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N.Y. Times: NSA Acted on Its Own

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The National Security Agency acted on its own to expand its domestic surveillance operations after 9/11 – without the formal approval of President Bush.

In the weeks following the terrorist attacks, the N.S.A. – whose mission is to eavesdrop on foreign communications – moved to identify terror suspects within the U.S. by easing restrictions on domestic eavesdropping, according to the New York Times.

The eavesdropping included tapping into some of the nation’s main telecommunications arteries in search of terrorist activity.

The new revelations concerning domestic surveillance have come to light in an October 11, 2001 letter – declassified on Tuesday - written by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to Lt. Gen. Michael V. Hayden, then head of the N.S.A.

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  Following a classified briefing on N.S.A. surveillance activity, Pelosi – who was the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee at the time – wrote: "I am concerned whether, and to what extent, the National Security Agency has received specific presidential authorization for the operations you are conducting.”

Hayden’s reply indicated that the N.S.A. had received no such authorization from the president.

Hayden wrote: "In my briefing, I was attempting to emphasize that I used my authorities to adjust N.S.A.’s collection and reporting.”

Administration officials say Hayden had acted on the authority previously granted to the N.S.A. by a 1981 intelligence directive known as Executive Order 12333, the Times reports.

In 2002, President Bush signed a new executive order authorizing the N.S.A. to tap the private conversations of Americans suspected of having links to al-Qaida.

Disclosure of that order last month created an outcry from administration critics, but now it is clear that the domestic spying operation was already underway before the president signed the order.

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