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Alberto
R Gonzales - 
Secret-
Eavesdropping
- 
Intelligence
- 
Law
- 
Politics
- "F.B.I.
Chief Challenges Gonzales’s Testimony." ... "The
dispute over the truthfulness of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales reached
a new intensity today as the F.B.I. [Federal Bureau of Investigation ]
Director, Robert S. Mueller 3rd, contradicted Mr. Gonzales’s sworn testimony
before a Senate committee." ... "Mr. Mueller told the House Judiciary Committee
that the [Republican President] Bush administration’s secret eavesdropping
program was the main topic at an encounter in the hospital room of then-Attorney
General John Ashcroft on March 10, 2004, contrary to what Mr. Gonzales
told a Senate panel on Tuesday." ... "At the time, Mr. Gonzales was the
White House counsel, and Mr. Ashcroft was recovering from gall bladder
surgery. That March night, Mr. Gonzales went to the hospital room with
Andrew H. Card Jr., then White House chief of staff." ... "In his testimony
before the Senate panel on Tuesday, Mr. Gonzales said the subject in the
hospital room was “intelligence activities” under debate in the administration,
but not the secret eavesdropping program." ... "But Mr. Mueller contradicted
that version of events today, several hours after four Senate Democrats
called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate whether
Mr. Gonzales perjured himself before Congress." ... "The conflict in accounts
could be significant, because Mr. Gonzales’s critics have accused him of
trying to convey the false impression that the N.S.A. [National Security
Agency] program had spawned no serious dissension within the Bush administration."
... "But former Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey has testified that
Justice Department lawyers were balking at recertifying the program early
in 2004 and that he thought Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Card rushed to the hospital
to persuade Mr. Ashcroft, who was not at full capacity, to overlook his
own objections to the program." ... "Mr. Mueller said that after receiving
a call from Mr. Comey he went to the hospital, arriving shortly after Mr.
Gonzales and Mr. Card left, and that after he spoke with Mr. Ashcroft he
understood that the N.S.A. program was indeed the focus of the dramatic
bedside encounter." (1, 2)
-By David Stout -NYTimes
Alberto
R Gonzales - Secret
- Emergency
- 
Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Eavesdropping
- Law
- 
Enforcement
- Politics
- "F.B.I.
Chief Gives Account at Odds With Gonzales’s." ...
"The director of the F.B.I. offered testimony Thursday that sharply conflicted
with Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales’s sworn statements about a 2004
confrontation in which top Justice Department officials threatened to resign
over a secret intelligence operation." ... "The director, Robert S. Mueller
III, told the House Judiciary Committee that the confrontation was about
the National Security Agency’s counterterrorist eavesdropping program,
describing it as “an N.S.A. program that has been much discussed.” His
testimony was a serious blow to Mr. Gonzales, who insisted at a Senate
hearing on Tuesday that there were no disagreements inside the [Republican
President] Bush administration about the program at the time of those discussions
or at any other time." ... "The director’s remarks were especially significant
because Mr. Mueller is the Justice Department’s chief law enforcement official.
He also played a crucial role in the 2004 dispute over the program, intervening
with President Bush to help deal with the threat of mass resignations that
grew out of a day of emergency meetings at the White House and at the hospital
bedside of John Ashcroft, who was then attorney general." ... "Doubts about
Mr. Gonzales’s version of events in March 2004 grew after James B. Comey,
the former deputy attorney general, testified in May that he and other
Justice Department officials were prepared to resign over legal objections
to an intelligence program that appeared to be the N.S.A. program." ...
"In addition, in testimony last year, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, who was the
N.S.A. director when the program started and now heads the Central Intelligence
Agency, said the March 2004 meeting involved the Terrorist Surveillance
Program." -By David Johnston and Scott Shane
-NYTimes
Alberto
R Gonzales - 
Government
- Intelligence
- Surveillance
- Law
- Politics
- 
Health
- 
West
Virginia - "Gonzales
Denies Improper Pressure on Ashcroft." ... "[Republican
President Bush's] Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales denied on Tuesday
that he had improperly pressured John Ashcroft to sign an authorization
for the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program in 2004
when Mr. Ashcroft, his predecessor, lay in a hospital bed, in pain and
on sedatives after surgery." ... "Mr. Gonzales, in an acrimonious hearing
before the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that hours before the hospital
confrontation, the [Republican President Bush] White House had summoned
Congressional leaders to an emergency meeting to discuss ways to head off
a revolt at the Justice Department against the security agency program."
