AZJoe
01-30-2018, 04:44 AM
The Hill: Robert Mueller's Felonious Surveillance Crime Spree (http://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/371206-golden-boy-robert-muellers-forgotten-surveillance-crime-spree)
during his 11 years as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mueller’s agency routinely violated federal law and the Bill of Rights (https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/unleashed-and-unaccountable-fbi-report.pdf).
Mueller took over the FBI one week before the 9/11 attacks and he was worse than clueless after 9/11. ... Mueller declared, “The fact that there were a number of individuals that happened to have received training (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/692291/posts) at flight schools here is news, quite obviously. If we had understood that to be the case, we would have — perhaps one could have averted this.” Three days later, Mueller announced: “There were no warning signs that I’m aware of that would indicate this type of operation in (http://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/09/17/inv.investigation.terrorism/index.html) the country.” His protestations helped the Bush administration railroad the Patriot Act through Congress ... FBI agents in Phoenix and Minneapolis had warned FBI headquarters of suspicious Arabs (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-was-warned-about-flight-schools/) in flight training programs prior to 9/11. A House-Senate Joint Intelligence Committee analysis concluded that FBI incompetence and negligence “contributed to the United States becoming, in effect, a sanctuary for radical terrorists (https://fas.org/irp/congress/2002_hr/100802hill.html).” ... the Wall Street Journal to call for Mueller’s resignation (https://www.newsmax.com/pre-2008/wall-street-journalfbi/2002/05/31/id/666954/), while a New York Times headline warned: “Lawmakers Say Misstatements Cloud F.B.I. Chief's Credibility (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/692291/posts).” ...
Thanks to the Patriot act, the FBI increased by a hundredfold (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/05/AR2005110501366.html) — up to 50,000 a year (http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/national_security_letters_building_blocks_for_inve stigations_or_intrusive_t/) — the number of National Security Letters (NSLs) it issued to citizens, business, and nonprofit organizations, and recipients were prohibited from disclosing that their data had been raided (https://epic.org/privacy/nsl/). ... The FBI greatly understated the number of NSLs it was issuing and denied that abuses had occurred, ... an Inspector General report revealed that FBI agents may have recklessly issued thousands of illegal NSLs (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR2007032000921.html). ... federal judge Victor Marrero denounced the NSL process as “the legislative equivalent of breaking and entering, with an ominous (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/06/AR2007090601438.html) free pass to the hijacking of constitutional values."
Rather than arresting FBI agents who broke the law, Mueller created a new FBI Office of Integrity and Compliance. (https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2007/July/07_nsd_498.html) ... the FBI may have committed “tens of thousands” of violations (https://www.eff.org/wp/patterns-misconduct-fbi-intelligence-violations) of federal law, regulations, or Executive Orders between 2001 and 2008. ...
At an April 2005 Senate hearing, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) asked Mueller: “Can the National Security Agency, the great electronic snooper, spy on the American people?" Mueller replied: "I would say generally, they are not allowed to spy or to gather information on American citizens (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/bush-lets-us-spy-on-callers-without-courts.html)." ... Mueller was the point man for the Bush administration’s bizarre 2006 decision (https://www.pclob.gov/library/215-Report_on_the_Telephone_Records_Program.pdf) (perpetuated by Obama) that all Americans’ telephone records were “relevant” to terrorism investigations. Several times a year, Mueller signed orders to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/filenode/docket_06-05_1dec201_redacted.ex_-_ocr_0.pdf) ...
On June 5, 2013, leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden blew the lid off this surveillance regime (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order). Federal judge Richard Leon slammed that records roundup as “almost Orwellian... I cannot imagine a more indiscriminate (https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/judge-nsas-collecting-of-phone-records-is-likely-unconstitutional/2013/12/16/6e098eda-6688-11e3-a0b9-249bbb34602c_story.html?utm_term=.705b1e775f55) and arbitrary invasion than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval.” ... NSA employees had broad discretion to vacuum (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/20/fisa-court-nsa-without-warrant) up Americans’ info without warrants, and NSA's definition of terrorist suspect was so ludicrously broad that it includes "someone searching the web for suspicious stuff (https://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/jul/31/nsa-xkeyscore-program-full-presentation)."
during his 11 years as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mueller’s agency routinely violated federal law and the Bill of Rights (https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/unleashed-and-unaccountable-fbi-report.pdf).
