Warrantless Surveillance Report Finally Released

The Long-Awaited Warrantless Surveillance Report Finally Released and Spencer Ackerman takes a look: "A year later, the report is complete, and I’ve just gotten a copy of it. What does it say? I’m still reading it, but one thing it says is that the CIA’s involvement in the program is deeper than has been reported. And one interesting bonus fact: the report calls the program the ‘President’s Surveillance Program,’ rather than the manipulative ‘Terrorist Surveillance Program’ handle the Bush administration gave the program when it became public in order to put critics in a tight spot. "

He goes on to describe what the CIA involvement was: "According to the report, CIA would prepare a threat briefing for President Bush justifying the need for such surveillance. Then-CIA Director George Tenet’s chief of staff was in charge of compiling such a report. Then the agency lawyers would vet the assessment to determine whether there was “a compelling case for reauthorization of the” surveillance. Tenet or his deputy, John McLaughlin, would sign it. Then the Department of Justice lawyers would get involved. By 2005, owing to bureaucratic changes, the responsibility for approving this threat assessment every 45 days passed to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the responsibility for drafting it went to the National Counterterrorism Center"