Intelligence — the next phase

President-elect Barack Obama got his first in-depth regular intelligence briefing from DNI Mike McConnell, according to Joby Warrick at the Washington Post. Obama was asked about this at his first news conference yesterday, but he declined to discuss it in any depth. To quote the article (Post’s links):

For nearly an hour yesterday, President-elect Barack Obama met with two of the country’s top intelligence officers for an important rite of passage: his first full-blown classified briefing on national security.

. . . The Obama camp has offered no hints of how it plans to fill top intelligence posts, including the positions of director of national intelligence, now held by Mike McConnell, and CIA director, held by Michael V. Hayden. The decision is particularly complicated, because the rules and traditions for selecting intelligence officials are somewhat different from those for other administration appointees.

Unlike the directorship of the FBI, the top posts at the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence do not come with a set term that transcends presidential administrations. And, while both officials are appointed by the president and serve at his pleasure, the White House has broader discretion in filling intelligence posts and can elect to keep the current leadership in place.

We did hear a bit, however. P-E Obama said that intelligence gathering can always improve, adding that he believes there has been improvement already. Already in the national security groove, he declined to tell MSNBC’s Candy Crowley whether anything he heard “gave him pause.”

President-elect Obama now has an official transition website, “Change.gov.” Here is what the “agenda/homeland security” section has to say about Intel and civil liberties. To quote:

Improve Intelligence Capacity and Protect Civil Liberties

• Improve Information Sharing and Analysis: Barack Obama will improve our intelligence system by creating a senior position to coordinate domestic intelligence gathering; establishing a grant program to support thousands more state and local level intelligence analysts and increasing our capacity to share intelligence across all levels of government.
• Give Real Authority to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board: Created by Congress and recommended by the 9/11 Commission, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board needs to be substantially reformed and empowered to safeguard against an erosion in American civil liberties. As president, Barack Obama will support efforts to strengthen the Board with subpoena powers and reporting responsibilities, will give the Board a robust mandate designed to protect American civil liberties and will demand transparency from the Board to ensure accountability.
• Strengthen Institutions to Fight Terrorism: Overseas, Barack Obama will establish a Shared Security Partnership Program to invest $5 billion over three years to improve cooperation between U.S. and foreign intelligence and law enforcement agencies. This program will include information sharing, as well as funding for training, operations, border security, anti-corruption programs, technology, and the targeting of terrorist financing.

Warrick’s WaPo article speculated about heads of Intelligence Services replacements and revealed that McConnell expects to be replaced as DNI, but that General Hayden might be willing to continue to head the CIA, stating that,

Within intelligence circles the speculation is centering on former intelligence officials who are close to the Obama team, including John O. Brennan, the former interim director of the National Counterterrorism Center, and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), former ranking minority member of the House intelligence committee. . .

Both men [Haden & McConnell] assumed their current jobs in Bush’s second term and were not directly tainted by the controversies over faulty intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, or the decision to use waterboarding and other harsh techniques on suspected terrorists in secret CIA prisons.

When the new Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act bill was passed in June 2008, I was very disappointed that (then) Senator Obama voted for it. We now know that his vote was clearly a manifestation of his Pragmatist self, intended to reinforce his national security credentials for the election. My post written at the time includes his statement about what drove his decision. My hope today is that his Constitutional Law professor self will kick in and make changes that will reinstate our lost civil liberties. Time will tell.

The Obama transition website, Change.gov, has a section titled “American Moment,” where readers are invited to “share your story” or “share your vision.” Transparency and participation being the hallmarks of an Obama presidency, I am thinking of sending our next president (ONP, as opposed to OCP, our current president) some thoughts from my Civil Libertarian self. Any suggestions?

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics national security obama domestic intelligence mike mcconnell mike hayden

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he’s kidding right?

rick renzi “Voted NO on requiring FISA warrants for wiretaps in US, but not abroad. (Mar 2008)”

“Voted YES on allowing electronic surveillance without a warrant. (Sep 2006)”

“Voted YES on continuing intelligence gathering without civil oversight. (Apr 2006)”

“Voted YES on retroactive immunity for telecoms’ warrantless surveillance. (Jun 2008)”

and now, he’s pissed because the fbi surveilled him without a warrant?!  huh.

“The Justice Department’s reckless disregard for basic separation of powers principles in the conduct of this investigation demands a meaningful sanction: the dismissal of the Indictment with prejudice,” wrote lawyers for Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.), who faces federal charges of fraud as part of a land deal.”

abc news

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Fifty Ways To Understand the “Protect America Act”

[Classic - Originally posted on 9/28/07]  This was a post I did last year after the passage of the P.A.A.  This law was replaced with a much worse law this year, that gave immunity to the telecoms, and a completely free hand to the administration to spy on Americans.  The point of the post was to give people not familiar with the intel world some more familiarity with esoteric intel terminology, most of which still applies today.

