Dianne Feinstein calls for a hearing into NSA’s domestic surveillance
Interesting: Sen. Feinstein voted to gut FISA and give the telecoms immunity. Don’t know what her payoff was, but it looks as though she’s have second thoughts—I would imagine that her hearing is just to provide cover for her run for governor rather than from any concerns about her actions. The story in the NY Times:
The head of the Senate intelligence committee said Thursday that she would hold a hearing to examine the National Security Agency’s interception of domestic communications after new reports that recent wiretapping went beyond what Congress has authorized.
“These are serious allegations, and we will make sure we get the facts,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who leads the Senate intelligence committee. “The committee is looking into this, and we will hold a hearing on this subject within one month.”
The New York Times reported in Thursday’s editions that the N.S.A. had intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, citing interviews with government officials. The agency also sought in 2005 or 2006 to wiretap an unidentified congressman as part of a foreign intelligence operation, The Times said.
Senator Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat who has been active in overseeing intelligence issues, said Thursday that the report of wiretapping problems was part of “a tragic retreat from the principles that had governed the sensitive area of government surveillance for the previous three decades.”
Mr. Feingold called for reforms in intelligence law as well as the public release of certain aspects of wiretapping operations “so that the American people can better understand their scope and impact.”
