More on Mueller
Just wanted to do a quick follow up on a post of mine from the other day regarding possible FBI involvement in the warrantless wiretapping scandal. In an update, I linked to A.L. who speculated that the reason that FBI Director Mueller played such an apparently prominent role in the pushback on the wiretapping program was because of his willingness to buck pressure from the White House. As evidence of this, A.L. linked to a March 2006 U.S News & World Report article regarding warrantless searches (which I too noted at the time).
But one can go back further to get an understanding of why Mueller may have been willing to go the lengths he was on warrantless surveillance. A January 2006 NY Times article reported that after Sept. 11th, the FBI was flooded with hundreds of various forms of data (email addresses, phone numbers etc) which was thought to have been compiled by the NSA program. Most of those leads turned out to be dead ends.
Placing both articles in context, it's not surprising that Mueller would wish to be involved given that as his role as FBI Director, he would ultimately be responsible for compiling evidence against anyone who may have been swept up as a result of those NSA taps. So it would make sense that he would want to ensure that the evidentiary trail could hold up in a court of law.
(Filed at State of the Day)
But one can go back further to get an understanding of why Mueller may have been willing to go the lengths he was on warrantless surveillance. A January 2006 NY Times article reported that after Sept. 11th, the FBI was flooded with hundreds of various forms of data (email addresses, phone numbers etc) which was thought to have been compiled by the NSA program. Most of those leads turned out to be dead ends.
Placing both articles in context, it's not surprising that Mueller would wish to be involved given that as his role as FBI Director, he would ultimately be responsible for compiling evidence against anyone who may have been swept up as a result of those NSA taps. So it would make sense that he would want to ensure that the evidentiary trail could hold up in a court of law.
(Filed at State of the Day)
Post a Comment