Pelosi Statement in Response to Inspectors General Report on President Bush?s Warrantless Surveillance Program
Pelosi Statement in Response to Inspectors General Report on President Bush?s Warrantless Surveillance Program
Friday, July 10, 2009
Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami/Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616
Washington, D.C. -- Speaker Pelosi issued the following statement today in response to a report by the Inspectors General of the Departments of Defense and Justice, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and the Office of the Director National Intelligence on President Bush?s warrantless surveillance program:
?The Inspectors General FISA report brings to light the disturbing facts and circumstances surrounding President Bush?s warrantless surveillance program. Particularly disturbing was the observation of former Deputy Attorney General James Comey that the legal analysis under which the program operated for years ?entailed ignoring an act of Congress, and doing so without full congressional notification.? No President should be able to operate outside the law.
?The House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees will closely examine the findings and recommendations of the classified and unclassified reports, and will conduct appropriate oversight of electronic surveillance activities.?
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Notes:
On page 23, the report states that the Speaker, along with several other Congressional leaders, disagreed publicly with former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales? testimony in July 2007 that the ?consensus? of Congressional leaders was that the program should continue. Pelosi, Senator Jay Rockefeller, and former Senator Tom Daschle issued statements saying that they told then-Vice President Dick Cheney in a March 2004 meeting that there was no consensus among Congressional leaders that the program should continue.
In addition, Speaker Pelosi wrote the following letter in October 2001, when she was the Ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. The letter was declassified in January 2006 at her request. The letter to Lieutenant General Michael Hayden, then National Security Agency (NSA) Director, expressed concerns about NSA electronic surveillance activities and the authority for those activities. Pelosi also released the response letter from Hayden. Both Pelosi's letter and Hayden's response were redacted when they were declassified.
The text of letters follow:
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October 11, 2001
Lieutenant General Michael V. Hayden, USAF
Director
National Security Agency
Fort George G. Mead, Maryland 20755
Washington, D.C. 20340-1001
Dear General Hayden:
During your appearance before the committee on October 1, you indicated that you had been operating since the September 11 attacks with an expansive view of your authorities with respect to the conduct of electronic surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and related statutes, orders, regulations, and guidelines. You seemed to be inviting expressions of concern from us, if there were any, and, after the briefing was over and I had a chance to reflect on what you said, I instructed staff to get more information on this matter for me. For several reasons, including what I consider to be an overly broad interpretation of President Bush?s directive of October 5 on sharing with Congress ?classified or sensitive law enforcement information? it has not been possible to get answers to my questions.
Without those answers, the concerns I have about what you said on the 1st can not be resolved, and I wanted to bring them to your attention directly. You indicated that you were treating as a matter of first impression, [redacted ] being of foreign intelligence interest. As a result, you were forwarding the intercepts, and any information [redacted ] without first receiving a request for that identifying information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Although I may be persuaded by the strength of your analysis [redacted ] I believe you have a much more difficult case to make [redacted ] Therefore, I am concerned whether, and to what extent, the National Security Agency has received specific presidential authorization for the operations you are conducting. Until I understand better the legal analysis regarding the sufficiency of the authority which underlies your decision on the appropriate way to proceed on this matter, I will continue to be concerned.
Sincerely,
NANCY PELOSI
Ranking Democrat
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18 October 2001
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Ranking Member, House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence
H-405, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative Pelosi:
Thank you for the opportunity to clarify any ambiguity that may have arisen as a result of my briefing on October 1 to members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.
In my briefing, I was attempting to emphasize that I used my authorities to adjust NSA?s collection and reporting.
[redacted] ] Again, thank you for allowing me to clarify this matter.
MICHAEL V. HAYDEN
Lieutenant General, USAF
Director, NSA
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