Do you remember the controversy that generated the whole leak and subsequent leak investigation on the now sadly defunct West Wing? About this secret military space program that could rescue the astronauts, if only it could be revealed? I was reminded of that today, reading former NSA official Russell Tice's letter (.pdf), and what seems to me its hint that the matter to be disclosed involves military satellites being used to spy on Americans. It would be staggering if true. The specter of this whole architecture of futuristic warfare, being used to experimentally target the communications of the American citizenry, is profoundly disturbing. Perhaps Orwell could have imagined it, but even the West Wing never fully took on the most ominous elements of the current moment: that the war could be used to justify vast domestic surveillance.

Update: I made an acknowledged leap from Tice's letter to my sense that his concerns involve military satellites being used in domestic spying. Here's the line of the letter that jumped out at me:

I intend to report to the Armed Services Committee probable unlawful and unconstitutional acts conducted while I was an intelligence officer with the National Security Agency (NSA) and with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). These acts involve the Director of the National Security Agency, the U.S. Air Force Deputies Chief of Staff for Air and Space Operations, and the U.S. Secretary of Defense.

We know Tice is a whistleblower on the NSA being involved in warrantless domestic spying. Now we see that he's also pointing to the Air Force Air and Space Operations leadership, as well as the leadership of the NSA and DoD being involved in some special access program that he feels is illegal. Hence, my (acknowledged) leap/presumption that this has to do with space, with satellites, with domestic surveillance. But I could be wrong. [I've since been assured that my hunch is basically in the right neighborhood.]

Update II: It turns out Tice sent a letter outlining similar concerns to Intel committee chairman Pat Roberts -- last month. And that was already Tice's second letter to Chairman Roberts, outlining similar concerns, back in December:

As the responsible committee for intelligence in the Senate, I have been waiting for your directions on this matter. If another committee is the proper place for me to testify, I believe it is your responsibility to forward my request to that committee and keep me informed of the process. You are also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and, as such, should know if SAP related intelligence programs fall within the jurisdiction of intelligence and/or the military committees. If the SSCI is indeed the proper place for me to convey this intelligence related misconduct, I likewise believe it is your responsibility to inform me of such. This, of course, has not been the case.

In the absence of any direction, I recently have been researching this question of jurisdiction. In doing so, I have stumbled upon a directive that seems to address the question of who in congress is cleared to know about these SAP programs...

Ouch. The guy is pratically begging for guidance. Where is he supposed to go? Is there really no Congressional committee that is cleared to listen to his concerns? How is that possible?

Posted by Laura at May 15, 2006 02:31 PM