http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/20/russ-tice-nsa-obama_n_3473538.htmlRuss Tice, Bush-Era Whistleblower, Claims NSA Ordered Wiretap Of Barack Obama In 2004
The Huffington Post | By
Nick Wing Posted: 06/20/2013 2:11 pm EDT | Updated: 06/20/2013 7:04 pm EDT
Russ Tice, a former intelligence analyst who in 2005 blew the whistle on what he alleged was massive
unconstitutional domestic spying across multiple agencies, claimed Wednesday that the NSA had ordered wiretaps on
phones connected to then-Senate candidate Barack
Obama in 2004.
Speaking on
"The Boiling Frogs Show," Tice claimed the intelligence community had ordered surveillance on a wide range of groups and individuals, including high-ranking military officials, lawmakers and diplomats.
"Here's the big one ... this was in summer of 2004, one of the papers that I held in my hand was to wiretap a bunch of numbers associated with a 40-something-year-old wannabe senator for Illinois," he said. "You wouldn't happen to know where that guy lives right now would you? It's a big white house in Washington, D.C. That's who they went after, and that's the president of the United States now."
Host Sibel Edmonds and Tice both raised concerns that such alleged monitoring of subjects, unbeknownst to them, could provide the intelligence agencies with huge power to blackmail their targets.
"I was worried that the intelligence community now has sway over what is going on," Tice said.
After going public with his allegations in 2005, Tice later admitted that he had been a key source in a bombshell
New York Times report that blew the lid off the Bush administration's use of warrantless wiretapping of international communications in the U.S. The article forced Bush to admit that the practice was indeed used on a small number of Americans, but Tice
maintained that the NSA practice was likely being used the gather records for millions of Americans. The NSA denied Tice's allegations.
In the wake of recent reports detailing the extent of the NSA's data surveillance programs, Tice has again come out as a skeptic of the administration's response. While defenders of the program have insisted that there is nothing to suggest the government has the authority -- or desire -- to listen in on people's phone calls without a warrant, Tice
told The Guardian that he believes the NSA has developed the capability "to collect all digital communications word for word."
(Audio of Tice's interview on "The Boiling Frogs Show above,
via MSPB Watch.)
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OP Commentary: Well, the one thing that can be said here is that irony, like karma, bites like a bulldog when it decides to bite. A few more things to be said here are that I wonder what possessed them to spy on a state senator like this, and how many other politicians were spied on like this. And I would also note that this is neither surprising nor anything atypical in US government history, unfortunately. This certainly is an interesting development in this whole sordid reminder of a dark underbelly of the US political sphere.