NSA Program Contradiction and Confusion

The FISA Court was told at the start of the eavesdropping program that following its probable cause standard would make it impossible to find terrorists who might attack the US following 9/11, and although having reservations about the program, the head of the Court and his subsequent replacement acquiesced in the Court having no role..

In their recent public defense of the program, NSA Director Hayden and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales proceeded to obliterate that position, while trying to justify their actions, according to today’s Washington Post:

Hayden and Gonzales claimed that NSA analysts do not listen to calls unless they have a reasonable belief that someone with a known link to terrorism is on one end of the call. At a hearing Monday, Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the "reasonable belief" standard is merely the "probable cause" standard by another name.

To make their present justification even more unbelievable, the Post reported that FBI Director Mueller and Justice officials went to the Court on September 12, 2001, and got agreement for expedited FISA warrant procedures

The requirement for detailed paperwork was greatly eased, allowing the NSA to begin eavesdropping the next day on anyone suspected of a link to al Qaeda, every person who had ever been a member or supporter of militant Islamic groups, and everyone ever linked to a terrorist watch list in the United States or abroad, the official said.