I remember Nixon's FBI of the late 60's and early 70's (actually J. Edgar Hover's FBI) spying on Americans who were against the war, or just "different." In fact, after the FOIA Act came along, it was a cool exercise to get one's FBI file to see what kind of outlandish info they kept on you. I thought those days were over.

But not with the most paranoid and secretive administration in history, as Bill Moyers has pointed out. President Bush let loose the NSA snoop dogs himself in a 2002 secret executive order, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

J. Edgar Bush

MSNBC has the story:

NEW YORK - The National Security Agency has eavesdropped, without warrants, on as many 500 people inside the United States at any given time since 2002, The New York Times reported Friday.

That year, following the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush authorized the NSA to monitor the international phone calls and international e-mails of hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of people inside the United States, the Times reported.

Before the program began, the NSA typically limited its domestic surveillance to foreign embassies and missions and obtained court orders for such investigations. Overseas, 5,000 to 7,000 people suspected of terrorist ties are monitored at one time.

--snip--

But some NSA officials were so concerned about the legality of the program that they refused to participate, the Times said. Questions about the legality of the program led the administration to temporarily suspend it last year and impose new restrictions.