GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN TO REPLACE GOSS

It's not much cause for rejoicing that Porter Goss has resigned if he's just going to be replaced by former NSA director Gen. Michael Hayden, Negroponte's go-to guy.

The man doesn't know the Constitution and defends the illegal NSA spy program by saying that it doesn't violate the "unreasonable search and seizure" clause of the Fourth Amendment because in his view the program is "reasonable" -- he's reportedly ignorant of the fact that the measure of "reasonableness" is PROBABLE CAUSE.

Putting this guy in charge of human intel (which is still largely the province of the CIA) makes me distinctly uncomfortable. Remember when it was illegal for the CIA to spy on Americans within our borders?

In 1947, when Congress voted to create the CIA as part of the National Security Act, there was great concern about whether the CIA could operate in the United States and against Americans.

Congress wanted to assure the public that this agency would not lead to the growth of a secret police. Responding to these suspicions, Dr. Vannevar Bush, an administration witness, explained that the agency was concerned only with intelligence "outside this country," and not with "internal affairs. To make sure, Congress wrote into the ClA's charter that the agency was prohibited from exercising "police, subpoena, or law-enforcement powers or internal security functions." Congressional debate made it clear that Congress anticipated that the CIA would simply not operate at home.

Two years later, with the passage of the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949, congressional apprehensions were again calmed by the assertion that the CIA had no jurisdiction within the United States, that it "has no connection with the FBI; it is not under the FBI, it does not do the same kind of work as the FBI. These public assertions, however, did not coincide with the ClA's secret growth of operations within the United States and the surveillance of Americans abroad.

Because of the public uproar that would have ensued if the agency had openly expanded its domestic operations, the CIA wrote its own secret charter. Through internal directives, executive orders, and pacts with other government agencies, the CIA expanded its authority to operate at home so that it eventually encompassed activities that unquestionably violated the law, as well as its congressional charter.

From the beginning, CIA justified its involvement in domestic activities in terms of supplementing its covert operations and intelligence gathering abroad. As was discussed in Chapter Two in detail, the CIA created an intricate system of front organizations and companies to provide cover for its clandestine work. It set up its own airlines and business firms, and formed dummy foundations to funnel secret money into domestic student groups, educational publications, and labor unions. Recruiting its agents from almost every sector of the private domain, the CIA turned students, missionaries, and journalists into spies abroad. The agency also used its authority to protect its "sources and methods" to justify spying on Americans in the United States.

Expect more of the same with Hayden as DCI.

Marc D. Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, said the nomination would be strongly opposed by civil libertarians.

"We have to confront the chilling prospect that the incoming head of the C.I.A. believes it's permissible to conduct warrantless surveillance on the American public," Mr. Rotenberg said Friday night.

The upside, of course, is the opportunity that Congressional confirmation hearings on his nomination would bring to delve into the illegal NSA domestic spy program.

UPDATE: Time has more. "His nomination is sure to reignite the battle over the program on Capitol Hill, where one House Democrat promises 'a partisan food fight' during the confirmation process."

Tags: Gen. Michael Hayden, illegal NSA spying, CIA