DNI chief promises Congress openness on FISA

[babylonsister]

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dni-chief-promises-congress-openness-on-fisa-2007-08-07.html

DNI chief promises Congress openness on FISA
By Andy Barr
August 07, 2007

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell promised to keep Congress “fully and currently informed” on powers granted to the intelligence community under an update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which lawmakers passed before leaving for recess.

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the intelligence chief thanked Congress for the passage of the legislation, which has already been signed into law, and vowed to report and remedy “any incidents of non-compliance.”

The commitment to greater openness, McConnell said in the letter, which was made public Tuesday, is consistent with the intelligence community’s actions in testifying on behalf of the bill.

“Leaders of the intelligence community,” McConnell claimed, “went far further in open discussions than in any other time I can recall in my forty-year intelligence career.”

He added that “in the interest of providing an extensive legislative record and allowing for public discussion of this issue, the Intelligence Community discussed in open settings extraordinary information dealing with our operations.”

The bill grants the National Security Agency (NSA) more authority to monitor communications coming into the United States involving foreigners subject to national security investigations. Rather than seeking permission from an 11-member Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the NSA can now obtain permission to monitor such communication from the director of national intelligence or the attorney general.

The American Civil Liberties Union attacked the bill, which needs to be reauthorized in six months, for granting the NSA “authority to conduct warrantless dragnets of American’s international phone calls and e-mails.”

[ixion]

1. promises, promises

just another load of sound byte rubbish. :grr:

[madfloridian]

2. Somebody's lying, and I doubt it is the ACLU, Stoller, or Hamsher

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/08/07/again/

[The Straight Story]

3. A kick for more FISA info

Thanks for posting!

[MrCoffee]

4. Mike McConnell's thoughts on the matter...

"Coordinating domestic and foreign intelligence continues to be a challenge. The intelligence community has an obligation to better identify and counter threats to Americans while still safeguarding their privacy. But the task is inherently a difficult one. New technology being developed by the Office of the DNI's chief information officer and chief technology officer to access and process vast amounts of digital data to find terrorist-related information is being overseen by the DNI's Privacy and Civil Liberties Office. Another challenge is determining how and when it is appropriate to conduct surveillance of a group of Americans who are, say, influenced by al Qaeda's jihadist philosophy. On one level, they are U.S. citizens engaging in free speech and associating freely with one another. On another, they could be plotting terrorist attacks that could kill hundreds of people."
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20070701faessay86404-p10/mike-mcconnell/overhauling-intelligence.html

They ARE U.S. citizens that COULD BE plotting terrorist attacks. In Mike's mind, that's a good enough reason to tap a phone.

[Spazito]

5. Here is a key phrase, imo....

"...vowed to report and remedy “any incidents of non-compliance.” This says he and the bush cabal have EVERY INTENTION of having "incidents of non-compliance". As to rectifying, well, we know that means demanding further legislation be passed to legalize their "non-compliance".