PrintApril 27, 2009
It wasn't an NSA tap on Harman's telephone line (updated)
I knew it! The NSA was not the agency tapping Rep. Jane Harman's calls:
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The National Security Agency did not place a wiretap that reportedly intercepted phone conversations made by Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., the top U.S. intelligence official said Monday.Dennis Blair, the national intelligence director, declined to say which agency requested the reported wiretap and oversaw the information gleaned from Harman's conversations. Blair was speaking at the dedication of a new intelligence research facility.The only other agency that has authority to place wiretaps on calls inside the United States is the Justice Department. It requires court approval.
The NSA story never made any sense.
Update - Clarice Feldman writes:
I think it was the FBI and was done in connection with their investigation of the Larry Framklin and the two AIPAC officials.
As I said earlier, I think this information was leaked to put pressure on the new Atty General not to drop the case, which would suggest it came from people at the FBI who worked on that case, a case which it appears to me has become quite impossible for DoJ to win under the rules set down by Judge Ellis and confirmed by the Court of Appeals.
Interestingly, leaking this information may itself constitute a violation of federal criminal law:
18 U.S.C. 798 of the Espionage Act prohibits unauthorized disclosure of communications intelligence : "(a) Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to an unauthorized person, or publishes, or uses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States any classified information...(3) concerning the communication intelligence activities of the United States ...Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both."
