govteavesdropping

Army joins probe of eavesdropping on troops
Wed Oct 15, 2008
Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army has launched its own probe of
allegations that intelligence officials listened to personal phone
calls from military members and other Americans overseas, a
congressional committee chairman said on Wednesday.

U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, chairman of the House of Representatives
Intelligence Committee, said the Army disclosed the investigation at a
briefing for committee staff members on the spying allegations, a
growing controversy which is already being investigated by the
National Security Agency.

ABC News last week quoted two former military linguists as saying
calls from Americans were routinely monitored under a special military
program. Intelligence operators routinely shared salacious or
tantalizing details with each other from the calls, ABC said. It said
American journalists and aid workers also were monitored.

The accusations were the latest in a string of controversies
surrounding surveillance programs under President George W. Bush's war
on terrorism.

"These allegations are serious, and they implicate the constitutional
rights of American citizens, including the brave women and men who are
serving our country in war zones," Reyes, a Texas Democrat, said in a
statement.

He said the inspector general of the Army's Intelligence and Security
Command would send a team next week to a military center in Georgia
where the abuses were said to occur. Pentagon officials were not
immediately available for comment...