Bush Asks Congress To Expand Surveillance
In the midst of a festering public scandal surrounding the administration's secret wiretapping program and the attorney general's efforts to have it extended, President George W. Bush is calling on Congress to expand the law governing the issuance of warrants to intelligence agencies for surveillance.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, provides a legal foundation that allows information about terrorists' communications to be collected without violating civil liberties.
President George W. Bush wants Congress to rewrite the law to incorporate new advances in technology which, he says, are not covered by the FISA.
"This law is badly out-of-date," Mr. Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address.
Mr. Bush noted that terrorists now use disposable cell phones and the Internet to communicate, recruit operatives and plan attacks; such tools were not available when FISA was passed nearly 30 years ago. (However, as he signed the Patriot Act on October 26, 2001, the president stated that existing law "written in the era of rotary telephones" was now updated to allow surveillance "of all communications used by terrorists, including e-mails, the Internet, and cell phones.")
He also cited a recently released intelligence estimate that concluded al Qaeda is using its growing strength in the Middle East to plot attacks on U.S. soil.
"Our intelligence community warns that under the current statute, we are missing a significant amount of foreign intelligence that we should be collecting to protect our country," Bush said. "Congress needs to act immediately to pass this bill, so that our national security professionals can close intelligence gaps and provide critical warning time for our country."
The 1978 law set up a court that meets in secret to review applications from the FBI, the National Security Agency and other agencies for warrants to wiretap or search the homes of people in the United States in terrorist or espionage cases.
Shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Bush authorized the NSA to spy on calls between people in the U.S. and suspected terrorists abroad without FISA court warrants. The administration said it needed to act more quickly than the court could issue warrants; it also said the president had inherent authority to order warrantless domestic spying in spite of Constitutional protections.
After the program became public and was challenged in court, Mr. Bush put it under FISA court supervision this year.
The national intelligence director, in a letter Wednesday to the House intelligence committee, stressed the need to be able to collect intelligence about foreign terrorists overseas. Mike McConnell said intelligence agencies should be able to do that without requirements imposed by an "out-of-date" law.
"Simply put, in a significant number of cases, we are in the unfortunate position of having to obtain court orders to effectively collect foreign intelligence about foreign targets located overseas," he wrote the committee chairman, Rep. Silvestre Reyes.
Democrats want to ensure that any changes do not give the executive branch unfettered surveillance powers.
Caroline Fredrickson, director of the Washington legislative office of the American Civil Liberties Union, contends the White House is asking for more power to conduct warrantless domestic and international surveillance.
"The administration claims the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act must be 'modernized,'" she said. "The reality is, their proposal would gut FISA.
"The President claims that they need to expand FISA based on new technology — they are wrong," said Fredrickson. "FISA was written to be technology-neutral. There is absolutely no new technology that cannot be intercepted with a warrant under FISA. None."
Frederickson also says that hidden within the bill is immunity from both criminal prosecution and civil liability for telecommunication companies who participate in the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program, which would be retroactive.
This could affect a lawsuit before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in which the Electronic Frontier Foundation is suing AT&T for violating the rights of its customers by assisting the NSA with spying. The government has sought to have the suit dismissed on the grounds that state secrets would be exposed in a trial.
"It takes an enormous amount of hubris to ask for more power on the heels of revelations that the President tried to go around his own attorney general on his NSA domestic electronic eavesdropping program," Frederickson said. "The already-shaky legal ground on which this domestic spying program stood is crumbling beneath those who defend it."
The ACLU urged lawmakers to find out the full extent of current intelligence gathering under FISA before making changes.
"The only thing more outrageous than the administration's call for even more unfettered power is a Congress that would consider giving it to them," Frederickson said.
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, provides a legal foundation that allows information about terrorists' communications to be collected without violating civil liberties.
President George W. Bush wants Congress to rewrite the law to incorporate new advances in technology which, he says, are not covered by the FISA.
"This law is badly out-of-date," Mr. Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address.
Mr. Bush noted that terrorists now use disposable cell phones and the Internet to communicate, recruit operatives and plan attacks; such tools were not available when FISA was passed nearly 30 years ago. (However, as he signed the Patriot Act on October 26, 2001, the president stated that existing law "written in the era of rotary telephones" was now updated to allow surveillance "of all communications used by terrorists, including e-mails, the Internet, and cell phones.")
He also cited a recently released intelligence estimate that concluded al Qaeda is using its growing strength in the Middle East to plot attacks on U.S. soil.
"Our intelligence community warns that under the current statute, we are missing a significant amount of foreign intelligence that we should be collecting to protect our country," Bush said. "Congress needs to act immediately to pass this bill, so that our national security professionals can close intelligence gaps and provide critical warning time for our country."
The 1978 law set up a court that meets in secret to review applications from the FBI, the National Security Agency and other agencies for warrants to wiretap or search the homes of people in the United States in terrorist or espionage cases.
Shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Bush authorized the NSA to spy on calls between people in the U.S. and suspected terrorists abroad without FISA court warrants. The administration said it needed to act more quickly than the court could issue warrants; it also said the president had inherent authority to order warrantless domestic spying in spite of Constitutional protections.
After the program became public and was challenged in court, Mr. Bush put it under FISA court supervision this year.
The national intelligence director, in a letter Wednesday to the House intelligence committee, stressed the need to be able to collect intelligence about foreign terrorists overseas. Mike McConnell said intelligence agencies should be able to do that without requirements imposed by an "out-of-date" law.
"Simply put, in a significant number of cases, we are in the unfortunate position of having to obtain court orders to effectively collect foreign intelligence about foreign targets located overseas," he wrote the committee chairman, Rep. Silvestre Reyes.
