FISA FAQ (from the Electronic Frontier Foundation)

From CQ.com. According to a Nov.5 2001 memo issued by the US Army's top intelligence officer, Lt. Gen. Robert W. Noonan Jr., it is perfectly legal for the US military to "receive" domestic intelligence information, even though it is not legal for them to "collect" it. Here's some of what he had to say in the memo:

"Remember, merely receiving information does not constitute 'collection' under AR [Army Regulation] 381-10; collection entails receiving 'for use,' " he added. (Army Regulation 381-10, "U.S. Army Intelligence Activities," was reissued on Nov. 22, 2005, but had not previously been disclosed publicly.) "Army intelligence may always receive information, if only to determine its intelligence value and whether it can be collected, retained, or disseminated in accordance with governing policy,"

And who does the intelligence community view as a signifigant threat? Antiwar protesters, of course.

The Pentagon's Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) was launched in 2002 with the mission of "gathering information and conducting activities to protect DoD and the nation against espionage, other intelligence activities, sabotage, assassinations, and terrorist activities," according to a CIFA brochure. Its TALON program has amassed files on antiwar protesters, according to a Pentagon official.

"More than 5,000 TALON reports" were "received and shared throughout the government" in the program's first year of operation," Carol A. Haave, deputy undersecretary of Defense for counterintelligence and security, told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in May 2004.

"At that rate, about 12,500 Talon reports would have been filed during the approximately 2 1/2 years the program has existed," The Washington Post concluded Tuesday.

From RawStrory.com. That pinko commie outfit only concerned with Civil Rights, the ACLU (I'm a card carrying member), is up to their old America hating ways again. From the ACLU's Press Release:

"The Pentagon's monitoring of anti-war protesters is yet another example of a government agency using its powers to spy on law-abiding Americans who criticize U.S. policies," said ACLU staff attorney Ben Wizner. "How can we believe that the National Security Agency is intercepting only al Qaeda phone calls when we have evidence that the Pentagon is keeping tabs on Quakers in Fort Lauderdale?"

The President has claimed that he can spy on American's essentially because Article II of the Constitution says he can as long as we're at war. Well this should come as welcome news to all of us. From the WashingtonPost.com.

Administration officials seem to refer to the "long war" more frequently these days. President Bush mentioned it during his State of the Union address this week. On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the term is a way of telling people the truth about the fight against terrorism.

"Just as the Cold War lasted a long time, this war is something that is not going to go away," Rumsfeld said.

He said this does not mean U.S. troops will be in Iraq indefinitely, but rather that the U.S. will be fighting violent extremists for many years to come.

From ThinkProgress. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan continues to try and make the NSA domestic spying issue a partisan issue, but when high profile conservative figures such as Grover Norquist call the program illegal, it's hard to get that strategy to stick.

Referring to what some see as a conflict between fighting vicious terrorists and upholding all civil liberties, Norquist said, "It's not either/or. If the president thinks he needs different tools, pass a law to get them. Don't break the existing laws."

Additional Reading. From CommonDreams.org.