Politics Daily:
President Gerald Ford secretly authorized the use of warrantless domestic wiretaps for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes soon after coming into office, according to a declassified document.
President Gerald Ford secretly authorized the use of warrantless domestic wiretaps for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes soon after coming into office, according to a declassified document.
The Dec. 19, 1974 White House memorandum, marked Top Secret/Exclusively Eyes Only and signed by Ford, gave then-Attorney General William B. Saxbe and his successors in office authorization "to approve, without prior judicial warrants, specific electronic surveillance within the United States which may be requested by the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation."
In giving the attorney general warrantless wiretap authority, Ford said he was "satisfied that programs requiring such surveillance are important to national security" and chose to "reaffirm and renew" such powers. It is unclear how widely, if at all, the authority was used to spy on Americans or others living in the United States.
"I have been advised by you [Saxbe] and by the Department of State that such surveillance is consistent with the Constitution, Laws and Treaties of the United States," Ford wrote about four months after Richard Nixon's resignation, which was brought on by the Watergate scandal and revelations that Nixon authorized domestic eavesdropping.
In giving the attorney general warrantless wiretap authority, Ford said he was "satisfied that programs requiring such surveillance are important to national security" and chose to "reaffirm and renew" such powers. It is unclear how widely, if at all, the authority was used to spy on Americans or others living in the United States.
"I have been advised by you [Saxbe] and by the Department of State that such surveillance is consistent with the Constitution, Laws and Treaties of the United States," Ford wrote about four months after Richard Nixon's resignation, which was brought on by the Watergate scandal and revelations that Nixon authorized domestic eavesdropping.
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