Democrats want to ensure that any changes do not give the executive branch unfettered surveillance powers.
Caroline Fredrickson, director of the Washington legislative office of the American Civil Liberties Union, contends the White House is asking for more power to conduct warrantless domestic and international surveillance.
"The administration claims the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act must be 'modernized,'" she said. "The reality is, their proposal would gut FISA.
"The President claims that they need to expand FISA based on new technology — they are wrong," said Fredrickson. "FISA was written to be technology-neutral. There is absolutely no new technology that cannot be intercepted with a warrant under FISA. None."
Frederickson also says that hidden within the bill is immunity from both criminal prosecution and civil liability for telecommunication companies who participate in the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program, which would be retroactive.
This could affect a lawsuit before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in which the Electronic Frontier Foundation is suing AT&T for violating the rights of its customers by assisting the NSA with spying. The government has sought to have the suit dismissed on the grounds that state secrets would be exposed in a trial.
"It takes an enormous amount of hubris to ask for more power on the heels of revelations that the President tried to go around his own attorney general on his NSA domestic electronic eavesdropping program," Frederickson said. "The already-shaky legal ground on which this domestic spying program stood is crumbling beneath those who defend it."
The ACLU urged lawmakers to find out the full extent of current intelligence gathering under FISA before making changes.
"The only thing more outrageous than the administration's call for even more unfettered power is a Congress that would consider giving it to them," Frederickson said.
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To you and me is called Constitution.
Posted by nikosk1 at 11:32 AM : Jul 31, 2007,,,
The U.S. Constitution only has value and serves a purpose when President Bush wants to claim it's what allows him to do what he needs to do, the Congress and the American people are not allowed to use it, only him! Like a little kid hogging a toy and won't let anyone else play with it!
Everything the chimp asks for, or supports, has to be suspect. One only has to reflect upon the chimps honesty, and perversion of the laws.
The chimp will lie while he smiles at you, he has no honor what so ever.
Don't give any more of our rights away on the say-so of a much despised, and untrusted, president.
Source: news.bbc.co.uk...
Posted by coffeehead at 06:23 AM : Jul 30, 2007
I don't know if they'd want to fly them over some parts of town. Since a lot of gang bangers have been joining the service for war training they've become pretty good shots. And that's to say nothing of all of us other vets who resent the idea of someone peeking into our backyard while nude hot-tubbing with the neighbors. Some of us haven't lost our shooting eye either.
Posted by Iceman_1960 at 04:08 AM : Jul 30, 2007
Funny how quickly they change their tunes when it's their bedrooms, phone calls and emails being listened into. they think it'll only happen to "the enemy" and forget that Bush says he can declare any American citizen to be "The enemy" and do whatever he likes to them. Here's hoping they get pick up in the middle of the night and hauled off to Gitmo for some water-boarding.
XXXXX
Sadly it's already here - and being used rampantly in Britian to monitor every aspect of their lives. Drones - small enough to enter homes and private properties. Powerful enough to see into your living rooms from miles away.
Moore was not far off with the Farenheit thing - they need to remake the movie. You never would have thought that our leadership would turn the meaning of America fictional.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drone aircraft, are about to be launched for the first time by the police in Los Angeles.
UAVs have long been used by the military in war zones such as Iraq or Afghanistan. But the technology has been adapted for domestic use and could revolutionise the way law enforcement agencies carry out surveillance and rescue operations.
The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department (LASD) has been experimenting with a drone called SkySeer, which it intends to put into service later this month.
Source: news.bbc.co.uk...
- Posted by RandalDS at 10:06 PM : Jul 29, 2007
And the idiots who use it, should be asked if they would agree to have 24 hour surviellance cameras installed in their bedrooms, to monitor their s*ex lives, to ensure that they and their spouses are not engaged in any illegal activity, like the use of p*rostitutes or child p*ornography as stimulants.
It has never been shown that the warrantless spying on Americans was necessary to protect this country from terrorists. It hasn%u2019t been shown that he couldn%u2019t have done everything necessary and obeyed the law. It hasn%u2019t been shown that his illegal spying actually accomplished anything to defend the nation.
Even worse, no one outside the executive branch even knows how much defending the nation has to do with this presidential usurpation of powers. No one knows just whom this administration has been spying on, and why. Given what else we know of how they%u2019ve dealt with critics, how can we know for sure that all this spying hasn%u2019t included targets for other, illegitimate purposes%u2014like going after their domestic opponents? Yet the administration gives no evidence demanding simply, %u201CTrust us.%u201D
We really don%u2019t know why they were willing to break the law in order to avoid telling a judge what they were up to.
http://www.nonesoblind.org/blog/?p=1
56
It has never been shown that the warrantless spying on Americans was necessary to protect this country from terrorists. It hasn%u2019t been shown that he couldn%u2019t have done everything necessary and obeyed the law. It hasn%u2019t been shown that his illegal spying actually accomplished anything to defend the nation.
Even worse, no one outside the executive branch even knows how much defending the nation has to do with this presidential usurpation of powers. No one knows just whom this administration has been spying on, and why. Given what else we know of how they%u2019ve dealt with critics, how can we know for sure that all this spying hasn%u2019t included targets for other, illegitimate purposes%u2014like going after their domestic opponents? Yet the administration gives no evidence%u2013 demanding simply, %u201CTrust us.%u201D
We really don%u2019t know why they were willing to break the law in order to avoid telling a judge what they were up to.
http://www.nonesoblind.org/blog/?p=156