"This is a limited program designed to prevent attacks... I repeat, limited"

The New York Times continues to go all Woodward and Bernstein, digging further and further into the Bush/NSA story. And the more they dig, they seem to find even more disturbing aspects of the program, thanks to an increasing supply of whistleblowers who are speaking out. Their newest report is a must-read and tells of great skepticism of the program from within the FBI and other law enforcement/counterterrorism agencies. We learn now that not only was the program not limited, intruding upon countless Americans, it was also wasting a lot of people's time.

From today's Times: Spy Agency Data After Sept. 11 Led F.B.I. to Dead Ends

In the anxious months after the Sept. 11 attacks, the National Security Agency began sending a steady stream of telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and names to the F.B.I. in search of terrorists. The stream soon became a flood, requiring hundreds of agents to check out thousands of tips a month.

But virtually all of them, current and former officials say, led to dead ends or innocent Americans.

F.B.I. officials repeatedly complained to the spy agency that the unfiltered information was swamping investigators. The spy agency was collecting much of the data by eavesdropping on some Americans' international communications and conducting computer searches of phone and Internet traffic. Some F.B.I. officials and prosecutors also thought the checks, which sometimes involved interviews by agents, were pointless intrusions on Americans' privacy...

But, wait! There's more-

More than a dozen current and former law enforcement and counterterrorism officials, including some in the small circle who knew of the secret program and how it played out at the F.B.I., said the torrent of tips led them to few potential terrorists inside the country they did not know of from other sources and diverted agents from counterterrorism work they viewed as more productive.

"We'd chase a number, find it's a schoolteacher with no indication they've ever been involved in international terrorism - case closed," said one former F.B.I. official...

This does not instill in me great confidence in national security efforts. Oh, and sorry GOP talking points crew, the President is spying on Americans. Anyone still giving him the benefit of the doubt on this has apparently been in a coma for the past few years.

To quote our President- "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again".

[Also- More fallout from the story: Two Groups Planning to Sue Over Federal Eavesdropping]