NSA Whistleblower Alleges Illegal Spying

Found on ABC News on Wednesday, 11 January 2006
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Russell Tice, a longtime insider at the National Security Agency, is now a whistleblower the agency would like to keep quiet.

For 20 years, Tice worked in the shadows as he helped the United States spy on other people's conversations around the world.

Tice says the technology exists to track and sort through every domestic and international phone call as they are switched through centers, such as one in New York, and to search for key words or phrases that a terrorist might use.

"If you picked the word 'jihad' out of a conversation," Tice said, "the technology exists that you focus in on that conversation, and you pull it out of the system for processing."

President Bush has admitted that he gave orders that allowed the NSA to eavesdrop on a small number of Americans without the usual requisite warrants.

But Tice disagrees. He says the number of Americans subject to eavesdropping by the NSA could be in the millions if the full range of secret NSA programs is used.

Well, who really thought that the NSA was just doing what the law allowed? Perhaps people should use 'jihad' for greeting; that would make the bells ring nonstop at the NSA. That system is pretty much similar to Carnivore (or DCS1000 now), which is used by the FBI.