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Confirmation Hearing Opens for CIA Nominee and Former NSA-Head
Michael Hayden
New Internet Legislation Would Force ISPs To Track Customers'
Online Activities
Will the Public Lose its Right to Know About Toxic Releases
by Industry?
Is the U.S. Government Fueling Civil War in Somalia?
Confirmation Hearing Opens for CIA Nominee and Former
NSA-Head Michael Hayden
For the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks, the full
Senate and House Intelligence Committees were briefed Wednesday
on the National Security Agency's warrantless domestic surveillance
program. The Bush administration agreed to allow the briefing
to happen with hopes it would pave the way for the Senate
Intelligence Committee to approve the nomination of former
NSA Director General Michael Hayden to become the new head
of the CIA. Hayden's hearing begins today. [includes rush
transcript]
For the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks, the full
Senate and House Intelligence Committees were briefed Wednesday
on the National Security Agency's warrant-less domestic surveillance
program. NSA Director Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander traveled to
Capitol Hill to deliver the briefing, accompanied by a team
of aides carrying zippered blue briefcases containing information
on the top-secret program. Up until Wednesday less than half
of the Senate Intelligence Committee had ever been briefed
on how the NSA is conducting warrant-less eavesdropping inside
the United States.
Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine said "This
is something that should have happened, frankly, long before
now. Congress should be an ally in the war on terror, not
an adversary." The Bush administration agreed to allow
the briefing to happen with hopes it would pave the way for
the Senate Intelligence Committee to approve the nomination
of former NSA Director General Michael Hayden to become the
new head of the CIA. The Senate Intelligence Committee will
open its confirmation hearing on Hayden today.
Part of today's hearing will be held behind closed doors
to allow Senators to question General Hayden about classified
information. This will not mark the first time General Hayden
has been publicly questioned about the NSA's secret spy program.
In January he made a rare appearance before the National Press
Club. He defended the secret program and then took questions
from the audience.
- General Michael Hayden, the former director of the NSA
and President Bush's pick to become the new head of the
CIA.
At today's Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Senators
are also expected to question Hayden's credibility. When Hayden
took over the NSA in 1999 he publicly vowed to protect the
privacy of Americans. The Washington Post reports he was viewed
at the time as a champion of national security, privacy rights
and press freedoms. Last week New York Times reporter James
Risen discussed Hayden during a forum on the NSA sponsored
by the New York public library and the Century Foundation.
Risen is one of the Times reporters who broke the NSA's domestic
surveillance story.
- James Risen, reporter for the New York Times.
At today's Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Gen. Hayden
is also expected to be questioned about last week's report
in USA Today that Verizon, BellSouth and AT&T had handed
over millions of phone records to the NSA. On Wednesday the
Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a complaint with
the Federal Communications Commission over the actions of
the phone companies. At least one FCC Commissioner - Michael
Copps - has already expressed support for the Commission to
investigate the phone companies.
Meanwhile the New York Times has revealed more information
about the NSA's efforts to track phone calls. The paper reports
that the government efforts to collect phone records has likely
focused on long-distance carriers, not local ones. Technical
experts said long-distance calling records could yield information
not only on the companies' own long-distance customers, but
also on traffic that the carriers connect on behalf of others,
including some calls placed on cellphones or on Internet voice
connections.
New Internet Legislation Would Force ISPs To Track
Customers' Online Activities
Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin
is preparing legislation that rewrite Internet privacy rules.
Under the proposed legislation, Internet service providers
would be required to keep logs tracking what users did online
in order to help police to be able to "conduct criminal
investigations." We speak the reporter who broke this
story, Declan McCullagh, the chief political correspondent
for CNET News.com. [includes rush
transcript]
As we continue to talk about privacy issues and government
surveillance we turn to a related story out of Washington.
The technology news website CNET News.com is reporting that
Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin is
preparing legislation that rewrite Internet privacy rules.
Under the proposed legislation, Internet service providers
would be required to keep logs tracking what users did online
in order to help police to be able to 'conduct criminal investigations.'
Executives at Internet companies that fail to comply would
be fined and imprisoned for up to one year.
Technology experts say this marks a dramatic shift in the
Bush administration's view on Internet privacy. To talk about
this we are joined by the reporter who broke this story, Declan
McCullagh. He is the chief political correspondent for CNET
News.com.
Will the Public Lose its Right to Know About Toxic
Releases by Industry?
Congress could face a vote as early as today on proposed
changes by the Environmental Protection Agency that would
essentially dismantle its Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) which
tracks the amount of toxic chemicals manufacturing facilities
release into the environment. [includes rush
transcript]
Will the public lose its right to know about toxic releases
by industry? Congress could face a vote on the issue as early
as today. Proposed changes by the Environmental Protection
Agency would essentially dismantle its Toxics Release Inventory
- or TRI.
The TRI program tracks the amount of toxic chemicals manufacturing
facilities release into the environment. Last September, the
EPA announced plans to significantly roll back the program's
reporting requirements in order to reduce the paperwork burden
on corporations.
The agency's proposed changes include allowing companies
to release ten times as much pollution before being required
to report the details of how much was produced and where it
went. The EPA has also proposed collecting TRI pollution reports
every other year, instead of the currently-required annual
submissions.
The reporting changes have met with opposition from community
groups, public interest watchdogs and members of Congress.
A vote is expected as early as today on an amendment to the
House Interior Appropriations bill that would prevent the
EPA from spending money on implementing the proposed changes.
- Sean Moulton, director of Federal Information Policy
at OMB Watch, a Washington-based
watchdog group.
Is the U.S. Government Fueling Civil War in Somalia?
The Bush administration has been accused of funding warlords
in the Somali capital of Mogadishu as part of the "war
on terror." Since May 7th, battles between the warlords
and Islamic militants have killed at least 150 people and
wounded more than 300. It is the worst fighting the city has
seen in 15 years. We speak with the Executive Director of
the Somali Justice Center and an Africa specialist at the
Congressional Research Service. [includes rush
transcript]
We turn now to Somalia where over the past week violence
in the capital of Mogadishu has intensified between Islamic
militants and an alliance of warlords who say they that the
militants are harboring foreign fighters and Muslim extremists,
including al-Qaeda. Since May 7th, battles between the two
factions have killed at least 150 people and wounded more
than 300. It is the worst fighting the city has seen in 15
years. Somalia, a nation of 10-million people in the Horn
of Africa, has been without a functioning government since
the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 plunged it
into anarchy. Since then, warlords have been battling for
control of the country.
But new reports reveal that the warlords, who call themselves
the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism,
may be funded by the United States. Last week, UN monitors
released a report to the Security Council saying that they
were investigating an unnamed country's violation of an arms
embargo through clandestine support for a local warlord group.
It is widely believed among officials of Somalia's interim
government and U.S Africa policy analysts that this country
is the United States. On Tuesday, Somali Health Minister Abdel
Aziz Sheikh Yussef told the Arab League in Cairo that "The
US is behind the latest violence through its financial and
military support of warlords and its interference in the country's
internal affairs." At a White House press briefing yesterday,
Press Secretary Tony Snow was asked about U.S involvement
in Somalia.
- White House Press Secretary Tony Snow
For more on the issue we speak with two guests:
- Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice
Advocacy Center in St Paul, Minnestoa.
- Ted Dagne, Africa Specialist at the Congressional Research
Service. The service is the public policy research arm of
the U.S Congress.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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