Wiretap report questions effectiveness of illegal NSA spying

A report released today by several government agencies' Inspectors General concludes that little, if any, useful information was collected by the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program and the National Intelligence Agency (NSA). The report also indicates that the Bush White House politicized the "threat assessments" that it then relied upon as a foundation for the illegal program. The report was mandated by the 2008 FISA Amendments Act (FAA) that effectively legalized the unlawful warrantless surveillance program approved by President Bush in late 2001. The FAA also gave the government new spying powers, including the power to conduct dragnet surveillance of Americans' international communications. News reports have since indicated that the NSA has exceeded the already overbroad limits granted to it under the FAA. "It should be clearly understood by the American people that the power Congress authorized with the FISA Amendments Act is even broader than the illegal program the Bush administration was conducting, and is most likely just as ineffective. Giving up the Fourth Amendment for an ineffective program is a double slap in the face of Americans," said Michelle Richardson, ACLU Legislative Counsel. "We already know that the NSA has overstepped the overbroad bounds of the FISA Amendments Act, and it's time for Congress to take a thorough look at the surveillance powers it's handed our government."