Scott Malone of
NavySeals.com sent me a copy of a
May 17, 2006 letter signed by Dennis Kucinich and Chris Shays addressed to the Director of the NSA. Has this already been posted elsewhere? It reads in part:
We are writing regarding claims by an National Security Agency (NSA) employee, Mr. Russ Tice, of potential unconstitutional and illegal activity ongoing at NSA....
If the SAP does not fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of HPSCI, but rather under the jurisdiction of the Armed Services Committee, the House rules provide that the Government Reform Committee may exercise oversight jurisdiction to investigate allegations of illegal activity under that government program.
Both Shays and Kucinich are members of that Committee. Their letter asks for a justification of why Russ Tice has not been allowed to speak with anyone in Congress about the programs he has sought to brief Congress on.
More details below. The NSA has not replied to the letter yet. Anyone heard anything else about this?
Here is a copy of an earlier
March 6, 2006 letter Shays and Kucinich sent to the Intelligence Committee.
Russ Tice testified before their Committee in February, before news of the domestic call records program came to light. At the time he indicated that he had knowledge of other programs which he could not discuss:
Russell Tice has something to say, but there is no one he can talk to.
He explained as much at a mid-February hearing before the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations. Tice is a 20-year veteran of the United States intelligence network, having worked for Naval Intelligence, the Department of Defense and, most recently, the National Security Agency, where he held the position of intelligence analyst and capabilities officer. He has intimate knowledge of the innermost workings of the intelligence community, and wants to tell Congress about an NSA program that, he says, is unconstitutional and possibly criminal.
"What [the American people] know about is Hiroshima," he says. "What I'm going to tell you about is Nagasaki. I'm going to tell you about three Nagasakis." He is gagged, however, by the non-disclosure agreement he signed before becoming privy to top-secret government activities.
It seems pretty clear this is related to the NSA domestic call analysis program. Any thoughts?