Et tu, Nancita?

From the AP:

Congressional intelligence committees had at least a hint in October 2001 that the National Security Agency was expanding its surveillance activities after the 9/11 attacks, according to a letter released Tuesday by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

The California Democrat had raised questions to Gen. Michael Hayden, then the NSA director, about the legal authority to conduct the eavesdropping work.

In the October 2001 letter, Pelosi said she was told in a briefing that month that the agency “had been operating since the Sept. 11 attacks with an expansive view” of its authorities “to the conduct of electronic surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and related statutes, orders, regulations and guidelines.”

Fortunately, however, the public is being spared more infomration than our fragile hearts can stand…

The subsequent crucial sentences of the letter, released Tuesday, were blocked out for security reasons.

Key parts of Pelosi’s letter were also withheld. For instance, one sentence indicates that the NSA was forwarding intercepts and other undisclosed information to the FBI without first getting a request.

And Nancy let this happen? I’m shocked. Next thing we know we’ll find out she had even heard of the Echelon program. What will Moveon.org say? Perhaps they’ll have to disown her.