Bush-era surveillance went beyond wiretaps

WASHINGTON The Bush administrations post-Sept 11 surveillance efforts went beyond the widely
publicised warrantless wiretapping programme, a government report disclosed Friday, encompassing
additional secretive activities that created unprecedented spying powers.
The report, widely published in US press, also raised new questions about how the Bush White House kept key
Justice Department officials in the dark as it launched the surveillance program.
In a move that it described as extraordinary and inappropriate, the report said the White House relied on a
single, lower-level attorney in the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel for assessments about the
programs legality.
The attorney, John Yoo, a young Bush appointee with close ties to the presidents inner circle, wrote a series of
memos legally blessing the program even though his superiors and most top officials were uninformed about it.
The report was compiled at the request of Congress by five government agency watchdogs: the inspectors
general of the Justice Department, Pentagon, CIA, Directorate of National Intelligence and National Security
Agency.
It represents the most detailed public disclosure of the existence of secret surveillance efforts beyond the
warrantless wiretapping program, saying the overall package of efforts came to be known in the Bush
administration as the Presidents Surveillance Program. However, the report did not describe the other
programs or explain how they worked.
All of these activities were authorised in a single presidential authorisation, the report said, referring to the
warrantless wiretapping as a terrorist surveillance program and the undisclosed efforts as other intelligence
activities.
The specific details of the other intelligence activities remain highly classified, the report said. The inspectors
general interviewed 200 top officials and front-line agents in defence and intelligence agencies, and said views
of the effectiveness of the warrantless wiretapping and other still- secret activities were mixed.
While many agents thought the efforts filled a gap in intelligence efforts, others had difficulty evaluating the
precise contribution of the Presidents Surveillance Program to counter-terrorism efforts because it was most
often viewed as one source among many.
The inspectors general concluded that, even though Congress has adopted changes in the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act legalizing some of the activities, the information they produce should be carefully monitored.
The report also provided a comprehensive and official narrative concerning the selective and often
confrontational way in which the Bush administration sought and procured legal authorisation for its post-Sept 11
programmes.