AJ Strata has been carefully watching the NSA "scandal" unravel and has some interesting news which confirms his long held belief that this is an important program and not unlawful. Most importantly, he disputes the often—heard argument that FISA was fine as it was because the government could easily get a warrant: General Hayden spoke recently and provided information that is critical to the context of what I wrote below. What Hayden confirmed is all NSA activities were extensions of 1981 executive orders which confirms the Bush administration did not re—direct NSA's surveillance, but directed it to send leads on US persons to the FBI for follow up. He also clearly points out we knew Atta and other 9—11 terrorists were in the US — but could not pass this on because they were 'protected' — whatever that means. In my mind that means the FISA court would refuse to entertain surveillance warrants because the leads originated with the NSA or DIA. On January...(Read Full Post)