Two knowledgeable sources tell NEWSWEEK that the clash erupted [in 2004] over a part of Bush's espionage program that had nothing to do with the wiretapping of individual suspects. Rather, Comey and others threatened to resign because of the vast and indiscriminate collection of communications data. These sources, who asked not to be named discussing intelligence matters, describe a system in which the National Security Agency, with cooperation from some of the country's largest telecommunications companies, was able to vacuum up the records of calls and e-mails of tens of millions of average Americans between September 2001 and March 2004. The program's classified code name was "Stellar Wind," though when officials needed to refer to it on the phone, they called it "SW." (The NSA says it has "no information or comment"; a Justice Department spokesman also declined to comment.)Read the rest of the story here. And maybe now it is becoming clearer why the Bush Administration was so desperate to prevent anyone from looking into the wholesale violations of the U.S. Constitution perpetrated by the Bush Administration and the NSA.
It will come as no surprise that the attorney who said that wiretapping everyone was legal was that noted facilitator of war criminals, John Yoo.
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