Cue the evil laughter and wringing of hands. The Bush White House has been ordered to produce documents related to the domestic spy scandal. A judge in San Francisco has stipulated that they must produce these docs by this Friday (Nov 30).
From CNET:
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco gave the Office of the Director of National Intelligence until November 30 (Friday) to turn over documents relating to conversations it had with Congress and telecommunications carriers about how to rewrite wiretapping laws.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation had filed this case to seek faster processing of a Freedom of Information Act request it filed, which could help buttress its ongoing lawsuit against AT&T. There are approximately 250 pages of unclassified material and 65 pages of classified material, which would be redacted, that the administration has identified but said could not be turned over until December 31.
Note that Illston’s order doesn’t deal with the NSA’s wiretapping program itself (how it works, what companies are involved, whether there really is a secret room at AT&T’s 611 Folsom Street location). Instead the documents relate only to conversations and communications about retroactive immunity for companies like AT&T that are accused of violating the law.
It will be interesting to see if this information is actually produced. I have a dollar that says they have “trouble” locating the information. Much in the same vein of the missing emails.
Just a hunch.
[tags]Domestics Spying, Bush White House Disclosure, White House Spy Docs[/tags]
