. I don't know how to make it stable, so I will just put "At home" so that you will know who it is. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.98.154.35 (talk • contribs)