Fergie's Tech Blog

U.S. Spy Chief Gives Ex-Classified Details About Foreign Surveillance

An AP newswire article, via News8Austin, reports that:

National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell has pulled back the curtain on some previously classified details of government surveillance.

McConnell's comments were in an interview with the El Paso Times last week and posted as a transcript on the newspaper's web site today. At the end of the interview, McConnell cautioned reporter Chris Roberts to consider whether enemies of the U.S. could gain from the information he shared. McConnell left it to the paper to decide what to publish.

The remarks involve previously classified eavesdropping work conducted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA. McConnell said fewer than 100 people inside the United States are monitored under FISA warrants. But he says thousands of people overseas are monitored.

A Justice Department spokesman referred questions to McConnell's office, where his spokesman Ross Feinstein declined comment.

posted by Fergie @ 8/22/2007 06:10:00 PM