NSA Warrantless Wiretapping Timeline

1791

Fourth Amendment to the Constitution is enacted

"The
right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,
supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the
place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."(1)

1952

November

National Security Agency (NSA) Founded

The newly formed NSA, part of the Defense Department, is charged with
acquiring information from overseas sources in order to protect the
United States from her enemies. (2)

1968

Congress Limits Wiretapping

The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act is passed by Congress,
mandating that all wiretapping be performed only after a court order
is obtained. However, an exception is created allowing the
President to use warrantless wiretapping to respond to national
security issues. (3)

1975

Congressional Church Hearings

A Senate committee on intelligence activities, commonly known as the
Church Committee, reveals serious federal abuses of surveillance
powers, including against civil rights leaders, Vietnam War
protesters, union advocates, and other political activists. The
Committee's final report condemns these abuses as excessive,
undemocratic, and unconstitutional. The report also suggests that
Congress create rules limiting intelligence gathering tactics. (4)(5)

1978

January

President Jimmy Carter Limits Electronic Surveillance of U.S. Citizens

President Jimmy Carter issues Executive Order
12036, which states that "No agency within the Intelligence
Community shall engage in any electronic surveillance directed
against a United States person abroad or designed to intercept a
communication sent from, or intended for receipt within, the United
States except as permitted by the procedures established pursuant to
section 2-201." (6)

October

Congress Passes Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)

In response to the Church Committee's report,
Congress passes FISA, which authorizes surveillance of foreign
powers or their agents, and creates a judicial system to oversee the
program and ensure that it is only used in response to serious
national security issues. It is opposed by civil libertarians on the
grounds that it violates the Fourth Amendment, amid concerns that
warrants may be issued without adequate proof and against American
citizens. The law eventually causes the NSA to alter its rules on
domestic intelligence gathering and concentrate on foreign spying.
(7)(8)

1994

October

CALEA Requires Telecommunications Providers to Give Government Access to
Electronic Records

Congress enacts the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA),
which sets standards for how telecommunications providers will
provide wiretapping information to the government. It requires
providers to install new wiretapping devices on their phone systems,
and ensures that the government will have free access to
communications information. (9)

2001

January 20

George W. Bush Inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States; John
Ashcroft becomes Attorney General

George W. Bush officially
takes office as President, and names John Ashcroft, a former senator
from Missouri, as his new attorney general. Republicans support
Ashcroft as a nominee intimately familiar with the workings of the US
government and its policies. However, numerous civil liberties
groups, including the ACLU, express concern over previous attempts at
curtailing First Amendment rights and other freedoms while Senator.

September 11

Terrorist Attacks on the World Trade
Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

Four airplanes on the East Coast are hijacked mid-flight and aimed at
important financial and government buildings. Two crash into the twin
towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and one crashes into
the Pentagon just outside of Washington, D.C. Another airplane,
apparently headed for Washington, D.C., is downed in a field in
Pennsylvania.

September 25

John Yoo, Former Administration Official, Claims President Has Widespread
Anti-Terrorism Powers

John Yoo, formerly from the Department of Justice's Office of Legal
Counsel, writes a memo claiming that the President has the authority
to approve anti-terrorism tactics, including warrantless wiretapping,
in times where he or she feels that it is necessary for national
security interests. (10)(11)

October 11

Rep.
Nancy Pelosi Asks NSA Director If Wiretapping Program Had
Presidential Authorization

Representative Nancy Pelosi sends a letter to Michael Hayden, director of the NSA,
inquiring as to whether wiretapping programs used by the NSA under
FISA have presidential approval and, if so, to what extent. (12)

October 26

Congress Passes the USA PATRIOT Act, Amending FISA

The USA PATRIOT Act is passed by Congress, giving the government more
leeway in obtaining wiretapping warrants. Supporters of the law claim
that it will allow the government to respond quicker to terrorist
threats, but opponents fear that it will be used inappropriately and,
ultimately, be ineffective. (13)(14)

2002

Bush Issues Executive Order Allowing Warrantless Wiretapping

President Bush, through a secret executive order, authorizes the NSA, which
already has confidential surveillance program in place, to wiretap
communications between foreign citizens suspected of having links to
terrorist groups and individuals on American soil. This wiretapping
is allowed without any warrant. Communications between people located
in the US still requires a warrant. (15)(16)(17)

2003

July 17

Bush Administration Discloses Wiretapping Program to Congress

Vice President Dick Cheney and other administration officials give limited
information about the warrantless wiretapping program to the heads of
the Senate and House intelligence committees. Sen. John Rockefeller
sends a letter to Cheney detailing his concerns over the program and
questions whether the program is legal. (18)

2005

February 3

John Ashcroft Leaves Post as Attorney General, Replaced by Alberto
Gonzales

On November 9, 2004, amid increasing outcry over his controversial
policies, John Ashcroft resigns from his position of Attorney
General. This resignation becomes effective on February 3, 2005, when
the Senate confirms Alberto Gonzales, White House counsel, as the new
attorney general. (19)