9/28/07 — There is a new law on the books that affects all U.S. citizens. It has the potentially comforting but ironic title, “The Protect America Act.” The law (PAA, for short) is the latest amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. It was hurriedly passed by Congress in August, 2007.

The subject of the legislation - PAA - is very difficult to comprehend. As a matter of fact Congress did not really comprehend the amendment for which they were voting. Wisely, they made it temporary with a “Sunset” provision. It will have to be fixed by February of next year. And Congress needs our help to do this. But in order to weigh in to your elected officials on the law’s problems, we must understand the complexities of the Act.

I have compiled a kind of 50-item glossary that might help “get through the weeds” of the PAA. My approach to this task has been to look through my own September blog posts (on civil liberties and foreign intelligence gathering) for key items with terminology that might be confusing. Most are linked to the posts that have the original information. The glossary will give you my best understanding as a layman of what the terms really mean to us as citizens, but in simpler language. Please understand that these definitions are in my own words and editorial comments, unless cited, not the official ones.

I begin with this: OCP – Our Current President (my own term), aka POTUS, the President of the United States. V-POTUS is aka the “Veep.” Understand that the PAA was their deal. That is the first “given.”

1. ACLU – American Civil Liberties Union: Those on the Right would call it a “special interest group.” Civil libertarians call it our “special watchdog” having the willingness and capacity to sue the government on behalf of citizens’ constitutional rights.
2. AKA – “also know as.” This is included to illustrate that I know “spy talk.”
3. Analyst – The professional arm of the Intelligence Community, they are trained and certified to analyze the information gathered for intelligence purposes electronically or by the spies.
4. AUMF – Authorization for the Use of Military Force: Congressional action giving the Commander in Chief particular permissions regarding the “use the force” of the military to protect the nation.The executive and legislative branches disagree on the meaning of what was authorized prior to the invasion of Iraq.
5. Briefing – in reference to the “(Intel) Community” sharing intelligence findings with its “customers.”
6. Checks and balances – originated in the U.S. Constitution. The current challenges are to the Congress and the Courts to “check” the power of the Executive branch of government.
7. Civil liberties – enumerated in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable search or seizure (privacy protection of one’s home and person).
8. Community – refers to the people who make up the “Intelligence Community,” the FBI, the CIA, the DIA, the NSA, the NCTC, etc. They also consider themselves part of an international community of people in the “Intel” business.
9. Customers – The Community serves its clients, those who need to know the things that intelligence gathering produces. Examples include the POTUS, and the Vice-POTUS, members of Congressional Intel committees, and law enforcement people.
10. Community of interest – the network of people that a target of surveillance is in contact with. Used in the data mining business.
11. Database — Electronic information gathered for intelligence purposes is entered into a holding location in order to facilitate management of the raw data. This data consists of billions of bits of electronic data gathered through a variety of means, such as telecommunications records, e-mails, satellite info, bank records, etc.
12. Data mining – sophisticated methods of analyzing raw data for commercial or intelligence purposes.
13. Domestic surveillance – the spy business as it is practiced in the United States, as opposed to spying elsewhere.
14. DNI – Director of National Intelligence. This intelligence coordinating position was created when the government was reorganized after 9/11/01. The DNI or his designee gives the POTUS his daily briefings.
15. Electronic Surveillance – eavesdropping, listening to conversations, watching what people do, etc., in order to uncover threats to the national interest. The surveillance/spying is via electronic rather than person to person means.
16. FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation: Since the governmental Intel reorganization, the FBI is generally supposed to be in charge of domestic intelligence — that within the United States — though there are many FBI agents stationed overseas.
17. FISA – Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act - 1978: legal framework governing foreign intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination. It has been amended many times by Congress.
18. Foreign intelligence – The Intel business as it is practiced outside the U.S. Constitutional protections are supposed to follow U.S. citizens when they are outside the U.S.
19. Fourth Amendment – ”The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” (source: Wikipedia)
20. Incidental – When someone is “targeted” for electronic surveillance only one end of the conversation can be targeted for listening. The authorities have no control over who the target calls, or who calls the target. All non-target overheard subjects are known as “incidentals,” though they may become targets themselves.
21. Inherent authority – refers to the constitutional powers given to those who govern. “Unitary theory” of the presidency ascribes very broad inherent authority to OCP. Civil libertarians see this as the source of much mischief.