... "[West Virginia Democratic] Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, who attended
the 2004 meeting as the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee,
called Mr. Gonzales’s account “untruthful.” Mr. Rockefeller said he believed
Mr. Gonzales was deliberately misleading Congress about the showdown over
the N.S.A. program inside the Bush administration." ... "Mr. Gonzales’s
account added fresh detail to what was previously known about the hospital
confrontation in which Mr. Ashcroft, who had had gallbladder surgery, and
other senior Justice Department officials had threatened to resign until
[Republican] President Bush agreed to modify the [domestic surveillance]
program." ... "His account also contrasted sharply with the recollection
of James B. Comey, a former deputy attorney general who worked under both
Mr. Ashcroft and Mr. Gonzales. Mr. Comey testified before the committee
in May that he had been “very angry” during the hospital encounter because
“I thought I had just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick
man.”" -By David Johnston and Scott Shane
-NYTimes
Alberto
Gonzales - Law
- Enforcement
- Politics
- US
Attorneys - Spying
- Civil
Liberty - 
VT
- 
Pennsylvania
- "Senate
panel questions Gonzales' credibility." ... "Democratic
and Republican senators openly questioned Attorney General Alberto Gonzales'
credibility Tuesday in hearings in which the top U.S. law enforcement officer
denied his department had any morale problems and said he intended to remain
in office to fix any shortcomings." ... "Gonzales testified before the
Senate Judiciary Committee on a series of hot-button issues, including
the firing of eight U.S. attorneys and Gonzales' attempt to get his ailing
predecessor to approve, from a hospital bed, a controversial plan for domestic
eavesdropping." ... "[Vermont Democratic Senator] Chairman Patrick Leahy,
D-Vt., set the tone in an opening statement when he said Gonzales has "a
severe credibility problem."" ... "Leahy said the Bush administration had
squandered the committee's trust "with a history of civil liberty abuses
and cover-ups."" ... ""I don't trust you," Leahy told Gonzales." ... "Leahy
was followed by a visibly angry [Republican Senator] Sen. Arlen Specter
of Pennsylvania, the top Republican on the committee, who challenged Gonzales'
role in the hospital-room scene in which then-attorney general John Ashcroft
was asked to approve a wiretapping plan he had earlier rejected." ... ""It
seems to me that it is just decimating, Mr. attorney general, as to both
your judgment and your credibility," Specter said. "And the list goes on
and on."" -Contributed to by Douglas Stanglin -AP
-USATODAY
Alberto
Gonzales - Wiretapping
- Intelligence
- Politics
- 
Texas
- "Attorney
General Faces New Questions." ... "Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales came under new questioning Thursday about [Republican]
President Bush's wiretapping program and the administration response to
congressional subpoenas." ... "In a closed-door session, House Intelligence
Committee Chairman [Texas Democratic Representative] Silvestre Reyes said
members were especially interested in the reasons behind Gonzales' controversial
2004 visit to the hospital bedside of John Ashcroft, reportedly to pressure
the ailing attorney general to endorse Bush's surveillance program. Ashcroft,
said to have been barely conscious at the time, refused." ... "Gonzales
did not express any regret, Reyes said after the hearing ended." ... "According
to Comey, he and Ashcroft had refused to recertify the legality of the
surveillance program before the attorney general fell ill with pancreatitis.
