Revealed: New Law Gives Bush More Latitude To Expand Spying On US Soil

[Hissyspit]

http://rawstory.com//news/2007/New_report_examines_unclear_Protect_America_0830.html

Rewritten surveillance law passed by Congress could give Bush more power for domestic wiretaps
Jason Rhyne
Published: Thursday August 30, 2007

The recently passed law which allows President Bush to continue wiretapping Americans' telephone calls overseas may allow for domestic spying as well, according to a new report commissioned by Congress. A recently-acquired Congressional Research Service report of the controversial Protect America Act, which formally legalized communications surveillance where one party is overseas, offers nebulous language which is broadly open for interpretation, according to Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News.

The new legislation seems to provide legal latitude that could smooth the way for domestic spying initiatives involving US citizens. Given the Administration's penchant for signing statements, such an open door may be irresistible.

“The new CRS report offers a careful reading of each provision of the Act,” writes Aftergood, who obtained a copy of the CRS review Wednesday. “But instead of fully clarifying its impact, the report serves to highlight just how unclear and indeterminate the new law actually is.”

- snip -

Quoting the report, (Aftergood) says, “One provision ‘could conceivably be interpreted’ to apply to parties within the United States. Another provision ‘might be seen to be susceptible of two possible interpretations.’ Still others ‘appear to’ or ‘would seem to’ or ‘may also’ have one uncertain consequence or another. ... In other words,” he says, “the new law bears the hallmarks of its hasty, poorly-considered origins.”

In an email to RAW STORY Thursday, Aftergood characterized what he thought was a fundamental flaw in the new provisions:

“I would say the most basic problem is that the new law redefines basic legal terms such as 'electronic surveillance,' he wrote. "It adopts new terms such as '(surveillance) directed at' without a clear definition at all. The upshot is that the practical meaning of the law is uncertain in many cases."

On the report's summary page, CRS states that the legislation was enacted "with regard to past abuses of electronic surveillance for national security purposes and to the somewhat uncertain state of the law on the subject," adding that the Act "also creates a mechanism for acquisition, without a court order under a certification by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the Attorney General, of foreign intelligence information concerning a person reasonably believed to be outside the United States." Powers conferred by the amendments are set to expire in six months, although they can extended if Congress so chooses.

[KansDem]

1. Yet another *unread* law passed by the US Congress?

No doubt they sure as hell can read the details in their "giving ourselves a raise" legislation!

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. This is malfeasance, pure and simple

And this is happening AFTER the Democrats supposedly took control of both houses? There is no f-ing excuse NONE AT ALL

:mad:

[EVDebs]

3. CRS report on Protect America Act '07 Modifications to FISA

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/RL34143.pdf

duplicate post of link. So, is the FISA court now of any value to the public ? That's the question.

[L. Coyote]

4. K & R