Secret Court To Monitor U.S. Spy Program

Justice Dept: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court To Govern Domestic Spying Program

(CBS/AP)  The Bush administration has agreed to let a secret but independent panel of federal judges oversee the government's controversial domestic spying program, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

In a letter to the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court will have final say in approving wiretaps placed on people with suspected terror links.

"Any electronic surveillance that was occurring as part of the Terrorist Surveillance Program will now be conducted subject to the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court," Gonzales wrote in the two-page letter to Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa.

This was a highly controversial program in which Americans suspected of ties to terrorism could have their phone calls or email monitored without any oversight from a judge, reports CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod.

"The White House knew it would get its legal butt kicked either by Congress or the courts if it would have pursued the program the way it had been operating, so now at least the administration can say it is cooperating with Congress and within the purview of the law," says CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen. "It's a political solution to what was becoming a growing legal problem for President Bush."

The secret panel of judges, known as the FISA court, was established in the late 1970s to review requests for warrants to conduct surveillance inside the United States. The Bush administration had resisted giving the court final approval over the Terrorist Surveillance Program, even when communications involved someone inside the country.

A federal judge in Detroit last August declared the program unconstitutional, saying it violates the rights to free speech and privacy and the separation of powers. In October, a three-judge panel of the Cincinnati-based appeals court ruled that the administration could keep the program in place while it appeals the Detroit decision.

Additionally, the Justice Department's inspector general is investigating the agency's use of information gathered in the spying program. In testimony last fall in front of the Senate panel, FBI Director Robert Mueller said he was not allowed to discuss classified details that could show whether it has curbed terrorist activity in the United States.

"I am sure there are a lot of civil libertarians out there who are disappointed that the program, as it was operating, won't come under scrutiny by a Democratic Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court," adds Cohen, "because the program almost certainly would have been declared unconstitutional. What this move does it preempt that legal battle, at least for now."

Congressional intelligence committees have already been briefed on the court's orders, Gonzales said in his letter. It was sent to the committee the day before he is set to testify before the panel, which oversees the Justice Department.

[inventagod]

Secret Courts, Torture - what next, ethnic cleansing?

Our Bu$hCo rep, Mr. Gonzalez, ranks right up there with Rumsfeld as someone who will defend your individual rights...

[xfredmenzies]

Next will be a secret congress to pass secret laws, and they will be elected by a secret ballot in a secret state. Everyone will be required to build a secret room in their house, and go to secret school on a secret day. Shhhhhhhhh.

[randalds]

Secret courts were always there for Bush to use and are probably necessary to some extent, as long as there is bipartisan and very strict Senate and Congressional oversight. Emphasis on BI-partisan. That said the problem with what Bush has been doing the last 6 years is that he skipped even that notoriously friendly court and wire-tapped on his own. The only possible conclusion is that he did it to spy on political opponents and anti-war groups just as Nixon did. Just because he's supposedly backed off some (IF he has), does not change the fact that he violated the law for 6 years and needs to be held to account. After all we don't forgive a bank robber if he agrees to stop robbing anymore banks.

[stan7007]

In response to XFREDMENZIES....I guess we should post all of our plans to defend ourselves against the enemy openly? Remember Nick Berg? what about Paul Johnson? what about Mr. Armstrong? what about the Korean guy? Just in case you have a memory block....the ENEMY slit thier throats....and CUT THIER HEADS OFF.

Now, that same enemy is looking for ways to do the same to YOU. Our government (both democrats and republicans) are charged with PROTECTING AMERICA from the enemy.

My point is: Some things NEED to be kept SECRET from those who want to destroy us.

[grazinggoat]

Secret, Ma'am, it's secret. We won't tell you who is secretely nominating the secret judges, the secret lawyers, secretly judge you and secretly kill you...

[bluestardad]

Bush is gettin scared now he is trying to defuze the fact that he broke the law. to minimize his punishment when it comes.

[fascistusa]

LORD BUSH IS A FASCIST. A NAZI. A WAR PROFITEER.

THIS IS 1984 ORWELL. BIG BROTHER.

"Our enemies want to kill us"

Ignorance is Strength.

War is Peace.

Freedom is Slavery.

[stan7007]

I guess we should WELCOME the terrorists with open arms....invite them to dinner.....let us just sit down and have a nice talk. Why can't we just all get along? I'm sure that would secure America from the enemy....I know....LET'S JUST PRETEND THE ENEMY DOESN'T EXIST! That's it....let's just pretend they are not there.....then we can all be in pursuit of happiness because there is no enemy!!!

[bigusafan]

"the government's contentious domestic spying program"...

For crying out loud, the program was set up to monitor international calls to and from known or suspected terrorists.

