Bobby Ray Inman on NSA

This afternoon I listened to former Admiral Bobby Ray Inman speak on NPR's Talk of the Nation about the newest NSA domestic spying scandal. The Admiral was NSA Director from 1977 to 1981. He claimed that NSA doesn't have the capability to do this program. He claimed that the NSA is completely separate from the Pentagon. He said that NSA has no analytical ability, that they only collect raw intelligence and provide it to other intelligence agencies for analysis.

I'm sure all this was true when the Admiral ran NSA. That was 25 years ago though. I have one huge problem with Inman's assertion that the program detailed by USA Today last week couldn't exist. President Bush refused to deny the existence of the program. I also doubt Inman's claim the Pentagon has no influence over NSA. Wasn't Air Force general Michael hayden the NSA Director? Who does a General report to? The Secretary of Defense.

I'm sure much has changed at the National Security Agency since 1981. There are reports that the massive data collection and mining program called TIA that the Pentagon wanted and Congress refused to fund was transferred to the NSA and exists. This newly revealed program seems to fit nicely into what TIA was supposed to be.