22. Intelligence – Information gathered and analyzed for the purpose of protecting the United States from threats to its national security.
23. Justice Department/AG – The Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of the U.S., overseeing the Justice Department. Currently an Assistant Director for National Intelligence carries a portion of the legal portfolio for the nation’s Intel business, under the Acting Attorney General. (source: Wikipedia)
24. Minimization – refers to the procedure under FISA whereby privacy protected incidental surveillance information (gathered without a warrant) is expunged (”innocent,”) minimally revealed (”name protected,”) or published (”of foreign intelligence significance,”) depending on the judgment of the agents, analysts and supervisors.
25. National security – something that is supposed to keep the people of the U.S. safe and secure. It is often associated with secrecy, so as to protect the sources or methods of obtaining the information.
26. National security letter – An official letter from the FBI compelling the recipient to turn over information for national security purposes. Recently abused by the FBI, the letters were not legal substitute for a warrant issued by a court.
27. NCTC – National Counter Terrorism Center. The “action arm” of the Intel community that works to “counter” terrorist activity.
28. NIE – National Intelligence Estimate. An official document of the Intel community, it is designed to inform us about the most significant national security threats. (source: DNI -“NIE” 10 pg. pdf)
29. Northern Command – The military sector that includes the United States. Charged with military protection of “the homeland.”
30. Oversight – Refers to watching what is done by another entity. The procedures and the work of the Intel community receive oversight from within the executive branch at 4 levels, as well as from Congressional Intel committees.
31. PAA – The Protect America Act of 2007. The law came as a result of very strong entreaties from the Executive branch, claiming that they were unable to protect the nation unless the FISA law was changed.
32. Posse Comitatus – An Act that substantially limits the powers of the Federal government to use the military for law enforcement.
33. Probable cause – A legal standard required to get a FISA surveillance warrant.
34. Retroactive liability – Protection against being sued for liability for things done in the past that may have been illegal. Still being sought for telecommunications companies who assisted the government with warrantless wiretaps.
35. Reverse targeting – A practice that is illegal under FISA law. Involves targeting an innocent party in order to get at the person at the other end of that conversation.
36. Security clearance – Official permission to know national security secrets. Members of the House and Senate are not required to get security clearances by reason of their oversight responsibilities as elected officials. Staffers are required to get clearances.
37. Satellite — A space satellite able to do high resolution visual surveillance.
38. SigInt – signals (electronic) intelligence, as opposed to “HumInt,” (gathered by humans) intelligence.
39. Sleeper cell – Terminology used to refer to a group of alleged terrorists in the U.S. waiting to strike at the U.S.
40. Sunset – A provision in the law that requires that it be renewed.
41. Surveillance – secretly gathering information about the activities of a suspicious person or persons.
42. Target – The person or group under formal electronic surveillance. If foreign no warrant is required. If domestic a FISA warrant is required.
43. Telecommunications infrastructure – Companies that provide communications services. They must cooperate with the government before electronic surveillance can take place.
44. TSC – Terrorist Screening Center; it keeps the Watch List of suspected terrorists.
45. Ubiquitous – everywhere. All over everything.
46. U.S. citizen – has the civil liberties rights protections of the constitution.
47. U.S. person – a person in the U.S. who may or may not be here legally. A warrant is required to target electronic surveillance on a U.S. person.
48. Warrant – A court order allowing surveillance of the named subject(s).
49. Watch list – A list of suspected terrorists. Error rate a problem.
50. Wiretap – an electronic listening device or method for overhearing conversations.

 

Technorati Tags: news news and politics technology fisa domestic surveillance national security

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Osama binLaden Is Still Free…Are You?

On this anniversary of one of the most atrocious acts in modern times there are many questions from the people that the government wont answer. Now while I am not an avid 9/11 truther, I don’t think they told us even a half truth about that fateful day 7 years ago. There was just too much info about the alleged bombers released that day for me to be comfortable. Too quick to find the culprits who backed the attack. I questioned them then and still do.

The attack was used for so many un-American policies being sold to us for “our safety”. They used it to start two wars as well take so many rights away from US citizens. Afghanistan was invaded with “Dead or alive” babbling from our Commander In Chief as a segue way into war with the country of the guy who humiliated his daddy just a few years before. Then the reason for the wars that they sold to the world faded into obscurity. Hanging out somewhere with good medical care the man they say masterminded the attacks on our country still hasn’t been brought to trial.

