Intel chair to Bush on FISA: I will not back down to you

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Congressman Silvestre Reyes, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, sent a letter to President Bush regarding the ongoing battle over warrantless wiretapping.

Text of the letter follows below.


President George W. Bush

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

The Preamble to our Constitution states that one of our highest duties as public officials is to "provide for the common defence." As an elected Member of Congress, a senior Member of the House Armed Services Committee, and Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I work everyday to ensure that our defense and intelligence capabilities remain strong in the face of serious threats to our national security.

Because I care so deeply about protecting our country, I take strong offense to your suggestion in recent days that the country will be vulnerable to terrorist attack unless Congress immediately enacts legislation giving you broader powers to conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans' communications and provides legal immunity for telecommunications companies that participated in the Administration's warrantless surveillance program.

Today, the National Security Agency (NSA) has authority to conduct surveillance in at least three different ways, all of which provide strong capability to monitor the communications of possible terrorists.

First, NSA can use its authority under Executive Order 12333 to conduct surveillance abroad of any known or suspected terrorist. There is no requirement for a warrant. There is no requirement for probable cause. Most of NSA's collection occurs under this authority.

Second, NSA can use its authority under the Protect America Act, enacted last August, to conduct surveillance here in the U.S of any foreign target. This authority does not "expire" on Saturday, as you have stated. Under the PAA, orders authorizing surveillance may last for one year – until at least August 2008. These orders may cover every terrorist group without limitation. If a new member of the group is identified, or if a new phone number or email address is identified, the NSA may add it to the existing orders, and surveillance can begin immediately. We will not "go dark."

Third, in the remote possibility that a new terrorist organization emerges that we have never previously identified, the NSA could use existing authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to monitor those communications. Since its establishment nearly 30 years ago, the FISA Court has approved nearly every application for a warrant from the Department of Justice. In an emergency, NSA or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) may begin surveillance immediately, and a FISA Court order does not have to be obtained for three days. The former head of FISA operations for the Department of Justice has testified publicly that emergency authorization may be granted in a matter of minutes.

As you know, the 1978 FISA law, which has been modernized and updated numerous times since 9/11, was instrumental in disrupting the terrorist plot in Germany last summer. Those who say that FISA is outdated do not understand the strength of this important tool.

If our nation is left vulnerable in the coming months, it will not be because we don't have enough domestic spying powers. It will be because your Administration has not done enough to defeat terrorist organizations – including al Qaeda -- that have gained strength since 9/11. We do not have nearly enough linguists to translate the reams of information we currently collect. We do not have enough intelligence officers who can penetrate the hardest targets, such as al Qaeda. We have surged so many intelligence resources into Iraq that we have taken our eye off the ball in Afghanistan and Pakistan. As a result, you have allowed al Qaeda to reconstitute itself on your watch.

You have also suggested that Congress must grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies. As someone who has been briefed on our most sensitive intelligence programs, I can see no argument why the future security of our country depends on whether past actions of telecommunications companies are immunized.

The issue of telecom liability should be carefully considered based on a full review of the documents that your Administration withheld from Congress for eight months. However, it is an insult to the intelligence of the American people to say that we will be vulnerable unless we grant immunity for actions that happened years ago.

Congress has not been sitting on its hands. Last November, the House passed responsible legislation to authorize the NSA to conduct surveillance of foreign terrorists and to provide clarity and legal protection to our private sector partners who assist in that surveillance.

The proper course is now to conference the House bill with the Senate bill that was passed on Tuesday. There are significant differences between these two bills and a conference, in regular order, is the appropriate mechanism to resolve the differences between these two bills. I urge you, Mr. President, to put partisanship aside and allow Republicans in Congress to arrive at a compromise that will protect America and protect our Constitution.

I, for one, do not intend to back down – not to the terrorists and not to anyone, including a President, who wants Americans to cower in fear.

We are a strong nation. We cannot allow ourselves to be scared into suspending the Constitution. If we do that, we might as well call the terrorists and tell them that they have won.

Sincerely,

Silvestre Reyes
Member of Congress
Chairman, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Intel_...FISA_0214.html

[Spider]

Nice , I hope it just isnt lip service

[Rohirrim]

As Keith Olberman so eloquently pointed out to Bush last night, "You sir, are a liar."

Hopefully, at some point the American people realize that Bush is a one-trick-pony. His one trick is fear mongering. He has accomplished nothing.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Originally Posted by Rohirrim

As Keith Olberman so eloquently pointed out to Bush last night, "You sir, are a liar."

Hopefully, at some point the American people realize that Bush is a one-trick-pony. His one trick is fear mongering. He has accomplished nothing.

I'd agree with that but he has indeed accomplished several things, all which are a detriment to Americans and the planet in general.

