President's Surveillance Program

The President's Surveillance Program (PSP) is a collection of secret intelligence activities authorized by the President of the United States George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks in 2001 as part of the War on Terrorism. Information collected under this program was protected within a Sensitive Compartmented Information security compartment codenamed STELLARWIND.^[1]

The last presidential authorization expired on February 1, 2007, but some of the collection activities were continued, first under the authority of the Protect America Act of 2007, passed in August of that year, and then under the FISA Amendments Act (FAA), which was enacted in July 2008.^[2]

One part of the program was the Terrorist Surveillance Program, which authorized warrantless wiretapping of international communications where one party to the communication was believed to be affiliated with al-Qaeda. The other activities have reportedly included data mining of e-mail messages^[3] and telephone call detail records in the NSA call database.^[4]

In 2007 the Attorney General publicly acknowledged the existence of other intelligence activities covered under the same Presidential authorizations.^[2] The full extent of the President's Surveillance Program was revealed in June 2013, when The Guardian published a highly classified report of the Inspector General of the NSA, describing how the program was established and evolved from September 2001 until January 2007.^[5]

The President's Surveillance Program activities were periodically reauthorized by the President, and were later transitioned to authority granted in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008. The act required the Inspectors General of all intelligence agencies involved in the program to "complete a comprehensive review" of the activities through January 17, 2007, and produce an unclassified report within one year after enactment. The report published on July 10, 2009 concluded that the President's program involved "unprecedented collection activities" that went far beyond the scope of the Terrorist Surveillance Program.^[2] The report raised questions over the legal underpinnings of the authorizations, a lack of oversight, excessive secrecy, and the effectiveness of the program.^[6]^[7] The report concluded that the program was built on a "factually flawed" legal analysis.^[8]

Public disclosure of the Terrorist Surveillance Program in 2005 ignited the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy. The other classified aspects of the program had also raised serious concerns within the Department of Justice over the program's legal status and its potential effect on future criminal prosecutions. This caused conflicts with the White House that resulted in a dramatic confrontation in 2004 at the hospital bedside of the ailing Attorney General, and nearly led to mass resignations of top Justice officials in protest when they were overruled.^[9] The report on the program was also released during a period of intense negotiations over proposed language in the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. This would amend the National Security Act of 1947, increasing the requirements for briefing Congress on some classified intelligence programs like this one—President Barack Obama threatened to veto the bill over that issue.^[10]

^ NSA Inspector General report on the President's Surveillance Program, March 24, 2009, page 10, note 3.
^ ^a ^b ^c Inspectors General of the DoD, DOJ, CIA, NSA, and ODNI (July 10, 2009). Unclassified Report on the President's Surveillance Program (PDF) (Report). Retrieved March 3, 2018. Finally, the collection activities pursued under the PSP, and under FISA following the PSP's transition to that authority, involved unprecedented collection activities. We believe the retention and use by IC organizations of information collected under the PSP and FISA should be carefully monitored.{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Lichtblau, Eric; Risen, James (July 12, 2009). "U.S. Wiretapping of Limited Value, Officials Report". The New York Times. Retrieved July 12, 2009. The report states that at the same time Mr. Bush authorized the warrantless wiretapping operation, he also signed off on other surveillance programs that the government has never publicly acknowledged. While the report does not identify them, current and former officials say that those programs included data mining of e-mail messages of Americans.
^ Cauley, Leslie (May 11, 2006). "NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls". USA Today. Retrieved July 12, 2009. The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA Today.
^ NSA Inspector General report on the President's Surveillance Program, March 24, 2009.
^ Hess, Pamela (July 11, 2009). "Report: Too few officials knew of surveillance". The Associated Press. Retrieved July 11, 2009. Not enough relevant officials were aware of the size and depth of an unprecedented surveillance program started under President George W. Bush, let alone signed off on it, a team of federal inspectors general found. The Bush White House pulled in a great quantity of information far beyond the warrantless wiretapping previously acknowledged, the IGs reported. They questioned the legal basis for the effort but shielded almost all details on grounds they're still too secret to reveal.
^ Taylor, Marisa (July 11, 2009). "Report: Effectiveness of Bush wiretap program disputed". Miami Herald. McClatchy News Service. Retrieved July 11, 2009. A declassified intelligence report faults the Bush administration's secrecy about its warrantless wiretap program. Despite the Bush administration's insistence that its warrantless eavesdropping program was necessary to protect the country from another terrorist attack, FBI agents, CIA analysts and other officials had difficulty evaluating its effectiveness, according to an unclassified government report made public Friday.^{[dead link]}
^ Cite error: The named reference CNN was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Johnson, Carrie; Nakashima, Ellen (July 12, 2009). "Report: Wiretaps risked a crisis". Philadelphia Inquirer. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 13, 2009. Retrieved July 12, 2009. The Bush White House so strictly controlled access to its warrantless-eavesdropping program that only three Justice Department lawyers were aware of the plan, which nearly ignited mass resignations and a constitutional crisis when a wider circle of administration officials began to question its legality, according to a watchdog report released yesterday.
^ Shane, Scott (July 12, 2009). "Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project". The New York Times. Retrieved July 12, 2009. Democrats in Congress, who contend that the Bush administration improperly limited Congressional briefings on intelligence, are seeking to change the National Security Act to permit the full intelligence committees to be briefed on more matters. President Obama, however, has threatened to veto the intelligence authorization bill if the changes go too far, and the proposal is now being negotiated by the White House and the intelligence committees.