The things they brought to Americans after the bombing started with a hastily approved “Patriot Act” which led to fearmongering and the continued loss of rights. FISA is just one of those horrors on our constitution. The threat of continuous and eternal war in the Middle East comes from the fear they have implanted in American hearts and minds. That long war plan is supported by folks on both sides of the aisle. (too much money would be lost if we stopped killing people, theirs and ours)

So on this horrible anniversary I will be a little more introspective and wary than usual. I think its because every news site and blog I visit today will have a headline or story about it. Heck…even this post is about it. I guess it will be on the worlds mind today.

Even bin Laden’s….wherever he is.

(cross posted at http://alientrucker.com )

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ACLU files lawsuit against new FISA law.

They didn’t waste anytime did they? Bless those wonderful people at the ACLU. Friday, they filed suit (pdf file) in federal court in the southern district of New York, their press release can be read here. From Jurist:

The ACLU claims that the law violates the Fourth Amendment by allowing unjustified and unregulated surveillance, and violates the First Amendment by limiting the freedom of speech and the press. The complaint also alleges that the Act violates the “case or controversy” requirement and separation of powers. The ACLU asks the court to declare the law unconstitutional and to permanently enjoin such surveillance. The ACLU also filed a separate motion requesting that it be given leave to participate in all cases concerning the Act. The separate motion also requests that publications of all related motions and decisions be made available to the public. The New York Sun has more.

I am so proud of the ACLU and their tireless and sometimes thankless work on behalf of Americans, our freedoms and our Constitution. It is heartwarming and it gives one hope that all is not lost.

Of course, being the curmudgeon I am..I bet the court will toss the case..but allow me a small amount of smugness at this point in time ok? May this lawsuit give Bush and Mukasey major heartburn and hopefully it will embarrass all those phony fucking Democrats that voted for the bill in Congress.

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One nation, under Surveillance

I can’t believe the FISA bill to allow & expand illegal warrantless wiretapping passed. Worse, Barack Obama voted YES for it, and he is supposed to be a champion for Civil Rights & upholding the Constitution.
How very disappointing. Even Hillary Clinton voted against it….. but maybe she would have voted differently if her presidential ambitions were still on the table? Who knows. Oregon’s Senator Wyden voted no & Repub. Senator Gordon Smith voted yes. Wyden was quoted as saying “The Senate made a big mistake by shielding telecommunications companies from lawsuits, complaining that they had helped the government spy on Americans. He called the bill “a huge transfer of power to an unaccountable executive.”

The republicans selling the bill said Americans have “nothing to fear” (why does that make me fearful??), “unless you have al Qaeda on your speed dial.” If it makes Bush happy & he will quickly sign it into law, it can’t be good.
I swear, they must be putting something in the drinking water in D.C.

Obama had previously come out against the bill, in fact had long opposed it, but in the end voted for it calling it “an improved but imperfect bill”. McSame was campaigning in Ohio & did not vote, but has consistently supported immunity for wiretapping.

One nation, under Surveillance

Crossposted at Ramblings

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Examining an obsession about civil liberties

Examining an obsession about civil liberties –

“Privacy advocates,” “civil libertarians,” “Fourth Amendment Constitutional activists,” “Left Wingers,” “Right-leaning members of the Libertarian Party,” “Online activists,” I am one of you. We are, indeed strange bedfellows.

What is the reality? I am trying to figure out why I have this obsession about protecting U.S. civil liberties. I wonder whether I am being too paranoid about the U.S. government spying on Americans. I am very curious about the actual facts of the current administration’s (what I believe to be illegal) domestic surveillance program. I think about what it is about all this that is so bothersome to me, and to the others of us who regularly blog about the issue. I often look to those whose expertise has been so pivotal in this fight. Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com, whose links I have liberally used in this post, often states the reality in which I believe. Today’s includes good insights on the administration’s apparent motives for its massive spy effort. To quote from his current post:

. . . the reality is that the Government and the telecoms broke the law not for weeks or months, but for years — well into 2007. They continued to do so even after the NYT exposed what they were doing. They could have brought their spying activities into a legal framework at any time, but chose instead to spy on Americans in exactly the way our laws criminalize. Manifestly, then, national
security had nothing to do with why they did it. The Bush administration chose to do so because they wanted to eavesdrop without oversight and to establish that neither Congress nor the courts can limit what the President does, and telecoms did not want to jeopardize the massive
government surveillance contracts they have by refusing.

