Say Anything Blog

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Times sued the U.S. Defense Department on Monday demanding that it hand over documents about the National Security Agency's domestic spying program.

The Times wants a list of documents including all internal memos and e-mails about the program of monitoring phone calls without court approval. It also seeks the names of the people or groups identified by it.

The Times in December broke the story that the NSA had begun intercepting domestic communications believed linked to al Qaeda following the September 11 attacks. That provoked renewed criticism of the way U.S.
President George W. Bush is handling his declared war on terrorism.

Bush called the disclosure of the program to the Times a "shameful act" and the U.S. Justice Department has launched an investigation into who leaked it.

Here's the thing, the Times isn't suing because the Pentagon has refused to comply with their request, they're suing because they aren't getting the records fast enough.

The Times had requested the documents in December under the Freedom of Information Act but sued upon being unsatisfied with the Pentagon's response that the request was "being processed as quickly as possible," according to the six-page suit filed at federal court in New York.

David McCraw, a lawyer for the Times, acknowledged that the list of documents sought was lengthy but that the Pentagon failed to assert there were "unusual circumstances," a provision of the law that would grant the Pentagon extra time to respond.

Obviously, the Pentagon needs to comply with the law. That being said, this request was made not quite three months ago and we are talking about a highly classified program that was the subject of much debate within the administration. There are no doubt reams of pages of documents that must not only be dredged up and copied but also reviewed so that classified information can be redacted.

After all, its not like the Times can be trusted to, you know, obey the law and keep classified government information secret.

This lawsuit, to me, sounds more like an excuse to get the NSA story back in the headlines than anything else.