"secretly launched"
Well... not a secret anymore, thanks to the media knuckleheads who think headlines are more important than national security.
By the way... al Qaeda thanks you for the tip!

"secret court, secret independent body"
Again... NOT ANY MORE!

"Intelligence Surveillance Court, and already has approved one request for monitoring the communications of a person believed to be linked to al Qaeda or an associated terror group"

Translation: The ISC says there's nothing wrong with tapping the phones on international calls when one of callers happens to be a suspected terrorist.

Hmmmmm....

[hungry1968]

stan7007 and badaxmofo:

Those who would sacrifice liberty for security, deserve neither. - Benjamin Franklin

[themartyred]

I'm all for LAWFUL practices to stop threats, but sorry, call it the "left" proctecting your *** rights yet again... this administration has repeatedly gone BEYOND the pale of acceptable law in doing these things, and scholars every where are questioning how they have not been impeached yet, it's because the republican congress were a bunch of cowards, well not all of them, finally some like Voinovich, Hagel and others are pushing back HARD against this inept 'leadership'

I pray they stop the bad guys, but I don't want them to monitor everyone illegally, that's the full sign of "BIG BROTHER" taking over, and sorry, I don't want to live in that kind of environment and will stand up for my rights as a natural born US citizen.

[stan7007]

hungry1968:

Answer me this question: "What was NICK BERG doing with his LIBERTY when the coward dog terrorist slit his throat and cut off his head?? And what will you be doing with your LIBERTY when it's your turn???

[hungry1968]

For crying out loud, the program was set up to monitor international calls to and from known or suspected terrorists.
Posted by bigUSAfan at 03:15 PM : Jan 17, 2007

Yes - but how do you know that's how it's being used? If I make an over seas call, am I put on a watch list? Are all of my calls then monitored? Why doesn't he just do it the legal way?

All he has to do is go to the DOJ and apply for a search warrant - more than likely he'd find a federal judge somewhere that would give it to him. So why doesn't he just respect the law for once?

[hungry1968]

Posted by stan7007 at 03:27 PM : Jan 17, 2007

You won't find me walking around aimlessly in the most unstable area in the world. Does anyone on the right ever happen to notice, that the only Americans killed by Iraqi's, are the Americans that go to Iraq?

[hungry1968]

In other words, no one has been killed on American soil by any Iraqi, terrorist action.

[bonetski]

Don't we want the gov't agencies to know if terrorists are using our freedoms to cause maximum destruction, ie 9-11 and the loss of over 3000 Americans?

[stan7007]

We elect our leaders and we TRUST them to do the right thing....it's been working GREAT for the past 231 years. When we find that our leaders are not doing the right thing...we deal with it.

However, if we are too busy questioning every single decision made and wasting energy because of nasty politics, then the ENEMY will take advantage of our own divisiveness.....and they will DESTROY US! That is their endgame...they want to DESTROY US.

By reading some of these postings....you people don't get it.

[grazinggoat]

CBS: 'Senate Readies Anti-War Resolution'

While they're at that, why don't they prepare an Impeachment Draft as well? It's way past-Due now

[rafterman1]

"Answer me this question: "What was NICK BERG doing with his LIBERTY when the coward dog terrorist slit his throat and cut off his head"

Melodramatic much? More right wing fear mongering. The terrorists are not going to be wandering the streets of America looking for victims. You have a better chance of being the victim of a psycho criminal like BTK than a victim of terrorists. But we all take our chances out there, that's the way it is. Cowering in fear while the government "protects" us isn't going to keep us any safer.

[stan7007]

hungry1968:

Answer me this question: "What was NICK BERG doing with his LIBERTY when the coward dog terrorist slit his throat and cut off his head?? And what will you be doing with your LIBERTY when it's your turn???

WAITING ON YOUR ANSWER?

[grazinggoat]

stan7007: 'We elect our leaders and we TRUST them to do the right thing....it's been working GREAT for the past 231 years.'

This is it, U put your finger on it. He STOLE the elections, He LIED to the Americans and to the whole world. No TRUST left in our heart for the Walking-Liar, and his wolves.

[libsarenuts]

I would guess that Detroit can vie for the most unstable area in the world, as well.
Nothing GB could ever do to placate the lefies would be enough.
I see the old "Swim coach" is out there causing trouble again. His face looks like it's about to explode.

[hungry1968]

"We elect our leaders and we TRUST them to do the right thing"

And they do the right thing - as long as it benefits themselves. They don't care who has to pay for it - the soldier with blood, the taxpayer with money, or idiots like you easily giving up your freedoms and liberties that so many people have died for.

"When we find that our leaders are not doing the right thing...we deal with it."

For 6 years this administration has been trampling on your civil rights, treating the constitution like a used kleenex, bankrupting the country by maxing out the national debt - and what have you done about it? Thrown them all your blind faith?