Mueller took over the FBI one week before the 9/11 attacks and he was worse than clueless after 9/11. ... Mueller declared, “The fact that there were a number of individuals that happened to have received training (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/692291/posts) at flight schools here is news, quite obviously. If we had understood that to be the case, we would have — perhaps one could have averted this.” Three days later, Mueller announced: “There were no warning signs that I’m aware of that would indicate this type of operation in (http://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/09/17/inv.investigation.terrorism/index.html) the country.” His protestations helped the Bush administration railroad the Patriot Act through Congress ... FBI agents in Phoenix and Minneapolis had warned FBI headquarters of suspicious Arabs (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-was-warned-about-flight-schools/) in flight training programs prior to 9/11. A House-Senate Joint Intelligence Committee analysis concluded that FBI incompetence and negligence “contributed to the United States becoming, in effect, a sanctuary for radical terrorists (https://fas.org/irp/congress/2002_hr/100802hill.html).” ... the Wall Street Journal to call for Mueller’s resignation (https://www.newsmax.com/pre-2008/wall-street-journalfbi/2002/05/31/id/666954/), while a New York Times headline warned: “Lawmakers Say Misstatements Cloud F.B.I. Chief's Credibility (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/692291/posts).” ...
Thanks to the Patriot act, the FBI increased by a hundredfold (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/05/AR2005110501366.html) — up to 50,000 a year (http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/national_security_letters_building_blocks_for_inve stigations_or_intrusive_t/) — the number of National Security Letters (NSLs) it issued to citizens, business, and nonprofit organizations, and recipients were prohibited from disclosing that their data had been raided (https://epic.org/privacy/nsl/). ... The FBI greatly understated the number of NSLs it was issuing and denied that abuses had occurred, ... an Inspector General report revealed that FBI agents may have recklessly issued thousands of illegal NSLs (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR2007032000921.html). ... federal judge Victor Marrero denounced the NSL process as “the legislative equivalent of breaking and entering, with an ominous (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/06/AR2007090601438.html) free pass to the hijacking of constitutional values."
Rather than arresting FBI agents who broke the law, Mueller created a new FBI Office of Integrity and Compliance. (https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2007/July/07_nsd_498.html) ... the FBI may have committed “tens of thousands” of violations (https://www.eff.org/wp/patterns-misconduct-fbi-intelligence-violations) of federal law, regulations, or Executive Orders between 2001 and 2008. ...
At an April 2005 Senate hearing, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) asked Mueller: “Can the National Security Agency, the great electronic snooper, spy on the American people?" Mueller replied: "I would say generally, they are not allowed to spy or to gather information on American citizens (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/bush-lets-us-spy-on-callers-without-courts.html)." ... Mueller was the point man for the Bush administration’s bizarre 2006 decision (https://www.pclob.gov/library/215-Report_on_the_Telephone_Records_Program.pdf) (perpetuated by Obama) that all Americans’ telephone records were “relevant” to terrorism investigations. Several times a year, Mueller signed orders to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/filenode/docket_06-05_1dec201_redacted.ex_-_ocr_0.pdf) ...
On June 5, 2013, leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden blew the lid off this surveillance regime (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order). Federal judge Richard Leon slammed that records roundup as “almost Orwellian... I cannot imagine a more indiscriminate (https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/judge-nsas-collecting-of-phone-records-is-likely-unconstitutional/2013/12/16/6e098eda-6688-11e3-a0b9-249bbb34602c_story.html?utm_term=.705b1e775f55) and arbitrary invasion than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval.” ... NSA employees had broad discretion to vacuum (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/20/fisa-court-nsa-without-warrant) up Americans’ info without warrants, and NSA's definition of terrorist suspect was so ludicrously broad that it includes "someone searching the web for suspicious stuff (https://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/jul/31/nsa-xkeyscore-program-full-presentation)."