The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Russel Tice's Treason
Froggy (rightfully) unleashes his SEAL fury on another seditions who is knee-deep in the NSA scandal, Russell Tice. Along with Senator Jay Rockefeller (if this report is indeed valid)--and along with the Hate America First crowd at ABC, the New York Times, and the Washington Post--this is a man who is deeply in need of some time behind bars:
Well, isn’t that special? I guess you forgot that revealing the existence of NSA ELINT surveillance programs is more or less classified Top Secret SCI, but then again why nit pick?
Russell Tice is one of the traitors who were used as the source of the NYT NSA surveillance story and for James Risen’s book about the subject. He was on Nightline last night smugly recounting his deeds and calling it “whistleblowing”. What he was really doing was trying to wrap himself in the protection of Congress after having realized that the Attorney General was going to squeeze Risen and Lichtblau for their sources this time instead of just blowing it off. That’s a little something called blowback.
Prior to the Valerie Plame leak investigation, reporters that refused to reveal sources were given a pass by and large. After Patrick Fitzgerald had Judy Miller thrown in the clink for a couple of months and with the President and AG signaling its hardball time, I’m sure Risen informed Tice that he would be getting thrown under the bus. It’s funny that the NYT held onto this story for over a year before using it to launch Risen’s book. Had they released it prior to the Judy Miller situation who knows what the climate would have been with respect to compelling reporters to reveal sources.
Real Whistleblowing is an important check on the profligacy of government and the abuse of power. Real Whistleblowing occurs when a concerned employee reports waste, fraud, or abuse in his sphere of employment to Congress, not the NYT. That way, the issue can be analyzed and addressed in a confidential manner, and the whistleblower is shielded from legal and other scrutiny.
I’m afraid it is too late for Tice and his fellow traitors to seek Whistleblower protection, and hopefully he and his pals will be warming a bunk in federal prison before long.
Tice stated on Nightline last night that every American that had placed an international phone call since 9/11 had that communication intercepted. He went on to say in answer to Brian Ross’ question, that he was opposed to the program even if it was successful in interrupting a terrorist attack in the US. This is exactly what one would expect from say an ACLU lawyer or liberal Democrat Senator. In fact we know that this has occurred on at least two occasions. The other issue that all international communications are intercepted and “searched” for keywords like jihad, bomb, etc somewhat dispels the association between the purpose of the FISA Act and this operation. The FISA Act was written to prevent the FBI from surveilling political activists and “enemies” of the executive branch ala Nixon. That is clearly not the purpose of this program.
One more thing. The FISA Act requires the government to present probable cause that the subject of surveillance is acting as an agent of a foreign power within 72 hours. How exactly is the FBI supposed to prove that a cell phone subscriber in Florida is a foreign agent when they have no clue as to his location? That is impossible. What Tice, Feingold, and other liberals are saying is, “Yeah, the NSA program probably will save American lives, but even though it’s physically impossible to obtain that information in accordance with FISA, we’ll just have to do without it.” Wrong answer b!tch.
Well, isn’t that special? I guess you forgot that revealing the existence of NSA ELINT surveillance programs is more or less classified Top Secret SCI, but then again why nit pick?
Russell Tice is one of the traitors who were used as the source of the NYT NSA surveillance story and for James Risen’s book about the subject. He was on Nightline last night smugly recounting his deeds and calling it “whistleblowing”. What he was really doing was trying to wrap himself in the protection of Congress after having realized that the Attorney General was going to squeeze Risen and Lichtblau for their sources this time instead of just blowing it off. That’s a little something called blowback.
Prior to the Valerie Plame leak investigation, reporters that refused to reveal sources were given a pass by and large. After Patrick Fitzgerald had Judy Miller thrown in the clink for a couple of months and with the President and AG signaling its hardball time, I’m sure Risen informed Tice that he would be getting thrown under the bus. It’s funny that the NYT held onto this story for over a year before using it to launch Risen’s book. Had they released it prior to the Judy Miller situation who knows what the climate would have been with respect to compelling reporters to reveal sources.
Real Whistleblowing is an important check on the profligacy of government and the abuse of power. Real Whistleblowing occurs when a concerned employee reports waste, fraud, or abuse in his sphere of employment to Congress, not the NYT. That way, the issue can be analyzed and addressed in a confidential manner, and the whistleblower is shielded from legal and other scrutiny.
I’m afraid it is too late for Tice and his fellow traitors to seek Whistleblower protection, and hopefully he and his pals will be warming a bunk in federal prison before long.
Tice stated on Nightline last night that every American that had placed an international phone call since 9/11 had that communication intercepted. He went on to say in answer to Brian Ross’ question, that he was opposed to the program even if it was successful in interrupting a terrorist attack in the US. This is exactly what one would expect from say an ACLU lawyer or liberal Democrat Senator. In fact we know that this has occurred on at least two occasions. The other issue that all international communications are intercepted and “searched” for keywords like jihad, bomb, etc somewhat dispels the association between the purpose of the FISA Act and this operation. The FISA Act was written to prevent the FBI from surveilling political activists and “enemies” of the executive branch ala Nixon. That is clearly not the purpose of this program.
One more thing. The FISA Act requires the government to present probable cause that the subject of surveillance is acting as an agent of a foreign power within 72 hours. How exactly is the FBI supposed to prove that a cell phone subscriber in Florida is a foreign agent when they have no clue as to his location? That is impossible. What Tice, Feingold, and other liberals are saying is, “Yeah, the NSA program probably will save American lives, but even though it’s physically impossible to obtain that information in accordance with FISA, we’ll just have to do without it.” Wrong answer b!tch.
