From Politechm, a discussion list:

Pelosi's Declassified Letter on NSA Activities



Washington, D.C. - House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi today released the
following letter, which she wrote four years ago when she was Ranking
Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, and was recently declassified
at her request. The letter to Lieutenant General Michael Hayden, then
National Security Agency (NSA) Director, expressed concerns about NSA
electronic surveillance activities and the authority for those activities.
Pelosi also released the response letter from Hayden. Both Pelosi's letter
and Hayden's response were redacted when they were declassified.



The text of letters follow and copies of the declassified letters are in
attached documents:
October 11, 2001

Lieutenant General Michael V. Hayden, USAF
Director
National Security Agency
Fort George G. Mead, Maryland 20755
Washington, D.C. 20340-1001

Dear General Hayden:

During your appearance before the committee on October 1, you indicated
that you had been operating since the September 11 attacks with an
expansive view of your authorities with respect to the conduct of
electronic surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
and related statutes, orders, regulations, and guidelines. You seemed to
be inviting expressions of concern from us, if there were any, and,
after the briefing was over and I had a chance to reflect on what you
said, I instructed staff to get more information on this matter for me.
For several reasons, including what I consider to be an overly broad
interpretation of President Bush's directive of October 5 on sharing
with Congress "classified or sensitive law enforcement information" it
has not been possible to get answers to my questions.

Without those answers, the concerns I have about what you said on the
1st can not be resolved, and I wanted to bring them to your attention
directly. You indicated that you were treating as a matter of first
impression, [redacted ] being of foreign intelligence interest. As a
result, you were forwarding the intercepts, and any information
[redacted ] without first receiving a request for that identifying
information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Although I may be
persuaded by the strength of your analysis [redacted ] I believe you
have a much more difficult case to make [redacted ] Therefore, I am
concerned whether, and to what extent, the National Security Agency has
received specific presidential authorization for the operations you are
conducting. Until I understand better the legal analysis regarding the
sufficiency of the authority which underlies your decision on the
appropriate way to proceed on this matter, I will continue to be concerned.

Sincerely,

NANCY PELOSI
Ranking Democrat




18 October 2001

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Ranking Member, House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence
H-405, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative Pelosi:

Thank you for the opportunity to clarify any ambiguity that may have
arisen as a result of my briefing on October 1 to members of the House
and Senate Intelligence Committees.

In my briefing, I was attempting to emphasize that I used my authorities
to adjust NSA's collection and reporting.

[redacted] ]

Again, thank you for allowing me to clarify this matter.

MICHAEL V. HAYDEN
Lieutenant General, USAF
Director, NSA