On the eve of a deadline, Gonzales and then-White House Chief of Staff
Andrew Card sought to go over Comey's head to Ashcroft, then in intensive
care recovering from surgery. What followed was the dramatic scene at Ashcroft's
bedside, Comey said." -By Laurie Kellman
-AP via -SFGate.com
Cheney
- Secret
- Surveillance
- Politics
-Phone
-E-Mail
- 
United
States - 
- Intelligence
-Liberty- Law
- Health
- "Official:
Cheney Urged Wiretaps: Stand-In for Ashcroft Alleges
Interference." ... "[Republican] Vice President Cheney told Justice Department
officials that he disagreed with their objections to a secret surveillance
program during a high-level White House meeting in March 2004, a former
senior Justice official told senators yesterday." ... "The meeting came
one day before White House officials tried to get approval for the same
program from then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, who lay recovering
from surgery in a hospital, according to former deputy attorney general
James B. Comey." ... "Comey's disclosures, made in response to written
questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, indicate that Cheney and
his aides were more closely involved than previously known in a fierce
internal battle over the legality of the warrantless surveillance program.
The program allowed the National Security Agency to monitor phone calls
and e-mails between the United States and overseas." ... "Comey said that
Cheney's office later blocked the promotion of a senior Justice Department
lawyer, Patrick Philbin, because of his role in raising concerns about
the surveillance." ... "The disclosures also provide further details about
the role played by then-White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales. He visited
Ashcroft in his hospital room and wrote an internal memorandum on the surveillance
program shortly afterward, according to Comey's responses. Gonzales is
now the attorney general." ... ""Mr. Comey has confirmed what we suspected
for a while -- that White House hands guided Justice Department business,"
said Sen. [New York Democratic Senator] Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). "The
vice president's fingerprints are all over the effort to strong-arm Justice
on the NSA program, and the obvious next question is: Exactly what role
did the president play?"" (1, 2)
-By Dan Eggen with contributions by Amy Goldstein
-WashingtonPost
Dick
Cheney
- Gonzales
- Eavesdropping
- Government- US
Attorneys - Politics
- 
Employee
- Intelligence
-Law
- Health
- "Cheney
blocked official's promotion." ... "[Republican Vice
President] Dick Cheney blocked the promotion of a Justice Department official
[Patrick Philbin] involved in a bedside standoff over [Republican] President
Bush's eavesdropping program, a Senate committee learned Wednesday." ...
"The Democrats' investigation into whether the firings of eight U.S. attorneys
were improperly political led to testimony last month in which Comey disclosed
details of a hospital visit on March 10, 2004, to the attorney general
at that time, John Ashcroft." ... "According to Comey, he and Ashcroft
had refused to recertify the legality of Bush's warrantless wiretapping
program for reasons that are classified." ... "During a meeting at the
White House on March 9, 2004, Comey told Cheney he would not certify the
program, he said in his written remarks Wednesday." ... "The next night,
then-White House Counsel [Alberto] Gonzales and Bush's chief of staff,
Andy Card, went to Ashcroft's bedside in intensive care unit at George
Washington University Hospital. Tipped to the impending visit, Comey and
his aides were present when Gonzales urged Ashcroft to recertify the program.
Ashcroft, who just had gall bladder surgery, refused, Comey testified last
month." ... "The White House recertified the program without the department's
endorsement." -By Laurie Kellman
-AP via -Yahoo
Alberto Gonzales - Secret
-Intelligence
- Surveillance
- Law
- Enforcement
- Politics
- "Gonzales
Hospital Episode Detailed: Ailing Ashcroft Pressured
on Spy Program, Former Deputy Says." ... "On the night of March 10, 2004,
as Attorney General John D. Ashcroft lay ill in an intensive-care unit,
his deputy, James B. Comey, received an urgent call." ... "White House
Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales and President Bush's chief of staff, Andrew
H. Card Jr., were on their way to the hospital to persuade Ashcroft to
reauthorize Bush's domestic surveillance program, which the Justice Department
had just determined was illegal." ... "In vivid testimony to the Senate
Judiciary Committee yesterday, Comey said he alerted FBI Director Robert
S. Mueller III and raced, sirens blaring, to join Ashcroft in his hospital
room, arriving minutes before Gonzales and Card. Ashcroft, summoning the
strength to lift his head and speak, refused to sign the papers they had
brought. Gonzales and Card, who had never acknowledged Comey's presence
in the room, turned and left." ... "The sickbed visit was the start of
a dramatic showdown between the White House and the Justice Department
in early 2004 that, according to Comey, was resolved only when Bush overruled
Gonzales and Card. But that was not before Ashcroft, Comey, Mueller and
their aides prepared a mass resignation, Comey said. The domestic spying
by the National Security Agency continued for several weeks without Justice
approval, he said." ... "The crisis in March 2004 stemmed from a review
of the program by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, which
raised "concerns as to our ability to certify its legality," according
to Comey's testimony. Ashcroft was briefed on the findings on March 4 and
agreed that changes needed to be made, Comey said." (1, 2)
-By Dan Eggen and Paul Kane with contributions by
Julie
Tate -WashingtonPost
Alberto Gonzales - Secret
- Intelligence
- Surveillance
- Law
- Enforcement
- Politics
- "Gonzales
Pressed Ailing Ashcroft on Spy Plan, Aide Says."
