Hayden and the Bush White House Continue to Mislead Americans

Today, President Bush's nominee to head the CIA, Michael Hayden, engaged in misleading rhetoric about Bush's secret domestic spying programs. Over and over again, the Bush Administration has not been truthful with the American people about the wiretapping and collection of phone records of millions of Americans.

"Today's hearings were another example of the Bush Administration's chronic pattern of misleading the American people," said Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Stacie Paxton. "From the manipulation of pre-war intelligence, to the real costs of Medicare Part D, to its dealings with Jack Abramoff, and now the President's domestic spying program, the list is growing. Serious questions remain about the legality of President Bush's secret domestic spying program, and it's equally disturbing that the Administration has consistently failed to give truthful answers to Congress and the American people about the nature and scope of the President's spying program. After assurances that this a limited program, we are left to read in the newspapers that the program actually involves the calls of ordinary Americans. Democrats are united in our commitment to keeping America safe and hunting down the terrorists, but we want a President who will keep us safe and follow the law."

See below for a new document from DNC Research:

The Bush Administration first claimed that their program was "limited" in scope and that it dealt only with international calls. But, according to the USA Today, the President's secret program tracks calls made by tens of millions of normal Americans "across town or across the country -- to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others." What else is the Bush White House not telling us?

THE PRESIDENT WAS UNTRUTHFUL. . .

Bush: "The Program Applies Only To International Communications." In January of 2006, President Bush addressed the National Security Agency. "In the weeks following September the 11th, I authorized a terrorist surveillance program to detect and intercept al Qaeda communications involving someone here in the United States. This is a targeted program to intercept communications in which intelligence professionals have reason to believe that at least one person is a member or agent of al Qaeda or a related terrorist organization. The program applies only to international communications. In other words, one end of the communication must be outside the United States." [US Fed News, 1/25/06]

Bush Said Government Eavesdropping Operates On A Limited Basis. "Now, I -- look, I understand people's concerns about government eavesdropping. And I share those concerns, as well. So obviously I had to make the difficult decision between balancing civil liberties and, on a limited basis -- and I mean limited basis -- try to find out the intention of the enemy." [Speech, 1/11/06]

. . . SO WAS HIS VICE PRESIDENT

Cheney: Program Dealt with International Al Qaeda Calls. Cheney said the surveillance program addressed a concern of the 9/11 Commission that the government had difficulty linking the activities of domestic and international terrorists. "It's hard to think of any category of information that could be more important to the safety of the United States than international communication, one end of which we have reason to believe is related to al-Qaida," Cheney said. "The enemy that struck on 9/11 is weakened, fractured, but still lethal and still determined to hit us again. Either we are serious about fighting this war on terror or we are not." [Associated Press, 1/20/06]

Cheney: Program Is Proper And Needed to Track Terrorists. "We made the decision that when we have somebody inside the United States who's in touch not just overseas, but is in touch with a terrorist, or a terrorist suspect, or an al Qaeda affiliate, that, in fact, that's proper -- The President authorized the NSA the due cause to look into that transaction." [CNN, 12/20/05]

. . . AND HIS ATTORNEY GENERAL

Gonzales Said In Senate Hearing That International Calls Only Were Allowed To Be Intercepted and That NSA Minimized "Unnecessary Collection" Of Information Of Americans. Gonzales said, "While the president approved this program to respond to the new threats against us, he also imposed several important safeguards to protect the privacy and civil liberties of all Americans. First, only international communications are authorized for interception under this program -- that is communications between a foreign country and this country." Gonzales went on to say that "to protect the privacy of Americans still further, the NSA employs safeguards to minimize the unnecessary collection and dissemination of information about U.S. persons." [Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, 2/6/06]

• Gonzales Said It Was Incorrect To Call The NSA Spying Domestic Surveillance. In testimony before the senate, Gonzales said of the NSA spying program, "I think people who call this a domestic surveillance program are doing a disservice to the American people. It would be like flying from Texas to Poland and saying that's a domestic flight. We know that's not true. That would be an international flight. And what we're talking about are international communications." [Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, 2/6/06]
  

. . . AND HIS SECRETARY OF STATE

Rice: President "Authorized The National Security Agency to Collect Information on A Limited Number of People with Ties to Al Qaeda." In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended President Bush's authorization of the NSA surveillance program. "The president has -- first of all, let's talk about what he authorized," Rice said. "He authorized the National Security Agency to collect information on a limited number of people with ties to Al Qaeda in order to be able to close the gap, the seam, between the domestic territory of the United States and foreign territory." [CNN, The Situation Room, 12/26/05]

. . . AND HIS TOP ADVISOR

Rove: Profoundly Wrong to Disagree with Eavesdropping on International Calls. Karl Rove said Democrats' views of Bush's program that allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop without court warrants on Americans whose international calls and e-mails it believed might be linked to al-Qaeda "doesn't make them unpatriotic but it does make them wrong, consistently, profoundly and equally wrong." "America is at war," Rove said. "We face a ruthless enemy and we need and we have a commander in chief and a Congress who understands the nature and the threat. . .To retreat before a victory is won would be a reckless act and this president will not allow it." [Associated Press, 2/24/06]

. . . AND HIS FORMER PRESS SECRETARY

McClellan: Program "Very Limited in Nature. . . It's about Looking at Calls That Involve Someone Overseas That Is An Al Qaeda Member or Affiliated with Al Qaeda." During a press briefing, Scott McClellan talked about the "limited" nature of the NSA program and how it only was used to look at calls involving al Qaeda. "As he (President Bush) indicated in his press conference, he did that in the weeks after the attacks of September 11th. It's an important tool that has helped us to prevent attacks here on the homeland. And that's why it's so important. But it's also one that is fully within our Constitution and our laws, and it's very limited in nature. And let me just point out, because some articles try to say this is about domestic surveillance-- this is about detecting and preventing attacks. It's about looking at calls that involve someone overseas that is an al Qaeda member or affiliated with al Qaeda in some way. So it's important to make that very clear. This is about involving communications with known al Qaeda members or related terrorist organizations." [US Fed News, 1/4/06]

. . . AND EVEN HIS NEW PRESS SECRETARY

Snow: Will Only Confirm The Existence Of A Program Targeting "Foreign to Domestic Calls." "[The President] was talking about foreign-to-domestic calls. The allegations in the USA Today piece, which we will neither confirm or deny, are of a different nature." [US Fed News, 1/4/06]

. . . AS WELL AS HIS NOMINEE TO HEAD THE CIA, WHO GOT THE WHOLE THING ROLLING

Hayden Oversaw Creation of Domestic Surveillance Program. Hayden oversaw the creation and implementation of the administration's domestic surveillance program at the National Security Agency. [International Herald Tribune, 5/9/06; Financial Times, 5/8/06]

Hayden Defended "Aggressive" NSA Spying Claiming It Only Dealt With International Calls And Did Not Collect "Reams Of Intelligence." In defense of the NSA domestic surveillance program, General Hayden said, "[T]he authorization given to NSA by the President requires that one end of these communications has to be outside the United States. I can assure you, by the physics of the intercept, by how we actually conduct our activities, that one end of these communications are always outside the United States of America." [White House Briefing, 12/19/05]

Hayden Said Intrusion Into Privacy Is Limited. "The president's authorization allows us to track this kind of call [to and from members of Al Qaeda] more comprehensively and more efficiently. The trigger is quicker and a bit softer than it is for a FISA warrant, but the intrusion into privacy is also limited: only international calls and only those we have a reasonable basis to believe involve al Qaeda or one of its affiliates." [National Press Club, 1/23/06]