NSA warrantless surveillance (2001–2007)
NSA warrantless surveillance — also commonly referred to as "warrantless-wiretapping" or "-wiretaps" — was the surveillance of persons within the United States, including U.S. citizens, during the collection of notionally foreign intelligence by the National Security Agency (NSA) as part of the Terrorist Surveillance Program.[1] In late 2001, the NSA was authorized to monitor, without obtaining a FISA warrant, phone calls, Internet activities, text messages and other forms of communication involving any party believed by the NSA to be outside the U.S., even if the other end of the communication lays within the U.S.
"NSA wiretapping" and "NSA warrantless surveillance" redirect here. For the related controversy about data-mining of domestic call records, see MAINWAY. For the programs leaked in 2013, see Global surveillance disclosures (2013–present).
Critics claimed that the program was an effort to silence critics of the Bush administration and its handling of several controversial issues. Under public pressure, the Administration allegedly ended the program in January 2007 and resumed seeking warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC).[2] In 2008, Congress passed the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which relaxed some of the original FISC requirements.
During the Obama administration, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) continued to defend the warrantless surveillance program in court, arguing that a ruling on the merits would reveal state secrets.[3] In April 2009, officials at the DOJ acknowledged that the NSA had engaged in "overcollection" of domestic communications in excess of the FISC's authority, but claimed that the acts were unintentional and had since been rectified.[4]
Responses and analyses[edit]
Administration response to press coverage[edit]
On December 17, 2005, President Bush addressed the growing controversy in his weekly radio broadcast.[167] He stated that he was using his authority as President, as Commander in Chief and such authority as the Congress had given him, to intercept international communications of "people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations". He added that before intercepting any communications, "the government must have information that establishes a clear link to these terrorist networks." He speculated that had the right communications been intercepted, perhaps the 9/11 attacks could have been prevented. He said the NSA program was re-authorized every 45 days, having at that time been reauthorized "more than 30 times"; it was reviewed by DOJ and NSA lawyers "including NSA's general counsel and inspector general", and Congress leaders had been briefed "more than a dozen times".[168]
In a speech in Buffalo, New York on April 20, 2004, he said that: