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China & Russia are spying on the US as much as during the cold war
Tuesday , September 18, 2007

AP

WASHINGTON —
The top U.S. intelligence official asked Congress Tuesday for even more changes to a law that he says has limited the government's ability to eavesdrop — not just on terrorists but also on more traditional potential adversaries.

Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, said China and Russia are aggressively spying on sensitive U.S. facilities, intelligence systems and development projects, and their efforts are approaching Cold War levels.

"Foreign intelligence information concerning the plans, activities and intentions of foreign powers and their agents is critical to protect the nation and preserve our security," McConnell told the House Judiciary Committee.

He is seeking changes to the Protect America Act, which Congressed passed to effectively supersede or modify the Foreign Intelligence Surveilliance Act — a law that administration officials have said tied their hands in combating terrorism.

Congress hastily adopted the successor law — the Protect America Act — just before going on vacation in August. They took that action based in part on McConnell's warnings of a dire gap in U.S. intelligence. Some senior Democrats were hesitant, however.

"The right to privacy is too important to be sacrificed in a last-minute rush before a congressional recess, which is what happened," said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the panel's chairman, said Tuesday.

Democrats worry that the law could open business records, library files, personal mail, and homes to searches by intelligence and law enforcement officers without a court order.

Bush administration officials say that is an overly broad, even strained reading of the law, which they contend only allows the government to target foreigners for surveillance without a warrant. The law also allows the government to listen in on calls and e-mails that have an American on one end of the communication without a warrant as long as the American is not the intended "target" of the surveillance.

Addressing the controversy over the law, the Justice Department and the White House Tuesday issued a "myth and facts" paper meant to allay the concerns of civil liberties advocates and privacy groups that believe it gives the government broader powers than intended.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, the chairman of the subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, called the effort a troubling "charm offensive."

"Let's have some truth in advertising, the act gives the president almost unfettered power to spy, without judicial approval, not only on foreigners but on Americans," Nadler said.

The new law eased some of the restrictions on government eavesdropping contained in the decades-old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, to let the government more efficiently intercept foreign calls and e-mails.

The Protect America Act allows the government to eavesdrop, without a court order, on all communications conducted by a person reasonably believed to be outside the United States, even if an American is on one end of the conversation provided the American is not the intended focus or target of the surveillance.

Such surveillance was generally prohibited under the original Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act without a court order and is one of the more controversial aspects of the new law.

While many Democrats angle to roll back what they consider the excesses of the new law, McConnell and Assistant Attorney General Kenneth L. Wainstein are pushing Congress to make even more changes.

China & Russia are spying on the US as much as during the cold war (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297132,00.html)

USS Nimitz Buzzed By Russian Bombers - Intercepted By F-18 Fighter Jets

A pair of Russian TU-95 Bear bombers overflew a US aircraft carrier in the western Pacific at an altitude of 2,000 feet (660 meters) over the weekend, prompting US fighter jets to scramble, a US defense official said Monday.

Four F-18 fighters jets intercepted the Russian bombers Saturday morning, but not before they had overflown the USS Nimitz, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Japanese F-15 fighters had earlier scrambled to intercept another pair of Bear bombers, and escorted them out of the area, said a US military official who asked not to be identified.

The Japanese government issued a strong protest with Moscow, but Russian officials denied their aircraft had crossed into Japanese airspace.

The second pair of bombers were flying south of Japan when they “essentially turned inbound toward the USS Nimitz, and USS Nimitz aircraft launched and intercepted the bombers,” said the defense official.

The US F-18s escorted the bombers until they departed the area, the official said.

“There were no verbal communications between the Nimitz aircraft or the Russian aircraft,” the official said.

The official said one of the Russian bombers flew directly over the US carrier at an altitude of 2,000 feet, while the second bomber flew at its side at the same altitude.

The incident comes at a time when Russia is reviving the long-range air patrols that were once a standard feature of the Cold War.

It was the second time since July 2004 that a Russian Bear bomber has overflown a US aircraft carrier.

That incident involved the USS Kitty Hawk in the Sea of Japan.

The Nimitz, which was on a routine patrol in the western Pacific at the time of the incident, was back Monday in port in Sasebo, Japan, the official said.

It was not immediately known whether the United States issued any protests with the Russians.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with Russia’s deputy premier the following day on the sidelines of an international security conference in Munich.

U.S. fighter planes intercepted two Russian bombers flying unusually close to an American aircraft carrier in the western Pacific during the weekend, The Associated Press has learned.

A U.S. military official says that one Russian Tupolev 95 buzzed the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz twice, at a low altitude of about 2,000 feet, while another bomber circled about 50 nautical miles out. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because the reports on the flights were classified as secret.

The Saturday incident, which never escalated beyond the flyover, comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and Russia over U.S. plans for a missile defense system based in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Such Russian bomber flights were common during the Cold War, but have been rare since.

The bombers were among four Russian Tupolev 95s launched from Ukrainka in the middle of the night, including one that Japanese officials say violated their country's airspace over an uninhabited island south of Tokyo.

U.S. officials tracked and monitored the bombers as two flew south along the Japanese coast, and two others flew farther east, coming closer to the Nimitz and the guided missile cruiser USS Princeton.

As the bombers got about 500 miles out from the U.S. ships, four F/A-18 fighters were launched from the Nimitz, the official said. The fighters intercepted the Russian bombers about 50 miles south of the Nimitz.

At least two U.S. fighters trailed the bomber as it came in low over the Nimitz twice, while one or two of the other U.S. fighters followed the second bomber as it circled.

The official said there were no verbal communications between the U.S. and the Russians, and the Pentagon has not heard of any protests being filed by the United States. Historically, diplomatic protests were not filed in such incidents because they were so common during the Cold War era.

This is the first time Russian Tupolevs have flown over or interacted with a U.S. carrier since 2004.