Whistleblower Tells Olbermann NSA Spied On Journalists (VIDEO)

On Keith Olbermann's show Wednesday night, former National Security Agency analyst Russell Tice said that reporters were spied on inside the United States.

Watch:

Former NSA analyst Russell Tice, who has claimed to be a source for the NY Times explosive 2005 story, told Keith Olbermann last night that the NSA collected information on journalists.

Transcript, via Politico:

OLBERMANN: I mention that you say specific groups were targeted. What group or groups can you tell us about?

TICE: Well, there's sort of two avenues to look at this. What I just mentioned was sort of the low-tech dragnet look at this. The things that I specifically were involved with were more on the high-tech side. And try to envision, you know, the dragnets are out there, collecting all the fish and then ferreting out what they may. And my technical angle was to try to harpoon fish from an airplane kind of thing. So it's two separate worlds. But in the world that I was in, as to not harpoon the wrong people in some -- in one of the operations that I was in, we looked at organizations just supposedly so that we would not target them. So that we knew where they were, so as not to have a problem with them. Now, what I was finding out, though, is that the collection on those organizations was 24/7, and you know, 365 days a year, and it made no sense. And that's -- I started to investigate that. That's about the time when they came after me, to fire me. But an organization that was collected on were U.S. news organizations and reporters and journalists.

OLBERMANN: To what purpose? I mean, is there a file somewhere full of every e-mail sent by all the reporters at the "New York Times?" Is there a recording somewhere of every conversation I had with my little nephew in upstate New York? Is it like that?

TICE: If it was involved in this specific avenue of collection, it would be everything. Yes. It would be everything.

Comments

[DanielH]

I am absolutely outraged that this has happened in the US. I blame Bush, Cheney, Gonzalez, and the head of the FBI. These folks should be prosecuted for the abuses of their power and serve jail time. That will send a clear message. Thank God these folks are out of office.

[mafina]

Well a vast majority of the bible thumping individuals thought Bushie was he man of the century. How he had a lot of faith, he carried his bible with him, doing what is right for the american people. yada, yada, yada. Worst approval rating ever, hated around the world. The age of ignorance began when Christianity reared its ugly head, paraphrased from Thomas Paine.

[sonoffestus]

God bless America land of the fre.......­.........w­atched, God bless America...­....LOL!

America just ain't what it used to be. Hope to see investigations and prosecutions if warrented,if not, it will just confirm it's 3rd world status. I used to do business in the old Eastern Bloc countries. I was in Poland and saw leather coated secret police pull Solidarity members out of factories. In Romania and China my phones were tapped and calls monitored. I never dreamed anything like that could happen in the States. I guess I was wrong.

[FCBarca]

Wake up people...W­here were all these outraged citizens when it was plainly obvious to others during the W debacle?..­.No one batted an eye with the Patriot act and the overzealous searches/security at the airports, detainments, FISA and the erosion of civil liberties.­..The writing had been on the wall for years

[mafina]

Simply because the american people were hoodwinked by the congress under the bush admin. It is both a dem/repub scre w up. The dems were complicit and should be held accountable as well, after all, they were the ones helping to feed the b/s to the american people. Whatever W wanted, he got it, and the dems were at his disposal to use as he please. Now with the new admin, the dems want to pretend like they are progressives, we want to erase the last eight years, well, the dems were part/parcel the problem as well, they did nothing as things got worse.

[colorperdaughter]

Yeah, get rid of Pelosi, Reid and the old cronies, they just rolled over, who cares if they were blackmailed by dirt, this whistleblower had some guts at least.

[Emerald1943]

FEAR!!! They had the American people scared out of their wits!

[TJCole]

It appears General Hayden should be arrested immediately upon Eric Holder taking office as our Attorney General..

Then move on from there, let him make a deal to testify against those higher up..!

[vinny]

i believe this was before hayden

[calfacon]

before And During

[dems08]

NSA domestic spying began when Hayden was the director.

(NSA Director Mar. 1999 – Apr. 2005)

[mafina]

MSM thought they were on the high horse by submitting themselves to the gov't, but actually they were just necessary tools, and like all these entities, the MSM was not to be trusted. After selling their souls for ratings, the script reading bobbleheads got screw ed in the interim.

[timm0]

To borrow a phrase, there's no honor among scumbags..­.

[mafina]

Exactly, however, it is truly amazing how they quickly forget that it is the very subjects they attempted/have spied on are the same subjects that will bring them down. If the american people are willing to wake from the deep sleep, this country can be restored to its glory days. It is obvious here that the gov't is afraid of its people.

[IDIOTA]

The Roberts/Alito court, you may recall, ruled that whistle blowers are not protected from employer reprisals, so Tice had to be careful. The thought that Tice had to hand Justice Brennan a hand-written note seems so 007-ish, and that is scary.

Of course we all knew that Bush was spying on us, but confirmation of my fears means that I can finally pass this poop and let it rip.

BTW - when news broke about room 641-A, my satellite signal dropped right before my local news broadcast it. We all laughed because SBC provided all of our communications, ie, satellite, broadband, cell phone, email.

