The super secret National Security Agency has resolved a closed-door disagreement with the House Intelligence Committee caused this summer by the agency's refusal to share information about its worldwide electronic eavesdropping programs.
The disagreement, which has sharpened suspicions among privacy advocates about possible illicit eavesdropping, came when the NSA's general counsel refused to hand over some information to the committee, chaired by Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla. According to a defense official, the committee's request was rejected because it was so broad that it would include questions from individual NSA operators to the agency's counsel in Fort Meade, Md., asking how the nation's privacy laws restrict the interception, recording and dissemination of particular overseas conversations and data. Release of those questions, even to the close-mouthed Intelligence Committee, might deter operators from seeking advice out of fear that they would seem stupid or get in trouble, said the defense official.
A statement from the committee said they had accommodated the counsel's privacy concerns, and added they have since received all the information they requested.
"Nothing about this discussion with the NSA, and the resolution of these issues, has worked to reduce the committee's insight into the agency's activities," or its belief that the agency follows the rules "scrupulously," said a committee statement.
The committee's original inquiry was intended to determine whether "appropriate collection resources were being wisely utilized against specific targets of particularly legitimate foreign intelligence value," said the statement.
But the disagreement stoked suspicions among groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, which fear the NSA works with foreign intelligence agencies to violate U.S. privacy laws.
On Nov. 17, an alliance of these privacy groups created a new Web site, www.aclu.org/echelonwatch/, to focus attention on the NSA's surveillance system, which they dub "Echelon." With some backing from Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., these groups are lobbying for new restrictions on the NSA's intelligence gathering. But they are unlikely to succeed because the U.S. government is unwilling to curb the agency's vital activities, said Stewart Baker, who served as the NSA's general counsel until 1994.
Also, because spying already is illegal yet ubiquitous, there is little chance useful privacy regulations could be crafted and implemented, he said. Even if the United States complied with such curbs, foreign governments will not, added Baker.
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