WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressional intelligence committees had at least a hint in October 2001 that the National Security Agency was expanding its surveillance activities after the 9/11 attacks, according to a letter released Tuesday by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.The California Democrat had raised questions to Gen. Michael Hayden, then the NSA director, about the legal authority to conduct the eavesdropping work.
In the October 2001 letter, Pelosi said she was told in a briefing that month that the agency ``had been operating since the Sept. 11 attacks with an expansive view'' of its authorities ``to the conduct of electronic surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and related statutes, orders, regulations and guidelines.''
``I am concerned whether, and to what extent, the National Security Agency has received specific presidential authorization for the operations you are conducting,'' Pelosi, then the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, wrote Hayden.
| And what did she do when Gen. Hayden replied, "yes"? |