Congress is not the least bit obsessed about this constitutional assault. Are they right and are we the ones who are losing our minds? We strange bedfellows feel that we are losing our constitutionally protected Fourth Amendment civil liberties of freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. I wonder why our elected representatives in Congress are not as obsessed about this as I am. After all, they are the ones who took the oath to uphold and protect the Constitution. I never took such an oath. Why does it seem to matter more to me; I am just one little blogger regularly pecking away about FISA at my little notebook’s keyboard. But big blogs are also obsessed. “The FISA cavein is Congress’ shame,” says “Scarecrow” at Firedoglake. In one succinct and searing post this writer says it all, and so much better than I have been able to manage, given my current obsessive funk. To quote rather extensively from this fine writer’s main points:

For six years, the Bush Administration and the nation’s communication companies have been illegally spying on Americans’ phone calls and e-mails. They did this in direct violation of the Constitution’s 4th Amendment and a federal statute - FISA. Both laws emphatically forbid such surveillance unless the government first obtains a warrant from an independent (eg, FISA) court.

. . . the US Senate is planning today to grant immunity to the lawbreakers, while sanctioning more warrantless surveillance, weakened oversight and a sham investigation.

. . . it wasn’t just a few, scattered incidents of warrantless surveillance, nor was the spying directed solely at suspected “terrorists.” The spying was massive, sweeping, and undifferentiated. Everyone’s privacy was vulnerable. . . the Bush Administration diverted, stored and searched through millions of our communications looking for . . . what? . . . we won’t know how our private information becomes misinterpreted and misused - that is, used against us, without us knowing why or being able to do anything about it.

. . . Can you imagine the leaders of our present Congress signing the Declaration of Independence? Would any of them have insisted that the Constitution not be ratified unless it included a Bill of Rights?

. . . The nation’s founders were not such frightened people. Those who signed the Declaration of Independence pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor in open defiance of the world’s most powerful empire, a regime that would certainly have hanged them if they failed in their efforts to become free men. Now our Congress cowers because they fear a President with 25 percent approval ratings and a Republican Party that the electorate can’t wait to throw out of office.

Fourth Estate and candidate failures to uphold the Constitution obsess me. I ask why has the mainstream media, except for the New York Times, been mostly silent on this extremely important issue. And, most disappointingly, why does protecting civil liberties not matter as much to my chosen presidential candidate as it should. Sarah Wheaton at the 7/3/08 New York Times blog, “The Caucus,” explored Senator Obama’s dialogue with his supporters who disagreed with his stance on the current FISA bill up for debate today. To quote: “This was not an easy call for me,” Mr. Obama said in a statement posted to the diary of Joe Rospars, a top Internet adviser to the campaign. “I know that the FISA bill that passed the House is far from perfect.”

This examination of our obsession about civil liberties tells me that neither I nor my fellow protesters are crazy. We are focused, honed in, tuned in to a reality that is a big problem for the nation. It is good to remember that I am not the only one who feels this way. It is upsetting to remember that there are far too few of us to matter at this point. But that does not mean we will give up our obsession. We must not; too much depends on it.

Update: This is a sad day in FISA’s history. The Senate approved HR 6304 by a vote of 69 ayes and 28 nays. Glenn has the full story, including the defeat of three “improving” ammendments prior to the final vote. Obama voted for the bill; Clinton against it. He also reports that Congress has now dropped to single-digit approval ratings. Is anyone surprised?

This day in history: July 9, 1787 - Constitution Convention. Convention discusses committee’s report on ratio of representation in House.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

My “creativity and dreaming” post today is at Making Good Mondays.

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics fisa domestic surveillance civil liberties constitution activism

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The FISA Fight: It Aint Over ’til It’s Over

(The gist of this was originally posted  with the following title and subtitle on BFD Blog on August 8, 2007, and the fight is still ongoing.)

Bush Continues Abridging Our Constitutional Protections While The American Public Blissfully Applies Sunscreen

Enabled By A Weak Congress Afraid Of Their Political Shadows

Writing in The Huffington Post yesterday, Geoffrey R. Stone laid out the history of the recent domestic spying issues, beginning with the Supreme Court decision in 1972 protecting the 4th amendment of the constitution:

In 1972, in the Keith case, the Supreme Court unanimously held that even in national security investigations the president cannot constitutionally conduct electronic surveillance of American citizens on American soil without a judicially issued search warrant based on a finding of probable cause.

