News

  ·      In at least 3 terrorism cases throughout the U.S., defense lawyers have begun appealing their clients’ convictions on the grounds that evidence was obtained by the NSA through illegal means, or that legal evidence would not have been obtained barring illegal spying causing further investigation.  Though the outcomes of these appeals have not yet been determined, this form of defense could hamper the government’s efforts to track down and incarcerate suspected terrorists. 

·        The discovery of illegal tracking cookies being distributed from the NSA website has further damaged the credibility of the already-doubted agency recently.  While the transmission of these banned data trackers was ceased after being brought to the attention of the press in late December, it is unknown exactly how much data was gathered by this latest illegal operation.  For more information, please see the related MSNBC article in the Links section.

Recently, the Bush administration has admitted to authorizing, through executive orders, NSA wiretapping and spying on an unknown number of U.S. citizens in order to defend against terrorism.  The legality of such spying has been questioned as Executive Order 12333, the order which empowers the NSA, states the NSA’s power as “foreign signals collection.”  Complicating the situation further, the questionably legal information gained from this spying has resulted in investigations and even arrests of some individuals.