[IDIOTA]

Did Tice mean Stevens instead of Brennan?

[ajax2]

There's my first budget cut.

[sparafucilli]

It would be interesting to find out more about these so called search "categories", who had access to the information gleaned from them and where was this data stored. For instance were Democrats, Republicans, Senators, Congressmen and their respective staff distinct categories? Also what kind of information went into the database. Was it just communications or did it also include credit card purchases, financial data and other personal items. Really scary spy in the ski stuff indeed.

[myangeldog1]

It really makes one wonder doesn't it?!! I wouldn't put ANYTHING past 43's administration.

[johnqsittinzen]

Yes, it would be interesting, which is why we need, nay demand, full disclosure! But you know what the response to that one will be, same one it has been to cover up every nefarious governmental deed since the beginning of the Cold War, "Sorry, can't tell you that, it's a matter of national security."

[myangeldog1]

It makes you wonder about Congress..­....they had to have been monitered.

[mafina]

They were complicit with this b/s. Just remember, the Dems are no moral compasses in the Bush admin. The Dems knew exactly what was going on, take for instance Feinstein, husband was big contractor during Iraq war, along with several others. But now, they want to act like they are the saviours of the american people, b/s. All of these old politicians need to go, sorry but Byrd and Kennedy and the rest of the old carpets, it is time for new and fresh thinking.

After all, it is the older generations that are creating all of this chaos.

[lungfish]

I was told this summer that the NSA has been reading my emails, by another spook.... I run a small nonprofit research team with officers that have high gov clearances and we have done a little bit of work inside gov, related to our work - which definitely has security implications at the highest levels. The word I got was that none of my email or internet communications, or telephone communications are secure. I have had to live with knowing it and made a conscious decision that I wasn't going to stop participating in the world because some spooks are watching me.... No I am not comfortable and i want it to stop but I also know that letting this sort of thing shut you up only gives them more control.

We need investigations and we need all of this reigned in before we end up in some Stalinist nightmare.­...

[Lemmy]

Intelligence Court Releases Ruling in Favor of Warrantless Wiretapping

By Del Quentin Wilber and R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 16, 2009; Page A10

A special federal appeals court yesterday released a rare declassified opinion that backed the government's authority to intercept international phone conversations and e-mails from U.S. soil without a judicial warrant, even those involving Americans, if a significant purpose is to collect foreign intelligence.

[johnqsittinzen]

In case you didn't hear former Agent's Tice's interview, he said the wiretapping went way beyond that protocol. They weren't just listening to call outside the U.S., the trigger to listen to any and all domestic calls was if they were one to two minutes long. More highly targeted groups of interest included "the Media" and "reporters". As Keith said, and Tice agreed, that included all emails from the staff of the NYTimes, and included say, if Keith called his nephew in upstate NY.

But thanks for Intelligence Court Release even though its completely irrelevant.

[Lemmy]

The ruling was made last year and recently made public. You can bet another one is coming covering the domestic part. I know you libs love to try to take away tools that work. What's next, our soldier's guns?

[johnqsittinzen]

comments on Caroline Kennedy story: 13,343 and counting..­.

comments on Oscar nominations: 188 and counting

comments on the Tice revelations: 83

[Grunty1]

If it makes you feel better, I haven't even looked at those other two.

[Lvm]

Nor will we see it on the major network newscasts or in the news cycle.

[IDIOTA]

Remember Admiral Poindexter's Total Information Awareness (TIA) program? Well it looks as if it was implemented after all, even though it was rejected as an outrageous attack on civil liberties. Poindexter, et al, just don't respect the legislature. Remember Iran-Contra? That was Poindexter's.

[Mattatat]

This is beyond f'd up.

This is worse than anything Nixon did, and he was forced to resign.

Olbermann needs to stay on this, every day, until the full truth comes out, and indictments are handed down.

[piquet]

What's f'd up is your(editorial) neighbor, friends, and family that enabled it and to this day don't see a problem with it. That my friend is the real war.The weak willed sycophants too scared of their own shadow and willing to give up their constitutional rights.

[johnqsittinzen]

Agreed, but it has to be more than Olbermann. Yes, I hope Keith keeps at it, but he's too easy to dismiss by those who like to portray him as a mad dog liberal frothing at the mouth. The MSM has to carry the story as well, and considering the job they've done so far...

Now, you can't petition the media, but you can write, call, petition your representatives in Washington. They need to get on this.

[IDIOTA]

Yes -- Keith is a hound that actually hunts. I don't know why this story has no resonance; it is the only reason I bothered to comment on HP, which deserves some credit for airing Keith's interview.

[antiparanoid]

The most disturbing thing about this is that they know I order my pizza with anchovies. They've been eavesdropping on everyone since the very instant the technology was available - probably around the time John Poindexter (Total Information Awareness) was born.

[mafina]

What needs to happen is that At & T needs to be punished for this action. The people need to rise up against this monopoly. The people made them and should break them.