NSA 'Talking Points' Memo Irks Democrats

[Rose Siding]

This is an AP report, but only the Fox link is available so far.

The spy agency recently sent the Senate Intelligence Committee a list of approved talking points about its warrantless eavesdropping program. But the panel's seven Democrats bridled, saying in a letter to the agency's director that the document was riddled with "subjective statements that appear intended to advance a particular policy view and present certain facts in the best possible light."

They are accusing the supersecret agency of inappropriately engaging in policy debate. Intelligence agencies are supposed to stay out of politics.
...
"I find it outrageous that the administration is encouraging senators to say that the NSA program has been effective in detecting plots in the U.S. and saving lives, while refusing to provide the committee with sufficient evidence to back up that claim," West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the intelligence panel's top Democrat, said in a statement Tuesday.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,213524,00.html

suggested comments:
—"I have personally met the dedicated men and women of the NSA. The country owes them an enormous debt of gratitude for their superb efforts to keep us all secure."

—"I can say that the program must continue. It has detected plots that could have resulted in death or injury to Americans both at home and abroad."

—"It is being run in a highly disciplined way that takes great pains to protect U.S. privacy rights. There is strict oversight in place, both at the NSA and outside, now including the full congressional intelligence committees."

[UpInArms]

1. 2 legs bad, 4 legs good

the propaganda machine churns on ....

[arcane1]

2. they wouldn't need 'talking points' if they were telling the DAMNED TRUTH!

:grr::mad::grr:

[eppur_se_muova]

10. Yes, there's so much less paperwork that way.

And you don't have to keep track of which lies you told most recently ... that gets really confusing, and can trip you up badly.

[Solly Mack]

3. Congress commanded to parrot Bush Regime talking points

use your illusions

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. The DEMS should be a little more then 'irked' about this

there are laws against this sort of thing, or at least there use to be.

[teryang]

5. What oversight?

"oversight" within the executive branch isn't oversight by definition. There is no judicial oversight without FISA and they either lie or refuse to disclose to Congress.

[TroglodyteScholar]

6. Piss-poor AP writing...

But the panel's seven Democrats bridled...

Did they really? They restrained something or themselves? Er...learn the language before you get a job writing.

On edit: Oh yea, and the main gist of the story is downright disturbing as well. "Just take our word for it." I guess if we'll take Bush's word, we may as well take anyone's.

[Kagemusha]

7. Maybe his mind was going for 'bristled' and slipped.

Either way... what a story. It's not like intelligence committee members are legally able to divulge the results of their classified briefings in the first place, though the impression they are basing judgments upon such briefings is surely the point behind handing them propaganda to dispense.

[gratuitous]

8. Shorter NSA memo

Just read your lines; if we wanted you to know or tell the truth, you could have called some hearings. But you can't do that, can you Democrats? Neener, neener, neener. Say what we tell you to say.

[951-Riverside]

9. The pentagon did the same thing a few months ago

I remember CBS did piss poor reporting on that too.

[cal04]

11. Democrats Call NSA's Input To Senate Panel Inappropriate

Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee are complaining that the National Security Agency has played politics in support of the secret program to intercept phone calls between alleged terrorists in the United States and abroad.

On July 27, shortly after most members of the committee were briefed on the controversial surveillance program, the NSA supplied the panel's chairman, Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), with "a set of administration approved, unclassified talking points for the members to use," as described in the document.

Among the talking points were "subjective statements that appear intended to advance a particular policy view and present certain facts in the best possible light," Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) said in a letter to the NSA director.

The cleared statements included "I can say the program must continue" and "There is strict oversight in place . . . now including the full congressional intelligence committees," as well as "Current law is not agile enough to handle the threat posed by sophisticated international terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda" and "The FISA should be amended so that it is technologically neutral." FISA refers to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the current law.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/12/AR2006091201443.html

[EVDebs]

12. NSA 'policy shift' pre9-11 reported by Greg Palast in 'Khan Job'

article needs investigating, Dems ?

http://www.strike-the-root.com/4/palast/palast3.html

"". . . A top-level CIA operative who spoke with us on condition of strictest anonymity said that, after Bush took office, "There was a major policy shift" at the National Security Agency. Investigators were ordered to "back off " from any inquiries into Saudi Arabian financing of terror networks, especially if they touched on Saudi royals and their retainers. That put the Bin Ladens, a family worth a reported $12 billion and a virtual arm of the Saudi royal household, off limits for investigation. Osama was the exception; he remained a wanted man, but agents could not look too closely at how he filled his piggy bank. The key rule of any investigation, "follow the money," was now violated, and investigations-at least before September 11-began to die.""

Spiked Operation Catcher's Mitt