Not NSA. AP:

by Laura Rozen

The National Security Agency did not place a wiretap that reportedly intercepted phone conversations made by Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., the top U.S. intelligence official said Monday.

Dennis Blair, the national intelligence director, declined to say which agency requested the reported wiretap and oversaw the information gleaned from Harman's conversations. Blair was speaking at the dedication of a new intelligence research facility.

The only other agency that has authority to place wiretaps on calls inside the United States is the Justice Department. It requires court approval.

Media reports have suggested the California congresswoman was overheard in an NSA wiretap seeking lenient treatment for two former pro-Israel activists. The activists were later indicted on federal charges of unlawfully possessing and disclosing classified information.

Harman has asked the Justice Department to release a transcript of the intercepted phone conversation, which occurred before 2006.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi confirmed last week that she was informed by U.S. government officials that Harman had been overheard on a wiretap.

Pelosi said she did not tell Harman. Harman has said she first learned of the wiretapping last week from a reporter who had knowledge of the transcript of the recording.

Why are sources to CQ and NYT seemingly dissembling on this?

They had a shaky case no one would sign off on and now are leaking wiretaps Goss ordered of a political enemy. Hard not to wonder if the agenda of the sources is not far more suspect than those they were wiretapping.