Obama Nominates NSA Wiretap Critic for DoJ

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Tea leaves?…

President Obama announced the nomination on Thursday of a former government lawyer, who had been critical of the legal rationale for the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, to lead the Justice Department’s national security division.

The lawyer, David Kris, served as a senior Justice Department official in both the Clinton and Bush administrations from 2000 to 2003, and is widely respected in Washington for his knowledge of intelligence law.

In late 2005, following the public disclosure of the N.S.A. wiretapping program approved by President Bush, Mr. Kris wrote a 23-page legal analysis that described as “weak” and likely unsupportable some of the Bush administration’s key legal arguments in justifying the program.

And when he was still at the Justice Department, he advised his boss, who was at the time Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, not to sign a mysterious batch of wiretapping warrants “” which grew out of the program “” because intelligence officials would not reveal how the information in the wiretaps was obtained.

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Obama Nominates NSA Wiretap Critic for DoJ

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15 Responses

  1. 5)
    Floridiot said on 1/24/2009 @ 8:27am PT: [Permalink]

    I’m starting to think that the “art students” were there to start a diversion to keep the attention off of the “student pilots”…Nah, just a coincidence:

    …For example, an address for the Sept. 11 hijacking leader, Mohammad Atta, is 3389 Sheridan St. in Hollywood, Fla., only a few blocks and a few hundred feet from the address of some of the Israelis, at 4220 Sheridan.

  2. 6)
    Ancient said on 1/24/2009 @ 9:00am PT: [Permalink]

    Yeah Flo, as it is clearly evident that idiotboy and co worked for their own best interest and not our country’s, and in the convoluted world of elitist intelligence 2+2=4! That dresser(owned twin towers) was bought by haliburton while blow your face off was in charge, then after 9/11, their billion dollar asbestos liability dissapeared still sticks in my craw. And how about that pnac pearl harbor manifesto to das boot!

  3. 9)
    Ancient said on 1/24/2009 @ 7:15pm PT: [Permalink]

    And crap man, even if he doesn’t turn out to be what we were meditatin on… he helped people realize gettin together an making some noise works!

  4. 11)
    Agent 99 said on 1/24/2009 @ 7:37pm PT: [Permalink]

    I know. It’s a solid source too. Seriously bumming me out, among other things.

    He was our only chance, and it’s not looking good. Just keeps looking worse. I’m still hoping he finally looks at reality instead of cold politics. I’m hoping it won’t take him too long to start hating the living shit out of this bullshit he feels obliged to do, and uses those brains of his to really fix this stuff.

    Everyone’s afraid to die.

    But how many do we make die before we risk ourselves?

    What was the difference in the hearts and minds — the fundamental spirits — of those men who stormed the beaches of Normandy, into almost certain death, so that we might have a free and decent future, and the ones we let run our country, our lives, the whole planet?

    I just keep asking myself that question.

  5. 12)
    Ancient said on 1/24/2009 @ 9:52pm PT: [Permalink]

    Hey 99, I think the Kennedy’s did before. Caroline pulled out, an I’m not suprized. I’m not saying everyone is innocent…but unaddressed crimes can be chilling also when a turn for the better might be takin place.

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