Then in 1978 congress enacted FISA:

In 1978, Congress enacted FISA, which established special rules dealing with foreign intelligence surveillance. FISA set up a special “secret” court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, to handle these matters, but retained the probable cause and warrant requirements. FISA criminalizes any electronic surveillance not authorized by statute and made clear that it set forth the exclusive means by which foreign intelligence surveillance may lawfully be conducted.,/span>

In 2002 the Bushliburton administration began actively and covertly, violating the constitutional law and the 1978 FISA act and started monitoring communications in to and out of the United States, without any proper, court issued warrant, either through open court, or through the FISA court. The latest trouble started when all of this came to light, and congress and the people, rightfully questioned Bushliburton’s authority to conduct surveillance against citizens in the United States.

As reported by Stone yesterday:

Recently, the FISA court apparently ruled that it could not lawfully approve at least some of the president’s requests to engage in electronic surveillance of international communications because such surveillance was not authorized by FISA. This led to demands by the Bush administration that Congress amend FISA immediately to enable it to carry out this surveillance.

And that has led to our spineless congress (both Democrats and Republicans) to cave to the gamesmanship of Bushliburton and their (congress’s) perception of political pressure (coming most likely not from their individual constituents, but rather from K Street) and approving a bill to in essence retroactively acquiesce to wire tapping and surveillance of Americans in America at the will of the president and his operatives.

That is a very scary thought. As yesterday’s New York Times editorial put it:

Mr. Bush’s incessant fear-mongering — and the Democrats’ refusal to challenge him — has had one notable success. The only issue on which Americans say that they trust Republicans more than Democrats is terrorism. At least those Americans are afraid of terrorists. The Democrats who voted for this bill, and others like it over the last few years, show only fear of Republicans.

The Democratic majority has made strides on other issues like children’s health insurance against White House opposition. As important as these measures are, they do not excuse the Democrats from remedying the damage Mr. Bush has done to civil liberties and the Bill of Rights. That is their most important duty.

And as Stone said it:

That Republicans in Congress supported this legislation is unfortunate. That some Democrats supported it, and thus made its passage possible, is nothing short of disgraceful. Just as they were stampeded by trumped up hysteria into authorizing the invasion of Iraq, once again they have been stampeded into granting the president a power he should never have been granted.

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

We at BFD can’t agree more. Wake up America, while we are all at the country club sucking down cold beverages, our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms are slowly, steadily and insidiously being stolen from us.

(Fast forward to July 2008.)

Before adjourning for the Fourth of July, the House passed H.R. 6304, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, and when they return to work tomorrow, the Senate will take up the bill for consideration.  The quote compromise unquote bill compromises nothing but our constitutional rights by allowing continued unfettered domestic surveillance and granting immunity to the telecommunications companies.

There is still time to get Congress, in the Senate, to display some backbone, display respect for the Constitution, and reflect the will of the people, but rejecting this bill.  There is no good reason to attempt to resolve this issue now, except to cave to the criminal Bush administration during this “lame duck” period of their administration, Congress should cut the legs off this duck and wait to address the issue of FISA until after a new Congress and administration are sworn in next January.

What Can You Do To Influence The Senate

Go to this page at the League of Women’s Voters website, key in your ZIP code and generate emails to your Senators.

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j. edgar hoover is smiling

my buddy and i email news stories back and forth and chat about them. he sent me this yesterday-

court orders youtube to turn over video logs

and it dovetails with what my suspicions have been all along- communism is alive and well in new america. i was born in the 1970’s and i grew up in the 1980’s. in fact, the berlin wall fell the year i graduated high school. and we all cheered. we cheered when that little man stood up to the tank in tianamen square in china- because freedom couldn’t be stopped or silenced. so, i guess i am in a quandary as to what happened in the 20 or so years since the fall of communism- and why it is exactly that americans are so very willing to embrace that ideology.

because let’s face it- the fascist-communist corporate oligarchy we have running our country- isn’t a representative democracy. the constitution and all that we held dear- gone. you can’t tell me that a country that behaves as we do- is free. we got our torture techniques from china and our nsa has spied on us for decades in ways that would make the kgb blush. the 20th century saw the fall of communism in one incarnation and the 21st century is seeing world totalitarianism rise again. and it only stands to reason- america has many, many natural resources. whoever controls them- well, pretty much survives the longest.

