Two Spy Stories

There are two big spy stories being talked about today.

The first is the story of the FBI exceeding its authority in the use of "national security letters" to pry into a whole bunch of stuff it shouldn't have - and then not presenting proper records for the prying.

Glenn Greenwald is all over this one, correctly pointing out that Bush set the tone for this abuse by proclaiming in one of his many "signing statements" that he could, whenever he wished, violate the law which now appears to have been broken.

Glenn repeats what has long become obvious except to those who blindly cheerlead for Bush:

When a country is ruled by an individual who repeatedly and openly arrogates unto himself the power to violate the law, and specifically proclaims that he is under no obligation to account to Congress or anyone else concerning the exercise of radical new surveillance powers such as NSLs, it should come as absolutely no surprise that agencies under his control freely break the law. The culture of lawlessness which the President has deliberately and continuously embraced virtually ensures, by design, that any Congressional limits on the use of executive power will be violated.

...The story here is not merely that the FBI is breaking the law and abusing these powers. That has long been predicted and, to some degree, even documented. The story is that the FBI is ignoring the very legal obligations which George Bush vowed were not obligations at all, but mere suggestions to be accepted only if he willed it. It is yet another vivid example proving that the President's ideology of lawlessness exists not merely in theory, but as the governing doctrine under which the executive branch has acted, time and again and as deliberately as possible, in violation of whatever laws it deems inconvenient.

As usual from Glenn, it's a long and informative post - go read it all.

The second spy story is rather at odds with the first - Steve Clemons writes that Defense Secretary Gates is dismantling Cheney's intelligence apparatus at the pentagon.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has told a number of senior national security officials -- current and former -- that he is shutting down (or at least significantly shrinking) the Rumsfeld-Cambone-Feith-Boykin intelligence operation.

Rumsfeld encouraged a massive expansion of the Department of Defense's intelligence operations just at the time that the 9/11 Commission, Congressional enabling legislation, and the White House had worked together to reorganize the vast bulk of America's intelligence machine under the Director of National Intelligence -- who was then John Negroponte.
Rumsfeld's colonization of much of the intelligence operations of government was in direct defiance of the legal operational and budgetary authority that the DNI position theoretically held.

Gates' move is a sign that he is making what are possibly an important set of moves to try and get the government's national security decision-making process back in better shape. DoD's misbehavior in intelligence has generated constant battles and significant mistrust among key players in defense policy.

...the Rumsfeld-Cambone-Feith-Boykin intel machine included the staff of Vice President Cheney who were key beneficiaries of intel activities and information passed on to the Vice President's Office by DoD. Instructions also flowed from Cheney's office to DoD regarding intelligence initiatives and work that should be done. This entire interaction existed beyond what was legally prescribed and appropriate between the White House and this subcabinet intelligence activity controlled by Rumsfeld and his minions.

Bob Gates is about to shut down a signficant chunk of Vice President Cheney's intelligence eyes and ears -- and to some degree, an inappropriate ability to help drive covert actions.

Again, it's worth reading the whole thing.

What does say that domestic spying is running riot while the worst excesses of the DoD's foreign intelligence efforts are apparently being reined in?