Post by Moses on Apr 14, 2005 8:34:33 GMT -5
Senator Asks U.N. Nominee to Explain His Security Requests
By DOUGLAS JEHL
Published: April 14, 2005
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
Senator Christopher J. Dodd... has asked John R. Bolton, nominee for a United Nations post, to explain requests for security intercepts.
WASHINGTON, April 13 - John R. Bolton, nominated to be the next ambassador to the United Nations, used his position as a senior State Department official to obtain details about intercepted communications involving other American officials that were monitored by the National Security Agency, according to Mr. Bolton's own account.
The identities of American officials whose communications are intercepted are usually closely protected by law, and not included even in classified intelligence reports. Access to the names may be authorized by the N.S.A. only in response to special requests, and these are not common, particularly from policy makers.
Testifying Monday to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Bolton acknowledged that he had made such requests "on a couple of occasions, maybe a few more." Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, has requested that Mr. Bolton explain each request, Democratic Congressional officials said.
Mr. Bolton told the committee that his only motivation had been "to better understand" a summary of an intercepted conversation, saying that on some occasions, "it's important to find out who is saying what to whom."
A former senior intelligence official said it was uncommon but not unheard of for a senior government official to request such information. "Access is not granted lightly and circulation of such data is very restricted," this former official said. The official said such requests were approved only when learning the name was crucial to understanding the intelligence gathered.
On Wednesday the Senate panel's Democrats opposed any swift vote on the appointment, forcing the Republican chairman, Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, to agree to postpone any vote until next week. But a spokesman for Senator Lugar said he did not support Mr. Dodd's request for additional information. "We are prepared to vote," the spokesman, Andy Fisher, said.
Mr. Dodd asked Mr. Lugar on Wednesday to hold a third public hearing on Mr. Bolton's nomination, to allow testimony from a top Central Intelligence Agency official and three State Department officials. In closed-door interviews conducted with the panel's staff, all four officials have provided accounts of two episodes in which, they said, Mr. Bolton sought to remove intelligence analysts from their posts.
A former assistant secretary of state, Carl W. Ford Jr., testified in public on Tuesday about one of those episodes, saying it had a chilling effect on intelligence analysis within the State Department.
In another criticism, a former United States ambassador to South Korea, Thomas C. Hubbard, disputed Mr. Bolton's assertion on Monday that a speech Mr. Bolton delivered in Seoul in 2003 on North Korea had been fully approved by Mr. Hubbard. "At the very least, he greatly, greatly exaggerated my comments," Mr. Hubbard said in an interview.
In requesting additional details on Mr. Bolton's requests about intercepted communications, Mr. Dodd appears to be trying to determine why and how often Mr. Bolton sought to learn the names of officials whose conversations were monitored. A copy of Senator Dodd's request, provided by a Congressional official, notes that all such requests should have been logged by the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research. Congressional officials who discussed the request would not let their names be used.
A senior State Department official said the department had received the request from Mr. Dodd late Wednesday and was reviewing it. The official estimated that Mr. Bolton had sought such information "about a half dozen times, maybe a few more, over a four-year period."
Richard A. Boucher, the State Department spokesman, said: "There are established procedures for intelligence consumers to request the identity of persons referred to in intelligence reports. On those few occasions where Mr. Bolton made such inquiries, he followed these procedures."
The issue of the eavesdropping by the National Security Agency, particularly when it involves Americans whose conversations with foreign surveillance targets are intercepted, is a sensitive one and its details are highly classified. In his public testimony on Monday, Mr. Bolton addressed the question in response to a single, carefully worded question from Senator Dodd, who asked him "whether or not you requested to see N.S.A. information about any other American officials."
"The answer to that is yes," replied Mr. Bolton, who has been the under secretary of state for arms control and international security since 2001.
A Democratic official said Mr. Dodd appeared to be trying to determine whether Mr. Bolton's requests focused on any particular subject area or official, and what use he might have made of the information. Unless it gets a warrant from a special court [headed by a Republican Iran/contra, fascist partisan- Silberman], as in cases of suspected terrorists, the agency is not permitted to identify as a deliberate target an American citizen or permanent resident for eavesdropping. [But have they been, in this regime?] But its global[sic] eavesdropping net regularly picks up communications involving Americans, including phone calls, faxes, e-mail messages and other communications. [In fact, they are banned from eavesdropping w/in US territory]
Intelligence reports circulated by the agency within the government do not normally include verbatim transcripts, but do sometimes reveal what an American official had been heard to say, according to former intelligence officials.
Under the rules, the names of ordinary citizens generally must be removed from any report of the intercept, with the phrase "U.S. person" substituted. But there is an exception for "senior executive branch officials," including ambassadors and dozens of senior State Department officials, who may be identified in reports by their titles.
The procedures are set out in a document called "U.S. Signals Intelligence Directive 18." Though the document was originally secret, an edited version was released some years ago, along with documents interpreting the rules.
