This is a UPI story, but it's reporting directly on testimony at a recent House hearing, so it isn't entirely made up, although it might be egregiously extrapolated.

A former NSA employee said Tuesday there is another ongoing top-secret surveillance program that might have violated millions of Americans' Constitutional rights.

Russell D. Tice told the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations he has concerns about a "special access" electronic surveillance program that he characterized as far more wide-ranging than the warrentless wiretapping recently exposed by the New York Times but he is forbidden from discussing the program with Congress.

You might be interested in Tice's testimony. He seems to be a suffering whistleblower who characterizes his trials with NSA as a "Kofkesk journey" [sic]. This guy was called before Congress to talk about his experience as a whistleblower and the assessment of a government psychologist that he was paranoid. There is nothing in his prepared testimony about any special access program, so if the UPI story is even remotely valid, it must have come up during questioning. So perhaps there is less to this story than meets the eye, and my early skepticism about UPI was warranted.

In a recent thread about the recent review by Thomas Powers of James Risen's new book, State of War, I quoted Powers:

I believe that the Judiciary Committee will find, if it is willing to persist, that within the large pointless program there exists a small, sharply focused program that delivers something the White House really wants. This it will never confess willingly.

It's rather too early to tell, but it's possible this "additional program" is the "focused program" Powers was talking about. (It should be said that "focused" should not be read as "limited" or "legal".) I still think Powers is onto something, but having seen Tice's prepared testimony, I am not inclined to get particularly excited about his claims.

And, of course, any time I post something on this topic, I am inclined to quote Powers from last year, as well:

Is more what we really need?

In my opinion not.

But running spies is not the NSA's job. Listening is, and more listening is what the NSA knows how to organize, more is what Congress is ready to support and fund, more is what the President wants, and more is what we are going to get.

Here's a nugget from yesterday's Washington Post coverage of the hearings:

"We have lists that are having baby lists at this point; they're spawning faster than rabbits."

(The National Counterterrorism Center maintains a central repository of 325,000 names of international terrorism suspects or people who allegedly aid them, a number that has more than quadrupled since the fall of 2003.)

"Soon, those baby lists will be having babies of their own. And if 9/11 has taught us anything, it is that someday mankind must face and destroy the pregnant baby list menace."

You might also be interested in Babies Having Babies, a "hard look" at teenage pregnancy. (Survey Question: How many of you have ever seen a "soft look" at or a "lighthearted take" on teenage pregnancy?)

Whistleblower says NSA violations bigger