Myers, Steven Lee, David E. Sanger, and Eric Schmitt. "U.S. Considers New Covert Push Within Pakistan." New York Times, 6 Jan. 2008. [http://www.nytimes.com]Materials presented in chronological order.
Myers, Steven Lee, David E. Sanger, and Eric Schmitt. "U.S. Considers New Covert Push Within Pakistan." New York Times, 6 Jan. 2008. [http://www.nytimes.com]
According to senior administration officials, "Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a number of President Bush’s top national security advisers" met on 4 January 2008 to discuss "whether to expand the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan." Options include "loosening restrictions on the C.I.A. to strike selected targets in Pakistan.... Most counterterrorism operations in Pakistan have been conducted by the C.I.A.; in Afghanistan, where military operations are under way, including some with NATO forces, the military can take the lead."
Whitlock, Craig, and Karen DeYoung. "Al-Qaeda Figure Is Killed in Pakistan: Senior Commander Blamed in Bombing at U.S. Afghan Base." Washington Post, 1 Feb. 2008, A1. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
According to Western officials and the Islamic radical Web site Al-Fajr Media Center, Abu Laith al-Libi, a "senior al-Qaeda commander[,] was killed this week in Pakistan.... The Western officials declined to give details of how Libi died. But there is evidence he was targeted in a missile strike that killed 12 people [on 29 January 2008] in a remote village in northwestern Pakistan."
Lichtblau, Eric. "Senate Votes to Expand Spy Powers." New York Times, 13 Feb. 2008. [http://www.nytimes.com]
On 12 February 2008, the U.S. Senate voted 68 to 29 "to broaden the government’s spy powers and to give legal protection to phone companies that cooperated in President Bush’s program of eavesdropping without warrants.... The measure extends, for at least six years, many of the broad new surveillance powers that Congress hastily approved [in August 2007] just before its summer recess....
"The bill ... allows the government to eavesdrop on large bundles of foreign-based communications on its own authority so long as Americans are not the targets." The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, "which traditionally has issued individual warrants before wiretapping began, would review the procedures set up by the executive branch only after the fact to determine whether there were abuses involving Americans.... The House approved a surveillance bill in November [2007] that intentionally left out immunity for the phone companies, and leaders from the two chambers will now have to find a way to work out significant differences between their two bills."
Warrick, Joby, and Robin Wright. "Unilateral Strike Called a Model For U.S. Operations in Pakistan." Washington Post, 19 Feb. 2008, A1. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
According to U.S. officials, the missiles fired from a CIA MQ-1B Predator UAV, which killed senior al-Qaeda commander Abu Laith al-Libi in the town of Mir Ali, involved "an unusual degree of autonomy by the CIA inside Pakistan." The officials said that the Pakistani government "was notified only as the operation was underway."
Abramowitz, Michael, and Carrie Johnson. "Bush Fills Key Posts In Homeland Security." Washington Post, 20 Mar. 2008, A13. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
On 19 March 2008, President Bush named "veteran prosecutor Kenneth L. Wainstein to serve as his White House homeland security adviser." Wainstein will be "responsible for coordinating counterterrorism and homeland security efforts throughout the government. He will chair the Homeland Security Council, a counterpart to the National Security Council."
The President also "named Michael E. Leiter to be director of the National Counterterrorism Center, the principal intelligence organization for analyzing terrorist threats and conducting operational planning for counterterrorism efforts. Leiter, previously the center's deputy director, has been serving as the acting director since his predecessor, John Scott Redd, resigned last fall."
Whitlock, Craig. "After a Decade at War With West, Al-Qaeda Still Impervious to Spies." Washington Post, 20 Mar. 2008, A1. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
According to U.S. and European intelligence officials, "[a] decade after al-Qaeda issued a global declaration of war against America, U.S. spy agencies have had little luck recruiting well-placed informants and are finding the upper reaches of the network tougher to penetrate than the Kremlin during the Cold War."
Lichtblau, Eric. "Senate Approves Bill to Broaden Wiretap Powers." New York Times, 10 Jul. 2008. [http://www.nytimes.com]
"The Senate gave final approval on [9 July 2008] to a major expansion of the government’s surveillance powers.... The measure, approved by a vote of 69 to 28,... includes ... legal immunity for the phone companies that cooperated in the National Security Agency wiretapping program [President Bush] approved after the Sept. 11 attacks.... [Bush] promised to sign the measure into law quickly....
"The measure gives the executive branch broader latitude in eavesdropping on people abroad and at home who it believes are tied to terrorism, and it reduces the role of [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court] in overseeing some operations.... The legislation also expands the government’s power to invoke emergency wiretapping procedures. While the N.S.A. would be allowed to seek court orders for broad groups of foreign targets, the law creates a new seven-day period for directing wiretaps at foreigners without a court order in 'exigent' circumstances if government officials assert that important national security information would be lost. The law also expands to seven days, from three, the period for emergency wiretaps on Americans without a court order if the attorney general certifies there is probable cause to believe the target is linked to terrorism."
Hess, Pamela. "Congress: Terror Database Upgrade Failing." Associated Press, 21 Aug. 2008. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
The House Science and Technology investigations and oversight subcommittee said on 20 August 2008 that the Railhead counterterrorism database software upgrade "is months behind schedule, millions over budget and would actually be less capable" than the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment it is meant to replace.
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