Terrorist surveillance program used domestically to get Spitzer.

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Wed Mar-12-08 05:08 AM
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Terrorist surveillance program used domestically to get Spitzer.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/worlds-oldest-p.html

But just as much as the alleged prostitution ring employed technology to further its reach, the authorities uncovered it the same way. The FBI, according to court documents, intercepted more than 5,000 telephone calls and text messages, more than 6,000 e-mails, bank and travel records -- all, the bureau said, with court authorized warrants.

And this front page WSJ article:

According to current and former intelligence officials, the spy agency now monitors huge volumes of records of domestic emails and Internet searches as well as bank transfers, credit-card transactions, travel and telephone records. The NSA receives this so-called �transactional� data from other agencies or private companies, and its sophisticated software programs analyze the various transactions for suspicious patterns. Then they spit out leads to be explored by counter terrorism programs across the U.S. government, such as the NSA�s own Terrorist Surveillance Program, formed to intercept phone calls and emails between the U.S. and overseas without a judge�s approval when a link to al Qaeda is suspected.
The NSA�s enterprise involves a cluster of powerful intelligence-gathering programs, all of which sparked civil-liberties complaints when they came to light. They include a Federal Bureau of Investigation program to track telecommunications data once known as Carnivore, now called the Digital Collection System, and a U.S. arrangement with the world�s main international banking clearinghouse to track money movements.
The effort also ties into data from an ad-hoc collection of so-called �black programs� whose existence is undisclosed, the current and former officials say. Many of the programs in various agencies began years before the 9/11 attacks but have since been given greater reach. Among them, current and former intelligence officials say, is a longstanding Treasury Department program to collect individual financial data including wire transfers and credit-card transactions.
It isn�t clear how many of the different kinds of data are combined and analyzed together in one database by the NSA. An intelligence official said the agency�s work links to about a dozen anti terror programs in all.
A number of NSA employees have expressed concerns that the agency may be overstepping its authority by veering into domestic surveillance. And the constitutional question of whether the government can examine such a large array of information without violating an individual�s reasonable expectation of privacy �has never really been resolved,� said Suzanne Spaulding, a national-security lawyer who has worked for both parties on Capitol Hill.
NSA officials say the agency�s own investigations remain focused only on foreign threats, but it�s increasingly difficult to distinguish between domestic and international communications in a digital era, so they need to sweep up more information.
The Fourth Amendment
In response to the Sept. 11 attacks, then NSA-chief Gen. Michael Hayden has said he used his authority to expand the NSA�s capabilities under a 1981 executive order governing the agency. Another presidential order issued shortly after the attacks, the text of which is classified, opened the door for the NSA to incorporate more domestic data in its searches, one senior intelligence official said.

These articles lay out a pretty clear picture of what political opponents of the Bush administration are up against. Domestic spying will be used to bring down political opponents. I seriously doubt Spitzers dealings with an escort agency were what tipped em off. I believe they used spying powers to find out what he was up to and then took him down.