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Congress’ July 4 Recess — Implications For FISA

Congress will be away from Washington for a time to celebrate our nation’s birthday. Given the manner this congress has been operating, it is often a good thing for our senators and representatives to be out of the city. Less mischief happens that way. As my regular readers know, much mischief has happened regarding the erosion of citizen privacy over the past few years. And Congress has aided and abetted that assault on the Fourth Amendment. The current fight is over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the “FISA” bill set for revision. The best post on the current and future situation regarding the FISA bill, as yet unresolved by Congress, was put up about a week ago by — guess who — my favorite, Glenn Greenwald, writing for Salon.com. Another of his excellent posts sets the stage for what is likely to happen to the FISA bill when Congress comes back from its July 4 recess. To quote (includes his links):

UPDATE: Two Democratic Senators actually fighting against the FISA bill — Russ Feingold and Chris Dodd — succeeded in blocking a vote in the Senate until after the July 4 recess (the vote is now scheduled for July 8). Jesselyn Radack — the DOJ lawyer who became the whistleblower concerning the Bush administration’s treatment of John Walker Lindh — writes here about this success. It’s only a temporary reprieve, but delays of this sort can enable further opposition to build and/or allow unanticipated events to intervene.

There is a surprisingly vigorous feud among three of my favorites over the future of FISA. Glenn Greenwald and Keith Olbermann are going at it over Senator Barack Obama’s unwelcome support for a bad FISA bill. Former White House Counsel John Dean is also in the middle of it. In my opinion, the disagreements are not so much over the back and forth criticisms between Greenwald and Olbermann over Obama’s FISA stance, as they are about a general frustration due to the country’s inability to stop the FISA bill’s apparent momentum to passage. Empty Wheel weighs in with some helpful insight into this whole bizarre controversy. We all want the same things out of Congress on this matter; we just disagree on how to get there. Congress needs to exercise vigorous oversight over a law-breaking Executive. It needs to defend the Constitution. And it needs to stop caving in to the nasty tactics of Republicans.

View my current slide show about the Bush years — “Millennium” — at the bottom of this column.

This day in history: Constitution Convention, July 1, 1787. Washington called Rhode Island’s absense from the convention “scandalous.”

Technorati tags: news news and politics politics fisa domestic surveillance congress

Crossposted at South by Southwest.

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Special Comment on Obama, FISA and the Bush Administration

What say you Obama???

Et tu, ‘bama?

This was in response to a fellow at B. Obama’s official campaign site, who asked that I vote for Obama, his capitulation to the FISA/telecom Immunity bill notwithstanding:

• Sender: trog69
• Subject: Voting for Barack
• Received: 6/27/08 6:13PM

Thank you for your response to my comment, and in let me say in answer that I will probably vote for Mr. Obama; In any case short of mass murder by Barack, (And I’d still want to know who and why first.)there is no possible chance of me voting for the warmonger on the Republican ticker. Er…ticket.

OTOH, I have no intention of participating in anything resembling Obamania. I will strive to always remember, as I hope others will, that Barack Obama is a politician first. As anyone paying attention will attest, after winning the nomination, seeing him fling himself as far right as possible to reach out to the Republican voters who, like me, do not trust the party itself anymore, and who learn what they can about the candidates from a variety of sources. I do indeed understand WHY he is doing that, and I’m not condemning it out of hand. I merely point out the similarity to past elections, and how it shows that Barack Obama hasn’t done anything that past candidates haven’t also done.

I do not watch TV, nor do I read the actual newspapers anymore. I am, for good or ill, tied exclusively to the internet. (Which of course relies on those shunned news delivery vehicles, but anyway…) I mention this because I care a great deal about the internet’s freedoms, and our right to read and say whatever we want, with no fear of repercussions by government eavesdroppers. So you can imagine my shock and horror to learn about Mr. Obama’s recent capitulation on the FISA/Telecom Immunity bill. I refuse to just keep quiet about this, just because Barack’s positions mirror mine on most other topics. To me, this goes to the heart of the problem we already face. The news media, considered by T. Jefferson to be one of the most important tools the common populace has to keep our elected officials somewhat honest, is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of corporate interests. Newspapers themselves are turning to the internet to save money, since they’ve laid off or by attrition lost most of their reporters and overseas bureaus. So, if the only way to get some basic, honest reporting is from my laptop, I don’t want to fear that my profile in the gov’t. database is flagged because I frequent liberal websites. Sure, I’m probably worrying needlessly; I don’t want to have to consider it, though. Giving the NSA the ability to not only datamine, but without oversight, is not my idea of protecting our rights. I won’t even go into why the immunity for telecoms is so blatantly against the Rule of Law, and instead shows the two-tiered standard of ‘justice’ now being openly  considered .

Even if I decide not to vote at all, in protest, I would not do anything to derail Barack’s election chances, in case someone thinks I’m one of those “Repub. trolls sicced on the liberal sites.