David E. Sanger and Scott Shane contributed reporting for this article.
By DOUGLAS JEHL
Published: April 14, 2005
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
Senator Christopher J. Dodd... has asked John R. Bolton, nominee for a United Nations post, to explain requests for security intercepts.
WASHINGTON, April 13 - John R. Bolton, nominated to be the next ambassador to the United Nations, used his position as a senior State Department official to obtain details about intercepted communications involving other American officials that were monitored by the National Security Agency, according to Mr. Bolton's own account.
The identities of American officials whose communications are intercepted are usually closely protected by law, and not included even in classified intelligence reports. Access to the names may be authorized by the N.S.A. only in response to special requests, and these are not common, particularly from policy makers.
Testifying Monday to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Bolton acknowledged that he had made such requests "on a couple of occasions, maybe a few more." Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, has requested that Mr. Bolton explain each request, Democratic Congressional officials said.
Mr. Bolton told the committee that his only motivation had been "to better understand" a summary of an intercepted conversation, saying that on some occasions, "it's important to find out who is saying what to whom."
A former senior intelligence official said it was uncommon but not unheard of for a senior government official to request such information. "Access is not granted lightly and circulation of such data is very restricted," this former official said. The official said such requests were approved only when learning the name was crucial to understanding the intelligence gathered.
On Wednesday the Senate panel's Democrats opposed any swift vote on the appointment, forcing the Republican chairman, Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, to agree to postpone any vote until next week. But a spokesman for Senator Lugar said he did not support Mr. Dodd's request for additional information. "We are prepared to vote," the spokesman, Andy Fisher, said.
Mr. Dodd asked Mr. Lugar on Wednesday to hold a third public hearing on Mr. Bolton's nomination, to allow testimony from a top Central Intelligence Agency official and three State Department officials. In closed-door interviews conducted with the panel's staff, all four officials have provided accounts of two episodes in which, they said, Mr. Bolton sought to remove intelligence analysts from their posts.
A former assistant secretary of state, Carl W. Ford Jr., testified in public on Tuesday about one of those episodes, saying it had a chilling effect on intelligence analysis within the State Department.
In another criticism, a former United States ambassador to South Korea, Thomas C. Hubbard, disputed Mr. Bolton's assertion on Monday that a speech Mr. Bolton delivered in Seoul in 2003 on North Korea had been fully approved by Mr. Hubbard. "At the very least, he greatly, greatly exaggerated my comments," Mr. Hubbard said in an interview.
In requesting additional details on Mr. Bolton's requests about intercepted communications, Mr. Dodd appears to be trying to determine why and how often Mr. Bolton sought to learn the names of officials whose conversations were monitored. A copy of Senator Dodd's request, provided by a Congressional official, notes that all such requests should have been logged by the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research. Congressional officials who discussed the request would not let their names be used.
A senior State Department official said the department had received the request from Mr. Dodd late Wednesday and was reviewing it. The official estimated that Mr. Bolton had sought such information "about a half dozen times, maybe a few more, over a four-year period."
Richard A. Boucher, the State Department spokesman, said: "There are established procedures for intelligence consumers to request the identity of persons referred to in intelligence reports. On those few occasions where Mr. Bolton made such inquiries, he followed these procedures."
The issue of the eavesdropping by the National Security Agency, particularly when it involves Americans whose conversations with foreign surveillance targets are intercepted, is a sensitive one and its details are highly classified. In his public testimony on Monday, Mr. Bolton addressed the question in response to a single, carefully worded question from Senator Dodd, who asked him "whether or not you requested to see N.S.A. information about any other American officials."
"The answer to that is yes," replied Mr. Bolton, who has been the under secretary of state for arms control and international security since 2001.
A Democratic official said Mr. Dodd appeared to be trying to determine whether Mr. Bolton's requests focused on any particular subject area or official, and what use he might have made of the information. Unless it gets a warrant from a special court [headed by a Republican Iran/contra, fascist partisan- Silberman], as in cases of suspected terrorists, the agency is not permitted to identify as a deliberate target an American citizen or permanent resident for eavesdropping. [But have they been, in this regime?] But its global[sic] eavesdropping net regularly picks up communications involving Americans, including phone calls, faxes, e-mail messages and other communications. [In fact, they are banned from eavesdropping w/in US territory]
Intelligence reports circulated by the agency within the government do not normally include verbatim transcripts, but do sometimes reveal what an American official had been heard to say, according to former intelligence officials.
Under the rules, the names of ordinary citizens generally must be removed from any report of the intercept, with the phrase "U.S. person" substituted. But there is an exception for "senior executive branch officials," including ambassadors and dozens of senior State Department officials, who may be identified in reports by their titles.
The procedures are set out in a document called "U.S. Signals Intelligence Directive 18." Though the document was originally secret, an edited version was released some years ago, along with documents interpreting the rules.
David E. Sanger and Scott Shane contributed reporting for this article.