Editing National Security Agency (section)

==== President's Surveillance Program ====
{{See also|NSA warrantless surveillance (2001–2007)}}

[[George W. Bush]], president during the [[September 11 attacks|9/11 terrorist attacks]], approved the [[Patriot Act]] shortly after the attacks to take anti-terrorist security measures. [[Title I of the Patriot Act|Titles 1]], [[Title II of the Patriot Act|2]], and [[Title IX of the Patriot Act|9]] specifically authorized measures that would be taken by the NSA. These titles granted enhanced domestic security against terrorism, surveillance procedures, and improved intelligence, respectively. On March 10, 2004, there was a debate between President Bush and White House Counsel [[Alberto Gonzales]], Attorney General [[John Ashcroft]], and Acting Attorney General [[James Comey]]. The Attorneys General were unsure if the NSA's programs could be considered constitutional. They threatened to resign over the matter, but ultimately the NSA's programs continued.<ref>{{cite book|title=President George W. Bush's Influence Over Bureaucracy and Policy|last=Provost|first=Colin|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2009|isbn=978-0-230-60954-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/presidentgeorgew0000unse/page/94 94–99]|url=https://archive.org/details/presidentgeorgew0000unse/page/94}}</ref> On March 11, 2004, President Bush signed a new authorization for mass surveillance of Internet records, in addition to the surveillance of phone records. This allowed the president to be able to override laws such as the [[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]], which protected civilians from mass surveillance. In addition to this, President Bush also signed that the measures of mass surveillance were also retroactively in place.<ref name=NYTimes2015-09-20 /><ref name="NYTWarrantless">[[James Risen]] & [[Eric Lichtblau]] (December 16, 2005), [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/16program.html Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524040621/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/politics/16program.html |date=2015-05-24 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]''</ref>

One such surveillance program, authorized by the U.S. Signals Intelligence Directive 18 of President George Bush, was the Highlander Project undertaken for the National Security Agency by the U.S. Army [[513th Military Intelligence Brigade]]. NSA relayed telephone (including cell phone) conversations obtained from ground, airborne, and satellite monitoring stations to various U.S. Army Signal Intelligence Officers, including the [[201st Expeditionary Military Intelligence Brigade|201st Military Intelligence Battalion]]. Conversations of citizens of the U.S. were intercepted, along with those of other nations.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB23/index2.html |title=Gwu.edu |publisher=Gwu.edu |access-date=October 9, 2013 |archive-date=June 2, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602002703/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB23/index2.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Proponents of the surveillance program claim that the President has [[Unitary executive theory|executive authority]] to order such action{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}, arguing that laws such as FISA are overridden by the President's Constitutional powers. In addition, some argued that FISA was implicitly overridden by a subsequent statute, the [[Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists|Authorization for Use of Military Force]], although the Supreme Court's ruling in ''[[Hamdan v. Rumsfeld]]'' deprecates this view.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, Et Al. Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/05pdf/05-184.pdf |journal=Supreme Court of the United States |access-date=2022-03-12 |archive-date=2020-12-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207022617/https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/05pdf/05-184.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>