Rep. Nancy Pelosi: Has She Been Involved With NSA Surveillance From the Beginning?

[xocet]

Last edited Fri Jul 26, 2013, 11:16 AM - Edit history (1)

The defeat of Rep. Amash's amendment by a vote of 217-205 (with 12 not voting) casts several Democratic Representatives in an seemingly unusual light. They have now become defenders of an NSA program that many Democrats feel is wrong to continue.

Here are the Democrats that voted against Rep. Amash's amendment - including House Democratic Leader Pelosi and House Democratic Whip Hoyer:

Andrews, Barber, Barrow (GA), Bera (CA), Bishop (GA), Bishop (NY), Brown (FL), Brownley (CA), Butterfield, Carney, Castor (FL), Castro (TX), Cooper, Costa, Cuellar, Davis (CA), Delaney, Duckworth, Engel, Enyart, Esty, Foster, Frankel (FL), Gallego, Garcia, Green, Al., Gutiérrez, Hanabusa, Heck (WA), Higgins, Himes, Hinojosa, Hoyer, Israel, Jackson Lee, Johnson (GA), Johnson, E. B., Kaptur, Kelly (IL), Kennedy, Kilmer, Kind, Kirkpatrick, Kuster, Langevin, Larsen (WA), Levin, Lipinski, Lowey, Maloney, Se., Matheson, McIntyre, McNerney, Meeks, Meng, Murphy (FL), Payne, Pelosi, Peters (CA), Peters (MI), Peterson, Price (NC), Quigley, Ruiz, Ruppersberger, Ryan (OH), Schakowsky, Schneider, Schwartz, Scott, Da., Sewell (AL), Sinema, Sires, Slaughter, Smith (WA), Thompson (CA), Titus, Van Hollen, Vargas, Veasey, Visclosky, Wasserman Schultz, Wilson (FL)

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll412.xml

Here are some excerpts of a purported NSA document which was released by The Guardian on Thursday, 27 June 2013:

TOP SE CRE OMIN ONW OF ORN

1109-0002 WORKING DRAFT
OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL



NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY
CENTRAL SECURITY SERVICE
24 March 2009

...

Background

TOP SE CRE OMIN OF ORN

1109-0002 WORKING DRAFT

I. INTRODUCTION

(U) This Report

On 4 October 2001, President George W. Bush issued a
memorandum entitled FOR SPECIFIED
ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE ACTIVITIES DURING A LIMITED
PERIOD TO DETECT AND PREVENT ACTS OF TERRORISM
WITHIN THE UNITED The memorandum was based on the
President's determination that after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks
in the United States, an extraordinary emergency existed for national
defense purposes.

The 4 October 2001 Presidential authorization delegated
authority to the Secretary of Defense, who further delegated it to the
Director of National Securitv Agencv/Chief. Central Securitv Service
to conduct specified electronic surveillance on targets
related to Afghanistan and intemational terrorism for 30 days. Because the
surveillance included wire and cable communications carried into or out of
the United States, it would otherwise have required FISC authority.

...

(U) Access to Program Information

Between 4 October 2001 and 17 January 2007, NSA
cleared over 3,000 people for the PSP. The majority worked at NSA.
Others were fiom the CIA, the FBI, the Department of Justice, Congress,
the FISC, the ODNI, the White House, and the

PSP Clearance Totals

Agency Number of Cleared
Personnel
NSA 1,936
CIA 460
FBI 467
DOJ 64
Congress 60

TOP SE CRE OMIN 0NflV 0F ORN

23

T-09-0002
WORKING DRAFT

TOP SE CRE ONW 0F ORN

FISC 14
ODNI 13
White House 14
DOD (excluding NSA) 5
Total 3,033

Within the first 30 days of the Program, over 190
people were cleared into the Program. This number included Senators
Robert Graham and Richard Shelby, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi,
President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, Counsel to the
Vice President David Addington, and Presidential Assistant 1. Lewis
"Scooter" Libby. By 31 January 2002, FISC Judge Royce Lamberth was
cleared. By June 2002, over 500 people had been cleared, including two
additional members of Congress, Senator Daniel Inouye and former
Senator Theodore Stevens, as well as FISC Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.
See Appendix for a list, by date, of the number of people briefed into the
Program.

