US Judge Resigns From Special Security Court: "The Bush administration found itself on the defensive again Wednesday over the issue of domestic spying as part of the war on terrorism. A federal judge resigned from a special security court, apparently to protest President Bush's decision to authorize surveillance of Americans suspected of ties to terrorists.

The Washington Post reported that the resignation of federal Judge James Robertson apparently stemmed from concerns over the legality of the president's domestic spying program.

Judge Robertson was one of 11 members of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA), a special court set up to hear government requests to monitor telephone and e-mail communications of American citizens and others inside the United States."

(Via GlobalSecurity.org.)

t r u t h o u t - Some Fear Eavesdropping Could Undermine Work of Spy Agency: "The White House decision to order surveillance of international phone calls by US citizens without a warrant violated longstanding practices and could undermine a key US intelligence agency that's critical in the struggle against terrorists, former senior intelligence officials and other experts said this week.

    

The super-secret National Security Agency, which eavesdropped on the Soviet Union's leaders and scored other intelligence coups during the Cold War, has spent three decades recovering from domestic spying scandals in the 1970s.

    

Now, with its electronic ears and vast computer banks turned primarily to intercepting suspecting terrorists, the officials said they fear that the NSA once again will bear the brunt of congressional scrutiny and public outrage, complicating its mission.

    

'The damage it's done to NSA's reputation is almost irreversible in my view,' said a longtime top intelligence official with intimate knowledge of the agency's workings.

    

Those concerns are part of a broader backlash in the intelligence community against some of the Bush administration's tactics in the war on terror."

(Via t r u t h o u t.)