Still whistleblowing: When we last left former National Security Agency office Russell Tice on Jan. 20, I wasn’t so sure he was not going to be found in a dumpster with a whole in his head or, worse yet, never found. But he’s back, just when CIA director-nominee Gen. Michael Hayden and the board of directors of Bushco really don’t want to see him.

Tice was sacked last May because, he said, he tried to draw attention within the NSA to illegal activities related to the clandestine gathering of information on U.S. citizens. The NSA said it let him go because a government psychologist said he was just north of Lunatic Lane at Paranoia Place.

Well, Russ is back and still on the attack, according to the following (edited) report from the “National Journal”:

Tice said Thursday he plans to tell Senate staffers next week that unlawful activity occurred at the agency under the supervision of Gen. Michael Hayden beyond what has been publicly reported, while hinting that it might have involved the illegal use of space-based satellites and systems to spy on U.S. citizens [note that news reports often refer to Hayden as a expert in "technical intelligence," which refers to using surveillance equipment, as opposed to "human intelligence," which is what we really need more of at the CIA].

‘The only purpose of the [NSA's] activities is to preserve the security and the liberty of the American people.’
— Gen. Michael Hayden

Tice, who worked on “special access programs,” has wanted to meet in a closed session with members of Congress and their staff since President Bush announced in December that he had secretly authorized the NSA to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens without a court order. In an interview late Thursday, Tice said the Senate Armed Services Committee asked him to meet next week in a secure facility on Capitol Hill [due to the classified nature of his information].

Tice said one of his co-workers personally informed Hayden that illegal and unconstitutional activity was occurring. The Senate Intelligence Committee plans to hold Hayden’s confirmation hearing next week.

“I think the people I talk to next week are going to be shocked when I tell them what I have to tell them. It’s pretty hard to believe,” Tice said.

Tice said his information is different from the Terrorist Surveillance Program that Bush acknowledged in December and from news accounts this week that the NSA has been secretly
collecting phone call records of millions of Americans.

According to an unclassified resume, Tice was a specialist in space operations systems, command and control warfare, advanced technology and all-source collection analysis. During an 18-year career, he worked on some of the most secretive programs in the government.

Tice was fired last May after the NSA ordered him to undergo psychological evaluations and psychologists diagnosed him as being paranoid. Tice claimed the order to undergo psychological evaluations was retaliation. He said he saw an independent psychologist who found no evidence that he has a mental disorder.

Hayden, on Capitol Hill today visiting with lawmakers, defended the secret surveillance programs he oversaw while head of the NSA as lawful and designed to “preserve the security and the liberty of the American people.”

“Everything that the agency has done has been lawful. It’s been briefed to the appropriate members of Congress,” Hayden told reporters. “The only purpose of the agency’s activities is to preserve the security and the liberty of the American people. And I think we’ve done that.”

So the question remains the same as it was in January — is Tice just a disgruntled former employee or crazy or a concerned citizen who wants to expose our gubmint’s nasty big secrets? Maybe we’ll find out more next week, if Tice doesn’t get run over by a bus.