One can only hope Democrats carry through with this....

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Bush, Congress in spy bill standoff
By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer Fri Feb 15

WASHINGTON - With a deadline looming, President Bush and congressional Democrats are locked in a standoff over the government's authority to spy on foreign phone calls and e-mails that pass through the United States.

A temporary law that makes it easier to carry out that spying expires Saturday night at midnight, and Bush and his top intelligence officials say the consequences are dire. Al-Qaida, Bush says, is "thinking about hurting the American people again," and would be helped if U.S. eavesdropping is hampered.

The Democrats are equally adamant. Bush has all the authority he needs to intercept terrorist communications, even if the law expires, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday. The congressional majority is simply trying to balance concerns about civil liberties against the government's spy powers, and needs time to do it, she said.

So who's right?

A quirk in the temporary eavesdropping law adopted by Congress last August complicates the answer. The law allows the government to initiate wiretaps for up to one year against a wide range of targets. It also explicitly compels telecommunications companies to comply with the orders, and protects them from civil lawsuits that may be filed against them for doing so.

But while the wiretap orders can go on for a year from the time they started, the compliance orders and the liability protections go away when the law expires, says Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell.

"There is no longer a way to compel the private sector to help us," he said Thursday in an Associated Press interview.

That is not exactly true. Even if the law expires, the government can get an order from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to compel their cooperation. That court was created 30 years ago for just such a purpose.

But McConnell rejects that option. He says the process of getting a court order ties intelligence agents up in red tape.

The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act requires court permission to tap wires inside the United States. Changes in technology since then mean much of the world's computer and phone traffic passes through the United States, much of it on fiber-optic cable. Successive court cases say court orders are needed to listen in on any of them, McConnell said.

To get a court order, intelligence agents have to prove they have "probable cause" to believe a target is foreign agent or terrorist before being allowed to tap a line inside the United States, even if the communication originates and ends in a foreign country. "If it touches a wire in the U.S. you have to have a warrant," he said.

It is difficult for intelligence agents piecing together shreds of information to get enough to merit probable cause, he said. By the time they can amass enough information to do that, the phone number they wanted to track might already be obsolete, McConnell said.

"Terrorists change their name, change their means of communicating all the time. Every time that changes you've got to stay with it. We have to be very dynamic. More than likely we would miss the very information we need to prevent some horrendous act from taking place in the United States," he said.

The FISA law does make provisions for fleeting targets when there is not time to fill out the paperwork. Within a few days, though, the paperwork must be completed and probable cause proved to get an order approved.

CONT.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Al-Qaida, Bush says, is "thinking about hurting the American people again," and would be helped if U.S. eavesdropping is hampered.

Christ, how many times does this pinhead think the American people are going to fall for this same line of BS?

I guess it's the same old "strategery" - repeat a lie (i.e., the laws currently on the books somehow impede his ability to carry out surveillance activities) often enough and people will eventually take it for the truth.

[ak1971]

&

[Dudeskey]

Originally Posted by Rohirrim

As Keith Olberman so eloquently pointed out to Bush last night, "You sir, are a liar."

Hopefully, at some point the American people realize that Bush is a one-trick-pony. His one trick is fear mongering. He has accomplished nothing.

That would be the GOP for that matter... they need to listen to those that are saying the GOP needs to reinvent themselves. The "be afraid, be very afraid" routine isn't working anymore.

[tsiguy96]

Originally Posted by Urinal_Cake

That would be the GOP for that matter... they need to listen to those that are saying the GOP needs to reinvent themselves. The "be afraid, be very afraid" routine isn't working anymore.

one GOP member tried to reinvent the party back to its original foundations...and he got a media blackout and people calling him crazy. funny how that works?

[Dudeskey]

Originally Posted by tsiguy96

one GOP member tried to reinvent the party back to its original foundations...and he got a media blackout and people calling him crazy. funny how that works?

Wow, I figured the "liberal" media would give a guy like that airtime

I'm beginning to think if they keep this **** up, they're going to go the way of the Whigs

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by Urinal_Cake

Wow, I figured the "liberal" media would give a guy like that airtime

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

[Rohirrim]

Imagine if, for the last seven years, it was a Dem in the WH. Now imagine what the Right Wing wormtongues would be saying about the fact that Osama Bin Laden is still alive.

[Breaker]

I agree with the sentiment expressed in the letter and think that Bush has gone to far to strip some of our freedoms, however I want to know why in the hell someone would publish that letter. I have to assume it came from this guys camp and is nothing more than political posturing, I mean he could have sent the letter and made his opinion clear without having to release it.

I really hope that whoever the next President is revokes some of these eavesdropping bills and that scary as quasi FBI supplemental force mentioned in another thread, that **** is scary.