... "On the night of March 10, 2004, a high-ranking Justice Department
official rushed to a Washington hospital to prevent two White House aides
from taking advantage of the critically ill Attorney General, John Ashcroft,
the official testified today." ... "One of those aides was Alberto R. Gonzales,
who was then White House counsel and eventually succeeded Mr. Ashcroft
as Attorney General." ... "“I was very upset,” said James B. Comey, who
was deputy Attorney General at the time, in his testimony today before
the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I was angry. I thought I had just witnessed
an effort to take advantage of a very sick man, who did not have the powers
of the attorney general because they had been transferred to me.”" ...
"The hospital visit by Mr. Gonzales and Andrew H. Card Jr., who was then
White House chief of staff, has been disclosed before, but never in such
dramatic, personal detail." ... "Although Mr. Comey declined to say specifically
what the business was that sent Mr. Gonzales to the bedside of Mr. Ashcroft
in George Washington University Hospital, where he lay critically ill with
pancreatitis, it was clear that the subject was the National Security Agency’s
secret domestic surveillance program. The signature of Mr. Ashcroft or
his surrogate was needed by the next day, March 11, in order to renew the
program, which was still secret at that time." ... "The surveillance program
was reauthorized on March 11, 2004, without a signature from the Department
of Justice “attesting to its legality,” Mr. Comey testified." -By
David Stout -NYTimes
Government
- 
Military
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- 
History
- Politics
- "Rumsfeld,
Ashcroft received warning of al Qaida attack before 9/11."
... "Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and former Attorney General John
Ashcroft received the same CIA briefing about an imminent al-Qaida strike
on an American target that was given to the White House two months before
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks." ... "The State Department's disclosure Monday
that the pair was briefed within a week after then-National Security Adviser
Condoleezza Rice was told about the threat on July 10, 2001, raised new
questions about what the Bush administration did in response, and about
why so many officials have claimed they never received or don't remember
the warning." ... "One official who helped to prepare the briefing, which
included a PowerPoint presentation, described it as a "10 on a scale of
1 to 10" that "connected the dots" in earlier intelligence reports to present
a stark warning that al-Qaida, which had already killed Americans in Yemen,
Saudi Arabia and East Africa, was poised to strike again." ... "Former
CIA Director George Tenet gave the independent Sept. 11, 2001, commission
the same briefing on Jan. 28, 2004, but the commission made no mention
of the warning in its 428-page final report. According to three former
senior intelligence officials, Tenet testified to commissioner Richard
Ben-Veniste and to Philip Zelikow, the panel's executive director and the
principal author of its report, who's now Rice's top adviser." ... "A new
book by Bob Woodward of The Washington Post alleges that Rice failed to
take the July 2001 warning seriously when it was delivered at a White House
meeting by Tenet, Cofer Black, then the agency's chief of top counterterrorism,
and a third CIA official whose identity remains protected." ... "Rice's
deputy, Stephen J. Hadley, who became national security adviser after she
became secretary of state, and Rice's top counterterrorism aide, Richard
Clarke, also were present." -By Jonathan S. Landay,
Warren P. Stroebel, and John Walcott with contributions by Matt Stearns
and Drew Brown -McClatchy
via -RealCities
Noteworthy
- Government
- Intelligence
-Law
Enforcement - Politics
- Karl
Rove
- I.
