Russ Feingold On the Massive NSA Database of Americans’ Phone Calls

WASHINGTON - May 11 - This Administration’s arrogance and abuse of power should concern all Americans. That the government may be secretly collecting, and using data mining to analyze, the phone records of millions of law-abiding Americans, as reported in the press today, is a frightening prospect. I am unaware of this program, and Congress needs to find out exactly what the Administration is doing and whether it is legal. It is time for the Administration to come clean with Congress and the American people. We can effectively fight terrorism and protect privacy, the rule of law, and separation of powers, but only if we have a President who believes in these principles.

http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0511-16.htm

With every new unlawful act that is revealed about the bush* cabal, Senator Feingold must feel vindicated for being, at times, the lone dissenting Congressional voice.

May 9, 2006

Feingold critical of CIA nominee

WASHINGTON — Sen. Russ Feingold said Monday that President Bush has politicized the position of Central Intelligence Agency director by nominating a top official involved in the administration's warrant-less wiretapping program.

Feingold, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he has not yet decided how he will vote on the nomination of Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, who currently serves as principal deputy director of National Intelligence.

In choosing Hayden, Bush has picked a 61-year-old military officer who until April of last year served as director of the National Security Agency. That agency implemented the administration's post Sept. 11 policy of intercepting international communications in which one party is U.S.-based without a warrant.

Feingold, a leading critic of that policy, has called on Congress to censure Bush for failing to seek warrants from the secret court established under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060509/APC0101/605090623/1003/APCnews

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