Wiretap tips forwarded by the SOD usually come from foreign governments, U.S. intelligence agencies or court-authorized domestic phone recordings. Because warrantless eavesdropping on Americans is illegal, tips from intelligence agencies are generally not forwarded to the SOD until a caller's citizenship can be verified, according to one senior law enforcement official and one former U.S. military intelligence analyst.
"They do a pretty good job of screening, but it can be a struggle to know for sure whether the person on a wiretap is American," the senior law enforcement official said.
Tips from domestic wiretaps typically occur when agents use information gleaned from a court-ordered wiretap in one case to start a second investigation.
http://www.balloon-j.../#comment-4569162
The DEA and IRS get the equivalent of anonymous tips when other security agencies find evidence of illegal behavior in their investigations. Is this shocking? They then have to go and do their own investigations and rely solely on their own evidence to do their own law enforcement. Is that shocking? A bunch of people say this is not just legal, but normal and has been done for decades in all branches of law enforcement (the documents that brought it up are undated, so thereÂs that) and others say it sounds like itÂs unconstitutional and could be abused in technical legal ways. Fair enough, get a court to rule on it. No, this does not fit into some overarching picture of the NSA abusing its powers.
Lots of nuance gets lost when reporters post sensational stories. Sometimes the nuance isn't important. Sometimes it is.
Which is it here? I dunno. I'm not willing to set my hair on fire over this without more information. YMMV.
Cheers,
Scott.