FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- December 22, 2005
Contact: Sibel Edmonds, National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, sedmonds@nswbc.org
, Tel- (703) 519-3640 or Michael D. Ostrolenk, Liberty Coalition, mostrolenk@libertycoalition.net,
Tel- (301) 717-0599
Former NSA Intelligence Analyst &
Action Officer Urges to be Heard by Congress Regarding Unlawful Conduct by NSA
Russ
Tice, former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence analyst and action
officer, has sent the following two letters to the chairs of the Senate and
House Intelligence Committees. Mr. Tice intends to report to Congress probable unlawful and
unconstitutional acts conducted while he was an intelligence officer with the
National Security Agency (NSA) and with the Defense Intelligence Agency
(DIA). These acts involved the Director of the National Security Agency,
the Deputies Chief of Staff for Air and Space Operations, and the U.S.
Secretary of Defense, and were conducted via very highly sensitive intelligence
programs and operations known as Special Access Programs (SAP). SAP
programs and operations are more commonly referred to as “black world”
programs and operations. Mr. Tice was a technical intelligence specialist
dealing almost exclusively with SAP programs and operations at both NSA and
DIA.
Mr.
Tice stated: “As a Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) officer it is continually
drilled into us that the very first law chiseled in the SIGINT equivalent of
the Ten Commandments (USSID-18) is that Thou shall not spy on American persons
without a court order from FISA. This law is continually drilled into
each NSA intelligence officer throughout his or her career. The very people
that lead the National Security Agency have violated this holy edict of
SIGINT." A pivotal question in this case is whether Americans were
being spied on via a vacuum cleaner approach wherein vast amounts of
information are sucked in. FISA warrants require a name of the
target and would not cover such a mass approach. He also added: “In addition to
knowing this fundamental commandment of not violating the civil rights of
Americans, intelligence officers are required to take an oath to protect the
United States Constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic. It is
with my oath as a US intelligence officer weighing heavy on my mind that I wish
to report to congress acts that I believe are unlawful and
unconstitutional. The freedom of the American people cannot be protected
when our constitutional liberties are ignored and our nation has decayed into a
police state.”
"These
actions by the current administration are a compulsion to secrecy, an expansive
view of presidential authority, and reluctance to answer to the people and
Congress. Woodrow Wilson, himself no novice concerning secrecy, claimed
that it is a 'fair presumption that secrecy means impropriety'. That is a
presumption that we have been called upon to suspend in the name of national
security, but with recent disclosures that suspended judgment appears to have
been unwise. We urge the congress to hold hearings and let patriotic witnesses
like Russ Tice testify,” stated Sibel Edmonds, the director of National
Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC).
Michael
Ostrolenk, National Director of the Liberty Coalition agrees with Mrs. Edmonds
and stated further “I am glad to know that Mr. Tice takes his oath to the
Constitution seriously. He obviously
knows that his obligation is not to this or any Administration but to our
Republican form of government with its proper checks and balances and to
protect the rights it was instituted to secure.” He continued “This is less about a particular Administration and
more about the natural tendency for government to become destructive to the
very ends it was created to fulfill. I hope that Congress takes it oversight
responsibilities seriously and investigates Mr. Tice’s allegations in an open
and non-partisan manner.”
Here
is the letter by Mr. Tice, sent on Dec 18, 2005, to the Senate & House
Intelligence Committee:
Dear Chairman Roberts,
Under the provisions of the Intelligence
Community Whistleblower Protection Act (ICWPA), I intend to report to Congress
probable unlawful and unconstitutional acts conducted while I was an
intelligence officer with the National Security Agency (NSA) and with the
Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). These acts involve the Director of the
National Security Agency, the Deputies Chief of Staff for Air and Space
Operations, and the U.S. Secretary of Defense.
These probable unlawful and unconstitutional
acts were conducted via very highly sensitive intelligence programs and
operations known as Special Access Programs (SAP)s. I was a technical
intelligence specialist dealing almost exclusively with SAP programs and
operations at both NSA and DIA.
Due to the highly sensitive nature of these
programs and operations, I will require assurances from your committee that the
staffers and/or congressional members to participate retain the proper security
clearances, and also have the appropriate SAP cleared facilities available for
these discussions.
Please inform me when you require my appearance
on Capitol Hill to conduct these discussions in relation to this ICWPA report.
Very Respectfully,
Russell D. Tice
Former Intelligence Officer, NSA
Tice, Russ; Former
Intelligence Analyst & Action Officer, Air Force, Naval Intelligence, DIA
and NSA
Russ Tice worked technical intelligence issues as an all-source
analyst, systems instructor, special programs expert, technical missions
operations action officer, tasking agent, field intelligence on-site analyst
and liaison, and advanced capabilities officer. Known as a stickler for
technical detailed analysis and “by the book” on security regs. After
returning from a temporary overseas assignment in 2001, he observed that a DIA
coworker exhibited the classic signs of involvement in espionage. After
quietly reporting this, his suspicion was quickly dismissed by DIA’s counterintelligence
(CI) office. He continued to observe activity to suggest there was a
problem and reported such. He returned to the National Security Agency
and, busy with the Iraqi War, dropped the issue. When noting a report that FBI
CI agents availed secrets to a China source for sex, he questioned the FBI’s
competence. NSA retaliated by having him declared crazy, revoking his
security clearance, and terminating his employment in May 2005.
About National Security Whistleblowers Coalition
National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC), founded in
August 2004, is an independent and nonpartisan alliance of whistleblowers who
have come forward to address our nation’s security weaknesses; to inform
authorities of security vulnerabilities in our intelligence agencies, at
nuclear power plants and weapon facilities, in airports, and at our nation’s
borders and ports; to uncover government waste, fraud, abuse, and in some cases
criminal conduct. The NSWBC is dedicated to aiding national security whistleblowers
through a variety of methods, including advocacy of governmental and legal
reform, educating the public concerning whistleblowing activity, provision of
comfort and fellowship to national security whistleblowers suffering
retaliation and other harms, and working with other public interest
organizations to affect goals defined in the NSWBC mission statement. For
more on NSWBC visit www.nswbc.org
About Liberty Coalition
The Liberty Coalition works to help organize, support, and
coordinate transpartisan public policy activities related to civil liberties
and basic human rights. We work in conjunction with groups of partner
organizations that are interested in preserving the Bill of Rights, personal
autonomy and individual privacy.
The Liberty Coalition is concerned about the threat to
Americans' fundamental and inalienable rights. The Coalition is dedicated to
upholding and protecting our basic rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness. In order to accomplish our task, we seek to protect those freedoms
as articulated in the Bill of Rights. We base our concerns on the fundamental
values and principles of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S.
Constitution, particularly the separation of powers and federalism, and Bill of
Rights. These are also embodied in the 14th amendment, especially the due
process and privileges and immunities clauses.