Lewis "Scooter" Libby
- Dick
Cheney - 
Journalism
- "What
Ashcroft Was Told." ... "Then-Attorney General John
Ashcroft continued to oversee the Valerie Plame-CIA leak probe
for more than two months in late 2003 after he learned in extensive briefings
that FBI agents suspected White House aides Karl Rove and I.
Lewis "Scooter" Libby of trying to mislead the FBI to conceal their
roles in the leak, according to government records and interviews. Despite
these briefings, which took place between October and December 2003, and
despite the fact that senior White House aides might become central to
the leak case, Ashcroft did not recuse himself from the matter until December
30, when he allowed the appointment of a special prosecutor, Patrick
Fitzgerald, to take over the investigation." ... "According to people
with firsthand knowledge of the briefings, senior Justice Department officials
told Ashcroft that the FBI had uncovered evidence that Libby, then chief
of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, had misled the bureau about
his role in the leaking of Plame's identity to the press." ... "By November,
investigators had obtained personal notes of Libby's that indicated he
had first learned from Cheney that Plame was a CIA officer. But Libby was
insisting in FBI interviews that he had learned Plame's name and identity
from journalists. Libby was also telling investigators that when he told
reporters that Plame worked for the CIA, he was only passing along an unsubstantiated
rumor." ... "Officials also told Ashcroft that investigators did not believe
Libby's account, according to sources knowledgeable about the briefings,
and that Libby might have lied to the FBI to defend other -- more senior
-- administration officials." ... "Ashcroft was told no later than November
2003 that investigators also doubted the accounts that Rove, President
George
W. Bush's chief political adviser, had given the FBI as to how he,
too, learned that Plame was a CIA officer and how he came to disclose that
information to columnist Robert Novak." ... "It was Novak who, in
a July 14, 2003, syndicated column, outed Plame as a CIA employee, relying
on Rove as one of his sources." -By Murray
Waas -NationalJournal
Reporters
- Law
Enforcement - Politics
- Sports
- Drugs
- San
Francisco - 
California
- "Justice
Dept. Is Criticized by Ex-Official on Subpoenas."
... "Subpoenas issued last month to reporters for The San Francisco Chronicle
were criticized yesterday by a former chief spokesman for Attorney General
John Ashcroft as a "reckless abuse of power."" ... "The former spokesman,
Mark Corallo, made similar statements in an affidavit filed in federal
court yesterday. He said Mr. Ashcroft's successor, Alberto R. Gonzales,
had acted improperly in issuing the subpoenas." ... ""This is the most
reckless abuse of power I have seen in years," Mr. Corallo said in an interview.
"They really should be ashamed of themselves."" ... "The subpoenas, part
of an effort to identify The Chronicle's sources for its coverage of steroid
use in baseball, would not have been authorized by Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. Corallo
said. "You just don't ride roughshod over the rights of reporters to gather
information from confidential sources," he added." -By
Adam Liptak -NYTimes
Pete
Sessions - 
Jack
Abramoff - John
Ashcroft - 
Gale
Norton - 
Dana
Rohrabacher - 
Curt
Weldon - 
Tony
Rudy - Michael
Scanlon - 
Money
- Politics
- Law
- Military
- 
Technology
- TX
- San
Francisco - CA
- 
Louisiana
- 
NY
- PA
- US
- 
Malaysia
Oregon
- Health
- Drugs
- John
Roberts - "Supreme
Court Upholds Oregon Assisted Suicide Law." ... "The
Supreme Court rejected the Bush administration's challenge to the nation's
only right-to-die law today and ruled Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft overstepped
his authority when he sought to punish the Oregon doctors who helped terminally
ill people end their lives." ... "The 6-3 decision was a victory for states
and their independent-minded voters, and a defeat for social conservatives."
