News revealed since my post on Tuesday saying No to Hayden, make the need to reject this guy even more urgent:
- The WaPo reports today that Hayden was open to the idea of bringing the surveillance program "under federal law." Hayden, who headed up the NSA for six years, is just a little slow on this: why did he insitute a program outside of federal law. Clearly the discussion of whether or not the program was legal is moot. Hayden is essentially admitting that it was not under federal law, and that this administration is not interested in following the law.
- Proof of their lack of interest in the law came from USA today. In trying to obtain information on every single phone call,domestic or international, made in the U.S.A. the NSA tried to pressured QWEST into providing it's share of that information. QWEST said they thought it was illegal, and asked the NSA to consult with the FISA court, or with the Attorney General. Hayden's NSA refused to do either, as they feared that they would not get the green light.
- The Department of Justice jusy announced that it cannot investigate what role it's own lawyers played in this mess. Why? Because the NSA won't let it.
If Congress approves Hayden's nomination, they should just close up shop - they will have finally made themselves completely irrelevant. Clearly Hayden does not believe in the rule of law, and Negroponte never did- so why bother with a legislature?
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