"However, if we are too busy questioning every single decision made and wasting energy because of nasty politics..."

I don't question every decision that's made - just the wrong ones that strip away my rights, freedoms, and liberties. I'm not a lemming like you.

[stan7007]

Rafterman1

Melodramatic much? More right wing fear mongering. The terrorists are not going to be wandering the streets of America looking for victims. You have a better chance of being the victim of a psycho criminal like BTK than a victim of terrorists.

Nope...they will not "wander the streets"...they will plot and plan....then they will strike...

Maybe they will take control of several jumbo jets and crash them into civilian populations...maybe they will deploy a Nuclear Weapon on our soil....

You just don't get it.

[j-whitman]

I wonder if Bush's lawyer Alberto Gonzales will be telling the Secret Court how to judge ??

[hungry1968]

WAITING ON YOUR ANSWER?
Posted by stan7007 at 03:36 PM : Jan 17, 2007

I already answered you stupid. I'm not going to Iraq to "walk around looking for work". I'll stay where it's safe, AND where our troops should be - HERE AT HOME!!

[libsarenuts]

That's right we're working on taking more of your rights away. Before we're done it will definately be illegal to get married to your couch.

[hungry1968]

Nope...they will not "wander the streets"...they will plot and plan....then they will strike...
You just don't get it.
Posted by stan7007 at 03:41 PM : Jan 17, 2007

And where will our military be? Here ready to defend US, or lodged in the middle of a Republican caused civil war?

You're right - I don't get it. Somebody please deliver the punchline...

[stan7007]

I'll stay where it's safe, AND where our troops should be - HERE AT HOME!!


I'LL STAY HERE WHERE IT'S SAFE. Nice. Ever wonder WHY it's safe?

Why don't you invite a few blood thirsty terrorists for DINNER at your house tonight...so you can discuss with them how kind and OPEN we are here in America....take them on a TOUR of the Pentagon.....show them everything.....then after the tour you all can just go back to your house for the BEHEADING CERIMONY.

[egresor]

THIS IS FUNNY STUFF!

sorry for the caps, but it's actually hilarious.

here I was thinking all along that it already was the law!

that the administration had to obey the land of the land and comply with FISA?

but lo and behold it seems I was wrong and NOW Gonzales tells us that that authority has been given to the court....by the President?

here I was thinking that the legally constituted body for law making was Congress. that the President had to obey the law just as you and I have to obey the law. if he doesn't like a law----he works to change it (just like you and I), but not THIS President! no siree!

do you know what we have when the President puts himself above and acts contrary to the law?

dictatorship that's what.

no President is above the law. all along Bush has behaved as tho he were, but hopefully the Congress and the Courts and the American people will show him that he is wrong.

[emtak1]

"To inform the minds of the people, and to follow their will, is the chief duty of those placed at their head." --Thomas Jefferson to C. W. F. Dumas, 1787. ME 6:342, Papers 12:360


"It is fortunate that our first executive magistrate is purely and zealously republican. We cannot expect all his successors to be so, and therefore should avail ourselves the present day to establish principles and examples which may fence us against future heresies preached now, to be practised hereafter." --Thomas Jefferson to James Innes, 1791. ME 8:145

Bush done jumped over the fence!
Matt (R-NY)

[bigusafan]

Does the word "Echelon" ring any bells?
You know, the world-wide spy network? Well... President Bill Clinton ordered the National Security Agency to use its Echelon surveillance program to monitor the personal telephone calls and private email of employees who worked for foreign companies in a bid to boost U.S. trade - MILLIONS of calls and e-mails were intercepted... not ONE came by way of a court order and none of it had anything to do with national security.

[hungry1968]

then after the tour you all can just go back to your house for the BEHEADING CERIMONY.
Posted by stan7007 at 03:50 PM : Jan 17, 2007

Okay, I'll play your game. Please list for me all beheadings that have happened on the streets of America by radical terrorists since you apparently think it happens here all the time.

[hungry1968]

Posted by bigUSAfan at 03:55 PM : Jan 17, 2007

I've never heard of any of that before. Where can I find more information on that subject? (FOX News doesn't count as information by the way.)

[hungry1968]

Stan? You there?

[stan7007]

IT'S TOO LATE TO PLAY THE GAME! DINNER HAS BEEN SCHEDULED.

Please be sure to give a very OPEN tour for the terrorists. I want them to SEE everything! No secrets!

And especially we all want to see "the cerimony".