...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/jun/27/nsa-inspector-general-report-document-data-collection

Thus, it would appear that Rep. Pelosi has been involved with the NSA surveillance program since almost the program's inception.


Here is Rep. Pelosi declaring impeachment to be "off the table"?

Is Rep. Pelosi as deeply associated with the NSA surveillance program as the Bush Administration was?

[ZRT2209]

1. PELOSI IS EVIL! I'M GOING TO BECOME A REPUBLICAN!

EVIL EVIL EVIL EVIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

SO SO EEEEEEVIIIILLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAHHHHH!!!!!

[Fire Walk With Me]

3. With DINOs like these, you pretty much ARE voting republican. n/t

[xocet]

4. Your message brings forth no counterargument and, thus, does not bear on the OP.

If you read the OP, there is a linked document from a credible source that states that Rep. Pelosi was brought into the NSA surveillance program from almost the very beginning - i.e., she has been aware of the program for quite a long time and did nothing openly to question its validity. It is reasonable to ask if she took impeachment of Bush off the table, because of her complicity in the NSA program.

[napoleon_in_rags]

2. I just found out my rep voted against it to.

I mean there's so far I'm willing to go with "Bush created it! We had nothing to do with it!". But as of this vote, they did. The illusion that Democrats are the side unconditionally against the surveillance state set up by Bush has been shattered. That said, I MUST point out that more Dems voted for this bill than Repubs which makes me a proud member of the better party. But in my mind, all those who voted against it need to step aside and stop playing "leader", because following a game plan set up by Republicans isn't my idea of leadership.

[xocet]

5. The report states that 60 people in Congress were cleared to have knowledge of the program.

The report also states that in an appendix there is a list of people cleared and a timeline of who knew and when. Said appendix was apparently not released, but it would be interesting to know who knew and when they knew of the program.


As you stated, it is good to see that the majority of the Democrats in the House voted for the Amash amendment:

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 412

H R 2397 RECORDED VOTE 24-Jul-2013 6:51 PM
AUTHOR(S): Amash of Michigan Amendment No. 100
QUESTION: On Agreeing to the Amendment

Party Affiliation----Ayes----Noes----NV
Republican-----------94-----134-----6
Democratic----------111------83-----6
Independent
TOTALS-------------205-----217----12

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023334526

Transparency on this issue would be nice to have.

[napoleon_in_rags]

14. Maybe my reps an insider.

There's a good chance Pelosi is. It just makes me mad. There's a history of overeach in area related to military spying on protestors during Bush era, and the fact my rep is blind to that makes me feel hopeless.

But yeah, on the whole, I'm proud of this party. I heard a RW commentator saying something about how "even leftists" were getting concerned with this. This vote shows the real profile of who's concerned with liberties.

[Pelican]

6. Being on the Intel committee since post 9/11?

Of course...

[bemildred]

7. Being Speaker of the House? She had to know. nt

[xocet]

9. Ok. So, here is the membership of that committee as of Oct. 11, 2001...

House Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence - 107th Congress
Porter J. Goss, R - Florida, Chairman

Republicans
Doug Bereuter, Nebraska
Michael N. Castle, Delaware
Sherwood L. Boehlert, New York
Jim Gibbons, Nevada
Ray LaHood, Illinois
Randy "Duke" Cunningham, California
Peter Hoekstra, Michigan
Richard Burr, North Carolina
Saxby Chambliss, Georgia
J. Dennis Hastert, Illinois, Ex Officio


Democrats
Nancy Pelosi, California, Ranking Democrat
Sanford B. Bishop, Georgia
Jane Harman, California
Gary A. Condit, California
Tim Roemer, Indiana
Alcee L. Hastings, Florida
Silvestre Reyes, Texas
Leonard L. Boswell, Iowa
Collin C. Peterson, Minnesota
Richard A. Gephardt, Missouri, Ex Officio

http://web.archive.org/web/20011011092139/http://intelligence.house.gov/committee_membership.htm

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. Which explains the CYA vote of her and others who support the spying. They voted for it.

[ZRT2209]

10. now run along and cross post at FR! delicious!

[xocet]

11. This newest post still fails to address the OP and merely contains a thinly veiled insult. n/t

[frylock]

12. fuck off, troll

[Autumn]

13. I'm going to go with yes.