... "New Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., in his first significant decision,
joined Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas in dissent." ... "The
high court majority said the states — not federal authorities — have long
had the power to regulate the practice of medicine and the licensing of
doctors." -By David G. Savage
-LAtimes
US
- Oregon
- Health
- Drugs
- 
Netherlands
- "Supreme
Court Upholds Oregon Assisted Suicide Law." ... "The
Supreme Court upheld Oregon's assisted-suicide law today, declaring that
the Bush administration had exceeded its authority in trying to undo the
statute by punishing doctors who help people end their lives." ... "In
a 6-to-3 decision, which would apply to other states if their people chose
to follow Oregon's lead, the court held that former Attorney General John
Ashcroft went well beyond his authority and expertise when he ruled in
2001 that doctors would lose their federal prescription privileges if they
prescribed lethal doses of medications for patients." ... "Today's ruling
allows the state of Oregon to continue to follow the practice of the Netherlands,
which in 2002 became the first country to legalize euthanasia and physician-assisted
suicide in limited circumstances." (1, 2)
-By David Stout -NYTimes
Tom
Ridge - John
Ashcroft - Terrorism
- Intelligence
-Politics
- Military
- Government
- Attorney
- FBI
ELECTION
2004 - "Kerry
vows freedom anew: In accepting nomination, he pledges
to improve security and rebuild alliances." ... "Promising ''a new birth
of freedom" for Americans facing economic uncertainty and security threats,
John Forbes Kerry accepted the Democratic presidential nomination last
night with a pledge to strengthen the US military and reform its intelligence
services, introducing himself as a Vietnam veteran who healed divisions
as a US senator and will unite a world uncertain about American power to
fight against terrorism." ... "''As president, I will bring back this nation's
time-honored tradition: the United States of America never goes to war
because we want to, we only go to war because we have to," Kerry, 60, told
a roaring Democratic audience bathed in red, white, and blue lights. ''With
confidence and determination, we will be able to tell the terrorists: You
will lose, and we will win. The future doesn't belong to fear; it belongs
to freedom."" ... "''I will be a commander in chief who will never mislead
us into war. I will have a vice president who will not conduct secret meetings
with polluters to rewrite our environmental laws. I will have a secretary
of defense who will listen to the advice of our military leaders. And I
will appoint an attorney general who will uphold the Constitution of the
United States," Kerry said, delighting the partisan audience in his most
direct attack on their favorite targets: George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald
H. Rumsfeld, and John D. Ashcroft, respectively." (1, 2,
3)
-By Patrick Healy -Boston/Globe
-
- "Ashcroft
now under scrutiny: Report allegedly calls him 'largely
uninterested' in terrorism issues." ... "Draft reports by the independent
commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks portray Attorney General
John Ashcroft as largely uninterested in counterterrorism issues before
Sept. 11 despite intelligence warnings that summer that al-Qaida was planning
a large, perhaps catastrophic terrorist attack, according to panel officials
and others with access to the reports." ... "They said the draft reports,
which are expected to be completed and made public during two days of hearings
by the commission this week, show that FBI officials were alarmed throughout
2001 by what they perceived as Ashcroft's lack of interest in terrorism
issues and his decision in August 2001 to turn down the bureau's request
for a large expansion of its counterterrorism programs." -By
Philip Shenon -SeattlePI.NWsource
-
- "Ashcroft
steps aside from CIA leak probe." ... "John Ashcroft,
US attorney-general, on Tuesday stepped aside from a politically charged
investigation into the leak of the identity of an undercover Central Intelligence
Agency officer." ... "Patrick Fitzgerald, the US attorney in Chicago, will
take over the inquiry and report to James Comey, Mr Ashcroft's deputy at
the Department of Justice, which is running the investigation, and Christopher
Wray, assistant attorney-general." -By Marianne Brun-Rovet
-FT.com
- 
-
- "Federal
Judge Blocks New Abortion Law for Some Doctors."
... "A federal judge in Nebraska on Wednesday blocked a new anti-abortion
law from being enforced against some doctors and their affiliates, minutes
after it was signed by President Bush." ... "Citing constitutional concerns,
U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf issued a temporary restraining order barring
U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft and the Justice Department from enforcing the
new law banning so-called partial birth abortions against four doctors
who practice in or are affiliated with practices in more than a dozen states."-Reuters
- "Readers
mad that Chronicle ran ad to impeach Bush: Antiwar
group paid about $45,000." ... "Monday's ad, which typically would cost
about $45,000, called for the impeachment of Bush, Vice President Dick
Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft."