[libsarenuts]

These islamo idiots are not on some kind of time constraint to do their damage. Give them a little room over a garage in Iraq or maybe Afghanistan or maybe New York City. While the lefties are making it hard to prosecute this war correctly, Muhammad is making bombs or learning how to fly a plane on an easy to use web site and to keep us guessing he drives a taxi or runs a seven-eleven. Being patient and not afraid to die they wait for the time when they can plant a suitcase nuke at the airport, train station, or maybe the Bears-Colts Superbowl. The blast takes out 1/4 square mile instantly and maybe your wife or daughter or son or mother is fried like a piece of bacon.
If we let this happen we are the biggest losers of all.

[hungry1968]

Stan - where's the list?

Ok - don't give me a whole list. Just one incident of a beheading caused by a terrorist on the streets of America.

If you can't give one example, then why are you giving up the freedoms and liberties established by the founding fathers?

[emtak1]

"No government can be maintained without the principle of fear as well as duty. Good men will obey the last, but bad ones the former only. If our government ever fails, it will be from this weakness." --Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 1814

"It behooves our citizens to be on their guard, to be firm in their principles, and full of confidence in themselves. We are able to preserve our self-government if we will but think so." --Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., 1800


*** I love Tom man. he is a finer president, even dead 200 years then George Bush sucking the same air as us.

He informs us more about the state of our union with the quote above then Bush is likely to in his address to the people.

[stan7007]

Bravo!!!! libsarenuts

Spoken like a true patriot! That's what this country needs....true patriots.....NOT republicans....NOT democRATS.

We need a new generation of patriots that understand EVIL when they see it....and are NOT AFRAID to confront it and defeat it.

[hungry1968]

"While the lefties are making it hard to prosecute this war correctly..."

Not one part of the war on terror has been handled correctly. Instead of going after the terrorists, THAT STRUCK OUR COUNTRY, we're out exacting revenge on Saddam Hussein because he "threatened daddy". Meanwhile, the terrorists are mounting a comeback in Afghanistan. So what does Bush do about it? Nothing - because we're bogged down way too deep in his personal war.

[libsarenuts]

Hey man, we love our founding fathers but this issue has nothing to do with them. A nuke or a plane into a building can happen in minutes. Back then it took weeks to get from one side of the water to the other. The comparisons are silly. Stop these radicals in their tracks now before it's too late.

[stan7007]

HEY jh6379

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO THE DINNER PARTY hosted by hungry1968.

You will believe when AAAACCCKKKmed puts the sword to your liberal neck.

[xsoldier2]

I see the majority of the people here cant think for themselves. Especilly with the talking points they all use. You are controlled by the talking heads on TV. just listen to the points that sute them to give you, no balance in the matter. You are not abel to decide. Sorry but that is the way it is. Good night.

[libsarenuts]

Hey hungry, put the joint down and get yourself over there and help these poor saps. It looks like you've go the answers...or is that you've got all the criticism and nothing else?
Whine and point fingers that's all the lefties can do.

[hungry1968]

Stop these radicals in their tracks now before it's too late.
Posted by libsarenuts at 04:10 PM : Jan 17, 2007

I agree 100%. So why aren't our troops in Afghanistan looking for the Islamic radicals responsible for the terrorist attacks against America?

[bigusafan]

hungry:

"If I make an over seas call, am I put on a watch list?"
Not likely... that is unless your call is to a know terrorist.

"Are all of my calls then monitored?"
If you called someone associated with al Qaeda... probably.

"Why doesn't he just do it the legal way?"

According to Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick in her July 14, 1994, testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, the executive branch has "inherent authority to conduct warrantless physical searches and that the president may, as has been done, delegate this authority to the attorney general. It's important to understand, senators, that the rules and the methodology for criminal searches are inconsistent with the collection of foreign intelligence and would unduly frustrate the president in carrying out his foreign intelligence responsibilities."

Granted "physical" is different from "electronic" or "phone lines"

Then again... Clinton used Echelon to spy on Americans for economic purposes... No one got upset then. Why is tapping in on calls to or from al Qaeda members such a terrible thing?

Just asking.

[libsarenuts]

life is all about talking points and we think ours are the "right" ones. Kill the bad guys who threaten the western world. How can you get any fu..king clearer than that. I don't care what their religious beliefs are, what color their hair is, who they like on Idol, if they mean harm to the USA wipe them out...period.

[usawatchman]

it already has approved one request for monitoring the communications
of a person believed to be linked to al Qaeda or an associated terror group.

TRANSLATED:
(believed to be linked to al Qaeda or an associated terror group. )
It is OK if they live on the same planet as al Qaeda

[hungry1968]

HEY jh6379
YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO THE DINNER PARTY hosted by hungry1968.
Posted by stan7007 at 04:11 PM : Jan 17, 2007

Come on over! We'll be having hot dogs and cold beer, followed by apple pie while we're watching the baseball game. Better make it soon though - Bush wants to take away your rights to do those things too.