'US eavesdropped on thousands'

2006-02-05 22:35

Washington - The United States eavesdropping programme approved by President George W Bush has monitored the overseas phonecalls of thousands of Americans, most of whom were ruled out as potential terrorist suspects,reported the Washington Post on Sunday.

The controversial programme by the national security agency has sparked a political firestorm in the United States, particularly since it taps into Americans' communications without the use of court warrants.

President Bush claims he has the power under the US constitution to authorise the programme, but some opposition Democrats have criticised the eavesdropping and attorney-general Alberto Gonzales is due to testify about the programme before congress on Monday.

Two "knowledgeable sources" told the Post that the NSA had eavesdropped, or monitored, the communications of thousands of Americans in the past four years. One source told the newspaper the dragnet had included about 5 000 people.

Computers sift information

"Intelligence officers who eavesdropped on thousands of Americans in overseas calls under the authority from President Bush have dismissed nearly all of them as potential suspects after hearing nothing pertinent to a terrorist threat," said the Post.

"Computer-controlled systems collect and sift basic information about hundreds of thousands of faxes, e-mails and telephone calls into and out of the United States before selecting the ones for scrunity by human eyes and ears," said the newspaper.

However, the report said intelligence officers, who listened to fragments of the conversations recorded by the computer networks, "wash out" most of the leads within days or weeks.

The report, based on accounts from present and former government officials, said it was unknown what was done with the "non-threatening US e-mails and conversations that the NSA intercepts".

The report said that fewer than 10 US citizens or residents a year have aroused enough suspicion during warrantless eavesdropping to justify interception of their domestic calls, as well as their international communications.

The Bush administration refuses to say how many Americans have had their conversations recorded or their e-mails read by intelligence analysts without court authority.

Computer surveillance networks

Vice-president Dick Cheney told CNN television in December that the programme "has saved thousands of lives".

The programme comes amid significant advances in the government's computer surveillance networks.

A government report has noted that machines can easily determine the sex, approximate age and social class of a speaker.

They are also learning to look for clues of deceptive intent in the words and "paralinguistic" features of a conversation, such as pitch, tone, cadence and latency.

- AFP