... "The phones at The Chronicle also went into overdrive a few years ago
when the paper ran an ad calling for then-President Bill Clinton's impeachment."
-By John Wildermuth -SFGate.com
-
-
- "Ashcroft
accelerates use of emergency spy warrants in anti-terror fight."
... "Since the 2001 terror attacks, Attorney General John Ashcroft has
approved more than 170 emergency domestic spying warrants, triple the number
used in the previous 23 years." ... "The emergency warrants, authorized
under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, permit authorities to
tap telephones and fax numbers and conduct physical searches for up to
72 hours before they are subject to review by the special, secret Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court." -By Curt Anderson-AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- "US
lowers terror threat alert level." ... ""Today's
decision was based on a careful review of how this specific intelligence
has evolved and progressed over the past three weeks as well as counter-terrorism
actions we have taken to address specific aspects of the threat situation,"
Tom Ridge, secretary of homeland security, and John Ashcroft, US attorney-general,
said in a joint statement." -By Kamau High
-FT.com
-
-
-
- "Ashcroft
proposes vast new surveillance powers: Proposed
legislation leaked to the Internet on Friday would criminalize some uses
of encryption, and dramatically increase federal law enforcement's domestic
spying powers." ... "A sweeping new anti-terrorism bill drafted by the
Justice Department would dramatically increase government electronic surveillance
and data collection abilities, and impose the first-ever federal criminal
penalties for using encryption in the U.S." ... "A draft of the Domestic
Security Enhancement Act of 2003 dated January 9th was obtained by the
non-partisan Center for Public Integrity and released Friday. The 120-page
proposal would further expand many of the surveillance powers Congress
granted federal law enforcement in the USA-PATRIOT Act in 2001, while increasing
the secrecy surrounding some government functions." -By
Kevin Poulsen -BusinessWeek/Daily
-
- "Execution
Possibility Intensifies Spy Trial: Jury Selection
Opens In Landmark Case." ... "On the quiet shuttle from the Dulles International
Airport terminal to its midfield gates, where there's really no place to
run, FBI agents arrested intelligence analyst Brian P. Regan in August
2001 before he boarded a plane to Germany. He faced charges of trying to
sell classified documents to Iraq, Libya and China." ... "The indictment
didn't allege any large security leaks, but Sept. 11 came three weeks later,
and soon Attorney General John D. Ashcroft said Regan should face the death
penalty. With that announcement, Regan became the first espionage defendant
in the United States to face execution since Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
were convicted more than 50 years ago. Jury selection in his trial begins
today." -By Tom Jackman-WashingtonPost
- "Feds
Indict 7 in Texas Terror Probe: Feds Indicte
[sic] Employees of Texas Computer Firm and Hamas Leader on Terrorism-Related
Charges." ... "The leader of an Islamic militant group, his wife, and five
brothers work at a Texas computer firm were indicted on charges of trafficking
with terrorist states Libya and Syria, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced
Wednesday." ... """The war against terror is a war of accountants and auditors
as well as weaponry and soldiers," Ashcroft said. "We will pursue the financiers
of terror as well as pursue the thugs who do their work.""
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- Paul
Wellstone - "Sen.
Wellstone's Legacy: Mark Shields, David Brooks,
and the Washington Post's Dan Balz share personal and political reflections
on the late Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.), who died in a plane crash in
Minnesota Friday." ... "DAVID BROOKS: ... One of the things that really
impressed me, and this as a senator, he wasn't a particularly good senator
when he started; made a lot of unnecessary enemies, didn't really play
the game. But he decided pretty quickly that he didn't want to just be
a noble loser. He wanted to actually get some things done and he made some
allies; he worked with people like Jesse Helms, who he earlier said he
despised; worked with John Ashcroft, won support from veterans groups,
not automatic. So he really improved as a senator and was always a man
of conviction, always very popular with conservatives." -PBS.org
/ newshour / index
Paul
Wellstone - "Senator
Wellstone [Minnesota Democrat] killed in plane crash."
