Isn't it supposed to be legal for only Republicans to expose national secrets for political gain

Without facing legal consequences?

SAN FRANCISCO --A lawsuit alleging that Verizon Communications Inc. illegally turned over customer records as part of the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program should go forward because of a recent admission by the U.S. spy chief, lawyers argued Thursday.

In a newspaper interview published last week, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell acknowledged that private-sector companies helped the government investigate suspected terrorists in a probe authorized by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Outrage over the eavesdropping tactics, including obtaining private telephone logs without a warrant, has led to some 50 lawsuits against telecommunications companies and the government, all of which are before U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco.

[snip]

McConnell did not identify specific companies that aided the government. However, he said in the interview with the El Paso Times of Texas that the companies that helped are being sued and risked going bankrupt if the litigation is successful and the government doesn't protect them.

It was his first public acknowledgment of the assistance of private companies in the NSA investigation.

Lawyers for Verizon customers seized on the comments during arguments Thursday before Walker. They said the quotes are enough to connect New York-based Verizon to the government probe, and undermine the government's assertion that confirming any relationship with companies would cause "exceptionally grave harm" to national security.

Update: Somehow this post needs Harry Potter doing the warrantlessly wiretapped Banana Phone!:

Excellent overview of the warrantless spying on Americans

By the eye of Sauron. The blog Amygdala explains.



Benjamin Franklin (1706–90): Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

If no one is in charge, does any work get done?

Errington Thompson notices:
"Isn’t it worrisome, or telling, or whatever….., that the top two spots at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the office that is supposed to correlate, corroborate, coordinate and otherwise oversee all of the various national intelligence agencies…… that those top two spots are empty."

And from the same post, look at how Negroponte spent his time while he was head of the NI:
"

On many a workday lunchtime, the nominal boss of U.S. intelligence, John D. Negroponte, can be found at a private club in downtown Washington, getting a massage, taking a swim, and having lunch, followed by a good cigar and a perusal of the daily papers in the club’s library.

“He spends three hours there [every] Monday through Friday,” gripes a senior counterterrorism official, noting that the former ambassador has a security detail sitting outside all that time in chase cars. Others say they’ve seen the Director of National Intelligence at the University Club, a 100-year-old mansion-like redoubt of dark oak panels and high ceilings a few blocks from the White House, only “several” times a week."