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American people fucked again

I haven’t got the energy to summarize it or go into detail about why this is such a fucking outrage, but Glenn Greenwald, ever the energetic young man, has an analysis of the current selling out of the American people by the lay-down Democrats in congress:

“So all the Attorney General has to do is recite those magic words — the President requested this eavesdropping and did it in order to save us from the Terrorists — and the minute he utters those words, the courts are required to dismiss the lawsuits against the telecoms, no matter how illegal their behavior was.

That’s the “compromise” Steny Hoyer negotiated and which he is now — according to very credible reports — pressuring every member of the Democratic caucus to support. It’s full-scale, unconditional amnesty with no inquiry into whether anyone broke the law. In the U.S. now, thanks to the Democratic Congress, we’ll have a new law based on the premise that the President has the power to order private actors to break the law, and when he issues such an order, the private actors will be protected from liability of any kind on the ground that the Leader told them to do it — the very theory that the Nuremberg Trial rejected.

If that isn’t hard enough to stomach, Digby has more on the FISA laydown along with the currently running McClatchy series on torture by the Bush administration.

If you’re thinking “why doesn’t she just shut up about this?” “Can’t she write something about Betty and Bill, about the garden? Where did Lynette go?” If you’re thinking that, well hell, I’m thinking it too. How are you all surviving this? I can hardly bear to wake up in the morning because each day brings a new travesty, a new injustice. I find myself screaming at the stupid bloviating fools on what passes for cable news. I read books that tell me what I know to be true, just for confirmation that I’m not really losing my mind, that I’m not imagining things.

Are you staying sane while this nation is being destroyed? If you are, tell me how to find some balance in all of this. I am lost.

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Jon Turley on the new FISA capitulation bill.

countdown-fisa-turley

With Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, we don’t need any stinking Republicans to screw us over. The FISA bill passed by a vote of 293-129 today. Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi voted FOR it.

With Democrats such as these, who needs Republicans to screw us over?

Olbermann interviews law professor Jon Turley on how the new and improved FISA bill serves the crooks and liars.

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FISA Reader to Weep by, alas

graphic filched from Mike Harding’s blog.

Read ‘em and weep . . . Final FISA deal reached, vote in House may come on Friday, according to Reuters. There is a chance that the FISA bill will be voted on at the same time as the Supplemental Appropriations bill, which is even sneakier. What follows are the best posts to be found on the subject, along with a few more traditional references.

Blogasm — Strange Bedfellows: Bloggers from the left and right team up with the ACLU to fight telecom immunity (6/19/08 - 12:37 AM)

ACLU – Condemns FISA Deal, Declares Surveillance Bill Unconstitutional (6/19/2008)

Emptywheel — The FISA bill (6/19/08 - 10:15 AM) FYI: Here are the first two comments after the post:

1) Bushie — June 19th, 2008 at 10:21 am. I called the Obama campaign today and asked Obama to come out publicly against immunity. The person who I talked to said he’d had several calls on this and would pass it along. Call 866-675-2008 option 6 to speak to someone.
2) wavpeac — June 19th, 2008 at 10:33 am. No answer and no way to leave a message on the above number. When you ask to transfer to an attendant by pressing zero you go back to the original message. IT’s a circle with no way to leave a message. My guess is that his machine is full?? I am going to the web at www.BarackObama.com. Just letting you know.

TPM Muckraker — Lawmakers reach deal over government surveillance powers (6/19/08 - 11:37 AM)

Firedoglake — FISA: Screwed, Blued and Tattooed (6/19/08 - 12:00 PM)

Glenn Greenwald @ Salon.com – George Bush’s latest powers, courtesy of Democratic Congress (6/19/08 - 12:26 PM) Memeorandum listing for this and many related stories.

ProPublica – Surveillance bill compromise likely to deliver immunity for telecoms (6/19/08 - 12:55 PM)

Carpetbagger Report – ‘Compromise’ reached on surveillance powers, retroactive immunity gets green light (6/19/08 - 12:40 PM)

Obsidian Wings — FISA “Compromise” (6/19/08 - 1:31 P.M)

Threat Level — Dems agree to expand domestic spying, grant telecoms amnesty (6/19/08 - 3:09 PM)

Think Progress – New wiretapping bill dubbed ‘repugnant’ and ‘a capitulation.” (6/19/08 - 3:39 PM)

For Reference Only:

1. Wall Street Journal – Lawmakers reach deal to expand surveillance (subscription required)
2. Red State – The Republican view - Ugh!
3. Copy of the bill/Courtesy of Politico — 114 pages, pdf.
4. New York Times – Deal Reached in Congress to Rewrite Rules on Wiretapping (6/20/08)

I have no words left for this at this point. I am stunned.

(Cross-posted at The Reaction.)

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