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Justice Department Memos Heavily Redacted To Conceal Full Scope Of Bush Administration’s Warrantless Wiretapping Program
March 19, 2011Memos Released As Part Of ACLU Freedom
Of Information Act Litigation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org
NEW YORK – Two Justice Department memos describing the National Security Agency’s (NSA) illegal warrantless wiretapping program were made public late Friday as part of an American Civil Liberties Union Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit.
The memos, a May 2004 memo authored by the former head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel Jack Goldsmith and a November 2001 memo from John Yoo, then the deputy assistant attorney general, are most notable for what they don’t reveal. The memos are heavily redacted.
In 2005, the New York Times disclosed that the NSA was secretly intercepting the telephone calls and e-mails of people in the United States without a warrant in direct violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The ACLU, the National Security Archive and the Electronic Privacy Information Center quickly filed FOIA requests for documents about the NSA surveillance program. After the government largely ignored the requests, the ACLU and the National Security Archive filed lawsuits to enforce their rights under FOIA.
The following can be attributed to Alexander Abdo, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project:
“Despite a much-trumpeted commitment to transparency and accountability, the Obama administration has continued to shield the surveillance practices of the past from meaningful scrutiny. Nearly a decade after President Bush authorized a set of intelligence activities that almost led to the resignation of the attorney general, the FBI director and other Justice Department officials, the American public still knows virtually nothing about what it was that President Bush authorized.”
Even Bigfoot Knows His Rights
The New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union is suing the state on behalf of America’s favorite furry, bipedal humanoid. Well, actually – on behalf of a human filmmaker and performance artist who was barred from filming his ape suit adventures at Mount Monadnock.
Jonathan Doyle made his first appearance as Bigfoot in September 2009, when he donned the costume and ran across the top of Mt. Monadnock. Then, in street clothes, he filmed bystanders talking about what they saw. As Doyle told the media:
“People loved it. It was socially engaging. When I showed up at the top of the mountain dressed as Bigfoot and beating my chest, everyone just laughed and hoorayed.”
Apparently park manager Patrick Hummel was not as captivated by the Sasquatch sighting. When Doyle and friends returned to the mountain later that month to make another film, Hummel cut them off, barring them from filming without first obtaining a $100 special-use permit 30 days in advance, along with a $2 million insurance bond.
Doyle and his counsel, Barbara Keshen at the of New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, argue these requirements constitute a clear violation of the First Amendment. Jon Meyer, co-council said:
"The underlying activities are humorous, but the principle's important. We're talking about a very small-scale activity in a very large place. We don't believe there's any legitimate government role in regulation."
We’ll keep you posted on what comes next. We hope the courts will rule in our favor and show that in America, free speech is more than an elusive myth.
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