Bush White House Tries To Stop NSA Lawsuits

White House Wants NSA Lawsuits Nixed

The Bush administration asked federal judges in New York and Michigan to dismiss a pair of lawsuits filed over the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program, saying litigation would jeopardize state secrets.
In legal papers filed late Friday, Justice Department lawyers said it would be impossible to defend the legality of the spying program without disclosing classified information that could be of value to suspected terrorists.
National Intelligence Director John Negroponte invoked the state secrets privilege on behalf of the administration, writing that disclosure of such information would cause "exceptionally grave damage" to national security.
The administration laid out some of its supporting arguments in classified memoranda that were filed under seal.

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Let's make sure we've got this straight. The NSA won't grant clearances to DOJ attorneys to look into the program. The FCC refuses to look into whether the phone companies illegally turned over data. SEC rules of accounting and reporting are waived at the behest of the John Negroponte, thus eliminating any "follow the money" trail for investigators.
Absolutely NO oversight, no way in to investigate anything at all about this data mining program, not through the Department of Justice, not through the SEC walking back the money end, not through the agency that regulates the telecoms. And oh, yeah ... anyone who gets the bright idea to go to the press to leak ... well, even the reporter may get prosecuted now, as well as the whistleblower.
If this administration had spent as much effort on keeping terrorists outside of this country before 9/11 as it has on keeping information about spying on its citizens inside some dark and impregnable loop in the bowels of the White House, we'd be safer in reality rather than fantasy.
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