Is the National Spook Agency spying on ohio peace groups? they refuse to confirm nor deny , umm, the president said we can do whatever we want, but "rest assured that safeguards are in place to protect the civil liberties of U.S. citizens"
If you submit a freedom of information act request regarding any activities of the nsa, it seems you get this form letter (below the rant), which for me, took 4 months for them to mail. the fbi, ss, defense intelligence (sic) agency , and even the cia, all at least claimed to do a cursory search for major case files, and responses ranged from saying the organizations in question were not the target of a major investigation (not that they were not included in files generated by other investigations) - or that files had been found but that it will take time to make copies, black out most of the text, then copy those copies to get around technology a company i once worked for developed (for the fbi) to separate typed text from attempts to black out the same with markers or other materials.
so, as i've heard to the point of nausea , if ya got nothin to hide, ya shouldn't mind if .....'they' listen to your conversations, videotape your actions, track your financial activities, travel and communications patterns, and maybe link those to your voter registration and online surfing , search record and chat logs and , well hell, why not put a camera - with your consent, in your bath and bed rooms. after all, what do you have to hide?
so, as rules not universally applied fall into the subjective morality - anything i like is good, anything i don't is bad and possibly subject to deportation
--
if the nsa has done nothing wrong they should have nothing to hide. it is ridiculous to suggest that the "bad guys" weren't assuming that everything possible was being done to listen in on their conversations, track their movements , take their pictures. we are being asked to believe the argument that actors are both public enemy #1 and so dangerous that the constitution needs to be shredded to defeat them, and on the other hand that they don't even have the basic security/paranoia level of a minor league stoner .
it would reveal no vital state secrets on spook methods to answer the question, "are you spying on portage peace" or any peace activities. the answer should be easy. no, the administration is not engaged in tracking the movements of those who dissent. if they are doing nothing wrong. they would have nothing to hide.
i don't really think the organization i work with has been active enough to have generated any files. but who knows- we did a series of benefits for a yemeni man who was a legal resident living in kent - kidnapped by state forces and stashed in a prison for years. and tho he was described initially as an al-Qaida "first-stringer, highly educated, highly trained and highly motivated", twice had judicial rulings that he should be released, which were ignored by the justice(sic) department, he was finally deported after the us stopped calling him a terrorist, but for the charge he had been convicted of years before- domestic abuse.
knight ridder wire
http://www.usatoday.com/...
so, even if we don't work hard enough to annoy the administration to rate a threat on our own , we are linked to "terra" through our call for this man to be released and helping raise funds to aid his family.
that, and we live in the us and have phones.
but even assuming there are no files respondent to my request - the terribly arrogant assertion that they are free to define the law and refuse to be held accountable by their employers (us citizens) , don't worry your pretty little head, just go back to sleep...... has led me to search out legal counsel to file an appeal.
----love letter from the nsa -------
NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY CENTRAL SECURITY SERVICE
FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, MARYLAND 2O755-6OOO
FOIA Case: 48081 19 April 2006
Ms. Sue Jeffers OH 44240
Dear Ms. Jeffers:
This responds to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated 19 December 2005, which was received by this office on 19 January 2006, for records maintained by NSA pertaining to and/or captioned: the Portage Community Peace Coalition, the Kent State AntiWar Committee, the International Socialist Organization, Northeast Ohio Anti-war Coalition, and all information related to anti-war organizations, meetings, activities, etc. in Ohio. Your letter has been assigned Case Number 48081.
For purposes of this request and based on the information you provided in your letter, you are an "all other" requester. There are no assessable fees for this request. Your request has been processed under the provisions of the FOIA.
As you know, the President of the United States "authorized the National Security Agency [(NSA)], consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution, to intercept the international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations." The President also noted that, "[t]his is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security."
Rest assured that safeguards are in place to protect the civil liberties of U.S. citizens. However, because of the highly classified nature of the program, we can neither confirm nor deny the existence of records responsive to your request. The fact of the existence or non-existence of responsive records is a currently and properly classified matter in accordance with Executive Order 12958, as amended. Thus, your request is denied pursuant to the first exemption of the FOIA, which provides that the FOIA does not apply to matters that are specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive Order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign relations and are properly classified pursuant to such Executive Order.
Moreover, the third exemption of the FOIA provides for the withholding of information specifically protected from disclosure by statute. Thus, your request is also denied because the fact of the existence or non-existence of the information is exempted from disclosure pursuant to the third exemption. The specific statutes applicable in this case are Title 18 U.S. Code 798; Title 50 U.S. Code 403-l(i); and Section 6, Public Law 86-36 (50 U.S. Code 402 note).
As your request is being denied, you are hereby advised of this Agency's appeal procedures. Any person denied access to information may file an appeal to the NSA/CSS Freedom of Information Act Appeal Authority. The appeal must be postmarked no later than 60 calendar days of the date of the initial denial letter. The appeal shall be in writing addressed to the NSA/CSS FOIA Appeal Authority (DC34), National Security Agency, 9800 Savage Road _ . STE 6248, Fort George G. Meade, MD 20755-6248. The appeal shall reference the adverse determination and shall contain, in sufficient detail and particularity, the grounds upon which the requester believes that the determination is unwarranted. The NSA/CSS FOIA Appeal Authority will endeavor to respond to the appeal within 20 working days after receipt, absent any unusual circumstances.
Sincerely,
LOUIS F. GILES
Director of Policy