Simpich: "Wiretapping in America - The Moment of Decision Is Near"

[Hissyspit]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082506A.shtml

Wiretapping in America: The Moment of Decision Is Near
By Bill Simpich
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Friday 25 August 2006

Two district court rulings in the last month focus on whether the National Security Agency (NSA) will be free to eavesdrop on Americans as a matter of domestic policy. Since the end of World War II, the United States intelligence agencies have amassed a remarkable record of tiptoeing past the gaze of any watchdog, with the nation's courts always providing a large amount of slack. The odds are good that both of these cases will be heard by the United States Supreme Court before George Bush completes his term of office, if they are not mooted by the passage of the National Security Surveillance Act this autumn.

The outcome of these NSA cases and this autumn's Congressional vote will affect the entire future of this country. One case is a class action filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, alleging that AT&T has given the National Security Agency (NSA) secret, direct access to the phone calls and emails going over its network and handing over communications logs detailing the activities of millions of ordinary Americans. The government has intervened and demanded that the case be dismissed last month because the suit could expose "state secrets." Highly classified documents were transported under armed guard to San Francisco for viewing by Judge Walker. The plaintiffs' attorneys were not allowed to see the documents. Last month, US District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that the case could go forward: "The compromise between liberty and security remains a difficult one. But dismissing this case at the outset would sacrifice liberty for no apparent enhancement of security."

Many other cases have now been consolidated with the EFF suit being heard in San Francisco under the aegis of Judge Walker, a Bush appointee who has a libertarian streak but is no civil rights activist. Walker has ruled against the Bush administration argument that the "state secrets" privilege is implicated, but it is virtually certain that his ruling will be stayed pending appeal to the Ninth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.

The second case is even more important, as it challenges Bush's power to order the NSA to engage in this eavesdropping. Bush will argue that he had the right to eavesdrop based on both the president's duty to protect the populace in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution and a 2001 "Authorization for Use of Military Force" issued by Bush himself pursuant to his inherent war powers in the Constitution.

- snip -

Nations around the world are highly alarmed by the NSA's unlimited powers. A report issued by the European Parliament in January 1998 revealed a giant US spy technology network, known as ECHELON, that tracks telephone, fax and email information throughout the world, but particularly in the European Union (EU) and Japan. (Steve Wright, An Appraisal of Technologies of Political Control, European Parliament: Scientific and Technologies Options Assessment, Luxembourg, January 6, 1998. Also see Bruno Giussani, "European Study Paints a Chilling Portrait of Technology's Uses," The New York Times, February 24, 1998.) What makes a bad situation even worse, according to famed attorney Martin Garbus, is that when the Bush administration admitted to this wiretapping, the claim was that "it was wiretaps for surveillance between domestics and people overseas. Now, they've admitted it's the wiretapping and investigation of people within the Unted States, domestic calls to domestic calls." The import of Garbus's remark is clear. By the time this case gets to the Supreme Court, the integrity of the Keith decision itself may be in question. Simultaneously, Senator Arlen Specter has introduced S 2453 to be heard this autumn, the National Security Surveillance Act, which would increase the president's authority to act outside of FISA, eliminate the longstanding exclusivity of FISA, and allow the president to exercise unchecked authority to wiretap American citizens and enter their homes without a warrant. Will the American people be indefinitely subjected to secret government eavesdropping? Does Congress have the gumption to tie the hands of the NSA if the Supreme Court goes the wrong way? Or is the USA prepared to admit that there is simply no way to control its intelligence agencies?

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[Old and In the Way]

1. I wonder how Americans would feel if our communications were

tapped by other countries? Would the Right be pissed off that Syria, Russia, Lower Macedonia all could intercept our e-mail, phone, and internet communications? It's only a question of time. Why do we think we have a right to tap into the rest of the world...yet they can't return the favor?

[MissWaverly]

2. Didn't Germany just say US bank snooping is illegal

wonder how they plan to spin that?

[MannyGoldstein]

3. We're Very Very Likely To Win

In the recent Hamdan decision, five members of SCOTUS went out of their way to make the case that the President cannot invent super powers because he's in a war. Nor can he invent them from an authorization to use force. "Special war powers" are merely an expedient that allows the President to make fast decisions when Congress cannot act quickly - but Congress needs to follow up by approving or disapproving the action. It was quite obvious that the COurt was handling the illegal wiretapping case through the Hamdan case.

So the Courts are doing their job.

The real question to my mind is what will happen if Bush refuses to obey the Court? Will the Brave Sir Robin Democrats simply run away and pout? Seems like it.

[Hosnon]

5. I agree. The appropriate way to handle these situations is for the

President to act and then ask Congress to either sanction the move or not.

Bush of course, acted and gave the finger to Congress...

[Hissyspit]

4. morning kick