And, A Happy New Year To All

A few stories broke over the New Year's break on the NSA investigation worth mentioning. First, the Justice Department announced Friday that it has launched an investigation, not into the legality of the NSA surveillance, but into the leak itself. The Times story quoted ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero:

"President Bush broke the law and lied to the American people when he unilaterally authorized secret wiretaps of U.S. citizens. But rather than focus on this constitutional crisis, Attorney General Gonzales is cracking down on critics of his friend and boss. Our nation is strengthened, not weakened, by those whistle-blowers who are courageous enough to speak out on violations of the law."

Dana Priest at the Washington Post also had another front-page exclusive on Saturday, this one disclosing the existence of a top secret umbrella covert action program at the CIA.

The program known internally as GST, an abbreviation of its classified code name is compartmentalized into various discrete operations sections, including units that manage the 'black site' secret prisons overseas, the fleet of private airlines used for the clandestine transportation of CIA detainees and lethal paramilitary operations against terrorism targets.

Though separate from the NSA program, the legal rationale for GST is reportedly identical to that proffered to justify the secret surveillance:

'Everything is done in the name of self-defense, so they can do anything because nothing is forbidden in the war powers act,' said one official who was briefed on the CIA's original cover program and who is skeptical of its legal underpinnings. "It's an amazing legal justification that allows them to do anything," said the official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issues.

Yesterday, President Bush addressed growing concern about whether he misled the public in April 2004 at a speech in Buffalo where he stated that every wiretap requires a court order. The ACLU has been running an ad featuring that quote and juxtaposing it against similarly false statements by President Nixon. That's here.