Essential...
DSH
Lux et Veritas et Libertas
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Administration, Congress Settle Dispute Over Surveillance
Deal Would Provide Some Telecom Immunity, Extend Government Powers
By Paul Kane and Carrie Johnson
Wa****ngton Post Staff Writers
Thursday, June 19, 2008
The White House and Congress today reached a deal on the most
comprehensive
overhaul of the nation's intelligence surveillance laws in 30 years. It
would provide potential retroactive immunity for telecommunications
companies that previously cooperated with the Bush administration's
warrantless wiretapping program and extend government surveillance powers.
Excellent! -- DSH
After months of negotiations between President Bush's top advisers and
congressional leaders, the deal was announced today and set to be approved
on the House floor tomorrow. Senate passage of the reauthorization of the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which had been held up since last
summer largely because of fights about the immunity provision, would
likely
come next week.
Some Democratic leaders have argued that the bill does not go far enough
in
protecting civil liberties. They were backed by groups such as the
American
Civil Liberties Union that have filed lawsuits against telecommunications
companies for helping the government monitor phone calls and e-mails into
and out of the United States without warrants after the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks.
A key element of the new plan would give U.S. district courts the chance
to
evaluate whether telecommunications companies deserve retroactive
protection
from lawsuits. A previous proposal offered by Republicans would have put
the
question to the secret FISA court that approves warrants.
The proposal would give retroactive immunity to telecommunications
companies
that can show the court that they received assurances from government
officials that the program was legal and that they have "substantial
evidence" in the form of classified letters from authorities to sup****t
their position.
The immunity would cover companies that helped the government after the
terrorist attacks until Jan. 17, 2007, when the surveillance program was
brought under the secret FISA court.
The retroactive legal protection would not apply to lawsuits filed against
the government on behalf of people who say they suffered harm because of
the
surveillance.
Caroline Frederickson, a lobbyist for the ACLU, said the court review into
whether companies received government requests to take part in the
warrantless eavesdropping amounts to little more than "window-dressing."
"The telecom companies simply have to produce a piece of paper we already
know exists, resulting in immediate dismissal," she said.
So? -- DSH
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) immediately signaled
his
opposition, saying that bill "lacks accountability measures I believe are
crucial" to allow for courts to rule on whether the wiretapping program is
legal.
Kevin Bankston, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, which is suing AT&T over the surveillance, urged Sen. Barack
Obama (Ill.), the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, to "be as
vocal as possible in the coming weeks and to lead his party" in opposing
the
plan.
"No matter how they spin [the compromise], it is still immunity," Bankston
said.
But House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (Md.), who has been the lead
Democratic negotiator with the White House and congressional Republicans,
said this week that the bill is much better than the version approved
earlier this year by the Senate, which allowed for no court review of the
immunity.
"It will accommodate the protection of civil liberties going forward,"
Hoyer
said yesterday.
The outlines of the deal bode poorly for more than 40 lawsuits filed
against
telecommunications providers such as AT&T, Verizon and Sprint for
providing
vast troves of customer data to government investigators after the
terrorist
attacks.
Keep these data pouring into N.S.A., et al. -- DSH
Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey and leaders of the intelligence
community have warned that if a deal to overhaul FISA were not struck this
summer, valuable information that could help forestall terrorism might be
lost.
Indeed. Some of it is already being lost. Loose lips sink SIGINT. -- DSH
Democrats fought the administration over the immunity provision for the
warrantless wiretapping program -- which many civil libertarians viewed as
unconstitutional -- and delayed passage of the FISA overhaul. Instead,
they
passed the Protect America Act last August, providing some of the new laws
needed to monitor suspected terrorists. FISA court orders that allowed
continued surveillance while the legislation was debated are scheduled to
expire early this August, according to administration officials.
Critics question whether the data really would have been unavailable and
whether the administration is citing a possible intelligence gap for
political gain.
"It looks like it was all give from the Democratic side and all take from
the Republican side," ACLU's Frederickson said.
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That because Democrats are wimps and wusses domestically as well as in
National Security Policy.
DSH
Lux et Veritas et Libertas
Deus Vult
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