Boxer rips into NSA at Mills graduation
Senator says U.S. security agency's phone spying must be halted
By William Brand, STAFF WRITER - OAKLAND TRIBUNE Sunday, May 14th, 2006
OAKLAND — The National Security Agency telephone spying program must be stopped, Sen. Barbara Boxer told graduating students Saturday morning at the Mills College commencement.
"If our government begins spying on our telephone conversations without any reason, then the terrorists have already won — because we will have lost the essence of America. If we allow this to continue ... we will have lost what makes us free," Boxer said.
Later, Boxer, D-California, and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, spoke to reporters about the vast telephone project.
Lee said she intends to introduce a resolution of inquiry in Congress. "We want to know whose phones were involved and we want the administration to give us reasons for that," she said. "The problem is, we justdon't know what the facts are right now and we need answers."
Boxer told reporters that the Senate will have its first opportunity to inquire into the NSA project when Gen. Michael Hayden appears before a Senate committee over his nomination to head the Central Intelligence Agency.
"Gen. Hayden has a lot of questions to answer; we have to be very challenging," Boxer said.
Hayden is believed to be the architect of the operation, which involved searching phone calls made by millions of Americans for patterns relating to terrorists.
Boxer said she believes the operation clearly violates the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. "People are not allowed to be searched without a proper warrant issued by a judge," she said.
She said she believes if the operation had been taken before a judicial panel for approval, a warrant would not have been granted.
Asked about the Iraq war, Boxer said America needs to withdraw, starting by sending National Guard troops home to their families and jobs. "The fact is, our presence in Iraq now is nonproductive. Our presence is feeding the insurgency."
When you have Iraqis saying it is better that you leave, it is time
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to go, she said.
Boxer, the Mills commencement speaker, drew cheers from the moment she arrived.
Mills President Janet Holmgren awarded her an honorary Doctor of Laws degree and noted that Boxer has been a courageous advocate for the rights of women, children and families. "She sponsored the Violence Against Women Act and shepherded it through Congress," she said. "As Democratic chief deputy whip, Ms. Boxer is poised to be the president of the United States, don't you think?"
Graduates — 217 women received bachelor's degrees and 194 men and women received master's and eight were awarded doctorates — stood and cheered.
Boxer, 65, is in her third term in the Senate. She was elected to the Marin County Board of Supervisors in 1977, then served in Congress from 1983 to 1992. She graduated from Brooklyn College in 1962 with a B.A. in economics.
Holmgren told Boxer she would like the Mills podium, which she had shortened so the senator would not have to stand on a box as she often does at speaking engagements. Both Boxer and Holmgren stand 5 feet tall.
She said Boxer demonstrates that if your goal is to change the world and make things better, size is not important.
Lee, a 1973 Mills graduate, introduced Boxer. She noted that when set out to run for the state Assembly in 1989, Boxer backed her strongly when she was unknown.
"If the White House and the administration were run by a woman like Barbara Boxer, we'd be in greater shape than we are today," Lee said.
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