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Justice: We Invoked State Secrets Only "After Careful Consideration"

We told you yesterday about the developing consensus in opposition to the Obama administration's state secrets claim in the Jewel v. NSA case, in which the government is being sued over the warrantless wiretapping program.

Here's the Justice Department's statement on the matter:

The administration recognizes that invoking the states secret privilege is a significant step that should be taken only when absolutely necessary. After careful consideration by senior intelligence and Department of Justice officials, it was clear that pursuing this case could unavoidably put at risk the disclosure of sensitive information that would harm national security.

An examination by the Director of National Intelligence and an internal review team established by the Attorney General determined that attempting to address the allegations in this case could require the disclosure of intelligence sources and methods that are used in a lawful manner to protect national security. The administration cannot risk the disclosure of information that could cause such exceptional harm to national security.

While the assertion of states secrets privilege is necessary to protect national security, the intelligence community's surveillance activities are designed and executed to comply fully with the laws protecting the privacy and civil liberties of Americans. There is a robust oversight system to ensure this compliance.


8 Comments

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Shorter DOJ: "Trust us, we know what's best."

Short MNPundit: Fuck you. You work for me.

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Dear Readers,

Please, is someone available to get through to US President Obama, US AG Holder and others in the Executive, Judicial and Legislative Branches of our 'We the People' US Government to also remind him of his and their written promise to our US Constitution, False Claims Act, FISA Courts, prevention of Illegal Signing statements, Illegal Wiretaps, prevention of Torture, Illegal rendition, legal//Illegal Secrecy, and to the complete abolishment of the enactment of the death penalty ecetra and to his and their promise to Whistleblowers and his and their written promise to support the 'FEDERAL EMPLOYEE WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION RESTORATION ENHANCEMENT ACT (that he has already allowed to be voted out of the current so-called Stimilus Bill and with a seemingly illegal Signing Statement).

(Also, please note and remember California AG Garcetti who properly did his job and was retaliated upon and lost his case in our US Supreme Court).

Again, please note that it is not my intent to offend anyone and I hope TPM will allow me to apply any corrections, modifications, clarifications and/or retractions as necessary.

Thank you and all for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Tpmreader

Also, aside from the prospective that it is seemingly and absolutely required and mandated within our US Constitution and that these concerns must have and are explicitly entitled to full and complete Legislative and Judicial Review.

In my view and as would also be concurred by a reasonable person these concerns have been thoroughly reviewed and upheld from prominent Whistleblower Organizations, especially including the Government Accountability Project, the National Whistleblower Center, presumably the Project on Government Oversight and hundreds of (written) supporting Organizations (and with written letters to President Obama and all leaders of our US Executive, Legislative Branches and as applicable Judicial Branches of our US Government) and thoroughly discussed and reviewed with our US legislatures and Judicial Officials and successfully and unanimously upheld, and with the overwhelming unanimous and yearly for the recent decade alone, of the continuing veto proof approval of the 'FEDERAL EMPLOYEE WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION RESTORATION ENHANCEMENT ACT' FROM of our US legislatures and the sworn written promise of then Presidential Candidate Obama whom has since as President Obama has stripped the 'FEDERAL EMPLOYEE WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION RESTORATION ENHANCEMENT ACT' from the recent Stimulus Bill and has since seemingly applied and Illegal Signing Statement.

I hope I have provided an initial answer and concern to your question and to the concerns as mentioned within this TPM Article and the TPM blog comment replies.

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Although possibly expressed too ambiguously and brief, to my comprehension and I presume, where proper and forthrightly applicable, reasonable persons have concurred (and/or with valid and/or substantial and/or expression of concern) and seemingly within public knowledge is that I briefly mention that the FISA Courts have been in existence for some time (and where properly and forthrightly with appropriate safeguards!!) have seemingly successfully provided to a relevant extent seemingly all and/or many and/or most all of the necessary assurances and concerns to successfully accomodate these and/or many of these concerns.

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Bah. Humbug. The more secrets, the more lies. Everything should be in the open. Everything. Then we'd know who the real villains are and we could react appropriately.

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What a bunch of garbage!! This sickens me. In other words, from here on out the administration can do whatever they want, no matter how criminal and always have a way to get away with it. I worked many hours to help Obama get elected and now he is fixing the economic crisis by using the people that allowed (or caused) it to happen and now this!

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Finding out that every President we elect is nothing more than a lying, scheming, law-breaking dictator ...yeah, that would be a real National Security Risk all right...

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Reynolds (a SCOTUS case on this issue) is corrupt and needs to be re-examined then overturned.

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"Finding out that every President we elect is nothing more than a lying,..."

As long as "We the People" continue to vote in members of the Democrat and Republican parties, those folks entrenched and in power on BOTH sides will continue to influence and dictate many presidential, congressional, and senatorial decisions.... and we will continue our slide downhill to our demise... IMHO

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Abe Lincoln used the military secrets doctrine which morphed into the state secrets doctrine.

It is time to use Common Sense About State Secrets by first learning what it is and what it should be.

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