[1] NSA Inspector General report on the President's Surveillance Program, March 24, 2009, page 10, note 3.

[IG-2] Inspectors General of the DoD, DOJ, CIA, NSA, and ODNI (July 10, 2009). Unclassified Report on the President's Surveillance Program (PDF) (Report). Retrieved March 3, 2018. Finally, the collection activities pursued under the PSP, and under FISA following the PSP's transition to that authority, involved unprecedented collection activities. We believe the retention and use by IC organizations of information collected under the PSP and FISA should be carefully monitored.{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[NT2-3] Lichtblau, Eric; Risen, James (July 12, 2009). "U.S. Wiretapping of Limited Value, Officials Report". The New York Times. Retrieved July 12, 2009. The report states that at the same time Mr. Bush authorized the warrantless wiretapping operation, he also signed off on other surveillance programs that the government has never publicly acknowledged. While the report does not identify them, current and former officials say that those programs included data mining of e-mail messages of Americans.

[USA-4] Cauley, Leslie (May 11, 2006). "NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls". USA Today. Retrieved July 12, 2009. The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA Today.

[5] NSA Inspector General report on the President's Surveillance Program, March 24, 2009.

[AP-6] Hess, Pamela (July 11, 2009). "Report: Too few officials knew of surveillance". The Associated Press. Retrieved July 11, 2009. Not enough relevant officials were aware of the size and depth of an unprecedented surveillance program started under President George W. Bush, let alone signed off on it, a team of federal inspectors general found. The Bush White House pulled in a great quantity of information far beyond the warrantless wiretapping previously acknowledged, the IGs reported. They questioned the legal basis for the effort but shielded almost all details on grounds they're still too secret to reveal.

[MH-7] Taylor, Marisa (July 11, 2009). "Report: Effectiveness of Bush wiretap program disputed". Miami Herald. McClatchy News Service. Retrieved July 11, 2009. A declassified intelligence report faults the Bush administration's secrecy about its warrantless wiretap program. Despite the Bush administration's insistence that its warrantless eavesdropping program was necessary to protect the country from another terrorist attack, FBI agents, CIA analysts and other officials had difficulty evaluating its effectiveness, according to an unclassified government report made public Friday.^{[dead link]}

[CNN-8] Cite error: The named reference CNN was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[PI-9] Johnson, Carrie; Nakashima, Ellen (July 12, 2009). "Report: Wiretaps risked a crisis". Philadelphia Inquirer. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 13, 2009. Retrieved July 12, 2009. The Bush White House so strictly controlled access to its warrantless-eavesdropping program that only three Justice Department lawyers were aware of the plan, which nearly ignited mass resignations and a constitutional crisis when a wider circle of administration officials began to question its legality, according to a watchdog report released yesterday.

[NT-10] Shane, Scott (July 12, 2009). "Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project". The New York Times. Retrieved July 12, 2009. Democrats in Congress, who contend that the Bush administration improperly limited Congressional briefings on intelligence, are seeking to change the National Security Act to permit the full intelligence committees to be briefed on more matters. President Obama, however, has threatened to veto the intelligence authorization bill if the changes go too far, and the proposal is now being negotiated by the White House and the intelligence committees.

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