James Risen and Eric Lichtblau published a groundbreaking front-page New York Times article revealing the NSA had been conducting warrantless surveillance of Americans since 2001 under President Bush’s secret authorization. The story exposed that the NSA, traditionally focused on foreign …
Alberto Gonzales and Chief of Staff Andy Card went to George Washington Hospital ICU to pressure hospitalized Attorney General John Ashcroft to reauthorize the NSA surveillance program that the Department of Justice had deemed illegal. Acting Attorney General James Comey raced to the hospital with …
The NSA began operating MAINWAY, a massive database system built to support the STELLARWIND surveillance program, collecting telephone metadata from major U.S. carriers including AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Built in urgent haste after September 11, MAINWAY became what sources described as …
President Bush signed presidential authorization for warrantless surveillance program bypassing FISA courts on October 4, 2001. Created by Dick Cheney, the NSA STELLARWIND program was classified as ’exceptionally controlled information’ and collected phone and internet metadata on …