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Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Confidential Correspondence

D
emocrats say they never approved a domestic wiretapping program, undermining suggestions by President Bush and his senior advisers that the plan was fully vetted in a series of congressional briefings.

S
enator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller, IV (D-WV), Vice Chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, is among a small group of congressional leaders who have received briefings on the administration's four-year-old program to eavesdrop -- without warrants -- on international calls and e-mails of both Americans and foreigners inside the United States.

R
ockefeller stated that on July 17, 2003 he was briefed on the NSA Intercept Program in the United States, and that the same day he wrote a letter to Vice President Dick Cheney expressing concern about the warrantless domestic surveillance by the NSA.

John D. Rockefeller, IV, Vice Chairman
Select Committee on Intelligence
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510


July 17, 2003

Vice President Richard B. Cheney
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. Vice President,

I am writing to reiterate my concern regarding the sensitive intelligence issues we discussed today with the DCI, DIRNSA, Chairman Roberts and our House Intelligence Committee counterparts.

Clearly, the activities we discussed raise profound oversight issues. As you know, I am neither a technician nor an attorney. Given the security restrictions associated with this information, and my inability to consult staff or counsel on my own, I feel unable to fully evaluate, much less endorse these activities.

As I reflected on the meeting today, and the future we face, John Poindexter's TIA project sprung to mind, exacerbating my concern regarding the direction the Administration is moving with regard to security, technology, and surveillance.

Without more information and the ability to draw on any independent legal or technical expertise, I simply cannot satisfy lingering concerns raised by the briefing we received.

I am retaining a copy of this letter in a sealed envelope in the secure spaces of the Senate Intelligence Committee to ensure that I have a record of this communication.

I appreciate your consideration of my views.

Most respectfully,
Jay Rockefeller

The information he received in the July 17, 2003 briefing was so confidential that Rockefeller actually handwrote the letter to Cheney rather than have it typed out by one of his staffers.
Handwritten letter

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Posted by fm on December 28, 2005 at 12:43 AM

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