December 6

Bush Tries to Dissuade the New York Times
from Publishing Warrantless Wiretapping Story

President Bush invites the publisher of the New York Times,
Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., to the Oval Office, and tries to convince the paper
not to run a story about the NSA warrantless wiretapping program
which began in early 2002 and is still secret. (20)

December 16

New York Times Discloses Warrantless Wiretapping Program

The New York Times publishes a front-page article revealing
details about the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program, despite
President Bush's requests that it not be revealed to the public. It
is later disclosed that the newspaper had known about the program for
over a year. (21)(22)

December 17

Bush Supports Wiretapping Program in Press Conference

President Bush speaks on national television in defense of the USA PATRIOT Act,
which is up for renewal, and claims that the New York Times
printed the NSA wiretapping story illegally. He states that he
authorized the NSA program shortly after 9/11, in accordance with his
powers as President. In addition, he says that the program is
overseen by various government agencies and is in compliance with the
Constitution. Furthermore, he asserts that the program is vital to
national security, and points to communications between the US-based
September 11 hijackers and Al Qaeda members overseas as evidence that
the program is essential to the security of the United States. (23)

December 22

Department of Justice Defends NSA Program

The Department of Justice writes to the Congressional intelligence
committees, saying that the NSA warrantless wiretapping program is
legal. It also states that President Bush determined after September
11 that there was a need for quicker detection of terrorist threats,
and that FISA was not fast enough. (24)

December 24

The New York Times Reveals NSA Wiretapping Methods

The New York Times publishes an article detailing the various
methods, including data mining, used by the NSA to perform
wiretapping, which had yet to be acknowledged by the Bush
administration. It tells how the NSA approached telecommunications
companies and asked them to keep records of international telephone
and Internet communication patterns that were deemed suspicious. All
of the wiretapping is done without requesting a warrant from the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. (25)

2006

January 31

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Sues AT&T for Providing Customer Information to the NSA

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital civil liberties advocacy
group, files a lawsuit against AT&T, alleging that the company's
cooperation with the NSA in data mining customers' telephone and
Internet records breaches the privacy of their customers and is
therefore illegal. On May 15, the government files a secret brief, to
which only AT&T and the EFF were allowed very limited access,
asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that continuing the
case would reveal state secrets. (26)

March 9

President Bush Re-signs the USA Patriot Act

After the original USA PATRIOT Act's original term runs out, Congress
reauthorizes the act and makes most of its provisions permanent.
President Bush signs the new version of the act, but also issues a
signing statement, which exempts him from reporting when government
agencies use some of the powers described in the law. (27)(28)

May 11

USA Today Reveals Telephone Companies Have Provided Phone Records to
the NSA since 2001

A USA Today article describes how the nation's largest
telecommunications companies, since shortly after the September 11th
attacks, have been secretly providing their customers' domestic
calling records to the NSA, which is using them to investigate
Americans' calling patterns. This marks the first time that purely
domestic calls are revealed as being subject to NSA wiretapping.
AT&T, Verizon, and BellSouth are implicated in the program, but
Qwest states that it has refused to give any information to the
government. (29)

May 27

Michael Hayden Confirmed as Head of the CIA

Major General Michael Hayden, Director of the NSA from 1999 to 2005, is
confirmed as the new head of the CIA, a civilian agency, despite
concerns over his military status and ties to the NSA's potentially
illegal wiretapping program. (30)

July 17

Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales Reveals Administration Blocking Oversight of
NSA Program

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales states that President Bush has barred
Department of Justice lawyers from gaining security clearances and
access to necessary documents and interviews when attempting to
investigate the NSA wiretapping program. (31)

August 17

US District Court Judge Finds NSA Program to be Unconstitutional

In the case ACLU v. NSA, Federal District Court Judge Anna Diggs
Taylor finds that the President does not have the power to authorize
the NSA warrantless wiretapping program under either the Iraq War
resolution or the Constitution, and thus deeming the program
unconstitutional. The program continues unabated as the government
appeals her ruling. (32)(33)(34)

September 28

House Passes Bill Authorizing Warrantless Wiretapping

The House of Representatives passes a bill, introduced by Republican Rep. Heather Wilson,
authorizing the Bush administration to conduct warrantless
wiretapping on the condition that it occurs after the House and
Senate intelligence committees have been notified and the people
being investigated have been named. The bill still allowed for the
circumventing of FISA. Democrats accuse the administration of
attempting to justify their past actions violating citizens' civil
liberties. The bill never passes the Senate. (35)

November 7

Midterm Elections

The entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate face
election, amidst growing concerns over the Iraq war and other
scandals. The Democrats gain control of both legislative chambers and
promise sweeping reforms and oversight of all government activities.
(36)(37)(38)

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