Stories of some of the secrets our government keeps: of imprisonment, deportation, and spying, and how those secrets affect us.
-
Download Control-click (or right-click) Tap and hold to download
- Transcript
Prologue
We hear a brief clip of host Ira Glass talking to John Podesta, who as chief of staff under President Clinton helped institute that administration's policy of declassifying as many documents possible. The Bush administration's philosophy is very different. Ira runs through a list of new secrets in the federal government. (3 minutes)
Act One
Until The End Of The War
There are at least two American citizens being held without charges, unable to see lawyers, in military jails in the U.S. There may be more. Jack Hitt tried to find out everything he could about one of them: Jose Padilla, who will stay confined to a brig in South Carolina "until the end of the war," according to the White House. (17 minutes)
Act Two
Secret Trials And Secret Deportations
In the war on terror, the government is rounding up foreigners, checking their immigration status, and then, sometimes, deporting them. It won't give out their names. David Kestenbaum tried to find out everything that can be found out about who these new deportees are...and about what happened to them once they were seized and put on trial, in secret. To do this, he has to bypass the federal government (which won't say much about the deportees) and head overseas to talk with them firsthand. (18 minutes)
Act Three
Secret Wiretaps From A Secret Court
For over two decades, there's been a secret court in the United States called the FISA court (short for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act). Its job is to authorize wiretaps on possible foreign spies and foreign agents. In 24 years, it has never turned down a government request for a wiretap, as best as any outsider can tell—until this year. This past summer the court issued an opinion that said Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Justice Department were going way too far in their zeal for wiretaps. It cited 75 cases in which the Justice Department tried to sneak around rules to protect Americans from surveillance. Blue Chevigny reports on attempts to loosen up the rules on who the government spies on here in the U.S., and on this first-ever glimpse inside this secret court. (15 minutes)
Related
If you enjoyed this episode, you may like these
Act One
We meet Colleen Kelly, a member of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, and learn just how upside down and messed up the trial for the 9/11 accused has been over the past decade. (28 minutes)
Act Two: The Spy Who Bugged Me
Lawrence Wright is a reporter for the New Yorker Magazine, and an author of the bestselling book on Al Qaeda, The Looming Tower.
Act One: Objects In Side View Mirror Are Truer Than They Appear
Alex Kotlowitz reports on a woman with the power to change two people's lives...and at the height of her power, she doesn't even know she has it.
Staff Recommendations
Three Miles
What happens when of a group of public school students in the Bronx goes to visit an elite private school three miles away.
129 Cars
One car dealership tries to make its monthly quota: 129 cars. It is way more chaotic than we expected.