hist2004
01-14-2006, 10:46 AM
E-SPY HYPOCRISY
By WILLIAM TATE
THE controversy follow ing revelations that U.S. intelligence agencies have monitored suspected terrorist-related communications since 9/11 reflects a severe case of selective amnesia by The New York Times. It certainly didn't show the same outrage when a much more invasive and indiscriminate domestic surveillance program came to light during the Clinton administration.
Then, it was Echelon, a National Security Agency program. Its mission, Steve Kroft noted on "60 Minutes," was "to eavesdrop on enemies of the state: foreign countries, terrorist groups and drug cartels. But in the process, Echelon's computers capture virtually every electronic conversation around the world."
The Times' news story on the revelations stated calmly: "Few dispute the necessity of a system like Echelon to apprehend foreign spies, drug traffickers and terrorists."
Of course, that was on May 27, 1999, and Bill Clinton — not George W. Bush — was president.
Despite the Times' reluctance to emphasize privacy concerns, one of its sources in that same article, Patrick Poole, a lecturer in government and economics at Bannockburn College in Franklin, Tenn., had already done a study showing that the program had been abused.
"Echelon is also being used for purposes well outside its original mission," Poole wrote. "The regular discovery of domestic surveillance targeted at American civilians for reasons of 'unpopular' political affiliation or for no probable cause at all . . . What was once designed to target a select list of communist countries and terrorist states is now indiscriminately directed against virtually every citizen in the world."
The current controversy follows a Times report that, since 9/11, U.S. intelligence agencies are eavesdropping at any time on up to 500 Americans suspected of communicating with terrorists.
But under Echelon, the Clinton administration was spying on just about everyone. "The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has created a global spy system, codename Echelon, which captures and analyzes virtually every phone call, fax, e-mail and telex message sent anywhere in the world," wrote Poole.
In Kroft's "60 Minutes" story, former spy Mike Frost made clear that Echelon monitored practically every conversation — no matter how innocent:
"A lady had been to a school play the night before, and her son was in the school play and she thought he did a lousy job. Next morning, she was talking on the telephone to her friend, and she said something like, 'Oh, Danny really bombed last night,' just like that. The computer spit that conversation out. The analyst that was looking at it was not too sure about what the conversation was referring to, so erring on the side of caution, he listed that lady and her phone number in the database as a possible terrorist."
"This is not urban legend you're talking about. This actually happened?" Kroft asked.
"Factual. Absolutely fact. No legend here," answered Frost.
Even as the Times defended Echelon as "a necessity" in 1999, evidence already existed that the Clintonites had misused electronic surveillance for political purposes. Intelligence officials told Insight magazine in 1997 that they had spied on a 1993 conference of Asian and Pacific world leaders in Seattle hosted by Clinton — and some of that information was passed on to big Democratic corporate donors for use against their competitors.
"The only reason it has come to light is because of concerns raised by high-level sources within federal law-enforcement and intelligence circles," wrote Insight, "that the operation was compromised by politicians — including mid- and senior-level White House aides — either on behalf of or in support of President Clinton and major donor-friends who helped him and the Democratic National Committee, or DNC, raise money."
So, during the Clinton administration, evidence existed that:
* An invasive, extensive domestic eavesdropping program was aimed at every U.S. citizen;
* intelligence agencies were using allies to circumvent constitutional restrictions;
* and the administration was selling at least some secret intelligence for political donations.
These revelations were met by The New York Times by the sound of one hand clapping. Now, reports that the Bush administration approved electronic eavesdropping, strictly limited communications of a relative handful of suspected terrorists, have the Times in a frenzy.
The Times has historically been referred to as "the Gray Lady." That gray is beginning to look just plain grimy, and many of us can no longer consider her a lady.
William Tate, a former broadcast journalist, lives in Santa Fe, N.M. Adapted from AmericanThinker.com.
link to article (http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/60314.htm)
Hist2004
By WILLIAM TATE
THE controversy follow ing revelations that U.S. intelligence agencies have monitored suspected terrorist-related communications since 9/11 reflects a severe case of selective amnesia by The New York Times. It certainly didn't show the same outrage when a much more invasive and indiscriminate domestic surveillance program came to light during the Clinton administration.
Then, it was Echelon, a National Security Agency program. Its mission, Steve Kroft noted on "60 Minutes," was "to eavesdrop on enemies of the state: foreign countries, terrorist groups and drug cartels. But in the process, Echelon's computers capture virtually every electronic conversation around the world."
The Times' news story on the revelations stated calmly: "Few dispute the necessity of a system like Echelon to apprehend foreign spies, drug traffickers and terrorists."
Of course, that was on May 27, 1999, and Bill Clinton — not George W. Bush — was president.
Despite the Times' reluctance to emphasize privacy concerns, one of its sources in that same article, Patrick Poole, a lecturer in government and economics at Bannockburn College in Franklin, Tenn., had already done a study showing that the program had been abused.
"Echelon is also being used for purposes well outside its original mission," Poole wrote. "The regular discovery of domestic surveillance targeted at American civilians for reasons of 'unpopular' political affiliation or for no probable cause at all . . . What was once designed to target a select list of communist countries and terrorist states is now indiscriminately directed against virtually every citizen in the world."
The current controversy follows a Times report that, since 9/11, U.S. intelligence agencies are eavesdropping at any time on up to 500 Americans suspected of communicating with terrorists.
But under Echelon, the Clinton administration was spying on just about everyone. "The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has created a global spy system, codename Echelon, which captures and analyzes virtually every phone call, fax, e-mail and telex message sent anywhere in the world," wrote Poole.
In Kroft's "60 Minutes" story, former spy Mike Frost made clear that Echelon monitored practically every conversation — no matter how innocent:
"A lady had been to a school play the night before, and her son was in the school play and she thought he did a lousy job. Next morning, she was talking on the telephone to her friend, and she said something like, 'Oh, Danny really bombed last night,' just like that. The computer spit that conversation out. The analyst that was looking at it was not too sure about what the conversation was referring to, so erring on the side of caution, he listed that lady and her phone number in the database as a possible terrorist."
"This is not urban legend you're talking about. This actually happened?" Kroft asked.
"Factual. Absolutely fact. No legend here," answered Frost.
Even as the Times defended Echelon as "a necessity" in 1999, evidence already existed that the Clintonites had misused electronic surveillance for political purposes. Intelligence officials told Insight magazine in 1997 that they had spied on a 1993 conference of Asian and Pacific world leaders in Seattle hosted by Clinton — and some of that information was passed on to big Democratic corporate donors for use against their competitors.
"The only reason it has come to light is because of concerns raised by high-level sources within federal law-enforcement and intelligence circles," wrote Insight, "that the operation was compromised by politicians — including mid- and senior-level White House aides — either on behalf of or in support of President Clinton and major donor-friends who helped him and the Democratic National Committee, or DNC, raise money."
So, during the Clinton administration, evidence existed that:
* An invasive, extensive domestic eavesdropping program was aimed at every U.S. citizen;
* intelligence agencies were using allies to circumvent constitutional restrictions;
* and the administration was selling at least some secret intelligence for political donations.
These revelations were met by The New York Times by the sound of one hand clapping. Now, reports that the Bush administration approved electronic eavesdropping, strictly limited communications of a relative handful of suspected terrorists, have the Times in a frenzy.
The Times has historically been referred to as "the Gray Lady." That gray is beginning to look just plain grimy, and many of us can no longer consider her a lady.
William Tate, a former broadcast journalist, lives in Santa Fe, N.M. Adapted from AmericanThinker.com.
link to article (http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/60314.htm)
Hist2004