... "Eight deaths were confirmed at the scene, including the senator s
wife Sheila, and a daughter, Marcia. Three unnamed staff members and two
crew members were also reported dead." ... "The senator's death recalls
the October 2000 plane crash that killed Mel Carnahan, Missouri's Democratic
governor, who was campaigning for Senate. Mr Carnahan remained on the ballot
and won the election, defeating his opponent, then-senator John Ashcroft."
-By Jeff Pruzan -FT.com
-West
Coast Port Lockout
- "Longshoremen
agree to return to work." ... "The longshoremen's
union at 29 West Coast ports agreed Tuesday to return to work under a 30-day
contract extension." ... "But almost simultaneously, President Bush announced
in Washington that he was asking Attorney General John Ashcroft to seek
an injunction under the Taft-Hartley Act."
-AP via -OregonLive.com/Oregonian
Operation_TIPS
- "New
life for Operation TIPS: Blasted for plans
to link the spy program to "America's Most Wanted," John Ashcroft has tapped
another private firm to run its volunteer hotline. His most fervent supporter:
Joe Lieberman." ... "The Richmond, Va.-based nonprofit company, called
the National White Collar Crime Center, confirmed Wednesday that it is
discussing plans with the Justice Department to operate a hotline that
would take calls from citizens that the department signs up in its planned
Terrorism Information and Prevention System (TIPS) spy program. Civil libertarians
are outraged by the plan to privatize the operation. "It's troubling that
the Justice Department would go out of its way to try to get around the
Fourth Amendment and the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act this way,"
says John Whitehead, president of the conservative Rutherford Institute."
... "Meanwhile, a battle is shaping up in Congress over efforts to block
funding for the TIPS program entirely. Last month, the House of Representatives
passed its version of the Homeland Security bill with a measure added by
Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, that prohibited federal funding for
programs that would have American citizens spying on each other. But an
effort by Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., to do the same thing with the Senate's
version of the bill was stymied by Senate Government Operations Committee
Chair Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn." -By Dave Lindorff
-Salon
Operation_TIPS
- "When
neighbors attack! Volunteers for Operation TIPS,
John Ashcroft's citizen spy army, are being steered to the Fox crime show
"America's Most Wanted." Is the merger of tabloid TV with the federal snooping
operation funny or scary or both?" ... "Has Ashcroft turned his embattled
volunteer citizen spy program -- which has been blasted by left and right
alike -- over to Fox Broadcasting's "America's Most Wanted"?" -By
Dave Lindorff -Salon
Operation_TIPS
- "Ashcroft
offers TIPS assurances." ... "Amid growing concern
over Operation TIPS, Ashcroft sought to assure members of the Senate Judiciary
Committee July 25 that reports of suspicious activity will not be retained
in a central database, but he said some reports may be kept in databases
maintained by various law enforcement agencies." ... "Ashcroft said he
advised against creating a database that would be maintained by Operation
TIPS, and "I have been given assurances that TIPS will not maintain a database."
But the FBI and other agencies might preserve TIPS reports in databases,
he said." -By William Matthews
-FCW.com
Operation_TIPS
- "Ashcroft:
TIPS Plan Won't Have Central Database: Anti-Terror
Information Will Be Passed On, He Tells Committee." ... ""We don't want
to see a 1984, Orwellian-type situation here where neighbors are reporting
on neighbors," Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) said during Ashcroft's testimony
yesterday." -By Dan Eggen-WashingtonPost
Operation_TIPS
- "Senators
Quiz Ashcroft on Citizen Watch Program." ... "While
Ashcroft said on Thursday he had recommended that the information not be
stored in any Justice Department database, earlier statements from the
department indicated the information would be kept in a database." -By
Niala Boodhoo -Reuters
via -Miami/Herald
Opinion
- "Most
Far-Reaching Gag Order In 1st Amend. History? Hentoff:
Press Must Address Book-Reading Threat." ... "John Ashcroft's war on terrorism
includes the most far-reaching gag order in First Amendment history --preventing
the press from reporting on the FBI's seizure of the lists of books bought
or borrowed in bookstores and libraries by noncitizens and citizens suspected
of terrorist activities." -By Nat Hentoff -EditorAndPublisher.com
