The warrantless wiretaps flooded US intel and law enforcement agencies with useless information -- tying up hundreds of counter terrorism agents to spy on innocent Americans and run down dead ends.FBI investigators complained repeatedly about being swamped with information from the wiretaps.
And FBI Director Robert Mueller even raised concerns about the wiretapping's legality.
"We'd chase a number, find it's a schoolteacher with no indication they've ever been involved in international terrorism - case closed." -- A former FBI official quoted in the New York TimesSources tell the New York Times the program has failed to uncover any terrorist plot or al Qaeda cell operating in the United States.
Agents in FBI field offices joked about the intercepts from the NSA as "more calls to Pizza Hut" every time they were told to run down new leads from the NSA. (NYT)
3 comments:
No mention of those who HAVE been caught though eh? Such as those guys in Italy just last week and the OH trucker. Accepting a few mistakes to prevent devastaing attacks is to be expected. If you don't agree, move to the high risk areas yourself and accept the consequences of the added risk caused by those who take weapons from those seeking to protect us.
If you read the article, you'll find the intel and law enforcement types say the warrantless wiretaps have not helped catch ANY terrorists.
The two cases you cite were apparently captured through intel gathered overseas in interrogations or through other means not dependent on the warrantless wiretap program.
Oh, one other thing, Anon -- I was at the US Capitol during the 9/11 attacks and lived just four blocks from the US Capitol at the time.
Aside from three other places that day -- the two World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon -- you couldn't get any more high risk than that.
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